The American Civil War - Chronologically

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 date 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. And 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...

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 Fords Theatre, where I happened to catch a great performance of Scott Bakula as Lincoln (Winter 2024)!  Outside Fords 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 Surrat...