2023-05-30 02:07
We sometimes forget that today’s Memorial Day came directly from Decoration Day, which originated to honor the dead of the Civil War. There has been a great deal of discussion about wh… Read More
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Tocwoc – A Civil War Blog
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The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed – Informed Amateurs Blog the American Civil War
2022-04-18 01:49
Figures are inherently dry, but you can learn a lot from them. Here’s a look at the 1860 census. It gives you can idea of the advantages the North had over the South before the first s… Read More
2022-02-09 14:00
Note: This review originally appeared at The Siege of Petersburg Online and has been cross-posted here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog. ***** SOPO EDITOR’S NOTE: This review covers… Read More
2021-12-27 03:32
I have ordered a copy of Scott Hippensteel’s new book Myths of the Civil War. Drew Wagenhoffer has a review here. Much of the book seems to be about “sniping” and about deb… Read More
2021-07-05 18:23
Just a heads up for TOCWOC readers that the reference site Fold 3 has their Civil War records accessible for free for another week and a half, until July 18. It’s a great opportunity t… Read More
2021-06-26 23:41
Might even be stolen U.S. gold from the Federal Mint. Archer wrote that he also spoke with a journalist who had done extensive research on a Civil War-era group called the Knights of the Gol… Read More
2021-04-02 23:20
Everyone probably knows what a revolver is, but do you know which one is the biggest? The S&W 29, beloved of Dirty Harry? The Colt Walker? Naah, not even close. It was Pate’s revol… Read More
2020-12-17 00:11
Some time ago (in 2006) I wrote a post about John Jacob and his unusual rifle. In it I said that Lorenzo Barber, the “Fighting Parson” of the 1st U.S.S.S., used a Jacob rifle bec… Read More
2020-09-21 02:35
Cap and Ball is at it again, this time to answer a question that often comes up about Civil War rifles. Did the addition of a bayonet have any effect on accuracy? He also has some commentary… Read More
2020-08-24 02:23
Amputation of wounded limbs was not new but reached somewhat of a high point in the Civil War. The Minie ball, in particular, was notorious for shattering bone. Doctors soon found that tryin… Read More
2020-08-13 02:36
Cap and Ball, whom we have met before, has a very informative post on four Civil War revolvers—the Colt, the Remington, Starr, and Adams. He shows how each worked and which worked best… Read More
2020-08-05 02:41
A look at the people who buy all those statues people have been tearing down. The leaders of Newton Falls have declared their town a “sanctuary city” for unwanted statuary. &ldqu&hell…Read More
2020-07-25 02:32
One of the guns from what was probably Clint Eastwood’s best Western is up for auction. Set in Missouri during and just after the Civil War, it chronicles the flight of an ex-Confedera… Read More
2020-07-24 02:35
Smallpox, unlike the Minié ball, was an indiscriminate, equal-opportunity killer that killed about 30% of those it infected. Although there was no cure, English physician Edward… Read More
2020-07-22 02:47
The BBC gives a rare look at the other end of the trans Atlantic slave trade. I say rare because too many people think that white Europeans went into the African interior and abducted Africa… Read More
2020-07-20 02:34
Michael Goodwin (New York Post) has another, harder look at the New York Times’s ruling Ochs-Sulzberger clan in a new column. After recounting what he revealed in the last column, he g… Read More
2020-07-15 02:41
Michael Goodwin (New York Post) has an excellent article looking at the history of the New York Times, and its Confederate connections that it now finds so offensive in others. … the… Read More
2020-07-13 02:41
The madness continues all over the country. A statue of “Aunt Lucy” Nichols has been defaced in New Albany, Indiana. Born in 1838, Nichols escaped from a Tennessee farm in 1862 w… Read More
2020-07-10 02:31
The city of Asheville has done some boneheaded things but this time they’ve outdone themselves. The Vance Monument downtown, which I mentioned earlier, has now been covered with a plyw… Read More
2020-07-06 02:30
A happy 4th of July weekend to everyone, and I hope you are all with family in this holiday and staying healthy. The news keeps on coming faster than I can keep up with it. The city of Richm… Read More
