Civil War

In the beginning of the 1993 movie Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine receives orders assigning 120 men of the Second Maine Regiment who had recently been …
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With the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Rhode Islanders eagerly answered the call to arms. From Westerly to Woonsocket, and from Wallum Lake to Little Compton, the …
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In the early morning hours of October 19, 1864, a large Confederate force under the command of Jubal Early attacked a Union encampment near Cedar Creek, Virginia. Stunned from the …
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“The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat the soldier’s last tattoo.”[1]

Today the death of an American service member initiates a long process beginning with the terrible knock …
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Ever since my book, The Seventh Rhode Island Infantry in the Civil War was published by McFarland in 2008, it opened a literal floodgate of material relating to the Seventh …
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From 1861 to 1865, nearly 24,000 men served in the Union Army in Rhode Island units during the Civil War, or were credited to Rhode Island; approximately 2,000 of these …
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Abraham Lincoln came to Rhode Island at least three separate times but never as President of the United States. In September 1848, Lincoln stopped in the capital city of Providence …
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In the early morning hours of October 19, 1864 along the banks of Cedar Creek, just south of Middletown, Virginia, a large Confederate army under the command of General Jubal …
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When asked the secret to his longevity, John Henry Riley, II, told his listeners: “Go ahead. Do what you want. But never cross the line of moderation.” [1] Riley certainly …
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While women today serve in front-line duties, it was not an accepted practice in the past. However, in the Civil War, there are some stories, some legitimate and others questionable, …
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