Category Archives: April

1864 The war for perpetuation or abolition of slavery was more important to the republic’s image than the death of the Confederacy itself, and in April that struggle continued to intensify. On the 4th, President Abraham Lincoln, wrestling with how … Continue reading →

1863 The Union’s Vicksburg campaign had stalled for months, but not for lack of effort. To assault the 16 miles of cannon-bristling bluffs facing the Mississippi River situated from north to south of the town would be suicide. So for … Continue reading →

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1862 Dixie’s Virginia-to-Texas vastness was too large to be conquered, many in the South had assured themselves. But by the onset of this, the war’s one-year anniversary month, room for doubt had grown. The Federals had made alarming inroads. The Confederacy’s figurative back … Continue reading →

                                 1861             Anxiety swiftly trumped legality. With critical border states remaining undeclared, both sides went after them with the zeal of self-preservation.             Abraham Lincoln’s government had to have Maryland. Otherwise, facing disloyal Virginia across the Potomac River, the … Continue reading →

1861 The Civil War’s fabled “first shots” weren’t, exactly. History dates the conflict’s inception from those on April 12, 1861 against Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor,  South Carolina, but the designation is somewhat arbitrary. Nine days before, Confederates had fired on … Continue reading →