Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
Link to previous Harper’s Weekly thread
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4245079/posts
Inside Lincoln’s White House: The Complete War Diary of John Hay, edited by Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner Ettlinger
All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23532137/john_d-beugless
Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, June 25, 1864 (“I am daily more dissatisfied with the Treasury management. Everything is growing worse. Chase, though a man of mark, has not the sagacity, knowledge, taste, or ability of a financier.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday-june-25.html
Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, June 25, 1864 (“Hancock’s wound discharged a big piece of bone the other day, and since then he has rapidly improved, and expects in a day or two to return to duty.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/major-general-george-g-meade-to_2.html
Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Saturday, June 25, 1864 (“From White Sulphur [we marched] to Meadow Bluff, twenty-four miles, (reaching there) long after midnight, starved and sleepy. The hardest (march) of the war.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_21.html
Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, June 25, 1864 (Lt. Col. Lyman escorts a pair of French observers around the Petersburg works.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_6.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, June 25, 1864 (“The Second Corps was attacked during the night, the enemy gaining some advantage, but our troops rallied and regained what they had lost.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_21.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: June 25, 1864 (“The troops were reviewed by General [Joseph] Reynolds. There were forty-three white Regiments, four colored, one dismounted cavalry, seven batteries of forty guns.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/01/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-george-g-smith_22.html
Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: June 25, 1864 (“Our guards are composed of the lowest element of the South — poor white trash Very ignorant, much more so than the negro.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_20.html
Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, June 25, 1864 (“John Esher was shot through the face this afternoon by a rebel sharpshooter. The ball struck his jaw bone, knocking out some of his teeth, but it is thought that he will recover.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/04/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_25.html
Great stuff. I love history as it happened. The ad’s are great also.
Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, June 26, 1864 (“(Starting) at sunrise, many without sleeping a wink, we march to Tyrees, twenty miles, [at the] foot of Mount Sewell.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_51.html
Captain Charles Wright Wills: June 26, 1864 (“I have sent you, piecemeal, a journal of every day since May 1st, excepting the last four days, which were stupid.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/04/captain-charles-wright-wills-june-26.html
Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, June 26, 1864 (“Company A of our regiment was in the charge and had one man killed; so close was he to the rebel works that our men had to raise the white flag in order to get his body.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/04/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_68.html
General Robert E. Lee to Mary Custis Lee, June 26, 1864 (“I hope it is not as hot in Richmond as here. The men suffer a great deal in the trenches; and this condition of things, with the heat of the sun, nearly puts an end to military operations.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/02/general-robert-e-lee-to-mary-custis-lee_23.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, June 26, 1864 (“We get plenty of lemons and ice from the Sanitary Commission which alleviates our discomforts considerably.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_22.html
Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: June 26, 1864 (“New prisoners come inside in squads of hundreds, and in a few weeks are all dead The change is too great and sudden for them.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_23.html
The West Point Atlas of War: The Civil War, Chief Editor, Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito
Continued from June 14 (reply #28).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4243578/posts#28
Bruce Catton, Never Call Retreat
Battle Maps of the Civil War: The Western Theater, American Battlefield Trust
Continued from June 24 (reply #38).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4245079/posts#38
James Lee McDonough, William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life
Battle Maps of the Civil War: The Western Theater, American Battlefield Trust
Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade: The Journal of a Confederate Soldier, Edited by A.D. Kirwan
Continued from June 22 (reply #26).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4245079/posts#26
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two
Continued from Continued from June 24 (reply #39).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4245079/posts#39
Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell
Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, June 27, 1864 (Isaac Henderson, co-owner of NY Post and a Navy Agent, has been arrested for fraud, prompting the involvement of all sorts of people.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-monday-june-27.html
