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The Death of Elmer Ellsworth
The Death of Elmer Ellsworth: A Union Martyr and the First Casualty on Virginia Soil On This Day – May 24, 1861 In the early days of the Civil War, long before the nation had fully grasped the scale of the conflict to come, the death of one young Union officer sent...
The Extraordinary Life of Pauline Cushman: Actress, Spy, and Brevet Major
Pauline Cushman, born Harriet Wood in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1833, led a remarkable life that intertwined theater and espionage. Her mother was French, her father a Spanish merchant with a lineage allegedly linked to one of Napoleon’s soldiers. As a young girl, her...
The Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators
On July 7, 1865, four conspirators of the Lincoln assassination, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, were hanged just after 1:30 p.m. on a very hot day in the prison yard of the Old Arsenal Penitentiary, which is now on the grounds of Fort...
June 30 1863 – Prelude to Gettysburg
After some minor skirmishes, Major General John Buford is convinced that the Confederates are near the small town of Cashtown and that they will be marching on Gettysburg the next day. Buford sends a message to Gen. John Reynolds to come up quickly while he holds...
Prelude to Gettysburg – The Battle of Hanover
The Battle of Hanover, Pennsylvania was a small skirmish between Union and Confederate cavalry that had a significant impact on the Gettysburg Campaign by delaying Confederate General JEB Stuart. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s division of Union cavalry dashes north to...
Battle of Sterretts Gap
In June 1863, the Confederates Army was advancing up the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania and was led by a cavalry brigade under General Albert G. Jenkins. Jenkins and his men arrived in Carlisle on June 27, then continued east toward the town of Mechanicsburg....
Laura Talbot Galt – Marching Through Georgia
The following is taken from the Confederate Veteran (1902): A strange report comes from a public school in Louisville. It is that "Marching through Georgia" is sung in school there. A special in the Atlanta Constitution states that Laura Talbot Galt, aged thirteen, a...
President Lincoln’s Call for Volunteers
On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion.