CW - 150
The Civil War 150th Anniversary
Interesting facts, links, and suggested books for each month of the Civil War.
May 1863
This Month's Events
- 1-6 May. The Battle of Chancellorsville rages on only 50 miles from Washington, D. C. Union Army Major General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac is fighting an army half its size, General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Due to Lee's superior tactics, the Confederates win a major victory. However this triumph is greatly weakened by the wounding of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson by friendly fire along with the deaths of other officers and 25 per cent of the Southern troops -- losses the Confederacy can ill afford. Jackson's last order is to General Dorsey Pender. "You must hold your ground, General Pender, you must hold your ground, sir!"
- 10 May. Days after the amputation of his arm, Stonewall Jackson dies of pneumonia. He is buried in Lexington, Virginia.
- 12 May. Today the Western Democrat in Charlotte, North Carolina is urging people to grow the common garden poppy, extract the juice, and forward it to the "nearest Medical Purveyor". The lack of drugs and medical supplies is an increasing problem.
- During this month the city of Vicksburg is a strong point that controls the Mississippi River and prevents shipping to New Orleans. On May 19 and May 22 two bloody assaults by Union armies on the city's fortifications are unsuccessful. The armies settle in for a seige which will last more than 40 days.
- 22 May. U. S. War Dept. General Order No. 143 establishes a Bureau of Colored Troops. Eventually there will be 175 regiments of the USCT and more than 178,000 men will serve in them.
- 23 May. At the Tuckasseegee Ford on the Catawba River, 700 pounds of gunpowder explode at the North Carolina Powder Manufacturing Company. Five men die and most of the factory is destroyed. The blast rattles windows almost 10 miles away. The Confederacy's need for powder dictates that the mill will be rebuilt, only to explode again in August 1864 with 3 fatalities. Ruins of the mill still exist in a Mecklenburg County park.
- 25 May. A commission as a captain in the U. S. Army engineers is issued to Ely S. Parker of New York. Before the war Parker, who was a civil engineer, had built lighthouses for the government and occupied other government positions. He was also a captain in the New York state militia. However, his repeated applications for a commission had been rejected because he was an Indian and therefore not a citizen. He will finish the war as a lieutenant colonel and later rise to brigadier general. At Appomattox when General Lee is introduced to Parker, Lee remarks, "I'm glad to see one real American here." Replies Parker, "We are all Americans."
- 30 May. Lee reorganizes his Confederate army into 3 corps commanded by Generals James Longstreet, Richard Ewell, and A. P. Hill.
This Month's Fiction
Adult Fiction
The Gallant Mrs. Stonewall; a novel based on the lives of General and Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, by Harnett Thomas Kane, pub. 1957, 320 p. "Anna Morrison was a North Carolinian girl, destined- her relatives feared- for spinsterhood, for she would not compromise with her ideals. When Tom Jackson met her, in Lexington, he was engaged to another girl; but with their marriage and her early death, he turned to Anna who has never forgotten him, and they were married. Those were difficult years, with Jackson a focal point of trouble at the Institute, with war clouds on the horizon, with funds limited and opportunities circumscribed. But their devotion never flagged and when war came, Anna met it with stoicism- joined him when she could- suffered with other women of the Confederacy-and met the ultimate test of courage." [Kirkus review, 1957.]
Young Adult Fiction
The Drummer Boy of Vicksburg, by G. Clifton Wisler, pub. 1997, 133 p. In this story based on the experiences of real-life drummer boy and hero Orion Howe, who served in the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment, Wisler captures well the confusion of battle and the participants' fears of both cowardice and heroism. He doesn't water down the harsh realities, from battle wounds to those who died of illness. A picture of the real Orion is included.
Children's Fiction
Anna Sunday by Call Number: J KEEISBN: 0399238751Publication Date: 2002-05-27In 1863, 12-year-old Anna Sunday hears that her father, a soldier for the Union, lies wounded and possibly near death in Winchester, Virginia. Anna, her younger brother, and their ornery horse Samson leave their home in Pennsylvania and make their way southward, relying on their wits, their instincts, and Anna's disguise (as a boy called Adam) to keep them safe during the difficult journey. When Anna and Jed join their father in the household of a Rebel woman who is nursing him, they find their notions of friend and foe challenged by reality. The eventful, first-person story is told by Anna/Adam, who has vowed not to wear skirts again until she has brought her father safely home. Keehn creates a number of vivid settings and original, believable characters, whose idiosyncrasies add texture and occasional humor to the story. A well-researched Civil War novel. Gr. 5-8.
This Month's Non-Fiction
Adult Nonfiction
The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy by Call Number: 973.745 KRIISBN: 0807127477Publication Date: 2002-01-01In ten chapters based on exhaustive research, esteemed Civil War scholar Robert K. Krick gives eloquent examination to aspects of the Army of Northern Virginia ranging from biographical sketches and the best and worst books on the subject, to Confederate troop strengths and locating soldier records. He begins with two key events: Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's mortal wounding at Chancellorsville and Jackson's most famous quarrel with a subordinate. The title is misleading; he is discussing not the effect of Jackson's death, but the details of the incident.
They Married Confederate Officers: The Intimate Story of Anna Morrison, Wife of Stonewall Jackson and her Five Sisters by Call Number: 929.2 Morrison HER N.C.ISBN: 1886057249Publication Date: 1998-03-01An intimate look at the lives of each of Dr. Robert Hall Morrison's six daughters: Isabella Sophia, Harriet Abigail, Mary Anna, Eugenia Erixene, Susan Washington, and Laura Panthea Morrison. Three of the sisters in this local Lincoln County family married generals.
Warrior in two camps : Ely S. Parker Union general and Seneca chief by Call Number: 970.004 ARMISBN: 0815601433Publication Date: 1978The definitive biography of a man negotiating his way between two cultures. Engineer, military officer, Iroquois executive, Indian Commissioner -- Ely Parker's story deserves to be better known.
Forged in battle : the Civil War alliance of Black soldiers and white officers by Call Number: 973.7 GLAISBN: 0029118158Publication Date: 1989-11-01Relying on many hitherto unused personal letters as well as government documents, Glatthaar very adroitly explores the uneasy balance between some 180,000 Afro-Americans who served in the US Colored Troops and the 7,000 white officers who volunteered, against ridicule and abuse, to transform them into an effective fighting force. Divided by racial tension and racist ideology yet united by the bonds of war, black and white fought side by side to achieve a record of valor at many battlegrounds during the Civil War. Better than any other study, this one clearly demonstrates how the war to save the Union gave way to a war for freedom and equal rights. Yet this is not a complete success story, as Glatthaar poignantly demonstrates, for in the war's aftermath the gallant efforts of black troops slowly faded as the racism of the Reconstruction era provoked a troubling selective memory on the part of many Americans, North and South.
Richard S. Ewell by Call Number: 973.7 PFAISBN: 0807823899Publication Date: 1998-04-27Confederate General Ewell is popularly regarded primarily as a fumbling eccentric who married a rich widow. Pfanz's long overdue third biography of him does much more justice to Ewell, who was a fascinating human being, if not an outstanding soldier. He was a division commander under Stonewall Jackson and a corps and department commander under Lee, who never forgave his mediocre performance at Gettysburg. Ewell became independently wealthy through marrying wealthy widow Lizinka Brown, a much more gifted and interesting person than former dismissals of her allowed. Although more conscientious than brilliant, and probably beyond his competence as a corps commander, Ewell on his good days was a formidable combat commander. He has long deserved the fine biography he now receives.
Children's Nonfiction
Stonewall Jackson by Call Number: jB JacksonISBN: 0382099397Publication Date: 1990-12-01For older children and YA readers, this detailed biography includes a timeline, photos, and maps.
