Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822-July 23, 1885) was born Hiram Ulysses Grant at Point Pleasant, Ohio to Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson. Hundreds if not thousands of books and stories have been written about Grant the general and the president. Every detail of his actions during the war has been examined. I’m sure…
Anyone who is familiar with basic American history has probably heard of Fort McHenry. But, before we get to the reason why most Americans know Fort McHenry, we need to know its early beginnings. It started out as a small earthen star fort called Fort Whetstone during the American Revolution. The fortress was situated at…
Nathan G. “Shanks” Evans was born in Marion, South Carolina to Thomas and Jane Beverly Evans on February 3, 1824. He attended Randolph-Macon College before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1848. There, his classmates nicknamed him “Shanks” because of his spindly legs and knocked knees. He graduated…
The Rain Crow, my historical novel, is based largely on many events that actually happened during the war. One scene involves a little Union drummer boy who was wounded during a battle. A Union soldier who was captured after the battle wrote home about how tenderly he and the little drummer boy had been treated…
Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke (July 19, 1871-November 8, 1901) was born to Hiram and Annie Rodgers Ball near Mount Vernon, Ohio in Knox County. Her mother died when she was just seventeen months old and was sent to live with her grandparents. When they passed, her Uncle Henry Rodgers took her in to live on…
Belle Boyd isn’t one of my favorite spies of the Civil War, but she’s given lots of attention and was dubbed the Cleopatra of the South. Long-limbed and of exceptionally fine form, it may be understandable that she gained many male admirers, but she was not a classical beauty. Belle Boyd was born Maria Isabella…
Although equipment, techniques, and even strategies for military aerial reconnaissance were not new to the American Civil War, they were honed during the conflict. Prior to the war, hot air balloons had been used primarily for entertainment after Joseph and Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier sent the first one to flight in 1783. Eleven years later, the French…
A while back I was going through the alphabet, exploring different tidbits related to the successive letters. I got off tracks with various things, but with a shiny new blog, let’s get back in the groove. A is for acoustic shadow. The First Battle of Manassas was fought on July 21, 1861 at Manassas Junction,…
This is a writing exercise based on the phrase “Love Keeps Me Warm.” Years ago I read a journal written by a Yankee soldier who had been captured by Confederates. He detailed his stay as a prisoner of war in Texas and spoke of the hardships suffered by both the captives and the Rebels keeping…
I’ve belonged to a writing group for years. In July and December, the writing exercises are “shorts” consisting of stories 500 words or less. The mod puts up a list of topics and it’s up to the members to build a story around it. Typically, the topics are very short, often just one word. This…