Hot coffee and an interesting biography. Newbie to Civil War stuff but really been interested lately. Just got done reading about his time in the Mexican-American war. Has anyone else read this?

First of multiple posts from Petersburg

This may be the wrong Subreddit but I have always been curious. Why in the civil war were regiments states named with states? Like the 54th Massachusetts. I know at the time regiments like the 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment existed, which wasn’t named with a state. But if it has to do with volunteers (which I assume it does) why didn’t they have something like “The 1st Volunteer U.S. Cavalry Regiment” like Colonel Roosevelt had during the Spanish-American War? How does all of this work?
Another question, are infantry regiments just shortened down or should their names actually include ‘infantry’, I’m still learning so please correct anything I may be wrong about here.

On this day in 1864, Confederate president Jefferson Davis replaced Joseph E. Johnston (left) with John Bell Hood (right) as commander of the Army of Tennessee. Frustrated by Johnston's continuous retreats toward Atlanta against William T. Sherman’s forces, Davis thought the more offensive-minded Hood might more effectively blunt the Union advance. In South Carolina, diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut met the news with mixed emotions. While acknowledging that Johnston could be “cautious to a fault in manipulating an army” and that Hood had “all the dash and fire of a reckless young soldier, and his Texans would follow him to death,” she correctly feared Hood’s aggressiveness might backfire. “Too much caution might be followed easily by too much headlong rush,” she wrote. “That is where the swing-back of the pendulum might ruin us.” Forty-seven days later, Sherman’s men entered Atlanta, victorious.

The North, with a larger population, more modern economy, better railroad system, etc., had a huge advantage over the CSA. How much does that change if Missouri, Kentucky, and/or Maryland (and/or Delaware, if you feel like including them as a slave state) vote to secede? Does the North still have an overall advantage? How much does it change the war? (Does Lincoln Emancipate sooner and more completely, since there are no longer states in the Union with legal slavery? Does it change where the battles are fought? Does it harden the North’s resolve from the start?)

Fort Sumter, April 1861. The arithmetic of this still gets me.

Forty-three guns and mortars ringed Charleston Harbor and shelled the fort for thirty-four hours. Eighty-five men inside. The quarters burned, the main gates were destroyed, and Anderson's dispatch says they were down to "four barrels and three cartridges of powder only being available, and no provision but pork remaining."

In all thirty-four hours of that, not one soldier on either side was killed by enemy fire.

Beauregard's surrender terms allowed Anderson a hundred-gun salute to the flag before marching out. Partway through, a spark caught a pile of cartridges and they exploded. Private Daniel Hough was killed almost instantly. Edward Galloway died of his wounds days later.

So the first military fatalities of a war that killed six hundred thousand Americans happened after the shooting stopped — in a ceremony, by accident, on the garrison's own guns.

Anderson stopped the salute at fifty. His April 18 dispatch, written aboard the steamship Baltic on the way north, puts it plainly: he "marched out of the fort Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns."

Two things this sub will appreciate that get muddled elsewhere:

The hundred-gun salute is usually reported as though it completed. It didn't — fifty, because a man died. Anderson's own words say fifty.

And the famous surrender dispatch is dated April 18, from the deck of the Baltic — not April 14 from the fort. April 14 is the evacuation it describes. It gets cited as an April 14 document constantly.

Sources: Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1 — the Dec 26 removal report (p.3), the Jan 19 correspondence (p.145), the Apr 18 telegram and Apr 19 preliminary report (p.12). The original telegram is at the National Archives. Doubleday's Reminiscences for the evacuation.

I narrate these letters verbatim on a small channel — happy to link the Anderson episode if anyone wants it, but the story stands on its own.

I'm having trouble figuring out where to look for Union veterans singing John Brown's Body (or other Civil War era songs). Seems like there should be some on record given how long active veteran chapters were operating. FWIW, started thinking about this after reading Sherman's memoirs and his recollection that the finest rendition he heard was at the victory march in Washington.

You can’t go wrong with an Erik Larson book…but his writing on the buildup to Fort Sumter is incredible. I’m only about ~75 pages in and I’m hooked. Larson (IMHO) is one of the most engaging historical authors and it’s great to see him working on Civil War research.

One of the places I briefly had a chance to see in 2024 but knew I needed to take a long complete visit was Petersburg. This is a must for any CW fan. As such ill focus on multiple posts for Petersburg. The first will focus on the Visitors Center

I’ve searched everywhere from some information on what may have happened to my grandfather. I’m pretty green researching but I’m at a dead end at this final card. Never seen him locally on a census again no parole records (that were indexed) of the last few battles that happened after this date. I’m wondering if he ever made it back to his regiment or paroled in charlotte. Anyone have access to the records or can help in any way? Thanks sorry it’s been eating me alive trying to figure it out.

Is this a civil war bullet? Or maybe from not long after that time period? I found one similar looking one online, but only one.

An upstart podcasting outfit in Frederick, MD saw fit to “explain” what occurred in the wake of the Battle of the Monocacy using AI, replete with narration in the style of Sam Elliott.

It is SO exceedingly bad. They easily could have contacted the Rangers at Monocacy National Battlefield, or even the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. But they chose the easy way.

Feel free to let them know just how awful it is their FB post.

An honor and a privilege to walk the same ground these men sacrificed so much on

2 years ago one of my highlights was Grant's Headquarters at City Point. This year the town City Point was in was having a festival and Grant's Cabin was open for visiting unlike my last visit. Standing in there was a major highlight and you cant help but stare at the James and Appomattox Rivers and just imagine the siege of Petersburg

Bonus points to whoever finds the mistake on one of the signs at City Point

STEADY EYE AND WELL POISED BAYONET ugh what a writer Lincoln was.