Saturday, July 13, 2024

Back Up Documents that Are Available Only Digitally

Online research is very helpful.  It saves a lot of travel.

Many works in the public domain are available online, but those works aren't what I'm writing about.  Those works in the public domain are usually books or manuscripts available in one library or another but scanned into websites such as openlibrary.org and archive.org.

What I'm writing about in this blogpost are documents that are available only on websites that might disappear tomorrow.

Recently I had to do some researching to find the actual wherabouts of a diary I cited from such a website.  I had retrieved the document as late as February 2023 from a website that subsequently disappeared (along with the document).  If I had printed the document from that website while the website still existed, I wouldn't have had to go to the subsequent trouble of tracking down the owner of the diary.

As a result, I must print every document which I've cited as "retrieved" from any non-governmental, non-commercial website.  If I had things to do over again, I'd print those documents as I cited them.

That's my suggestion:  save immediately documents from websites you think may disappear.  They disappear from the internet without warning.

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Saturday, June 1, 2024

The Cotton Bale Bridge of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign

Today I posted a little item on civilwartalks.com's forum for Vicksburg (I hope--this is my first posting there. 

The Cotton Bale Bridge of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign

After the battle of Champion's Hill drove most of the Confederates involved back into Vicksburg on May 16, 1863, they attempted unsuccessfully to make a stand on the Big Black River northeast of the doomed city. As they retreated back into Vicksburg, some of the victorious Federals resorted to an unusual means to pursue—a bridge built of cotton bales.

The chief engineer of McPherson's corps, Capt. Andrew Hickenlooper, arrived at the Big Black about 2 p.m. on May 17. With the help of the chief engineer of Logan's division, Capt. Stewart R. Tresilian, Hickenlooper began construction of a cotton bridge around dark. The bridge had a timber frame filled with 47 cotton bales and covered with boards from a nearby cotton gin. Hickenlooper and Tresilian had both distinguished themselves at the battle of Shiloh. Hickenlooper won praise commanding the 5th Ohio Independent Battery and Tresilian earned the praise of his previous division commander for half a dozen bullet "unsurpassed activity and daring throughout the battle," in which Tresilian suffered six bullet wounds.

By 8:00 a.m. on May 18, their bridge stood 110 feet long by 10 feet wide in water 30 feet deep. At that time, Quinby's division of McPherson's corps advanced over the bridge. "I witnessed the crossing of the division, and found that the 20-pounder Parrott sunk the structure only 14 inches, leaving an excess of buoyancy of 16 inches," wrote Tresilian. "I am of the opinion that the cotton bridge is equal, if not superior, to the pontoon, being much smaller and easily constructed." Theodore Davis, an illustrator for Harper's Weekly, recalled, "The buoyancy of a 500-pound bale of cotton is quite 400 pounds, and serviceable for eight days."

cotton-bridge---davis.jpg

Cotton Bale Pontoon Bridge over the Big Black River
Sketch and Description by Theodore Davis, Harper's Weekly, June 27, 1863​

Sources
OR 10, pt. 1.
OR 24, pt. 2.
"Death of Col. Tresillian," The Monmouth (NJ) Inquirer, Jan. 14, 1869, p. 2, col. 2.
Harper's Weekly, June 27, 1863.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

The Next Issue of North & South Should Have Another Article I've Written: "Confederate Command Chaos on June 22, 1864"

The next issue of North & South Magazine should have another article from me.  This article is entitled Confederate Command Chaos on June 22, 1864.  It comes from my new book, Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864, which covers the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and the closely related Wilson-Kautz Raid.  The Federals suffered a disastrous defeat at Jerusalem Plank Road on June 22, 1864.  Three Confederate brigades routed three Unionist divisions.  The damage could have proved much worse that day had not chaos prevailed among the Secessionist commanders.  Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, whom the late Ed Bearss once called "the personification of the Peter Principle in the Army of Northern Virginia" was responsible for the confusion.


Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill (National Archives)

This will be the third issue in a row of North & South that contains one of my articles.  The current issue (Series II, Vol. 4, No. 2) contains William Crawford Smith:  From C.S.A. Private to U.S.A. Colonel.  Smith was the last color bearer of the 12th Virginia Infantry and his picture graces the cover of my last book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War:  A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019) (winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History).  

Born and reared in Petersburg, Smith moved to Nashville, Tennessee before the war and began a career as an architect.  When war came, he returned to Petersburg and joined the Petersburg Regiment.  After the war, he returned to Nashville and resumed his career as an architect, designing many private and public buildings, including a replica of the Parthenon for Tennessee's Centennial in 1897.  (My wife and I visited his Parthenon on May 9 while we attended a legal conference in Nashville.)  In 1898 he became colonel of the 1st Tennessee Infantry, U. S. Volunteers and died of heat stroke outside Manila in the Philippines in 1899.


The issue of North & South (Series II, Vol. 4, No. 1) before that included my article about Victor Jean-Baptiste Girardey, A Most Remarkable Officer.  Born in Alsace, Girardey became an outstanding staff officer who plays a role in my coming article Confederate Command Chaos on June 22, 1864 as well as in the book from which the article comes, Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864, where he also led Mahone's Florida Brigade to cut off and capture more than 400 Vermonters.  Afterward he earned a promotion from captain to brigadier general by perfectly timing the charge of the Virginia Brigade of Mahone's division at the battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864.  His death at Fussell's Mill on August 16, 1864, is described in another of my books, The Siege of Petersburg:  The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015).


The picture on the cover is from a Keith Rocco painting that depicts the charge of the 39th Illinois at Fussell's Mill on the north side of James River on August 16, 1864.  It was in this charge that Girardey was killed by an Ohio sharpshooter in the same brigade as the 39th Illinois.  The picture hangs in the Tinley Park (IL) Historical Society, a few blocks down the street from my main law office.  Company G of the 39th, "the Preacher's Company," was recruited in Tinley Park (then called New Bremen).  The company included Pvt. Henry Hardenbergh, who carried the flag of the 39th in the charge at Fussell's Mill.  Wounded as the regiment and its brigade broke through the line of Georgians Girardey commanded, Hardenbergh picked himself up and ran along the enemy line to the left, where he killed an Alabama color bearer and captured his flag.  Hardenbergh thus earned a Medal of Honor and a battlefield promotion.  He received them posthumously after his death on the Bermuda Hundred Lines a few days later.  Now he lies in Poplar Grove National Cemetery about six miles south of Petersburg, just west of the Weldon Railroad which his efforts helped Federal forces sever on August 18, 1864. 

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Comments Sought on Why Lee Didn't Sack Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill

I've reached the conclusion that Lee didn't sack Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill either because Lee didn't think Hill was as unfit for corps command as Ewell, or because there was no place to put Hill out to pasture commensurate with his rank.  

Ewell lost his composure at Spotsylvania.  Hill allowed a subordinate to blunder into an undesired general engagement at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863; failed to inform his subordinates of his whereabouts on July 2, thus hundering reinforcement of his corps' attack on Cemetery Ridge; failed to recommend his freshest, strongest brigades for the first wave of Pickett's Charge on July 3; launched an inadequately reconnoitered attack at Bristoe Station on October 14 that ended in a bloody repulse; failed to strengthen up his lines on the night of May 5-6 in the Wilderness, resulting in their collapse on May 6; was too ill to lead his corps at the beginning of Spotsylvania; launched a piecemeal attack that failed at Jericho Mills on May 23; and impaired execution of Mahone's plan that routed II Corps on June 22.

Ewell got the Department of Richmond when he lost his corps in May.  Early remained in command of the Army of the Valley District with a division of infantry and two of cavalry in December.  There was no place to park Hill commensurate with his rank.

