Across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is Alexandria, Virginia. Occupied by United States forces since May 24, 1861, the town is the former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee–currently engaged in a daring invasion of Maryland–whose estate is used by the Union as a military command post. Many other buildings in town have…
Samuel Pearce Richards (1824-1910) is a member of Atlanta’s Second Baptist Church and an Atlanta bookseller that, having “no ambition to acquire military renown and glory,” has managed to avoid service in the Confederate Army. The former Unionist maintains a home front diary during the war, and today, amidst noting family affairs, worries that he…
The life of a Union soldier during the winter months is encapsulated in the diary of New Yorker, and Baptist, Judson Odell, of the 50th Regiment Engineers, New York Volunteers. Odell, during the first six days of this year, offers the following brief summary of his daily routines: Wednesday, January 1, 1862 In camp for…