Category Archives: Civil War

Book Reviews, Civil War

Book Review: The Quartermaster: Montgomery C. Meigs, Lincoln’s General, Master Builder of the Union Army

Meigs

The Quartermaster: Montgomery C. Meigs, Lincoln’s General, Master Builder of the Union Army

By Robert O’Harrow Jr.

In studying the Union war effort during the Civil War you read a lot about the main players.  Lincoln, Sherman, Grant, McClellan, are all names that pop out usually on the first page of any summary of the war. As you dig deeper another name comes up, almost as a background player to each of them, Montgomery Meigs. When I started reading this book that was the thought I had in my mind, here is the background player to the war, as the Quartermaster General I knew he played a role and looked forward to some behind the scenes look at the war effort.

What I found was the story of an amazing man who truly deserves a spotlight all his own. Even before the war, he was responsible for some of the most incredible engineering projects not just in the country but in the world. He navigated the choppy waters of Washington politics as an honest man and stayed that way during his entire tenure. He not only drew his architect inspiration from Roman and Renaissance models, bringing them to the New World, but he innovated and created styles and methods used today.

Then came the Civil War.

An army had to be built and provisioned on a scale that the United States, and most anywhere else, had never known. The man put in charge was Meigs, and no one ever doubted that decision.  He became an adviser and ally to Lincoln and Stanton. He built a military machine unrivaled for the age and brought it to bear against the enemies of his country. Very few biographies actually leave me in awe, but this was one.

Knowles brings Meigs’s story to the page in a bright and loving way. It would be easy to get bogged down in the minutia that was so important to everything Meigs had a hand in. Whether it was negotiating contracts for bricks for the Capitol, or gathering horses to pull the machinery of war. Every detail was necessary and well described.  What helps was short chapters and breaking it up into nice bite-sized chunks. Many authors would have tried piling on and that would have ill-served this story.

I highly recommend this book.

Civil War

A Copse of Trees at Gettysburg

A Copse of Trees at Gettysburg

A Copse of Trees at Gettysburg

On July 3rd, 1863 the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania were already washed in blood. This was the third day of the battle between the forces of the United States and the Confederate States of America. The battle was not even supposed to happen. Days earlier almost by accident the two forces met. The battle began and took on a life of its own. Now on the third day, the Union forces were in defensive positions on a ridge outside of town. So far they had withstood the best that the Confederates had to offer.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee prepared his Army of Northern Virginia for one last push against the Union center.  The push that he believed would end the battle and perhaps the war. His plan involved General Pickett’s division leading the charge against that line across a field almost a mile wide. To guide them they were told to march toward a copse of trees that stood at the dead center of the Union line.

The charge was a disaster for many reasons. Ineffective artillery, a foe that was stronger than was expected, fences that slowed the approach among them. Few Confederates made it to the Union fortifications, fewer still got through them. This failure allowed the Union to finish the day with a victory under their belt.

In all over 6,000 Confederate troops became casualties that day, compared to 1,500 on the Union side.  The biggest casualty, however, was the Confederacy, for the loss at Gettysburg became the death toll for their hopes of independence. Oddly enough even though the Confederacy fell, the copse of trees still stand as defiant as ever.

Civil War

Homefront

Homefront

Homefront

On the eve of the Civil War, the South found themselves in a curious predicament. The North was highly industrialized. They could produce arms, ammunition, and finished goods in a capacity that the South could not hope to match. Headed into the war they needed to either seriously ramp up the industrial base, or depend on the European powers to provide the goods and war material they needed.

At the peak of the war, the North had over 100,000 factories with over 1 million factory workers churning out products. The South managed to work up to approx 20,000 factories with just over 100,000 working in them.

To make up for the gap the Confederacy returned back to the roots of home-based manufacturing. The scene above is a depiction of a Southern woman at a work table in her home assembling cartridges.  Doing such work, as well as making blankets, cooking for the troops, sewing for the troops and even watching over the family farms were their primary role during the war.

Interestingly enough, such home-based manufacturing was one of the primary roles of the women on the home front during the American Revolution. While then men went out to fight, the women provided them the means to carry one.

It was not enough. As the war progressed the power of the Northern industry was brought to bear. The South simply could not keep up. Many of the men of the Confederate army would have gladly continued fighting. They were simply running out of the means to do so.

Civil War

A View From The “Burnside” Bridge

Burnside Bridge over Antietam Creek

The “Burnside” Bridge

So let’s use our imagination for a second.