I contend that if Hill's position had opened up, there was no reason not to promote Mahone to fill it after his contribution to victory at Jerusalem Plank Road (June 22-23) and First Reams Station (June 29), and certainly after the Crater (July 30).  Lee had the gumption to promote Mahone's staffer Girardey from captain to brigadier general over several colonels after the Crater; why would Lee have lacked the nerve to promote Mahone over Heth and Wilcox?

Please prove me wrong.

Thanks,

John Horn

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Inscribed Copies of "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864" for Sale at a Discount to Amazon's Price

I have for sale at a discount to Amazon's price a few brand new copies of The Siege of Petersburg:  The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  This acclaimed book is currently the only volume focused entirely on the dramatic August 1864 fighting around Petersburg. 

Grant's Fourth Offensive at Petersburg...is excellently covered in John Horn's The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  This revised, expanded edition of his original 1991 book ranks as the foremost study of the Fourth Offensive.  It belongs in every Civil War Library.

--Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg


A superior piece of Civil War Scholarship.

--Edwin C. Bearss, former Chief Historian of the National Park Service and award-winning author of The Petersburg Campaign: Volume I, The Eastern Front Battles and Volume II, The Western Front Battles 

My profits from my 2024 sales of "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864" will go toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.


Amazon's best price for a new book is $24.39 plus $3.99 shipping, a total of $28.38.

My price for a new book is $20.00 and shipping (media mail USPS) is free in the USA.

Plus I'll inscribe the copies I sell. 

Those interested in purchasing a copy should contact me at johnedwardhorn@gmail.com.

Or just send a check for $20 and your address to John Horn at 16710 Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477-2716 and I'll send you an inscribed copy.

The dust jacket is from a Keith Rocco painting that hangs in the Tinley Park, Illinois, Historical Society, just down the street from my law office.  The painting depicts the charge of the 39th Illinois on August 16, 1864.  The 39th was the only regiment from Illinois in Grant's army group at the time.  The 39th and its brigade broke through an entrenched Confederate line.  The 39th's color bearer, Henry Hardenbergh, was wounded in the charge but picked himself up, charged down the line and captured the colors of an Alabama regiment.  For this he earned a Medal of Honor and a battlefield commission.  He received them posthumously, being killed on August 28, 1864, in the Bermuda Hundred trenches.  He is buried about six miles south of Petersburg, Virginia, in Poplar Grove National Cemetery.

My next book (working title:  Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864) may be published as early as 2025.  The last proofreader has delivered the manuscript to me.  The last document I needed to review arrived today.  The manuscript goes off to Savas Beatie by the end of this month!

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Coming in North & South Magazine--"William Crawford Smith: From C.S.A. Private to U.S.A. Colonel."

I expect the next issue of North & South Magazine to include my article, "William Crawford Smith:  From C.S.A. Private to U.S.A. Colonel."  Smith was the last color bearer of the 12th Virginia Infantry.  After the war, he moved to Nashville where he designed the city's Parthenon for Tennessee's Centennial.  In 1898, he mustered in as colonel of the 1st Tennessee Infantry United States Volunteers.  In 1899, he died in the Philippines while leading his regiment near Manila.  His photo graces the cover of my last book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War:  A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019), winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.


Courtesy of William Turner

My next book, Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864, should be out next year and covers the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid.  The result of the last proofreading is in my hands.  


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Inscribed Copies of "The Petersburg Regiment" for Sale at a Discount to Amazon's Best Price

I have for sale at a discount to Amazon's price a few brand new copies of The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865, winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.

My profits from my 2024 sales of this book will go toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.



Amazon's best price for a new book is $29.47 plus $3.99 shipping, a total of $33.46.

My price for a new book is $30.00 and shipping (media mail USPS) is free in the USA.

Plus I'll inscribe the copies I sell. 

Those interested in purchasing a copy should contact me at johnedwardhorn@gmail.com.

Or just send a check for $30 and your address to John Horn at 16710 Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477-2716 and I'll send you an inscribed copy.   



My next book (working title:  Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864) may be published as early as 2025.  The last proofreader is putting the manuscript in the mail to me today!