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Military History

Started by WeinerInHand, November 24, 2018, 11:14:38 AM

WeinerInHand

A brief fifteen minute overview of the Battle of Midway.
A lot of animated maps and real combat footage.

https://youtu.be/kipF5zoCGAk


WeinerInHand

Clarence Hutton was serving as the adjutant to General Bryan Grimes when he was wounded during the Confederate assaults that took place against Getty’s Division on Cemetery Hill. In an earlier post, we followed Hutton as he advanced with the overwhelmingly successful early morning Confederate attacks. The following is a continuation of Hutton’s experience which includes a description of his wound and the frantic retreat of the Confederates.  We pick up with Hutton and the Confederates advancing against Cemetery Hill:

“ Onward we charge, the shell is screaming and bursting, and the rifle balls whistling and spattering through and around us- that yell, that glorious old “Rebel Yell” ringing in my ears. With that eager, fiery, exulting feeling, which only just such a situation can produce- almost over the low-land, within about 40 feet of the enemy- our lines went forward. The enemy’s lines appeared to waver and success was almost in hand, when a minie ball struck me square in front of my lower neck in that little V in the breastbone and passed back into the muscles in front of the backbone, where it has lodged to this day.

As our column came up and passed me, some of our men caught me as I was falling off of my horse, and straightening me out on the ground, supposedly to die. The men, charging on, gallantly drove the enemy from their position, routed, and I was afterwards told that this was the last charge made by our forces, supposing them too badly routed to make another stand.

I was picked up on a stretcher, taken to the field hospital, where I was laid on the ground, and a knapsack under my head, until the surgeons came to me. Dr. Sutton, Dr. Morton, and two or three more. They looked at the wound, ran their fingers into it, and as they afterwards told me, felt the ball had abraided the main artery of the neck, from which I was bleeding like a hog, they concluded it would surely kill me to cut for the ball, and believing I would die anyway, just bound me up.

The surgeons then sent me in an ambulance just starting with Colonel Davis, of our brigade. His arm had been shot off, and we were carried to the house of the Mayor of Strasburg, where he was taken in. As the drivers and helpers came out of the house some of our cavalry came dashing in, shouting: “We are flanked! Get out! Get out!” Jumping in, they drove furiously on, and when they came to a bridge over a ditch which crossed the road about midway to Fisher’s Hill, in attempting to cross it they turned the ambulance over with me in it. In a few minutes bullets came plugging through the ambulance from the Yanks up on the hillside. Though I had been given strict injunction not to move hand or foot, for fear of breaking open the artery, I crawled out and into an ordnance wagon which a jam had temporarily stopped, although the driver threatened to brain me with his whip. So finally I reach Fisher’s Hill, where I recognized the voice of our surgeons, and crawling out, was fortunate to catch one of the ambulances about to start with the wounded for the rear, and so at last, to Richmond."

Hutton would survive his wound carrying the minie ball from Cedar Creek in his neck for the rest of his life.

Image: “Rally on the Battery” by Keith Rocco

Quoted Text: Clarence Hutton, "The Great Battle of Cedar Creek", Richmond Times- Dispatch November 11, 1906.


pate



I sometimes like to think that there was a Union position set up in my back yard during this battle.  I have never researched it, but I am pretty close to a high point behind the Union lines that would have been a nice fall-back position if the battle went "South" for the North.  I guess it depends on what the terrain was like then, cleared or forested.  If it was clear, there would be a pretty good vantage point to Loose Park, I think.  Now there are a bunch of tall buildings & houses obstructing a clear view to the area in question.  I am reasonably sure that the old "Mill Creek" that isn't shown on this map (damn hard to find a map showing Mill Creek, btw I think it is a big storm drain now) ran through my back-yard.  There's just this really old brick wall in the corner of my yard that points almost like an arrow at the battle site, it was probably built in the 1920s but I sometimes like to "pretend" that it was a redoubt position for Union troops in case they had to retreat.  If you remove all the structures that weren't around at the time it would have a pretty good commanding field of fire on what was the town of Wesport at the time...


