Civil War
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A Meandering Mini Rant About Queries
As many of you may have noticed, I didn’t finish the A-Z challenge. I’m going to finish the topics I had chosen, but there may be some pauses along the way, such as today. My next post will be on J, which will be General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. So much has been written about him…
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I Is For Identification Tag
I have in my desk drawer a set of dog tags Will gave me when he deployed. I wore them all the time he was gone. He had his own set he wore. During the Civil War, there was no standard identification system and many soldiers worried they would not be identified or their families…
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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…
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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…
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D is for Dick the Sheep and other Civil War Mascots
Military mascots are nothing new and the Civil war certainly had its share of them. Dick the sheep was adopted by the 2nd Rhode Island. The men were quite fond of Dick and taught him all manner of tricks, but upon reaching Washington they had to make a painful decision. “We took our pet sheep…
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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…
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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, and the first major battle at Manassas had culminated in an astonishing and undignified rout of Union forces. If anyone was still under the assumption it was going to be a ninety-day unpleasantness, those notions…
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A-Z Theme
Well, I’m doing it again. I’m going to do the A-Z Challenge. Last time I wrote a blog post each day and didn’t even know until that day what I was going to write. This time I’m at least going to be a little more prepared. So, here’s the theme and those of you who…