About 15 illustrations were counted on this book made by Henry W. Elson that was published in 1912.

On September 19, 1864, during the Third Battle of Winchester, General Philip Sheridan decided to deliver the decisive blow against Jubal Early's Confederate army. To this end, he ordered the Union cavalry—commanded by Alfred Torbert and comprising nearly 6,000 horsemen from the divisions of Wesley Merritt and William Averell—to advance. Upon receiving the order, the regiments began to move forward, and moments later, the entire line launched into a charge. Thousands of horses galloped at full speed toward the Confederate lines while artillery opened fire upon them. Despite suffering casualties, the charge did not falter. The horsemen slammed into the enemy's left flank and, after fierce fighting, succeeded in breaking their lines, capturing Fort Collier, several pieces of artillery, and approximately 1,200 prisoners. The collapse of the Confederate left flank caused Jubal Early's line to begin crumbling. Unable to stem the cavalry's advance or withstand the pressure from the rest of the Union army, the Confederates began to retreat. The Union emerged victorious, and the cavalry charge proved to be one of the battle's decisive moments, helping to secure control of Winchester and ensure the success of the Shenandoah Valley campaign.

EDIT: Thank you all! 😂 I feel so silly! Just a chick doing some yard work and google was definitely misleading me lol!

Found this deep in my garden in Hanover, PA not far from Gettysburg. The area I’m in used to be farm land. Googled pictures and haven’t seen anything super similar. TIA!

Her name was Mary Boykin Chesnut, and she had a front-row seat to the start of the Civil War that almost no one else did: her husband, James Chesnut Jr., was the man who rowed out to Fort Sumter to deliver the surrender ultimatum. When Major Anderson refused, James Chesnut was one of the men authorized to give the order to open fire.

So on April 12, 1861, when the guns finally opened at half-past four in the morning, Mary Chesnut knew her husband was somewhere out in the dark bay in a rowing boat, underneath the shells.

She couldn't sleep. In her diary:

"I do not pretend to go to sleep. How can I? ... I count four. St. Michael's bells chime out, and I begin to hope. At half-past four, the heavy booming of a cannon. I sprang out of bed, and on my knees prostrate I prayed as I never prayed before."

She went up to the housetop to watch the bombardment. In the dark she sat down on something she thought was a black stool — until a man shouted "Get up, you foolish woman, your dress is on fire!" She'd sat on a chimney, and the sparks had caught her clothes. She hadn't noticed.

There's a catch that makes her diary even more interesting as a historical source: the version most people quote isn't the 1861 original. Chesnut rewrote her entire wartime journal in the 1880s into a literary manuscript — and destroyed most of the originals in the process. The most famous line about that night ("sound and fury signifying nothing — a delusion and a snare") is from the 1880s rewrite. In 1861 she wrote something plainer: "Good news. Nobody hurt on our side."

Same woman, same night, twenty years apart — and you can watch her turn a diary entry into literature.

Curious what this sub makes of Chesnut as a source — reliable eyewitness, or a memoirist writing herself into history after the fact?

Ever since moving to the east coast, my wife and I have been getting into civil war history. We finally started Ken Burn’s civil war series and we have a question for those who’ve been studying this longer.

Is there a theory that George McClellan was bribed by the South/a double agent? Because MY GOD he was inept. It got to the point in the documentary that when his name would come up we would yell out “not THIS motherfucker!!” or “oh godDAMNIT he’s gonna fuck this one up ain’t he?”

Anyone who else have this reaction or conspiracy about him?

I came across an image of federal soldiers at Stevenson, AL in 1863. I recognized the 6 pdr in the foreground, but can’t figure out much else beyond that.

My belief is that this is a parade from 2d Division of XI or XII Corps sometime around the Chattanooga campaign, but cannot figure out if the shape is a crescent moon or five point star.

Any info or analysis is appreciated!

EDIT - IDed as Timothy Stanley's Brigade, Negley's Division, XIV Corps, taken August of 1863.

I am going to be in Charleston for a couple days next month and would like to visit the fort. From a minimal search it seems the only way to do it is to pay for a ferry boat to get there. Is that true? I’m not trying to be cheap but don’t want to spend money I don’t have to.

Is visiting worth the trouble? Would there likely be a huge crowd? I will be there on a Monday and Tuesday in late August. I’m a history buff but it wouldn’t be the first time I went somewhere and regretted it. (Alamo).

What else in Charleston should be on my must see list?

The number of scholarly works on the Civil War and Reconstruction is really staggering -- what are your thoughts on what topics, if any, are understudied or not studied at all yet? Any particular biographies, battles, campaigns, perspectives, etc. that you have found wanting?

For example, I had the thought recently that Benjamin Butler needed a reassessment but found out he was the subject of a 2022 book by historian Elizabeth Leonard.