2020-06-25 02:47
Protesters in Washington now want to remove the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, which they for some reason find offensive. The statue commemorates the emancipation proclamation. Yeste… Read More
2020-06-23 18:17
This is a post I wanted never to write. I am sorry to report that a mob has desecrated the Confederate monument at the capitol grounds in Raleigh, NC. It began as a raucous Junteenth celebra… Read More
2020-05-21 22:11
Fold3 is offering free access to its records for the Memorial Day weekend. Especially if you’re still in lockdown this is an excellent chance to access Civil War records, including an… Read More
2020-05-19 02:47
Names and nomenclature do make a difference in military topics. You’d like to be as accurate as possible, and I think it’s important to use the terminology current at the time un… Read More
2020-05-03 02:15
It has become somewhat of a cottage industry to try to identify who shot various prominent figures like generals Sedgwick and Reynolds. The other say I ran across this postwar newspaper arti… Read More
2020-04-26 02:34
After what seems like forever I’m back home and trying to get back to a normal life, including posting on TOCWOC. For now, however, I’ll just leave a couple of links of interest… Read More
2020-02-19 22:18
Norder, Steve. Lincoln Takes Command: The Campaign to Seize Norfolk and the Destruction of the CSS Virginia. (Savas Beatie: December 2019). 336 pages, 36 illustrations, 2 maps. ISBN: 9… Read More
2019-04-04 19:39
For a limited time (until April 15th) Fold3 is making its Civil War records available for free. So if you need to research an ancestor’s military record, now’s the time. It does… Read More
2019-03-08 14:00
Smith, Timothy B. The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Grierson’s Epic 1863 Civil War Raid Through Mississippi. (Savas Beatie: October 2018). 336 pages, 36 illustrations, 12 maps, notes… Read More
2019-02-25 14:00
Hess, Earl J. Fighting for Atlanta: Tactics, Terrain, and Trenches in the Civil War. (University of North Carolina Press: October 2018). 408 pages, 19 halftones, 19 maps, 3 tables, notes, bi… Read More
2019-02-22 03:09
For those of you who follow TOCWOC but are not regular readers of my Siege of Petersburg Online site, I thought I’d provide a little update here, the first in quite awhile. I’ve… Read More
2019-02-04 14:00
Mackowski, Chris. The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2, 1863. (Savas Beatie: November 2018). 192 pages, 175 illustrations, 8 maps, notes, bibliography… Read More
2019-01-28 14:00
Collins, Darrell L. The Army of the Cumberland: Organization, Strength, Casualties, 1862-1865. (McFarland (www.McFarlandBooks.com), January 2019). 199 pages, orders of battle, note… Read More
2019-01-21 03:21
I’m sorry to say that I’ve not posted anything since early November of last year. It’s not because I’ve lost interest or don’t have anything more to say, but ra… Read More
2019-01-17 01:26
Zeller, Paul G. The Vermont Brigade in the Seven Days: The Battles and Their Personal Aftermath. (McFarland http://www.McFarlandBooks.com : 2019). 201 pages, 65 illustrations, 8 maps, n… Read More
2018-11-05 03:51
Cowan’s Auctions just completed a massive auction of Civil War items of all kinds. The catalog is fun to look through, even if you can’t afford to buy any of it. Three items I fo… Read More
2018-11-04 02:44
President Trump has designated Camp Nelson in Kentucky as a national monument to honor the black volunteers who mustered there for service in the Union army. It also illustrates the limitati… Read More
2018-10-13 13:00
Greene, A. Wilson. A Campaign of Giants–The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater. (University of North Carolina Press: June 2018). 728 pages, 3… Read More
2018-10-09 23:14
The History Vandals are at it again. When all this started I predicted that it would not stop with the Confederate generals and it gives me no pleasure to be right. This time it’s a gr… Read More
2018-10-07 02:02
It’s no uncommon in Civil War literature to see someone’s death ascribed to broken heart after losing or breaking up with a loved one, homesickness, or “melancholia.”… Read More
2018-09-27 02:37
Very nice animated map of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. If you’d like a short and concise campaign summary, check it out—it’s well done.
