Later, there would be false rumors of drinking and accusations of incompetence. When the Rebels attacked early that Sunday morning on April 6, 1862, they found the Union troops under Major General Ulysses S. Grant unprepared. Somehow Grant, who wasnât on the battlefield during the initial attack, miraculously avoided what appeared to be a certain defeat. Despite winning a hard fought victory, Grant was lucky he wasnât cashiered by his superiors after the bloody Battle of Shiloh, which one historian described as âthe first great and terrible battle of the Civil War.â
Grantâs performance at Shiloh is a perfect illustration of the difficulties in assessing the man. He seemed to be unforgivably caught by surprise during the first day of the battle. Rumors circulated that drunkenness explained his absence from the battlefield that crucial morning. And yet, his calm leadership during the day and his determination later that night to carry on the next morning
AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
Historical parallels are always there for the thoughtful. Consider a key turning point for each of two former US presidents.
Union General Ulysses S. Grant crossed the Rapidan River in Virginia on 4 May 1864 – 157 years ago this very week – to commence the Overland Campaign in order to engage and destroy Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in a series of bloody battles that ended on 12 June when the siege of Petersburg began.
With the stakes equally high for the country, Donald Trump crossed his own Rapidan to commence his version of the Overland Campaign when he started down that escalator on 15 June 2015 and declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. This past Monday, that campaign continued with the latest battle as he labeled the 2020 election “The Big Lie.”
The Fighting 69th Marches Again The 69th NYSV Historical Association marches in the New York City St. Patrick s Day Parade. The Fighting 69th has lead the parade since 1851.
Photo courtesy of the 69th NYSV Historical Association. By Corinne Dillon, Contributor
As America reflects upon the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and its deciding turn at Gettysburg, thousands of Americans are donning the uniforms of yore as they re-enact the long war’s battles. Corinne Dillon talks to
members of the 69th New York State Volunteer Historical Association about the continuing legacy of the Irish regiment.
This year has been a busy one down in Gettysburg, with both the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the most famous Civil War battle itself (July 1-3, 1863) as well as the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg Address coming up on November 19th.
William Richard Carter was born on April 22, 1833, on the Nottoway County farm of his parents, Martha Anderson Craig Gregory Carter and Sharpe Carter, a farmer, sometime schoolmaster, and charter member of the Nottoway Library Society. Carter excelled in his studies at Hampden-Sydney College from 1848 until 1852, when he graduated with high honors in chemistry. Exhibiting talent as an essayist, he served as clerk for the college’s Union Literary Society and in 1850 and 1851 was elected vice president.
Recommendations from his professors led to Carter’s employment in February 1853 at the Flat Rock Female Seminary in Lunenburg County, but after two years he became restless. He inquired about buying a newspaper, but nothing came of it. Carter unsuccessfully sought the mathematics chair at Hampden-Sydney in 1856 and suffered another disappointment when Amelia Trotter ended their engagement. Discouraged and frustrated, he resorted to drink for a time before deciding to seek his fortu
Argus, took a drive around the Caldicot Levels. He wrote about his journey in the
Weekly Argus on April 2, 1921. We re-print it here with comments (in italics) by Peter Strong, secretary of the Gwent County History Association and volunteer with the Living Levels project.
In the land of the reens
Easter exploration of the Welsh Holland
By J Kyrle Fletcher IT WAS at the fifth milestone out of Newport on the high road to Chepstow that we turned sharply to the right towards the land of the reens. The tourists who wrote our famous books on the topography of South Wales travelled on foot or they hired a nag; but – other days, other ways - we set out to explore the unknown regions of the Caldicot Level in a motor-car.