The Union and Confederate armies are by now in full preparation for the looming spring campaigns. While the federal Red River Campaign in Louisiana has become bogged down and Confederates have manged to regain control of Plymouth, North Carolina, Union forces, largely victorious on the battlefield since July of the year prior, clearly remain on…
Today a new chapter in the war begins: Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia begin their first invasion of Northern territory. The timing of the offensive is not coincidental. The Union’s Army of the Potomac is reeling from a rebuffed attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. U.S. President…
Today a career United States military officer accepts U.S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron’s offer of a commission as colonel of the First Cavalry. The officer’s name is Robert E. Lee. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had submitted the commission to the Senate on March 21, and the offer was formalized four days later. Even as…