Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, yet headquartered in Chattanooga, is making final preparations for the beginning of his spring campaign against Atlanta. Today he sends a coded telegram ordering the requisition and deployment of a manned gun-boat to “patrol the river below Bridgeport to Decatur to cover McPherson’s movements.” General James B. McPherson commands the…
Included in the United States’ battle preparations for the coming spring engagements is the use of large numbers of black soldiers, former slaves who are ready and willing to fight for the freedom of their families and friends yet enslaved in the Confederate States. A number of “colored regiments” proved their mettle during the battles…
With the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery having passed the United States Senate and awaiting approval of the House, the attention of the North is increasingly focused on bringing the war to a conclusion so that freedom might be extended to blacks yet enslaved. The state of Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, has for decades been…