Tag Archives: Cold Harbor

survivors still

Posted on October 3, 2019 by SUMPTER

After the Civil War the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was founded in 1866 as a fraternal organization for Union veterans. According to a web page at the University of Mississippi the Fifty-third National (GAR) Encampment took place September … Continue reading →

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exhumation impracticable

Posted on May 22, 2015 by SUMPTER

Family and friends weren’t allowed to exhume the remains of soldiers in Virginia, especially if they had been dead less than a year. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1865: The Removal of Dead Soldiers from Virginia. Colonal … Continue reading →

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Crosses’ purpose

Posted on September 16, 2014 by SUMPTER

fought for “the U.S. Army In the War of the Rebellion” When I started wandering through Restvale Cemetery in Seneca Falls, New York looking for old grave stones decorated with new American flags, I was naturally drawn to a plot … Continue reading →

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Brothers at Cold Harbor

Posted on June 16, 2014 by SUMPTER

If I’m reading this right, a soldier mortally wounded at Cold Harbor had his remains back home and buried a week later. It probably helped that his brother could identify him and take charge of his embalmed body. From the … Continue reading →

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“the suppressic veri and the suggestio falsi”

Posted on June 12, 2014 by SUMPTER

going to hurt me more than you? From the June 11, 1864 edition of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South: Also 150 years ago this week, a Richmond paper noticed that Union Secretary of War Stanton’s telegrams to General … Continue reading →

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duckin’, dodgin’, and dirt

Posted on June 10, 2014 by SUMPTER

In the trenches at Cold Harbor. The first part of this letter might be an example of gallows humor, especially since Chaplain Scott just missed getting shot in the head. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864: LETTERS … Continue reading →

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relative Sabbath

Posted on June 5, 2014 by SUMPTER

According to the following editorial 150 years ago today was a remarkably quiet Sunday up at the Cold Harbor front. Also, if Grant can’t do to Lee what Lee did to McClellan, then the Confederates must be the best soldiers. … Continue reading →

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“Our loss was not severe”

Posted on June 3, 2014 by SUMPTER

On the evening of July 2, 1864 the Union troops on the front lines at Cold Harbor knew the assault ordered for the next morning was madness. They were close enough to see the strength of the rebel works. They … Continue reading →

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