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Barksdale’s death
No one might ever have known what happened to the Mississippi Brigade’s commander, General William Barksdale, but for the kindness of two Union soldiers: Private David Parker of the 14th Vermont and...
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Gettysburg: The Withdrawal
Saturday, the Fourth of July, dawned clear for the fourth day in a row, according to Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill. The late Gen. Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade had withdrawn during the night...
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Correspondence
Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade’s division commander Gen. Lafayette McLaws wrote his wife, Emily, from his Hagerstown, Maryland headquarters on Tuesday, July 7. “Since I wrote you last we have had a...
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On picket duty
On Tuesday, July 7, another day of rain, the Mississippi Brigade was ordered out on picket duty at Downsville, Maryland, four miles southeast of Williamsport on the swollen Potomac River. The pontoons...
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Digging in
Spartan Band diarist Will H. Hill wrote in his diary on Saturday, July 11, 1863, that the brigade had moved two miles north towards Hagerstown. They were shoveling up fortifications and digging rifle...
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Return to Virginia
“Monday. Heavy rain last night, raining again today. Our wagon trains commenced crossing the Potomac at Williamsport, Maryland, this morning.” So wrote Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill on July 13,...
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Barksdale’s Brigade at Fredericksburg
Union Captain Andrew Joseph Russell took this photograph of a portion of Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade in Fredericksburg on April 8, 1863. They were posing for Russell— said to be the first official...
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How about four Parrott rifles on Maryland Heights?
Well, it’s undoubtedly a good thing that the Civil War Trust wants to save Harper’s Ferry. Or, at least, thirteen acres of it. And it’s also a good thing that hikers are keeping the Maryland Heights...
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Mississippi Governor Benjamin Grubb Humphreys
This is the official painting from the online site of the Mississippi State Archives, from Humphreys’ brief tenure as Mississippi’s twenty-sixth governor immediately after the war, which has a curious...
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Reprise: Marching and Countermarching
Thursday, July 2, 1863, was clear and warm, according to Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill: “General Lee brought all of his forces up this morning in front of the enemy. Both parties skirmished all...
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