WeinerInHand

It's amazing the history our country has had for as young as it is! The best part is that you can step outside your door and see (relatively) the same sight as those you read about in text. This explains my draw to the French and Indian Wars. Northeast Ohio - right in the center of it!






I grew up on the mouth of the Conneaut Creek, and there was a tribe there known as the Erie Indians: sometimes known as the Cat Nation because they would dress themselves in bobcat furs.




They were part of the Iroquois Nation but always went rogue and ambushed bands of French and Indian traders as they made their way south down the Conneat Creek en route to the Ohio River.



Well, as you can guess, this didn't go over very well!
They were hunted down by the Iroquois and slaughtered right there at the mouth of the Conneaut Creek. We used to go hunting for arrowheads but never really found much.




WeinerInHand

THUNDERBOLT

Hartsville, Tennessee
December 7, 1862
Artwork by John Paul Strain

After accomplishing little in the Kentucky Campaign of 1862, General Braxton Bragg had fallen back over Cumberland Gap and settled in East Tennessee. He sought and received permission from Richmond to shift his operations to middle Tennessee and center on Murfreesborough.

To prevent Federal General Rosecrans, whose army lay at Nashville, from foraging north of the Cumberland River, Colonel John H. Morgan had been ordered to disrupt the Federal lines of communications. Learning of an isolated Union force at Hartsville, Tennessee, Morgan determined to capture it. Two brigades of infantry, with the assistance of General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry, would create a diversion by feigning an attack towards Nashville as Morgan struck out for the detachment of Federals.

His force would consist of 1,400 men under his command with Colonel Basil Duke, Morgan's brother-in-law, as his second. Two infantry regiments, the 2nd and 9th Kentucky Infantry would also take part in the raid. Both regiments were from the 1st Kentucky Brigade. The 2nd Kentucky had been recently exchanged after being taken prisoner at Fort Donelson, and the 9th was led by Morgan's uncle, Colonel Thomas H. Hunt. Cobb's battery of artillery, two small howitzers, and two rifled Ellsworth guns from Morgan's own command would also be taken along. Colonel Morgan himself would assume the roll as temporary Brigadier General.

On snow-covered roads this mixed force of cavalry, infantry and artillery started the trek to Hartsville. Waiting for them was a Union brigade numbering about two thousand men. At Castalian Springs, nine miles further on, were two more Federal brigades and an additional 5,000 men. Beyond that was the remainder of a Federal division. Morgan would have to hit hard and quickly to be successful.

The infantry had been made a promise before the march, that they would ride part of the way. The cavalry would give up their mounts and march while the infantry rode. Beyond Lebanon the cavalrymen turned their horses over to the foot soldiers. But it soon became apparent what a bad arrangement this was. The infantry had gotten their feet wet while marching through the snow. After riding a short time, their feet were nearly frozen from the inaction in the stirrups and the men wanted nothing more than to get down and walk. By this time the cavalrymen's feet were wet, and when they remounted, it was their turn to suffer from the cold. All found it difficult to return the horses to their proper owners when it got dark. In the words of one who was there, "the infantry-men damned the cavalry service with all the resources of a soldier's vocabulary." This absurd arrangement would not be used again soon.

Crossing the Cumberland River on the night of the 6th, Morgan positioned his forces to cut off all avenues of retreat from Hartsville. With his remaining men he fell on the Federal brigade drawn up to receive his attack. A stubborn fight of an hour and a half resulted in a complete Confederate victory.

Almost before the fighting ended Morgan began his withdrawal from Hartsville. In his report dated December 9, l862 he reports that his command "defeated and captured three well-disciplined and well-formed regiments of infantry, with a regiment of cavalry, and took two rifled cannon . . . taking about 1800 prisoners, 1800 stand of arms, a quantity of ammunition, clothing, quartermaster's stores and 16 wagons." The results exceeded his expectations. Now with eight thousand Federal soldiers just eight miles off, he had to move quickly away with his spoils. Sending cavalry to delay the Federals that were marching to the assistance of their comrades, he made for the Cumberland River. The show of force delayed pursuit long enough to "give me time to pass the ford with infantry, artillery, and baggage-wagons." Ending his report of the Hartsville raid with a flourish he wrote: Three federal regimental standards and five cavalry guidons fluttered over my brave column on their return from this expedition.


