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Showing posts from March, 2015

The War in 1865: Part Six

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Starting positions on the first day of the Battle of Bentonville. This would be the "last grand charge" of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The Union forces were driven back but did not break. This is another example of the excellent period maps available in my The Civil War Today app. Ending positions of the first day at Bentonville.  Sherman would bring up the rest of his army over the next two days and force Johnston to retreat.  Johnston and much of his army narrowly escaped capture. Note:  This is a continuation of the end of the War Between the States 150 years ago as told by my app, The Civil War Today . General Philip Sheridan's cavalry force roamed freely in northern and central Virginia.  He raided multiple rail depots and appeared only twenty miles from Richmond in no time. He damaged an important aqueduct on the James River Canal. Private property was being ravished by the Union cavalry as well. General George Pickett's division was sent to

Back to Cumberland Island

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The Riverview Hotel in St. Mary's.  We Armadillos always stay here before boarding the ferry for the island. Our camp.  The raccoon cage is essential to keep the pesky critters from stealing your food.  We tried to spruce it up a bit, vacation style. I spent last Sunday - Tuesday on Cumberland Island .  It was my first time back on the island in about 15 years.  Long-time readers know the island was the subject of an earlier post and you can find references to it many times throughout this blog. My daughter motivated my return, just as her mother had been my motivation back in 1988.  It would be my daughter's first trip to the island - how could I refuse? She was out for spring break and had requested to go to Cumberland Island late last fall.  I agreed to go, Jennifer made reservations for the ferry ride over.  The original plan was that my daughter's boyfriend might go with us, but his school schedule did not allow it.  So we gave the extra ferry ticket to Cli

The War in 1865: Part Five

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Note:  This is part of my continuing series on the end of the War Between the States 150 years ago as depicted in my The Civil War Today app. On March 1, 1865 the State of New Jersey became the third Union state to vote against the 13th amendment. Significantly, this was the first free-state to dissent in ratification, the two previous states, Kentucky and Delaware, were slave-states within the Union. The Civil War Today app quotes from The New York Times :  "The discussion of the Constitutional Amendment continued during the principal part of the day. The vote was taken about five o'clock, and the amendment was defeated by a vote of 30 yeas against 30 nays. The result received cheers and hisses in the lobbies. It was a strict party vote." My app goes on to explain: "New Jersey is one of the more conservative Northern states, home to many War Democrats who have favored a war to preserve the Union but reject the abolition of slavery as their cause. The state pas