It is September 17, 1862 and you are a member of the Union 9th Corps standing on a bridge over Antietam Creek in Maryland. A general engagement has been going on down the line as Confederate and Union forces have been duking it out. You and your fellow soldiers find yourself on the far left of the Union line and in a position to roll up the Confederate flank. That is what your commander, General Burnside has been ordered to do.

There is just one problem.

See that ridge up there?

Now imagine that it contains over 300 Confederate soldiers, dug into rifle pits and covered by artillery.

So not only do you have to take the bridge, but create enough of a “beachhead” to allow your men to cross and THEN you still have to drive the Confederates from those heights. That does not sound like anything close to an easy task.

And it wasn’t.

The Confederates, again about 300, prevented the entire 9th Corp from crossing the bridge for three hours that day. Then, even though very outnumbered, they held their side of the bank for an additional two hours. That is five hours that the Union army basically was fought to a standstill on this part of the battlefield.  In the end, over 500 Union soldiers meet their end here, many staring up at that same spot that you see in the picture.

PS.

The Union won the battle in the end and it was based on this victory that President Lincoln felt secure enough to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. More on that later…

Civil War

Lincoln Family Entertainment

Lincoln Family Entertainment

Lincoln Family Entertainment

In the 1850’s the home of Abraham Lincoln was a lively and well lived in location. Abraham would work down the street at his law office during the day and night return back to his home, his wife and the sons. They were a busy and happy family. Lincoln would often pass time with his boys wrestling or reading to them, but the family had at least one other form of amusement, a stereoscope very much like the one above. In fact, the one above is theirs as it is sitting on a table in their very living room.

The stereoscope worked very much like the old View-Master (you all had one of those growing up right?) In this case two photos are placed inside the unit and you would peer through the eyepieces. The two images would then become one, and appear to be in 3-D. This was very high-tech for the time. Through this device, the Lincoln’s could view places all over the world and see them in a way that most of us had never been able to.

While certainly not a cheap “toy” Lincoln was known for spoiling the boys and this would definitely fit the bill. On display at the Lincoln Homestead, this piece gives a brief look into the family’s life. Lincoln always had a curiosity about him and through toys like this, he instilled the same curiosity in his boys.

Book Reviews, Civil War

Book Review: After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace

Then topic of Reconstruction after the Civil War is one that is usually either handled very heavy-handed, or simply glanced over. The fact is while the war part of the Civil War ended in 1865, the civil aspect of it is still being fought today. Yes, there is a school of thought that contends the Civil War has not yet ended. Luckily in this book, Langguth doe snot take that tact.

It is easy to say that this is one of the best books on Reconstruction out there. It covers the main characters from the just before Lincoln’s assassination and how the Federal government sought to bring the nation back together once the bullets stopped flying. It also though spends some time on the ground level with the people who were living the local aspects of the overall governments policies. The book even goes so far (almost) to tie the struggles of the African-American community during Reconstruction to the modern-day Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. As such I would consider this book a good jumping on point of the subject interests you.

There are a few things to watch for. There is a bit of a tendency to jump around in the time line based on which person the story is following in any given chapter. So it is not a directly linear read. It did throw me off a couple of times. The other thing, as I said it makes a good attempt at tying the post Civil War era to the more modern times, but in the last chapter when it tries to do so it seems almost like an epilogue that has been tacked on. Not a negative as it lead me to wanting to read more, but something to be aware of.

All in all worth the read. Click the image to visit Amazon and pick it up

Civil War

Rodman Guns

The Rodman Guns of Ft. McHenry

Rodman Guns

 

Those heavy iron beauties in the picture above are examples of a Rodman Gun. They were designed during the Civil War by Union artilleryman Thomas Rodman. The ones above are located at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore.

The main innovation with these pieces was in the way they were cast. Traditionally artillery pieces were cast as one solid piece with the bore drilled out after cooling. This solid piece method meant that as the piece cooled, it did so from the outside in. This allowed small cracks and imperfections to form. While many of these imperfections would be taken care of during the drilling of the bore, there was always the possibility that others existed.

The Rodman method consisted of casting the piece as a hollow tube with a cooling tube in the center. This allowed the metal to cool from the inside out, which allowed for it to be stronger with fewer imperfections. Here is an article that gets into some of the small details. Basically, it made the gun stronger and allowed for heavier projectiles to be fired.

This casting method became the standard during and after the war and Rodman Guns were produced in many different sizes. Attempts were made to cast the unit as rifled pieces, with the spiral grooves in place, but it was not very successful. Later on, most of the guns were rifled.

