In Louisiana, Union forces continue their campaign up the Red River, placing ever more pressure on Confederate forces in the area. Meanwhile, in the Eastern theater of war, the 102nd Illinois Regiment moves out from Lookout Valley, straddling the Tennessee and Georgia state lines, on a scouting expedition southwest-ward to Deer Head Cove, Georgia, near…
Today Charleston, Illinois, a small town sharply divided over the war, erupts in rioting. The trouble begins when Copperheads (Northern Democrats who want to sign a peace treaty with the Confederate States) assemble at the courthouse. Armed and ready for confrontation, the Copperheads wait for opportunities to assault soldiers and abolitionists. The wait is not…
John R. Bowles, born June 13, 1826 in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a free black and a Baptist minister. As a young man, Bowles settled near Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, marrying Sarah Jane Bryant in 1848. There the couple grew their family, in addition to participating in the Underground Railroad. At thirty years of age,…