Copy / Paste is alright  when you  hit it.
BULLSEYE.
Damn nice article on the ThunderBolt.    :-)
Here's my Baby...
http://www.avialogs.com/index.php/en/aircraft/usa/northrop/p-61blackwidow/4097pilottrainingmanualp-61blackwidow.html
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/p-61.htm
http://www.airpages.ru/eng/us/p61.shtml
http://zenoswarbirdvideos.com/P-61.html
An ongoing restoration project that needs help...    http://www.maam.org/p61/p61_rest.htm

These aircraft were few and far between. They entered the war late, served mainly over africa, but were undefeatable.
These were maneuverable Bombers, powered by the most powerful Rotaries of the time.
The only aircraft that could out-bomb, out-maneuver, or outrun the P-61, was the Mescherschmitdt-262.  And that Fucker was jet propelled - and experimental, at the time.

http://www.maam.org/p61/p61links.html





Yeah, 5-man crew, and she could out-maneuver a P-51 Mustang.   ;)


WeinerInHand

My dad was army infantry in the pto and I think that always drew my attention to the naval aircraft of the day, such as:

The Grumman Hellcat


The F4U Corsair


And the SBD Dauntless



WeinerInHand

Epic History TV



Marshal Jean Lannes is remembered as one of Napoleon’s most talented and courageous commanders. In 1805, Lannes and Marshal Murat captured the crucial bridge to Vienna (without a shot fired) by convincing Austrian troops that an armistice had been signed, paving the way for the city’s capture. You can find out more about the 1805 campaign our video:

https://youtu.be/bhQe2cjr5XQ

WeinerInHand

Art by Mort Kunstler

This Day in History: Pearl Harbor Attacked, 1941
At the time, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the most costly defeat ever suffered by the United States, but as it proved, it was for the Japanese the most costly victory. Instead of knocking out the United States, it united the American people and fired its will to victory as nothing else could have done.




WeinerInHand

A little over four minutes.
The Prelude.

https://youtu.be/X8cgnKrUAq8

Eighteen minutes.
The Attack.

https://youtu.be/f6cz9gtMTeI

Two minutes.
The United States declares WAR!
(A Day of Infamy)

https://youtu.be/ZJZLc5_l-_Q

WeinerInHand

I have never seen the entirety of the Civil War explained so quickly and so thoroughly. Amazing!
Twenty minutes.

https://youtu.be/ZmxfJqxwVIs

Here's the producer of the YouTube vids:

WeinerInHand

You wanna talk about a bad ass!!!

Master Sergeant Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez (August 5, 1935 â€" November 29, 1998) was a member of the United States Army Special Forces (Studies and Observations Group) and retired United States Army Master Sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968.

Ten minutes.
https://youtu.be/0B2w0abQazg

WeinerInHand



James Longstreet was a U.S. Army officer, government official and most famously a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (1861-65). One of Robert E. Lee’s most trusted subordinates, Longstreet played a pivotal role in Confederate operations in both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the war. Known as “Lee’s War Horse,” Longstreet first distinguished himself in early Confederate victories at the Battles of First and Second Bull Run before mounting a pair of successful defensive stands at the Battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862. Longstreet played a controversial part in the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, in which he reluctantly oversaw “Pickett’s Charge,” a doomed offensive that resulted in a Confederate defeat. Longstreet later took part in the crucial Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga in Tennessee, and was seriously wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. After the war Longstreet’s criticism of Robert E. Lee’s tactics and his support of Lincoln’s Republican partyâ€"in particular the 1868 presidential campaign of Ulysses S. Grantâ€"led to repeated attacks on his character in the South. Longstreet would go on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and as a railroad commissioner before his death in 1904.



https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/james-longstreet


About six minutes.
https://youtu.be/IjG7NQdcObs

WeinerInHand

Art by Mort Kunstler
This Day in History: Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862

Union forces forded the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg and commanding Gen. Ambrose Burnside sent wave after wave of Federal troops in a brave, but fatal, attack on the strongly entrenched Confederate positions on Marye's Heights.