The cannons above could fire a projectile weighing up to 444 pounds close to a mile. With that kind of power and distance, they became the go-to for coastal defense. Though several thousand of this style of artillery were made during the Civil War, very few if any actually were fired in combat. The two in the picture above in Baltimore harbor have only been fired for holidays and special occasions.

 

Civil War

The High Water Mark of the Confederacy

The High Water Mark of the Confederacy
The High Water Mark of the Confederacy

The High Water Mark of the Confederacy

The morning of July 3rd, 1863 at Gettysburg Pennsylvania the Union and Confederate forces were in day three of an epic battle. This was a battle for all the marbles. If the South could win they would have almost free rein in the Pennsylvania countryside. From there they could make a run at anywhere they wanted in the north, including Washington DC.  A war-weary North may even consider bringing the war to an end.

General Lee decided this morning that he was going to play for the win. He ordered the men to make a strong focused attack on the Union center. That should have been the weak point. Break that line and win the war. He gave command of the attack to General Longstreet even though he opposed it. As such he delayed the attack longer than he should have. Eventually, after an artillery duel seemed to prepare the field Longstreet sent General George Pickett and his Virginians to attack.

Armistead

One of the men leading the assault was General Lewis Armistead. A good man and a true soldier. He had been part of the US Army before the war and now served the South.  That day he led the men from the front as the artillery and rifle fire rained down. He kept them moving forward. After what seemed like a week in Hell his men closed in on the stone wall the marked the Federal line. Waving his hat perched on his sword he lead the men over the wall. For a brief shining moment they drove the Yankees back and almost, maybe could see victory.

It was not to be the Union forces rallied and Armistead fell and with him the hopes of the Confederate victory. The spot that he fell, marked in the photo above became known as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. After that hope for victory would change to hope for survival as the long, slow death spiral of the CSA began.

Civil War

The Lion of the Confederacy

The Lion of the Confederacy
The Lion of the Confederacy

The Lion of the Confederacy

Located in Atlanta Georgia is Oakland Cemetery. Like many cemeteries in the south, it contains a large number of Confederate graves. During the Battle of Atlanta, many hospitals were close to the cemetery. So naturally it became the last resting place for many soldiers. In fact, there are even several Union soldiers buried there.

 

Oakland has many fantastic memorials and a fair number of resting places for well-known people. For anyone interested in history the Confederate section is a must see. The one certain must-see is the monument in the picture. The Lion of the Confederacy. Sometimes known as the Lion of Atlanta.

 

It sits in the Confederate section and is dedicated to the almost 3,000 unknown Confederate dead buried among their brothers. Most were collected from the battlefield and various mass graves. Over time they were interred in Oakland Cemetery.

 

The sculpture was designed by T.M. Brady of Canton, Georgia. It strongly resembles a monument to the Swiss guards lost during the French Revolution, the Lion of Lucerne. The 30,000lb block of marble that the lion is carved from came from north Georgia. At the time (1894) it was the single largest block of granite quarried in North America. The quarry that provided the stone for the Lion was the same quarry that would provide the granite for the Lincoln Memorial.   

 

Seems a little fitting.

Civil War

The Civil War Begins

The Civil War Begins...

The Civil War Begins

This mural located at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, by artist Danilo Montejo, shows Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor under fire on April, 12th 1861. From the batteries on the shore, the Confederate States of America instigated hostilities.  The shells began falling on the last remaining Federal outpost in the South.  Of course, there is a case to be made that Lincoln’s actions up to that fateful day in regards to Ft. Sumter served to instigate the conflict and thus the war. Choosing to resupply the fort rather than surrender it opened the door to the bloody war that followed, regardless of who fired the first shot. That discussion is for a later time.

The bombardment of the fort started at 4:30 AM 4/12/1861 when the Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard (the first general in the Confederacy) opened fire from the chain of forts surrounding the harbor. The Union forces under Major Robert Anderson return fire the best they could, but they were dramatically outgunned. The fort could not hold and there was no chance of reinforcements. After 34 hours and thousands of shots being fired Anderson was forced to surrender.

It was a miracle for sure, but during the bombardment, no one was killed on either side. In what can only be seen as a bitter irony, during the surrender ceremonies on the 14th, a cannon exploded killing two Union soldiers, the first of the war.

The spectacular mural above does a wonderful job of capturing the events of the battle. There would be many, many more to come as the sound of the guns that broke the pre-dawn stillness that morning would continue for four very long years. The Civil War had begun.