To read this full story and much… Read More
2018-09-20 02:25
Previously I mentioned that the remains of two unfortunate soldiers killed at Second Manassas had been found in a surgeon’s pit on the battlefield. I am happy to report that they have… Read More
2018-09-17 02:33
The 19th Century was a busy one for firearms development. At its beginning armies used .75 cal. smoothbore muskets like the Brown Bess, and by its end they were using the fully modern .30 ca… Read More
2018-09-15 18:16
Janney, Caroline E. (ed) Petersburg to Appomattox: The End of the War in Virginia. (University of North Carolina Press: April 2018). 320 pages, 13 illustrations, 3 maps, notes, bibliography… Read More
2018-09-01 20:36
The Union Cavalry and the Chickamauga Campaign by Dennis W. Belcher TOCWOC’s Take: Dennis Belcher is rapidly becoming known as an expert on the cavalry organizations and actions i… Read More
2018-08-22 02:32
Silent Sam, the memorial on the UNC campus to the Confederate common soldier, fell to vandals yesterday. I’ve mentioned earlier that it has drawn protests but this time the mostly… Read More
2018-08-15 15:27
McQuarrie, Gary & Williams, Charles (eds.). Civil War Navy: The Magazine. (CSA Media, LLC). 64 pages, images, maps, notes. ISSN: 978-1-61121-216-7. 1 year (4 issues): $24.99; 2 yea… Read More
2018-08-11 13:00
Sommers, Richard. Challenges of Command in the Civil War: Generalship, Leadership, and Strategy at Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Beyond: Volume 1: Generals and Generalship. (Savas Beatie: May… Read More
2018-08-05 02:34
It is the summer of 1860. The British government, rattled by a French invasion scare, seeks to train a sizable corps of volunteers armed with the new rifles, much as the Americans had done t… Read More
2018-07-28 02:49
Nice article on James Burton, who, as it says, was one of the most important and influential men in firearms design and development, especially regarding manufacture. An American, he also fi… Read More
2018-07-05 02:39
Hope everyone is having a bang-up (so to speak) 4th of July. It was not such a great day for the Confederacy in 1863, when the news came that Vicksburg had fallen and Lee had been defeated a… Read More
2018-06-23 02:32
In fact, they can, with modern forensic archeology, be quite eloquent. Case in point comes from the Manassas battlefield, when recent excavations have revealed quite a lot about about wounds… Read More
2018-06-02 20:51
My previous post on the Turner rifle has been updated to reflect the fact that it will in fact take a standard P53 Enfield bayonet, which would make it a fully functional military rifle. It… Read More
2018-05-10 02:57
Rob at Britishmuzzloaders does a practical demonstration of the differences of the P53 Enfield and the Snider Enfield. The Snider was basically a P53 that had been converted into a cartridge… Read More
2018-04-10 02:44
Business pressures and tax time have not left much for blogging, for which I apologize. Have some posts in the works, but until then here’s something from Fold3 that might interest rea… Read More
2018-03-23 02:31
Ian at Forgotten Weapons examines two products of the Confederate Cook & Brother manufactury. Cook and Brother was one of the largest and most successful of the private ordnance factorie… Read More
2018-03-19 17:52
Being in New England Massachusetts suffers from an acute shortage of Confederate monuments, giving activists little to do. However, creative ones will find a way, and you can always go after… Read More
2018-03-11 18:04
Ian at Forgotten Weapons examines the Confederate Robinson carbine. S. C. Robinson’s company made some 1900 of them before the Confederate government bought the factory in early 1863… Read More
2018-03-10 03:58
Raynor’s Historical Collectible Auctions site is worth a visit to look at the Civil War manuscripts for auction. You can learn a lot just by looking at the excepts of the letters about… Read More
