H Is For Housewife

H Is For Housewife

This image from the Library of Congress titled, “War views. No. 1501, Camp life, Army of the Potomac – writing to friends at home” shows a soldier in the foreground doing some mending. This is a patriotic Confederate housewife with three different Confederate flags. Someone certainly put a lot of love into this one. The…

E is for Enfield Rifle

E is for Enfield Rifle

Well, real life and a book nearing completion got in the way, but I’m going to try to get back on track if I can. I’m not sure I can finish as the book beckons and it’s taking priority. At the beginning of the Civil War, the south was woefully unprepared. The governor of Louisiana…

C is for Camilla

C is for Camilla

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? Oh, no, mon ami. Surprisingly enough, the English had been keeping a close eye on American shipbuilders for a while. In the mid-1850’s they were particularly scouting out two designers named James and George Steers of the  George Steers and Co. There was a traditional design to yachts called…

B is for Beast Butler

B is for Beast Butler

Welcome to day two of the challenge. I had intended to write about “butternut” today, where the term came from and other innovative ways southerners coped with shortages brought on by the blockade, but something reminded me of “Beast” Butler. He was an interesting character who gained international attention with his infamous Order 28. Butler…

A is For Angel’s Glow

A is For Angel’s Glow

Gen. Johnston                                                  Gen. Wallace It was a year into the Civil War. Sumter had been fired on April 12, 1861, the first major battle at Manassas had culminated in an astonishing and undignified rout of Union forces. If anyone was under the still under the assumption it was going to be a ninety-day unpleasantly, those…