The American Civil War - Chronologically

Nov. 14, 1865 Grand Review of U.S. Colored Troops Harrisburg, PA 'Excluded from a May 1865 "Grand Review of the Armies" in Wash., DC, U.S. Colored Troops from Penna. and Mass. regiments assembled here at State and Filbert Sts. on Nov. 14, 1865 for a parade honoring their courage during the Civil War. Grand Marshal T. Morris Chester led them through Harrisburg to Sen. Simon Cameron's Front St. home to be gratefully acknowledged. Octavius Catto, William Howard Day, Gen. JB Kiddoo, & the Rev. Stephen Smith spoke.' https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6773 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=213138 This guy was also from Harrisburg! https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6658 Elsewhere on the original capitol grounds, there are other monuments to the Underground Railroad that mention this grand review: " Harrisburg's prominent role in the advance of the Union cause leading to the Civil War was particularly evident by its sympathy in harboring former slaves who had escaped servitu...

June 19, 1865 Maj. General Gordon Granger's General Orders, Number 3 Galveston, TX Here's Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on "What is Juneteenth?" Among other things he points out: * " by the time Granger assumed command of the Department of Texas, the Confederate capital in Richmond had fallen; the “Executive” to whom he referred, President Lincoln, was dead; and the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was well on its way to ratification." *  While that d ate did not actually mark the unequivocal end of slavery, even in Texas, and emancipation has been celebrated on other dates, June 19 came to be a day of shared commemoration across the United States – created, preserved, and spread by ordinary African Americans – of slavery's wartime demise. * OK, so I haven't made it to Texas yet; here's Baltimore's Juneteenth Memorial from the University of Baltimore https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=219629

1862-1865 Niblett's Bluff Vinton, Louisiana * Yes, this is a violation of my stated intention to focus on the Eastern Theater.    " Although no bloody battles were fought here, thirty ["]heroes["] were struck down by disease and their graves bear silent testimony to those grim days of the South." I don't know what's more disturbing: that they were founded in 2000 or that they reenact a battle that never happened. I'm not sure if the p rehistoric stonecutters have any direct connection to the Lost Cause worshippers, others than sharing the same idyllic spot along the river.  "Niblett's Bluff was a trading post and a prominent stop-over on the Old Spanish Trail long before the War. A man named Niblett operated a store near the banks of the Sabine River and his name was given to the settlement in the early 1830s. The old cemetery here numbers many graves more than 100 years old. The Bluff was a large shipping port during the War. Many cargoes w...

May 3, 1865 First Hoisting of the Stars and Stripes in the Country of Loudon since the outbreak of the Rebellion  Lovettsville, VA * Plus a bunch of river fordings, after Antietam in '62 and Gettysburg in '63 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=90514 Lovettsville in the Civil War Union Gateway to Virginia After Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army from northern Virginia in March 1862 to defend Richmond, neither Confederate nor Union force occupied Loudoun County permanently. Both armies, however, often passed through. The Confederates' favorite Potomac River crossings were downstream: White's Ford, Edwards Ferry, and Rowser's Ford. The Federals preferred Berlin (present-day Brunswick), Maryland, three miles north of here. The Army of the Potomac crossed into Lovettsville after the September 1862 Battle of Antietam . Union Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's cavalry and Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps occupied the town, which army nurse Sara Emma Edmonds ...

April 14 - 26, 1865  Chasing Lincoln's Assassin and Accomplices Washington, D.C. > Southern Maryland > Virginia  * No obscure skirmish here! Most will have heard this story, read the book, or seen the movie/miniseries, so the ~15 stops of this glorious driving tour are presented  with minimal commentary  to speak for themselves. Oh, how I wish all my daytrips could be represented by timelines grafted onto maps. This was a fun day, from top to bottom (Feb. 2025)! Only that cottage defied detection. First, witness the still-preserved Presidential box at Ford's Theatre, where I happened to catch a great performance of Scott Bakula as Lincoln (Winter 2024)!  Outside Ford's Theatre  And the house directly across the street, where Lincoln actually died.  After he shot Lincoln, jumped onto the stage (breaking his leg), and ran,  the chase was on...Booth's first stop was just outside D.C., in Maryland.  https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=154461 Surr...