2018-03-09 03:38
My essay on Picketing, Skirmishing, and Sharpshooting in the Civil War is up at Essential Civil War Curriculum, a Sesquicentennial project of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Vir… Read More
2018-03-03 03:10
Southern Reconstruction By Philip Leigh Hardcover: 229 pages, $29.95 Publisher: Westholme Publishing; 1st edition (June 7, 2017) Language: English ISBN-10: 159416276X ISBN-13: 978-1594162763… Read More
2018-02-25 03:36
The Durham DA has dropped all charges for the remaining vandals who pulled down a Confederate statue. District Attorney Roger Echols did not take questions after a terse statement in which h… Read More
2018-02-19 03:22
Two recent articles are worth a look, one on the changing geography of Black America and another on how mechanization took over cotton farming. Mona Chalabi maps black populations in the US… Read More
2018-01-28 03:55
Led by a local reporter, archeologists think they may have found the wreck of the Clotilda, the last ship reasonably documented as transporting slaves to North America. What’s left of… Read More
2018-01-17 20:45
The breech-loading Sharps rifle was one of the most advanced firearms used in the war. Although used by infantry and sharpshooters, it was used most extensively by Federal cavalry as a carbi… Read More
2018-01-14 03:58
Dollywood has renamed the Dixie Stampede. Now it’s just a Stampede. Dolly says it “streamlines the name of the show, will remove any confusion or concern about it, and will help… Read More
2017-12-30 04:14
Wonder why the Confederate sharpshooters (and I mean here the light infantry battalions) were so feared? Cap and Ball will show you with an original P56 two-band Enfield rifle, which shoots… Read More
2017-12-28 21:55
Most students of Civil War weapons have heard of the Austrian Lorenz rifle. Sometimes called the “Austrian Enfield,” it ranked third in numbers issued to troops on both sides dur… Read More
2017-11-23 03:32
Sharpshooting Rifles of the American Civil War: Colt, Sharps, Spencer, and Whitworth By Martin Pegler Illustrated by Johnny Shumate, Alan Gilliland Publication Date: 24 Aug 2017 80 pages ISB… Read More
2017-11-12 03:25
Lots of bad news all over these days, but I did get a laugh out of this one. The Associated Press had to issue a correction last month after a story suggested that legendary 20th Century mus… Read More
2017-11-07 03:38
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow discusses his biography on Ulysses S. Grant, with a focus on the 18th president’s final years and the writing of his memoirs. Saw part of… Read More
2017-11-06 03:52
Wait, what? So says a letter from a Union surgeon, William C. Towle of the 12th Maine, written from Camp Parapet, near Carrolton, Louisiana, on April 4, 1864. The most of the Negroes who wer… Read More
2017-11-05 02:37
Ian at Forgotten Weapons posts a correction to his Whitworth video, and explains the difference between Minute of Angle, which is how accuracy is measured today, and Figure of Merit, which i… Read More
2017-10-25 02:30
Ian McCollum seems to be on some sort of roll with forgotten and rare Confederate weapons. First up is the Griswold and Gunnison revolver. Griswold and Gunnison were rather unique among Conf… Read More
2017-10-17 02:59
If you haven’t been to the Cedar Creek re-enactment I recommend you go. It’s one of the largest, maybe the largest re-enactment of the year, and at least on the occasions I&rsquo&hell…Read More
2017-10-16 02:33
Ian at Forgotten Weapons has two recent looks at Civil War weapons. The first is at the fabled Whitworth rifle, used to telling effect by Confederate sharpshooters. This particular rifle act… Read More
2017-09-18 23:45
I have updated a post on one of the Confederacy’s most colorful leaders, Col. Harry Maury, which now includes a photograph and info on his burial site.
