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97 Horses Left on the Field: The 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry Charge at Chancellorsville

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A common complaint from infantrymen during the Civil War was “who ever saw a dead cavalryman?” That epithet certainly couldn’t be used in reference to the 8 th Pennsylvania Cavalry whose charge to escape capture at Chancellorsville left the ground carpeted with 97 dead horses and 51 men killed, wounded, or captured. In describing the charge, one veteran stated “the enemy opened their ranks to the front and rear and allowed us to pass amid a shower of bullets and bayonet thrusts. Many of them were cut down with the saber and some were trampled to death by our horses. A good number of our own men and horses had fallen in the road and it was with difficulty we reached the road at all. Our hearts almost sank within us as there was yet another line of the enemy to pass through and in their front our forces were hurrying forward to reach the new line of battle that had been partly formed. We must cut our way through or surrender; so, we dashed forward with renewed energy, scattering the ...
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Crawled a Half Mile on my Belly: A New Yorker's Escape from Fort Wagner

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W riting to his brother William H. Freeman in Freehold, New Jersey “with a broken smeller,” James Freeman of the 48 th New York described how he had been shot through the nose while storming Fort Wagner just a few days prior. “As we gained the ramparts, I got a ball square through my nose and one on the shoulder, the latter did not enter but raised a considerable lump and is somewhat sore,” he stated. “I am in no way seriously hurt and there is no necessity for my being in the hospital but it is orders and I had to come. I would leave the hospital today if I could get permission to get away from the awful smell which is just like that of a slaughterhouse. Many of the men are horribly mangled and in this hot climate, where there are so many patients, it is impossible to keep the hospital from smelling disagreeably. The cries and groans of the suffering are not very pleasing music to sleep by until you get used to it.” Freeman’s brief letter describing the fight at Fort Wagner first...
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A Civilian’s Viewpoint of Lee’s Invasion of Pennsylvania

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L ocated just north of the Mason-Dixon line, one resident of Greencastle, Pennsylvania had a ringside seat to the beginning and end of Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863. He took especial note of the Confederate generals who accompanied the columns.           “General Lee and staff passed immediately in the rear of General Hill’s corps,” he noted. “His bodyguards were well mounted, well dressed, and well equipped. They numbered about 50 fine looking men. General Lee appears old and had a troubled, careworn countenance. He wore a blue mantle over his gray suit with an ordinary slouch hat and was mounted on a fine black horse. He did not converse with anyone but appeared to be in deep meditation. General Ewell was reserved in conversation and dignified in appearance. General A.P. Hill was more communicative and agreeable but had a very poor opinion of the generals in the Union army- in fact, a general denunciation of the Uni...
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No Sleep Till Brooklyn Passes the Forts

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W riting to his father while aboard the steam sloop-of-war U.S.S. Brooklyn , Assistant Second Engineer James Atkins desired to correct some of the misinformation that he saw in the newspapers regarding his ship's fight at Forts Jackson and St. Philip in April 1862.      " At about 3 o’clock in the morning, as soon as we came round the point in range of their guns, they opened upon us and for an hour and a half the shots were flying around us like hail," he recalled. "In the height of the noise and confusion, the horrible shrieking of shots as they passed over the ship, the groans of the wounded, and the necessary noise attendant upon working and firing the guns, the long-dreaded ram the veritable  Manassas  struck us just amidships. With a heavy crash, the ship reeled over to port and the ram passed under our stern over towards the shore. Before she could come round again to renew the attack, the old  Mississippi , playing the ram, ran into her and with tre...
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And this is glorious war? The 84th Indiana on September 20, 1863

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Indiana at Chickamauga  I n part two of the 84 th Indiana at Chickamauga series, Thomas Addington provides his experiences on Sunday, September 20, 1863, when his regiment was ordered to support General Thomas's line atop Horseshoe Ridge.         " Up until 11 o’clock Sunday morning, we remained idly in camp enjoying ourselves in such pastimes as are known to all soldiers while Thomas was breasting the storm hurled upon him with relentless fury," Addington recalled. "Then the sharp, quick notes of the bugle called us into line. Chickens were abandoned half dressed, fresh pork partly cooked was thrust hastily into haversacks, sweet potatoes were left roasting in the fire, guns and cartridge boxes were looked over to see if all was in order and away we went on the double quick. Up hill and down, across fields and through the woods, for three miles we hurried on, the roar of battle growing more terrific all the time till at last, panting for breath and drippi...
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Guarding the Road to Chattanooga: The 84th Indiana on September 19, 1863

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Indiana at Chickamauga I n part one of the 84 th Indiana at Chickamauga series, Thomas Addington, then serving as a private in Co. A, describes his regiment’s efforts to hold their position on the Union far left defending the army’s road connection to Chattanooga on Saturday, September 19, 1863. In a fight that developed that morning near Peavine Creek, Addington said “just after crossing the creek, we began to hear scattering shots from our skirmishers, replied to vigorously by the enemy, while spent balls began to drop in our midst. Hurrying forward, we took up a position behind the fence where we had laid the night before. Here we waited for our skirmishers to fall back into line; we did not have long to wait. They soon came straggling through the weeds and briars with which the fields were overgrown. A bluecoat would be seen to pop up, fire at the approaching foe, then drop down among the weeds and continue his retreat. Arriving at the fence, a final shot would be fired and then o...
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A Hot Time in Virginia: On Cedar Mountain with the 14th Georgia

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T he initial moments entering combat at Cedar Mountain were anything but encouraging to the men of the 14th Georgia. The regiment had scarcely entered the field when the colonel suffered a wound in his hand, forcing him to turn over command to the lieutenant colonel Once the men got into line, the sight before them dripped with peril as remembered by one veteran.       "Emerging from the woods near the road by which the brigade had approached the field, it was met by General Taliaferro’s brigade, Jackson’s division, falling back before the advancing enemy," he wrote. "The 14 th  was cut off from the brigade by Taliaferro’s retreating men. Some of the men of the 14 th  faltered for a moment. The danger of a panic was imminent. The enemy, encouraged by the retreat of Taliaferro’s brigade and confident of victory, were advancing and about reaching a point at which their line would have prolonged our battleline and were within a stone’s throw of and on the flan...
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