Major-General George G. Meade to John Sergeant Meade, June 27, 1864 (“I can hardly tell you what we are going to do next, whether to lay siege to Petersburg or something else; a few days I suppose will tell.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/major-general-george-g-meade-to-john.html
Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, June 27, 1864 (“At 4 A. M., (we) march and meet a train of provisions at or near Mountain Cove. A jolly feeding time. Camp at old Camp Ewing.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_62.html
Captain Charles Wright Wills: June 27, 1864 – Daylight (“I believe we are going to thoroughly whip Johnston to-day, and if we fail I do not care to live to see it.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/04/captain-charles-wright-wills-june-27.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, June 27, 1864 (“There was considerable thunder during the night, but no rain here, yet it has been cooler to-day than yesterday. We have a few lemons left.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_25.html
Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: June 27, 1864 (“Some of the most horrible sights that can possibly be, are common every day occurrences. See men laying all around in the last struggles.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_24.html
Diary of Private Louis Leon: June 27, 1864 (“Received money to-day from home, but they gave me sutler’s checks for it, as we were not allowed any money, for fear we would bribe the sentinels and make our escape.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2024/03/diary-of-private-louis-leon-june-27-1864.html
Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, June 28, 1864 (“Mrs. General Hunter was at our house this evening and has tidings of a favorable character from her husband, who is in the western part of Virginia.” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91528133/maria_indiana-hunter)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-tuesday-june-28.html
Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Tuesday, June 28, 1864 (“March to Loup Creek, fourteen miles; and yesterday to Piatt, twenty-two miles.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_26.html
Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: June 28, 1864 (“Received my commission as Brigadier-general, date June 20. Go to Ninth Corps.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/09/diary-of-colonel-william-f-bartlett.html
Captain Charles Wright Wills: June 28, 1864 (Capt. Wills’ brigade lost a third of its men at Kennesaw Mountain, but he lived to tell about it. Which he does here.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/04/captain-charles-wright-wills-june-28.html
Letter from the Sixth (“The loss in the 6th Iowa [at Kennesaw Mountain] was fifty killed and wounded” – Edwin Alden)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2008/10/letter-from-sixth.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Tuesday, June 28, 1864 (“as we have been in tight places, I guess K Company has won my admiration as a valiant one over all others, except Company B, which will follow me anywhere I lead”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_92.html
Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: June 29, 1864 (“Some tell-tale traitor has been informing on them, for attempting to escape or something Wirtz punishes very hard now. Has numerous instruments of torture just outside the gate.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_29.html
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, June 29, 1864 (“We hear that the pirate Alabama is at Cherbourg. Is she to remain there to be repaired?”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-wednesday-june.html
Letter from Lieut. Vanscoy (“I send you a list of the killed and wounded of Cos. F and B, the casualties resulting from a charge made upon the enemy’s lines, at Kinesaw [sic] Mountain, on the 27th inst.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2008/09/letter-from-lieut-vanscoy.html
Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Wednesday, June 29, 1864 (“General H. G. Wright, our corps commander, had an inspection and review at 7 o’clock this morning.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_27.html
Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: June 28, 1864 (“Can see the dead wagon loaded up with twenty or thirty, bodies at a time, two lengths, just like four foot wood is loaded on to a wagon at the North, and away they go to the grave yard on a trot.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_25.html
Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, June 29, 1864 (“I was taken quite sick, having contracted the intermittent fever while digging the rifle pits along a branch infected with malaria.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/04/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_29.html
James Freeman Clarke to E. C. C., June 29, 1864 (“I have had one or two good talks with Mr. Chase about public affairs; also with Charles Sumner.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/james-freeman-clarke-to-e-c-c-june-29.html
General Robert E. Lee to James Seddon, June 29, 1864—8:30 p.m. (“General Hampton reports that he attacked the enemy’s cavalry yesterday afternoon on their return from Staunton River bridge this side of Sappony Church, and drove them beyond that point.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/01/general-robert-e-lee-to-james-seddon.html
Continued from June 22 (reply #29)
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4245079/posts#29
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals