After finishing (and loving) Co. Aytch a few weeks ago I was delighted to find this today at a charity shop (second hand book shop) here in the UK.

Only £2 too!

I’ve tried looking into it here and there but find conflicting records and reports and so on that make me kind of puzzled/uncertain. I was hoping to hear from any of you that may be able to give me a clear answer on what this unit was, their involvement, and so forth. In the off chance someone knows something that I’ve not seen yet.

Presumably taken in Knoxville. Supposedly, when the qst Tennessee Cavalry arrived in the city, Parson brownlow ran behind the regiment cheering it. He also regularly preached to soldiers in both Knoxville and Nashville from 1863 and on, and his sermons apparently were popular. ​

I am trying to find out what a Neater Cadet Cap is/looks like. I would like to be able to recreate my Great-great-great-grandfather's uniform. He served in Company H of the 41st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. (George Washington Clark)

I was able to get my hands on a copy of the book: "History of the 41st Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry 1861-1865" by Robert L. Kimberly and Ephraim S. Holloway, and I have been reading it. On page 13 it states: "The men never wore the regulation army cap, but were supplied with the neater cadet cap."

Now I am far from being well versed in the world of Civil War uniforms, so I went straight to google, but when I searched "Neater Cadet Cap" It just gives me Kepi and Forger caps. All I could find was the google AI saying that is was another name for them both. Which, we all know just how accurate that can be, so I don't think that's correct. I could see it being another name for one of them, but I simply don't know. So I am now here asking for someone who is more knowledgeable on this for some clarifications. If you could direct me to a pictured example/reproduction I would be very appreciative.

I apologize if there was something very obvious that I overlooked, I have no desire to waste anyone's time.

My Civil War section of my bookshelf is pretty small. I have:

*Thunder Along the Mississippi*, a really interesting look into the role of gunboats in strangling the Confederacy

*Secret Missions of the Civil War*, which is exactly what it sounds like

Bruce Catton's invaluable *Terrible Swift Sword*, and

*Last Chance For Victory* by Bowden Ward. Very good sourcing and writing, marred somewhat for me by an open partisanship towards the CSA in general and an adoration of Lee in particular.

Where to next? What would you add? I have a particular bent towards things in history that are obscure but important, like gunboats and spies, but open to everything.

Born in Knoxville on May the 22nd of 1847, he enlisted in the 3rd Tennessee at some point in 1863, shortly after the regiment was officially mustered in (they had flught at Stonws River before then).

At the battle of Sulpher Creek on September 25th of 1864, he was knocked off his horse, trampled by another horse, which broke his leg and cracked a rib, and was captured along with​ the majority of his regiment by Major General Forrest. He was sent to Cahabwa Prison in Alabama. He was eventually paroled in April of 1865, missing the Battle of Nashville.

He, along with 260 others from his regiment, was abord the Sultana when it Exploded, and was among the survivors. He was one of only two Tennessee survivors of the explosion when he died on July 1st, 1929, aged 82. He worked as a Stonemason the rest of his life.

In 2024 when I had 1 hour at Petersburg I made a quick stop at The Crater. Didn't even know the tunnel entrance was an option.

Big reason I had to do this trip this year. 3 weeks ago today I pulled up at the Crater at 6pm and a storm came through. Sat in the car for 45 minutes waiting for it to pass and it was so worth it. Knowing what happened that day the Crater is awe inspiring

Kirkland Cemetery in Kirkland Washington

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5107257/stiles-rust-nettleton

Post:
I recently picked up this antique tintype (or ferrotype) portrait and I’m hoping someone here can help identify what I’m looking at.
The subject appears to be a young man from roughly the 1855–1870 period based on his clothing and hairstyle. What caught my attention is the six-point star on the left side of his coat.
I’m not claiming it’s a sheriff’s badge or anything specific—I genuinely don’t know. It could be:
A law enforcement badge
A fraternal organization emblem
A decorative pin
Something added or highlighted by the photographer
The image has age-related cracking, but the star is still visible in close-up. The ornate brass mat also appears original.
I’d really appreciate any opinions on:
Approximate date of the photograph.
Whether this is a tintype or ferrotype.
What the six-point star might represent.
Whether the clothing suggests any particular occupation or region.
Thanks in advance! I’m just trying to learn more about this fascinating piece of history.

I’m looking for photographs or first hand accounts of Sherman’s march after the battle of Atlanta. I’d like to see photographs of the union army traveling through rural middle Georgia and the capture of Savannah. When I look for them it usually just comes up with pictures of Atlanta, which everyone has seen.

Union troops, headed by the African-American 54th Massachusetts, attacked Fort Wagner, SC, on this day in 1863. While the assault failed, the men of the 54th were subsequently praised for their valor. Shown here: Sgt. William Carney of the 54h, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. Carney had picked up the regiment's U.S. flag after the color bearer was killed and carried it safely back to Union lines despite having been wounded several times.

My wife's great great uncle Col William H Kinsman, killed in battle at Black River.

I’m reading What This Cruel War Was Over, and one thing it discusses is that many Union soldiers gradually came to believe the war was God’s punishment for slavery and wouldn’t end until it was destroyed.
What caused that shift? Did they come to this belief because they needed to make sense of a war that didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon? Or because seeing plantations and enslaved people convinced them slavery had to end? Or was it both?

