Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

W ounded during the fighting in the Round Forest at Stones River, Private Almon Stuart of the 9th Indiana recalled the desperate plight of the Federal army on the first day of the battle, and the part his regiment played in turning the tide.       "For a time Wednesday, it seemed as if our defeat was inevitable," recalled Private Almon Stuart of the 9th Indiana Infantry.  "But the left wing, that portion of the army in which the old 9 th   Indiana is, held its own; nay more, they drove back a portion of the Rebel force and saved our army from destruction changing what seemed for a time certain defeat into a great and glorious victory . It should be called the Battle of Cottonfields for it was fought over not only woods, meadows, and cornfields, but also over three cotton fields, in all of which the cotton was ungathered."      Private Stuart's vivid description of the Battle of Stones River first appeared in the February 5, 1863, edition of t...

L et’s take a moment to review 2024 on Dan Masters’ Civil War Chronicles.        2024 marked another very busy year with 157 new blog posts, up from 114 last year. The year also saw the publication of two new books, Echoes of Battle Volume 2 and my new campaign study Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign .        The blog is currently at 955 posts and is fast approaching 1,000 post mark; will probably reach that sometime this spring. Blog traffic continues at a very impressive pace for which I am very grateful.        The blog’s focus remains centered on telling the story of the common soldier in the Civil War, North and South. Over the past year, I devoted more page space to telling some of the stories of our Civil War veterans who received the Medal of Honor but the western theater remains my prime focus. I’m excited to share new discoveries with you. The process of research and study remai...

O rdered across the Rappahannock after the conclusion of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Surgeon John W. Rawlins of the 88 th Pennsylvania might have expected a grim task ahead of him. What surprised the Pennsylvanian was the courtesy and kindness with which he was treated by his Confederate hosts.           Arriving at the field hospital set up at Salem Church, Surgeon Rawlins recalled the warm friendships that soon developed with his counterparts in gray. “During our stay of four days and four nights at this church and in its vicinity, we had a great many Rebel visitors from the generals down with whom we freely expressed opinions, discussing politics and the war freely,” he wrote. “We were treated with much courtesy and invariably with politeness. We had the pleasure of meeting surgeons from Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia, some of whom had been college mates of ours in Philadelphia, and others were well acquainted...