Hunger plagues Confederate soldiers entrenched at Petersburg. A Confederate scout the previous week spotted some 3,000 head of cattle behind Union lines. Major General Wade Hampton, in turn, set about crafting a plan to steal the cattle to bolster food supplies. Today Hampton sets out with 3,000 men (one for each cow, perhaps?) via a…
With Atlanta safely in Union hands and victory over the Confederacy much more likely, the Lincoln administration can turn its attention to non-battlefield matters that may further assist a successful conclusion of the long war with the South. One of those matters is that of economics. And more specifically, the official ban on the trading…
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, fighting heroically less than two weeks ago during the failed assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston, demonstrated the will and determination of African soldiers to engage Confederate forces despite the threat of execution if captured by the rebels. Many, perhaps most, of the soldiers of the 54th were or are…