The Battle of the Wilderness ends inconclusively when Union General Ulysses S. Grant, facing a well-entrenched Confederate foe, withdraws from the field and turns toward Spotsylvania Courthouse in an effort to reposition his troops between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee‘s Army of Northern Virginia and Richmond, the Confederate capital. The three day battle has left…
Anxieties North and South are high. The moment of truth is mere days to come. The United States and Confederate States, both weary of war, steel for yet another season of bloodshed and anguish. This most uncivil of wars was never expected to last this long. The public is nervous, politicians are wary, and soldier…
As spring hovers on the horizon, this week the Union begins an offensive expedition up the Red River and targeted at Shreveport, Louisiana, the headquarters of Confederate Gen. E. Kirby Smith’s Trans-Mississippi Department. Union Army Maj. General Nathaniel P. Banks and Union Navy Rear Admiral David D. Porter jointly command the combined force. The federals…