Today, a father and son – both Baptists – enlist in Company B, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Marching off to war together, Edward T. Durant (born 1819) and son William E. (born 1843) serve the United States in its time of greatest need. Like many other soldiers, they are common folk: Edward is a farmer-turned-carpenter,…
Today a former neighbor of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is appointed colonel of the 4th (West) Virginia Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. The appointment of Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn (1824-1901) comes as the Union-supportive western portion of the state of Virginia is in the process of establishing itself as a state separate…
Although little battlefield action takes place this month, public emotions are running high North and South while military leaders acquire equipment and plot strategy. The Connecticut Hartford Daily Courant runs a synopsis of a story from New York’s Auburn Advertiser concerning an incident in Georgia: The Auburn Advertiser states that a man named Dunning, who…