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28 chapters
The Civil War Through the Camera
The Civil War Through the Camera
AT THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. Larger Image THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH THE CAMERA Hundreds of Vivid Photographs Actually Taken in Civil War Times Sixteen Reproductions in Color of Famous War Paintings The New Text History By HENRY W. ELSON Professor of History, Ohio University A Complete Illustrated History of the CIVIL WAR NEW YORK McKinlay, Stone & Mackenzie Copyright, 1912 Patriot Publishing Co., Springfield, Mass. COPYRIGHT, 1911, REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO. MAJOR ROBERT ANDERSON AND FAMILY Thi
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RECORDS OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
RECORDS OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
By Marcus J. Wright , Brigadier-General, C. S. A. Agent of the United States War Department for the Collection of Military Records The war which was carried on in the United States in 1861-5, called “The War of the Rebellion,” “The Civil War,” “The War of Secession,” and “The War Between the States,” was one of the greatest conflicts of ancient or modern times. Official reports show that 2,865,028 men were mustered into the service of the United States. The report of Provost-Marshal General Fry
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BULL RUN—THE VOLUNTEERS FACE FIRE
BULL RUN—THE VOLUNTEERS FACE FIRE
There had been strife, a bloodless, political strife, for forty years between the two great sections of the American nation. No efforts to reconcile the estranged brethren of the same household had been successful. The ties that bound the great sections of the country had severed one by one; their contention had grown stronger through all these years, until at last there was nothing left but a final appeal to the arbitrament of the sword—then came the great war, the greatest civil war in the ann
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FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON
FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON
By this brilliant and important victory Grant’s fame sprang suddenly into full and universal recognition. President Lincoln nominated him major-general of volunteers, and the Senate at once confirmed the appointment. The whole military service felt the inspiriting event.— Nicolay and Hay, in “Life of Lincoln.” The grasp of a great section of western Kentucky and Tennessee by the Northern armies, the capture of a stronghold that was thought impregnable, the forced surrender of a great army, and t
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SHILOH—THE FIRST GRAND BATTLE
SHILOH—THE FIRST GRAND BATTLE
No Confederate who fought at Shiloh has ever said that he found any point on that bloody field easy to assail.— Colonel William Preston Johnston (Son of the Confederate General, Albert Sidney Johnston, killed at Shiloh). In the history of America many battles had been fought, but the greatest of them were skirmishes compared with the gigantic conflicts of the Old World under Marlborough and Napoleon. On the field of Shiloh, for the first time, two great American armies were to engage in a mighty
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THE FIGHT FOR RICHMOND
THE FIGHT FOR RICHMOND
A shattered and discomfited army were the hosts of McDowell when they reached the banks of the Potomac, after that ill-fated July Sunday at Bull Run. Dispirited by the sting of defeat, this motley and unorganized mass of men became rather a mob than an army. The transformation of this chaos of demoralization into the trained, disciplined, and splendid troops of the Grand Army of the Potomac, was a triumph of the “young Napoleon”—Gen. George Brinton McClellan. Fresh from his victories in the moun
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THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY
THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible, and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow.... The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail.— “Stonewall” Jackson. The main move of the Union arm
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THE SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES
THE SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES
McClellan’s one hope, one purpose, was to march his army out of the swamps and escape from the ceaseless Confederate assaults to a point on James River where the resistless fire of the gunboats might protect his men from further attack and give them a chance to rest. To that end, he retreated night and day, standing at bay now and then as the hunted stag does, and fighting desperately for the poor privilege of running away. And the splendid fighting of his men was a tribute to the skill and geni
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CEDAR MOUNTAIN
CEDAR MOUNTAIN
The Army of Virginia, under Pope, is now to bear the brunt of Lee’s assault, while the Army of the Potomac is dismembered and sent back whence it came, to add in driblets to Pope’s effective.— Colonel Theodore A. Dodge, U. S. A., in “A Bird’s-Eye View of the Civil War.” General George B. McClellan , with all his popularity at the beginning, had failed in his Peninsula campaign to fulfil the expectations of the great impatient public of the North. At the same time, while the Army of the Potomac h
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SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN
SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN
The battle was indeed one of which General Lee had good reason to be proud. It would be hard to find a better instance of that masterly comprehension of the actual condition of things which marks a great general than was exhibited in General Lee’s allowing our formidable attack, in which more than half the Federal army was taking part, to be fully developed and to burst upon the exhausted troops of Stonewall Jackson, while Lee, relying upon the ability of that able soldier to maintain his positi