Valor in Gray


Courage in Blue


WeinerInHand

From Hallowed Grounds:

So Close to the Enemy
Fredericksburg, Va., December 12, 1862
Artwork by Mort Kunstler

It was a daring reconnaissance â€" and an immeasurable risk. On December 12, 1862, as the massive Northern Army of the Potomac under General Ambrose E. Burnside prepared to assault the Southern lines at Fredericksburg, General Robert E. Lee concluded that he needed additional reconnaissance of the enemy â€" and decided to do it himself. As a young officer in the Mexican War, Lee had distinguished himself with a foray behind enemy lines, and he apparently had no qualms about reconnoitering close to the Union position this time. Accompanied by his “right arm” â€" General Stonewall Jackson â€" and Major Johann Heros von Borcke, Lee moved cautiously through the snow toward Northern lines.

Closer and closer, the high-ranking observers moved â€" until they were within approximately four-hundred yards of the Federal advance line. Despite the danger, Lee studied the enemy in front of him until he could tarry no more. The next day, the giant Northern army he had observed so carefully would come forward in an attempt to destroy Lee’s army. They held numerical superiority â€" Lee was assured of that; but he was also confident of his superior defensive position and of the ability of his troops: the Army of Northern Virginia. The battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war â€" and one of the greatest disasters to befall the Union army. So one-sided were the Northern losses, that Lee â€" watching wave after wave of courageous Federal troops crushed and repelled â€" remarked to those around him: “It is good that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it.”

The unknown irony of the battle was that the Confederate commander, camouflaged in the snow-covered landscape, conducted a personal reconnaissance within easy range of the Union artillery. Lee, Jackson and von Borcke, were “so close to the enemy,” as von Borcke noted â€" that the outcome of the battle could have been changed by a single vigilant Northern observer. Undiscovered in his bold foray, Lee directed one of his most significant victories of the war.


WeinerInHand

From Hallowed Grounds:

Lee's Lieutenants
Fredericksburg, Virginia December 13, 1862
Artwork by Mort Kunstler

The scene occurred on December 13, 1862, during Lee's defense of Fredericksburg, Virginia. A dense fog hung over the city that morning as Lee moved to confer with his commanders on a hill overlooking the city. Stonewall Jackson attended the meeting in a new uniform, which was a gift from General J.E.B. Stuart. Jackson's devoted soldiers, who were accustomed to Stonewall's worn uniform, were bedazzled by the gold braid and crisp look of the new uniform. They spontaneously broke into wild cheers. It was then, in the words of Douglas Southall Freeman, that "drab daylight began to soften into gold under the rays of a mounting sun." Fredericksburg's church steeples emerged in the distance above the morning mist.


WeinerInHand

From Hallowed Grounds

Valor in Gray(Expanded)
Kershaw's Brigade at Fredericksburg December 13, 1862
Artwork by Mort Kunstler

They faced the most powerful army in America. Advancing in battle lines up the hill toward them was the mighty Army of the Potomac - more than 115,000 strong - composed of courageous, well-trained combat troops under the command of General Ambrose E. Burnside. For half a year, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been persistently hammered by this great army, led by one Northern commander after another. Back in autumn at Antietam, the men in gray had escaped destruction by this same blue-uniformed host. Now they faced them again on the field of battle at Fredericksburg.

