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Charleston 1861: The Other Star-Spangled Banner

By William F.B. Vodrey
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2003, 2005, All Rights Reserved

On April 14, 1861, after an extensive bombardment, the outnumbered and outgunned Union garrison of Ft. Sumter surrendered to the Confederate forces in and around Charleston harbor. U.S. Army Maj. Robert Anderson insisted, as a condition of his troops’ surrender, that they be permitted to fire a 100-gun salute to the huge United States flag that had so defiantly flown over the fort during the battle. Confederate Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard agreed to the demand of Anderson, his former West Point artillery instructor. The Union guns began firing the salute, but on the 47th round, Union Army Private Daniel Hough was killed in the accidental explosion of a pile of cartridges; five others were wounded. Hough was the first casualty of the Civil War. The salute was promptly reduced to 50 rounds. Maj. Anderson and his troops then boarded a steamship and sailed north, with the flag, into history.

Tactical Defeat

By Matt Slattery
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in the winter of 2002.

Many of the books on the Civil War (the fighting Civil War) deal with the strategy of the governments, North and South, and as carried out by their leading generals. Then there is a great break and many books then turn to the story of the individual soldier, the young man in blue or gray, and his contention with the terrors of battles and the risks of years’ long campaigning.

Breaks in the Storm

By Matt Slattery
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in the spring of 2001.

In the history of war much has been written of the drama, the excitement and the glory of battle. Little ink has been spilled to tell of the vast effort, mental and physical, of the preparation for battle. We will not burden you with it here, except to relate that three times during the Civil War these enormous efforts were made and there was no battle. Look at the good side of it from the soldiers’ standpoint: there were no casualties.

The Zouaves

By Dick Crews
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in the winter of 2001.

A strange sight on a Civil War battlefield was the Zouaves. In the Civil War, where a marksman could drop a soldier from a 1,000 yards away, the Zouaves were dressed in gaudy reds and blues. There were Zouave regiments in both the Southern as well as the Northern Army. The famous units were the 5th New York, 114th Pennsylvania, 14th Brooklyn, and 1st Louisiana.

West Point in the Civil War

By Dick Crews
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in the spring of 2002.

The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York was a very confusing place at the beginning of the American Civil War. In January of 1861, cadets were leaving West Point to return home as their home states withdrew from the Union. The Commandant at the time was none other than the later-to-be-famous Confederate general, P.G.T. Beauregard.

Grant vs. Lee

By Dan Zeiser
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in December 2002.

The age-old question. The two best-known generals of the war. The commanders who battled one other at the end of the war. Lee’s surrender to Grant is generally, and incorrectly, considered the end of the war. Given his besting of Lee, is Grant the better general? Much has been written over the years, yet the question remains.

“We Shall Make the Fight!”

General John Bell Hood, CSA and the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864

By Mel Maurer
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved

Confederate General John Bell Hood, commander of the Army of Tennessee, sits on his horse on Winstead Hill looking north towards the village of Franklin TN. It’s 1:00 in the afternoon of November 30, 1864 – a balmy fall day after several days of chilly wet weather in the area. He holds his field glasses in his right hand, his left arm hangs useless at his side – the result of a wound received during the Battle of Gettysburg which almost cost him the arm. Another wound, this time during the Battle of Chickamauga, did cost him all but 4 inches of his right leg. He has an artificial leg but has to be tied to his horse to keep from falling off. General Hood is in pain and he is angry, very angry.

The Battles of Nashville

By Mel Maurer
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Whatever hope the rebellious South had for continuing its fight until the North grew tired of the bloody struggle died – not with the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 – but rather on the hills outside of Nashville Tennessee, when Confederate General John Bell Hood and his Army of Tennessee were crushed in the last great battle of the Civil War in December 1864.

The Battle of Olustee

By Dr. Michael Dory
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a presentation made by Dr. Dory to the CCWRT in April, 2009.

Background

On December 15, 1863, Major General Q. A. Gillmore proposed certain operations in Florida to Major General H. W. Halleck, General in Chief, with the object of recovering the most valuable part of the state, cutting off supplies for the Confederacy, and the recruiting of Negro troops. General Gillmore was commanding the Department of the South of the Federal Army. His headquarters were at Hilton Head, South Carolina.