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ANTIETAM, OR SHARPSBURG
ANTIETAM, OR SHARPSBURG
At Sharpsburg (Antietam) was sprung the keystone of the arch upon which the Confederate cause rested.— James Longstreet, Lieutenant-General C. S. A., in “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.” A battle remarkable in its actualities but more wonderful in its possibilities was that of Antietam, with the preceding capture of Harper’s Ferry and the other interesting events that marked the invasion of Maryland by General Lee. It was one of the bloodiest and the most picturesque conflicts of the Civil
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STONE’S RIVER, OR MURFREESBORO
STONE’S RIVER, OR MURFREESBORO
As it is, the battle of Stone’s River seems less clearly a Federal victory than the battle of Shiloh. The latter decided the fall of Corinth; the former did not decide the fall of Chattanooga. Offensively it was a drawn battle, as looked at from either side. As a defensive battle, however, it was clearly a Union victory.— John Fiske in “The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War.” The battle of Corinth developed a man—William S. Rosecrans—whose singular skill in planning the battle, and whose daunt
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FREDERICKSBURG—DISASTER FOR A NEW UNION LEADER
FREDERICKSBURG—DISASTER FOR A NEW UNION LEADER
The Army of the Potomac had fought gallantly; it had not lost a single cannon, all its attacks being made by masses of infantry; it had experienced neither disorder nor rout. But the defeat was complete, and its effects were felt throughout the entire country as keenly as in the ranks of the army. The little confidence that Burnside had been able to inspire in his soldiers had vanished, and the respect which everybody entertained for the noble character of the unfortunate general could not suppl
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CHANCELLORSVILLE AND JACKSON’S FLANKING MARCH
CHANCELLORSVILLE AND JACKSON’S FLANKING MARCH
After the Fredericksburg campaign the Union forces encamped at Falmouth for the winter, while Lee remained with the Southern army on the site of his successful contest at Fredericksburg. Thus the two armies lay facing each other within hailing distance, across the historic river, waiting for the coming of spring. Major-General Joseph Hooker, popularly known as “Fighting Joe” Hooker, who had succeeded Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac, soon had the troops on a splendid campaign footi
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VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON
VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON
On the banks of this, the greatest river in the world, the most decisive and far-reaching battle of the war was fought. Here at Vicksburg over one hundred thousand gallant soldiers and a powerful fleet of gunboats and ironclads in terrible earnestness for forty days and nights fought to decide whether the new Confederate States should be cut in twain; whether the great river should flow free to the Gulf, or should have its commerce hindered. We all know the result—the Union army under General Gr
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THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG—THE HIGH-WATER MARK OF THE CIVIL WAR
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG—THE HIGH-WATER MARK OF THE CIVIL WAR
The military operations of the American Civil War were carried on for the most part south of the Mason and Dixon line; but the greatest and most famous of the battles was fought on the soil of the old Keystone State, which had given birth to the Declaration of Independence and to the Constitution of the United States. Gettysburg is a quiet hamlet, nestling among the hills of Adams County, and in 1863 contained about fifteen hundred inhabitants. It had been founded in 1780 by James Gettys, who pr
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CHICKAMAUGA—THE BLOODIEST CONFLICT IN THE WEST
CHICKAMAUGA—THE BLOODIEST CONFLICT IN THE WEST
In its dimensions and its murderousness the battle of Chickamauga was the greatest battle fought by our Western armies, and one of the greatest of modern times. In our Civil War it was exceeded only by Gettysburg and the Wilderness; in European history we may compare with it such battles as Neerwinden, or Malplaquet, or Waterloo.— John Fiske in “The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War.” The town of Chattanooga, Tennessee, lies in a great bend of the Tennessee River and within a vast amphitheater
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THE BATTLES ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AND MISSIONARY RIDGE
THE BATTLES ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AND MISSIONARY RIDGE
After Chattanooga : “The Confederate lines ... could not be rebuilt. The material for reconstructing them was exhausted. The blue-crested flood which had broken these lines was not disappearing. The fountains which supplied it were exhaustless. It was still coming with an ever increasing current, swelling higher and growing more resistless. This triune disaster [Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge] was especially depressing to the people because it came like a blight upon their hopes which h
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THE BATTLE IN THE WILDERNESS
THE BATTLE IN THE WILDERNESS
The volunteers who composed the armies of the Potomac and Northern Virginia were real soldiers now, inured to war, and desperate in their determination to do its work without faltering or failure. This fact—this change in the temper and morale of the men on either side—had greatly simplified the tasks set for Grant and Lee to solve. They knew their men. They knew that those men would stand against anything, endure slaughter without flinching, hardship without complaining, and make desperate ende
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THE BATTLE OF SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE
THE BATTLE OF SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE
But to Spotsylvania history will accord the palm, I am sure, for having furnished an unexampled muzzle-to-muzzle fire; the longest roll of incessant, unbroken musketry; the most splendid exhibition of individual heroism and personal daring by large numbers, who, standing in the freshly spilt blood of their fellows, faced for so long a period and at so short a range the flaming rifles as they heralded the decrees of death. This heroism was confined to neither side. It was exhibited by both armies
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COLD HARBOR
COLD HARBOR
Cold Harbor is, I think, the only battle I ever fought that I would not fight over again under the circumstances. I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made.— General U. S. Grant in his “Memoirs.” According to Grant’s well-made plans of march, the various corps of the Army of the Potomac set out from the banks of the North Anna on the night of May 26, 1864, at the times and by the routes assigned to them. Early on the morning of May 27th Lee set his force in motio
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TO ATLANTA
TO ATLANTA
Johnston was an officer who, by the common consent of the military men of both sides, was reckoned second only to Lee, if second, in the qualities which fit an officer for the responsibility of great commands.... He practised a lynx-eyed watchfulness of his adversary, tempting him constantly to assault his entrenchments, holding his fortified positions to the last moment, but choosing that last moment so well as to save nearly every gun and wagon in the final withdrawal, and always presenting a
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THE LAST CONFLICTS IN THE SHENANDOAH
THE LAST CONFLICTS IN THE SHENANDOAH
Sheridan’s operations were characterized not so much, as has been supposed, by any originality of method, as by a just appreciation of the proper manner of combining the two arms of infantry and cavalry. He constantly used his powerful body of horse, which under his disciplined hand attained a high degree of perfection, as an impenetrable mask behind which he screened the execution of maneuvers of infantry columns hurled with a mighty momentum on one of the enemy’s flanks.— William Swinton, in “
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THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG
THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG
After the disastrous clash of the two armies at Cold Harbor, Grant remained a few days in his entrenchments trying in vain to find a weak place in Lee’s lines. The combatants were now due east of Richmond, and the Federal general realized that it would be impossible at this time to attain the object for which he had struggled ever since he crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May—to turn Lee’s right flank and interpose his forces between the Army of Northern Virginia and the capital of the Confeder
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SHERMAN’S FINAL CAMPAIGNS
SHERMAN’S FINAL CAMPAIGNS
I only regarded the march from Atlanta to Savannah as a “shift of base,” as the transfer of a strong army, which had no opponent, and had finished its then work, from the interior to a point on the sea coast, from which it could achieve other important results. I considered this march as a means to an end, and not as an essential act of war. Still, then as now, the march to the sea was generally regarded as something extraordinary, something anomalous, something out of the usual order of events;
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THE LAST INVASION OF TENNESSEE—FRANKLIN—NASHVILLE
THE LAST INVASION OF TENNESSEE—FRANKLIN—NASHVILLE
In the latter days of September, 1864, the Confederate Army of Tennessee lay in the vicinity of Macon, Georgia. It was a dispirited body of men, homesick and discouraged. For four long months, first under one leader and then under another, it had opposed, step by step, Sherman’s advance toward Atlanta, and now that important strategic point was in the hands of the Federal forces. About the middle of July the President of the Confederacy had seen fit to remove Joseph E. Johnston from the command
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THE SIEGE AND FALL OF PETERSBURG
THE SIEGE AND FALL OF PETERSBURG
It is not improbable that Grant might have made more headway by leaving a sufficient part of his army in the trenches in front of Petersburg and by moving with a heavy force far to the west upon Lee’s communications; or, if it were determined to capture the place à main forte , by making a massed attack upon some point in the center after suitable mining operations had weakened Lee’s defenses and prepared for such an operation. But the end was to come with opening spring. To the far-sighted, thi
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APPOMATTOX
APPOMATTOX
I now come to what I have always regarded—shall ever regard—as the most creditable episode in all American history—an episode without a blemish, imposing, dignified, simple, heroic. I refer to Appomattox. Two men met that day, representative of American civilization, the whole world looking on. The two were Grant and Lee—types each. Both rose, and rose unconsciously, to the full height of the occasion—and than that occasion there has been none greater. About it, and them, there was no theatrical
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