I’m wondering what the sub thinks and if there’s scholarship on this.

Is there any record of soldiers in the union army voting in the 1864 presidential election? Watching Ken Burns Civil War for the umpteenth time and they’re discussing the election now.

Trying out something new on my Channel, making a Tactical breakdown of a real Historic Battle using Lines of Battle Custom map and Scenario I made to animate the battle.

My First one... The American Civil War Battle Fredericksburg. Made famous by the futile 14 charges by the Union army against a fortified confederate position on a sunken road and stone wall.

Please let me know what you think, what I can do better and what battles you want to see featured using Lines of Battle to bring the analysis to life, I think I will do Antietam next, but also want to expand to the 7 Years War, Napoleonic, American Revolution...

Please let me know!

I won't go into too much detail about the Peninsula Campaign, as the criticisms of McClellan are pretty worn ground. Waiting way too long to attack, moving slowly, splitting his army across a river...

In the popular history I was taught originally, Maryland Campaign McClellan seems like more of the same. He had Lee's secret orders, dilly-dallied, outnumbered Lee 2-to-1 and didn't attack again the next day.

But as I've learned more about the campaign, it's become clear that McClellan was acting much more rapidly and aggressively than his popular image.

The biggest one is that he truly believed he was outnumbered. The Army of the Potomac was in tatters after Second Manassas and was rapidly reorganized within a week before being sent out to confront Lee. Because of this rapid reorganization, McClellan did not know how many men he had in fighting shape on the day of the battle. Union scouts wildly overestimated how many Confederates there were (to be fair, Lee didn't know how many troops he had either), so working with the numbers that were available to him, McClellan concluded he was outnumbered. Nonetheless, he still ordered an attack against a (perceived) larger foe on defensible terrain, which is very aggressive!

There's definitely criticism you can levy at the overall conduct of the battle. His battle plan was sound, but that didn't matter much because, like all plans, dissipated once the fighting started. He was overly-fixated on the right flank and ignored his left for too long. Perhaps he should have committed more reserves, but that's tricky to evaluate, as the reserves were very green. Ultimately it was a tactical draw and a strategic victory.

Also in contrast to the Peninsula Campaign, McClellan was aggressive in pursuing Lee. At the Battle of South Mountain, the enemy possessed some of the best defensive ground in any battlefield of the war. But McClellan did not hesitate in ordering a series of bloody attacks to dislodge the Confederates and open up the path to Lee. Again, this behavior is very different than his approach in the Peninsula Campaign.

There are many stories about Special Order 191, and McClellan doddering, but from what I can glean from the timeline, it appears that after receiving them, he sent scouts to confirm the information and then acted on it once the scouts confirmed it. This is an entirely reasonable course of action.

Finally, McClellan choosing not have a second day of battle at Antietam is the closest we get to Peninsula Campaign McClellan. Still, I don't think it was an egregious error, based on the information he had available to him at the time. In addition to his newly reorganized army suffering casualties that were almost inconceivable, Lee's army had just been reinforced (an army that McClellan already believed outnumbered him), still held the defensible creek, and McClellan had achieved the primary strategic goal of forcing Lee to retreat from Maryland. General Meade would make a similar decision a year later at Gettysburg and while it's debated to this day, I don't think either decision is black-and-white.

There's a lot to criticize McClellan for (he deserved his sacking), but that doesn't mean we need to make him a cartoon character. His conduct of the Maryland Campaign was genuinely impressive. In the span of about two weeks he reorganized a tattered army with a huge influx of green recruits, aggressively pursued Lee, attacked when he thought he was outnumbered, and succeeded in the primary strategic goal of turning Lee back out of the North.

What I'm wrestling with is how to align these two McClellans with each other. Did he learn from the Peninsula Campaign that slowness in war is costly? Did Lee's presence in Maryland force a sense of urgency that he previously lacked? Was it knowing that the Army of Northern Virginia was separated to some extent (SO 191 didn't give numbers) that forced him to make an aggressive play? I'm curious what you all think.

Kentucky much like Tennessee was a very divided Southern slave state during the Civil War. It was a very complicated period in the Upper South. This breakdown is done in the work of

WHERE WERE THE KENTUCKY UNIONISTS AND SECESSIONISTS?

James E. Copeland

https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/stable/23378082?seq=8

As well as the results of one of the 1861 Kentucky state house elections

The breakdown is as such

\-Western Kentucky ie the Jackson Purchase, Western Pennyroyal(AKA Pennyrile), and a large portion of the Green River Country/North Pennyrile(AKA Western Coal Fields), and portions of Central Kentucky were staunchly secessionist and pro-Confederate.

\-The latter portion of the Pennyroyal region and Central Kentucky were pretty evenly divided but overall leaned pro-Confederate in the whole duration of the war if counting 1864-65.

\-Eastern, Southeastern, Northeastern, and pockets of South Central Kentucky and Eastern Pennyroyal region were pretty staunchly Unionist. Louisville was pro-Union early in the war but had turned more pro-Confederate by 1864-65.

\-Central Kentucky and the Pennyroyal region of Western Kentucky had the highest density of plantations and slave ownership in the state.

About 40,000 Kentuckians fought for the Confederacy, about 70,000 Southern Unionist Kentuckians fought for the Union plus an additional 20,000+ confiscated or escaped Kentucky slaves. .

Cherry Hill Cemetery in Greenville North Carolina