Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

I n the spring of 1885, the Omaha Bee newspaper in Nebraska ran a 12-part series of articles written by John T. Bell of the 2 nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry covering the entirety of his service with that regiment.       A resident of Omaha at the time of his enlistment, he joined the ranks of Co. C on December 2, 1861, at the tender age of 19. He would survive the war with the rank of second lieutenant and 20 years after his discharge penned these reminiscences. The following year, these articles were published in book form as Tramps and Triumphs of the 2 nd Iowa Infantry.      Bell’s reminiscences are simply superb, really giving the reader an intimate look at life in the ranks of the famous 2 nd Iowa. Three of his articles will be featured in this series; the first, covers the regiment’s baptism of fire at Fort Donelson in February 1862. Part 2 will cover the regiment’s role at the Battle of Shiloh and the third covers the Second Battle of Corinth ...

S hortly after the death of General James B. Steedman in 1883, the following article recounting an 1875 conversation between the general and one of his editors after the war surfaced in the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. The topic of their conversation was General Steedman’s celebrated role in the Battle of Chickamauga. “I asked him for the story of Chickamauga where he won his stars and the soldier title of ‘Old Chickamauga,’ of which he was so proud,” the editor stated. “He told it as coolly as if it had been a dream to him.”

O ne attendee of the dedication ceremonies of the Gettysburg National Cemetery got it 100% wrong.  After hearing Edward Everett’s two-hour long oration, he was spellbound. “I will not attempt to describe the oration or the impression produced by its delivery,” he noted. “Every American should procure it- read it and preserve it for others to read. The oration was followed by a dedicatory speech by the President of the United States. The announcement of the President’s name was the occasion of prolonged and deafening applause.”  Speaking of the Gettysburg Address, our correspondent simply said, “His remarks were brief but appropriate and impressive.”  While Everett's speech is now barely remembered, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has come down as one of the greatest speeches in American political history.            This eyewitness report of the dedication ceremonies first appeared in the December 2, 1863, edition of the We...

L ieutenant Colonel J. Stoddard Johnston served for nearly a year on Braxton Bragg’s personal staff as a volunteer aide. Upon the passing of his former commander in 1876, Johnston took to the pages of his own newspaper the Kentucky Yeoman to share some insights into the character of a man remembered by many as the “most hated man of the Confederacy.”   “In his personal habits and conduct he was thoroughly temperate in both meat and drink, discarding the use of liquor in any form,” Johnston noted. “In person he was tall and spare, but of a lithe and sinewy frame and capable of enduring any amount of fatigue. Though in social converse he was peculiarly mild and agreeable in manner, a peculiar conformation of eyebrows which extended continuously from eye to eye and a cold, steel, gray eye which exhibited much of the white when animated gave him in his sterner moods or when aroused a very ferocious aspect, which made him a terror to all who incurred his displeasure.”   ...

T he military record of Lieutenant Colonel Hypolite Oladowski, the long serving chief of ordnance of the Army of Tennessee, totals more than 800 pages in length. Most of the file consists of correspondence between Oladowski and Josiah Gorgas in Richmond, or ordnance depot and arsenal commanders in the western Confederacy. Buried amongst the mundane business of supplying arms among supply shortages, battle losses, and the carelessness of the troops there are just a few reports giving broader details of what types of arms the Army of Tennessee carried throughout its storied career.           The following two reports, both dating from the spring of 1864 and predating the opening of the Atlanta campaign, list both the types of artillery utilized and the small arms carried by the infantry and cavalry. The reports do not call out arms by specific type but calibers are given by which we can make the following broad assumptions:

S erving as a corporal in the ranks of Co. E of the 6 th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Pulaski W. Fuller opened a lengthy correspondence with the Vermont Standard newspaper in March of 1862, determined to provide his kinfolk with a description of the war as it was being fought in the West. As the fighting drew to a close on the afternoon of April 7, 1862, Fuller observed that “we now began to realize how dreadful was the work in which we had been engaged. For miles the woods were strewn with wounded, the dying, and the dead. The Rebels fled so precipitately as to laves thousands of their wounded and dead on the field. Never before did I realize the wickedness of war. Here were no breastworks or fortifications of any kind. Men stood and deliberately shot each other down as they would the most common game.” Two of Corporal Fuller’s letters to the Vermont Standard describing Shiloh and its aftermath are reproduced below.