U.S. President Abraham Lincoln imposes himself upon General Ulysses S. Grant less than his other generals. Nonetheless, in the midst of Northern frustrations with drawn-out trench warfare at Petersburg, last month’s rather close call in the form of the failed Confederate raid upon Washington, D.C. does expose some friction between the two men, who had…
One year after the United States Army seized control of Alexandria, Louisiana, the Union abandons the town. Union Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks orders that the town be left intact, but two corps, ignoring the general’s orders, set about plundering and burning the city. By the end of the day, the flames have spread and the…
Today in Virginia the Confederacy suffers misfortune when General J.E.B. Stuart, one of the South’s best cavalry leaders, is wounded in the Battle of Yellow Tavern. While Union General Ulysses S. Grant battles Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Grant takes advantage of his numerically superior forces by sending…