Yesterday, I shared a re-created map of Laurel Hill Camp drawn by a Union spy named William Fletcher. The Confederate Army of Northwestern Virginia occupied this position from June 16 to July 11, 1861. The camp didn't leave much in the way of physical remnants except for a small cemetery, so identifying its boundaries is…
Tag: primary sources
Laurel Hill Camp Map
The Battle of Belington (Laurel Hill) was fought from Sunday, July 7 to Thursday, July 11, 1861 between Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris and Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett. It was a small skirmish but played a role in the more consequential Battle of Rich Mountain. Laurel…
Obituary Found for PVT Seeley E. Mensch
Finding a few new sources regarding the Action at Greenbrier River seems to have opened the floodgates, as I've now also discovered an obituary for Private Seeley E. Mensch, who was mortally wounded in the ambush. The obituary, posted on his Find a Grave page, contains a detailed account by a surgeon of the 14th…
160 Years Ago Today: Gosport Navy Yard Captured
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
160 Years Ago Today: Harpers Ferry Armory Burned
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
160 Years Ago Today: Virginia Adopts Ordinance of Secession
160 years ago today, Wednesday, April 17, 1861, 143 delegates from across the Commonwealth of Virginia crowded into the neoclassical Capitol of Virginia at 10:00am to debate secession from the United States. Six Southern states had already seceded. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas formed the Confederate States of America on February…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Virginia Adopts Ordinance of Secession
More McClellan Sources
When it comes to military operations in Virginia prior to the First Battle of Manassas, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was most prolific in his writings. McClellan was commander of the military Department of the Ohio, which made him responsible for the first large scale operation in what was then western Virginia. So far, I've…
More Primary Sources Added from GB McClellan
I'm continuing my effort to add all the papers and telegrams of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who organized the first expedition into Virginia after the outbreak of hostilities, from May to July 1861. Most these new sources pertain to the skirmish at Philippi and the events over the following month. Unfortunately, the primary sources…
Continue reading ➞ More Primary Sources Added from GB McClellan
Primary Sources Added from GB McClellan
It's impossible to tell the complete story of the opening months of the Civil War in Virginia without citing the papers and telegrams of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who organized the first expedition into Virginia after the outbreak of hostilities. Most of this correspondence can be found in the venerable tomes of The War…
Spirit of '61 