This time, however, they had a formidable advantage. They held an almost impregnable line of defense, which was anchored in a sunken road behind a stone wall on Marye’s Heights. The Northern troops advancing on them now in a mighty mass had to assault uphill over a long and open plain. Defending the Sunken Road were troops from Georgia, North Carolina, and Kershaw’s Brigade of South Carolinians, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw. Descended from a prominent Southern family, Kershaw had been orphaned as a boy and had worked his way through life with remarkable success as a self-educated lawyer, a local militia officer, a Mexican War veteran, and a Confederate officer distinguished by a rapid rise in rank to brigadier general. Despite the numerical superiority of the men in blue at Fredericksburg, Kershaw held his brigade steady and poured forth a terrible fire from behind the stone wall.

Kershaw demonstrated “great coolness and skill,” observed a fellow officer, and helped transform the gigantic Federal assault into one of the North’s worst defeats. While Southern forces in the road and along the ridges behind it would lose a thousand men, the assaulting Northern forces would lose almost eight thousand. Finally, after making one courageous charge after another, the men in blue would give up. The Battle of Fredericksburg would be heralded as one of Robert E. Lee’s greatest victories - due in great measure to the valiant defense made by these sons of the South. It would long be celebrated in the Southern homeland as a triumph of valor in gray.


Quote from: WeinerInHand on December 13, 2018, 10:06:18 AM
From Hallowed Grounds

Valor in Gray(Expanded)
Kershaw's Brigade at Fredericksburg December 13, 1862
Artwork by Mort Kunstler

They faced the most powerful army in America. Advancing in battle lines up the hill toward them was the mighty Army of the Potomac - more than 115,000 strong - composed of courageous, well-trained combat troops under the command of General Ambrose E. Burnside. For half a year, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been persistently hammered by this great army, led by one Northern commander after another. Back in autumn at Antietam, the men in gray had escaped destruction by this same blue-uniformed host. Now they faced them again on the field of battle at Fredericksburg.

This time, however, they had a formidable advantage. They held an almost impregnable line of defense, which was anchored in a sunken road behind a stone wall on Marye’s Heights. The Northern troops advancing on them now in a mighty mass had to assault uphill over a long and open plain. Defending the Sunken Road were troops from Georgia, North Carolina, and Kershaw’s Brigade of South Carolinians, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw. Descended from a prominent Southern family, Kershaw had been orphaned as a boy and had worked his way through life with remarkable success as a self-educated lawyer, a local militia officer, a Mexican War veteran, and a Confederate officer distinguished by a rapid rise in rank to brigadier general. Despite the numerical superiority of the men in blue at Fredericksburg, Kershaw held his brigade steady and poured forth a terrible fire from behind the stone wall.

Kershaw demonstrated “great coolness and skill,” observed a fellow officer, and helped transform the gigantic Federal assault into one of the North’s worst defeats. While Southern forces in the road and along the ridges behind it would lose a thousand men, the assaulting Northern forces would lose almost eight thousand. Finally, after making one courageous charge after another, the men in blue would give up. The Battle of Fredericksburg would be heralded as one of Robert E. Lee’s greatest victories - due in great measure to the valiant defense made by these sons of the South. It would long be celebrated in the Southern homeland as a triumph of valor in gray.


It is said that the Union troops gave a cry directed at the Southern troops after it was clear that Pickett's Charge was a slaughter: "Fredericksburg.....FREDERICKSBURG....!!!"

I'll take this opportunity to thank you and encourage you to continue your posts in this thread.  They are appreciated.

WeinerInHand

Quote from: DigitalPigSnuggler on December 15, 2018, 08:22:12 AM


It is said that the Union troops gave a cry directed at the Southern troops after it was clear that Pickett's Charge was a slaughter: "Fredericksburg.....FREDERICKSBURG....!!!"

I'll take this opportunity to thank you and encourage you to continue your posts in this thread.  They are appreciated.

Thank you for the kind words.

Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! The losses sustained, due to the hubris of Union commanders in this battle remained a rally cry until the end of the war.

I found this book for my kindle and I think that I payed four bucks for it:


Here is a great documentary but it is around 45min. long:
https://youtu.be/34sYIMF95J8

After the battle, Lee was quoted "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."