To read this full story and much… Read More
2017-09-14 02:12
General Lee, never one to be counted out when the chips are down, exercised his demonic powers to crash the crane coming to take him down in Dallas. Who knows what’s next. Crop failure… Read More
2017-09-08 00:19
One of the most interesting but at the same time frustrating parts of researching sharpshooters is finding new sharpshooter units. Of course if you find one there are probably more, but the… Read More
2017-09-05 23:43
I found this from a couple of years ago by Cap and Ball, who compares the relative effectiveness of the Minie ball against a single smoothbore ball and the buck and ball cartridge. No questi… Read More
2017-09-04 18:37
If you have a chance do watch historian Paul Hutton on CSPAN deliver the keynote address for the conference at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Hutton is an exceptionall… Read More
2017-08-27 02:12
Eugene Blackford is a fascinating character and it’s easy to get drawn into his life. I’m currently publishing his wartime letters, but I’m not the only one who’s int… Read More
2017-08-25 00:28
Intriguing article by a biomedical researcher at Duke University, whose research suggests that the crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley died from the effects of their own torpedo. … Read More
2017-08-24 02:47
Which, let us pray, never actually comes to the shooting stage. Nevertheless the madness continues unabated, with statues and images that everyone has ignored for years suddenly becoming thr… Read More
2017-08-20 02:30
Ian at Forgotten Weapons takes an in-depth look at the Volcanic pistol, or rather several of them. In the mid-1850s the company manufactured a ten shot pistol that was not a revolver (and th… Read More
2017-08-19 02:35
I mentioned earlier that a group of vandals had pulled down a statue of a Confederate soldier in Durham. The good news is that the local sheriff has taken it seriously, arresting one woman a… Read More
2017-08-18 02:22
Things have been happening so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up with it all. By now everyone will have heard of the events in Charlottesville, VA, where one person died in a riot… Read More
2017-08-12 02:57
The takedown madness continues, and seems to be spreading like an old-fashioned plague. But first let’s take a glance at New Orleans, just lately freed from the oppressive grip of Conf… Read More
2017-08-09 03:50
The latest outrage is that are streets in Brooklyn, NY, named for Confederate generals. Actually they are on a small Army post there, Fort Hamilton. A local politico says “These monume… Read More
2017-08-05 02:39
Alan Guelzo, a professor at Gettysburg College and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College, has an article in USA Today speculating about what might have happened if the Sout… Read More
2017-07-23 19:24
Excellent short video on the steps to load and fire the Enfield muzzle loading rifle with the issue British cartridge. Not only that, the video presenter is in full period kit. I was going t… Read More
2017-07-03 19:05
Today, July 3rd, was the climatic end to the battle of Gettysburg as Lee’s grand attack failed. Re-enactors will be there for the 154th anniversary, one of the largest events of its ki… Read More
2017-06-30 22:46
This time it’s author J.K. Rowling, who shows that while she’s a great writer of fiction, she’s no historian. “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has added her v… Read More
2017-06-27 02:46
Indiana University Press is having a sale, which includes their Civil War books. Definitely worth a look. We’ve heard a lot about removing statues and even references to American slave… Read More
2017-06-07 02:36
The Henry rifle was a giant step forward in rifle technology, eventually becoming the iconic Winchester 94, which is still produced today. Some historians, like Philip Leigh, are of the opin… Read More
2017-06-03 02:55
They came for General Lee, and before him General Beauregard, after which Mayor Landrieu got up and gave a long speech about what a fine fellow he was for erasing the city’s history. S… Read More
2017-05-30 02:51
Cap and Ball takes a look at the Pepperbox revolver. It’s generic term for a pistol that revolves the entire barrel assembly rather than just the cylinder, and was quite popular in the… Read More
2017-05-15 03:43
This time it’s Jeff Davis. Same MO—heavy, militarized police presence with body armor and snipers on the rooftops. Everyone is masked and the logos and license plates covered, st… Read More
2017-04-26 21:01
Now they’ve banned grits and biscuits made the right way. “We could originally serve half whole grains but that changed in 2012 when we had to start serving 100 percent whole gra… Read More
2017-04-26 03:48
The first of four Confederate monuments came down in New Orleans, but you have to wonder what the hey was going on. The minions of the Crescent City looked more like thieves in the night, wi… Read More
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