Category Archives: Military Matters

Thinking it over …

And keeping the lid on that hard tack Too much history? I thought this photo would be a great placeholder for a day I couldn’t come up with a post or was on vacation, but there is a bit too … Continue reading

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a tender inquiry

From The New-York Times September 14, 1863: NEWS FROM WASHINGTON.; OUR SPECIAL WASHINGTON DISPATCHES. GEN. GILLMORE’S OPERATIONS. … WASHINGTON, Sunday, Sept. 13, 1863. It is understood here that Gen. GILLMORE has tenderly inquired of Government if he would be justified … Continue reading

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gettin’ what’s comin’ to ’em

more uncivilized warfare? You can read a sarcastic editorial about General Beauregard’s protest against General Quincy Gillmore’s use of Greek Fire during the bombardment of Charleston in the September 12, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly published at Son of the … Continue reading

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“Dead House”

I’m about a week late with this article from a Seneca County, New York newspaper in September 1863: We are pained to learn of the death of PETER W. BOCKOVEN, son of GEO. W. BOCKOVEN of this town, which occurred … Continue reading

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mendicants no more

Here is an editorial praising the Invalid Corps (later the Veteran Reserve Corps) as a way for slightly disabled volunteers to earn their pension benefit and as a way to free up healthier soldiers for front line duty. From The … Continue reading

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just a blip?

150 years ago this week Gothamites could read about the Union prison at Fort Delaware. One of correspondent “C.B.”‘s first impressions was of the stench of “ten thousand idle and dirty men.” The southern prisoners are seen as mostly listless, … Continue reading

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“the most perfect stagnation”

It’s been quiet along the major Eastern front. The Army of Northern Virginia is keeping busy with drills and reviews, the latter attended by women spectators. The soldiers seem to be well-fed and desertions are down, thanks to General Lee’s … Continue reading

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well corked canteens

150 years ago today folks in Richmond could read about the ingenuity and daring of some Confederate prisoners of war who escaped from Fort Delaware and/or the recently built barracks on Pea Patch Island. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August … Continue reading

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Gorilla Gone from Gotham

150 years ago yesterday the draft resumed peaceably in New York City. Army, militia, and police forces were present in large if unostentatious numbers. A reorter found “no less than seven huge columbiads on trucks in the depot of the New-Jersey … Continue reading

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“All honor to the Flag”

Six weeks after Gettysburg, the assistant surgeon for the 126th New York Volunteer Infantry wrote home to explain that newspaper accounts had missed the extraordinary courage of the 126th’s color bearers during the battle. From a Seneca County newspaper in … Continue reading

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