An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
Recently, we posted Statement Showing the Number, by Companies, of the Virginia Volunteers who Entered Service Prior to July 1, 1861, highlighting the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Paymaster General’s Office tally of all Virginia volunteer companies prior to July 1, 1861. It contains valuable information that, when compared to other sources, can help piece together the…
Continue reading ➞ Virginia Cavalry Units Enrolled in April 1861
In early spring 1861, events were at a boiling point in the United States. By February, six Southern states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. It was an act newly inaugurated President Abraham Lincoln's administration, and many others, saw as illegal and a…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Gosport Navy Yard Captured
President Abraham Lincoln’s call on April 15, 1861 for 75,000 volunteers to “suppress the rebellion” in six Southern states inflamed passions in states like Virginia, which had, until that time, resisted calls to secede and join the nascent Confederacy. On April 17, the Virginia Secession Convention voted in favor of secession, subject to a popular…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Robert E. Lee Resigns from the U.S. Army
First Lieutenant Roger Jones, a cousin of Robert E. Lee, was on recruiting duty at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania when ordered to take a small force south through Maryland to protect the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, a small mountain town nested at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. Though Virginia had…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Harpers Ferry Armory Burned
Spirit of '61 