WeinerInHand

Mosby's Raiders



John Singleton Mosby

(December 6, 1833 â€" May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname, the "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's Rangers or Mosby's Raiders, was a partisan ranger unit noted for its lightning-quick raids and its ability to elude Union Army pursuers and disappear, blending in with local farmers and townsmen. The area of northern central Virginia in which Mosby operated with impunity was known during the war and ever since as Mosby's Confederacy.



The 43rd Battalion was formed on June 10, 1863, at Rector's Cross Roads, near Rectortown, Virginia, when John S. Mosby formed Company A of the battalion. Mosby was acting under the authority of General Robert E. Lee, who had granted him permission to raise a company in January 1863 under the Partisan Ranger Act of 1862, in which the Confederate Congress authorized the formation of such units. By the summer of 1864, Mosby's battalion had grown to six cavalry companies and one artillery company, comprising about 400 men. After February 1864, the Confederate Congress revoked the authority of all partisan units, except for two, one of which was the 43rd Battalion, the other being McNeill's Rangers. The battalion never formally surrendered, but was disbanded on April 21, 1865, after Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House to Ulysses S. Grant, but not before attempting to negotiate surrender with Major General Winfield S. Hancock in Millwood, Virginia.

A forty five minute documentary:
https://youtu.be/Uu0M08S2MfQ

WeinerInHand

From Hallowed Grounds:

The Angel of the Battlefield
Clara Barton with Walt Whitman at Chatham, December 15, 1862
Artwork by Mort Kunstler

In December of 1862, the small town of Fredericksburg, Virginia bore witness to one of the most one-sided battles of the entire Civil War. After crossing the Rappahannock River and taking possession of the heavily shelled town, Federal troops were devastated during a series of futile assaults on an impenetrable area beyond the city limits known as “Marye’s Heights.”

Local churches, homes and businesses were often commandeered by the military to be used as field hospitals. Unfortunately, the conditions at these makeshift medical sites were often deplorable. One woman who was determined to improve the healthcare of wounded soldiers everywhere was a volunteer nurse named Clara Barton.

After assisting surgeons in the town’s battered churches, Barton went back across the river to the Lacy House, also known as Chatham. Located atop a bluff called “Stafford Heights,” the estate overlooked Fredericksburg and had originally been used as the Union army headquarters prior to the battle. By her estimate, there were no fewer than twelve hundred men crowded into the rooms of the mansion, with rows more stationed outside on the cold hard ground.

Lying among this sea of bloody blue uniforms were a number of gray-clad wounded in need. One rebel, Captain Thurman Thomas of the 13th Mississippi Volunteers, was caught behind enemy lines, but grateful for the mercy he received. The “Angel of the Battlefield,” as Barton was called, treated the wounded Confederate with the same care and concern that she employed with her own boys. Her act of charity for Thomas and his companions echoed the sentiment that true compassion drew no political distinction.

For the next two weeks Barton stayed at Chatham, where she saw “hundreds of the worst wounded men I have ever seen.” Throughout the remainder of the war she routinely helped soldiers from both sides, and those who survived regarded her as their savior.

Following the end of the war, Barton traveled abroad, helping to end suffering on an international level. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross, which continues to carry on her mission of mercy today.




WeinerInHand

A four minute video explaining infantry line tactics of the Civil War.

https://youtu.be/tYg3v9lUuNA

Metron2267

Quote from: WeinerInHand on December 16, 2018, 12:30:00 PM
Seven minutes

https://youtu.be/n3Q6RyDFAJI

Worth every one of them too, and even then it went by so fast I had to watch it again. Pretty interesting that we didn't even have a service helmet until WW1!

Those Mexican war unis with the high collar - uggh! Folks forget that everything was wool-based for a very long time and if you've read any of the Time/Life Western Classic reprints of narratives from back in this nation's early western military history you know those were BRUTAL in the hot sun.



Can not more highly recommend a series which is easily found used. "On the Border With Crook" is a personal favorite.


WeinerInHand

It's an amazing transformation from the formal to the rational.

I've got around twenty military books on my kindle that I still need to read. I have no idea why I keep buying them!

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