r/CIVILWAR • • Mar 12 '26

A Note on Fake T Shirt Posts

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53 Upvotes

THERE IS NO T-SHIRT

A common scam on Reddit is for bots to pretend to have purchased a t-shirt then automatically reply with a link as soon as someone asks.

Do not click it.

Do not interact with the thread other than to report it.

There is no t-shirt, only malware.


r/CIVILWAR • • Aug 05 '24

Announcement: Posting Etiquette and Rule Reminder

37 Upvotes

Hi all,

Our subreddit community has been growing at a rapid rate. We're now approaching 40,000 members. We're practically the size of some Civil War armies! Thank you for being here. However, with growth comes growing pains.

Please refer to the three rules of the sub; ideally you already did before posting. But here is a refresher:

  1. Keep the discussion intelligent and mature. This is not a meme sub. It's also a community where users appreciate effort put into posts.

  2. Be courteous and civil. Do not attempt to re-fight the war here. Everyone in this community is here because they are interested in discussing the American Civil War. Some may have learned more than others and not all opinions are on equal footing, but behind every username is still a person you must treat with a base level of respect.

  3. No ahistorical rhetoric. Having a different interpretation of events is fine - clinging to the Lost Cause or inserting other discredited postwar theories all the way up to today's modern politics into the discussion are examples of behavior which is not fine.

If you feel like you see anyone breaking these three rules, please report the comment or message modmail with a link + description. Arguing with that person is not the correct way to go about it.

We've noticed certain types of posts tend to turn hostile. We're taking the following actions to cool the hostility for the time being.

Effective immediately posts with images that have zero context will be removed. Low effort posting is not allowed.

Posts of photos of monuments and statues you have visited, with an exception for battlefields, will be locked but not deleted. The OP can still share what they saw and receive karma but discussion will be muted.

Please reach out via modmail if you want to discuss matters further.


r/CIVILWAR • • 9h ago

How did artillery batteries ACTUALLY work?

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91 Upvotes

Greetings! I am a history lover who has recently become super interested in the Civil War.

As a little hobby of mine, I am trying to build a historically-accurate 3D diorama of the Battle of Gettysburg on my computer.

To cut to the chase, I have done some limited research on how cannons and artillery batteries worked during the time, but I am just having a lot of trouble adding it to my model.

This is going to sound so stupid but like, what did it LOOK like!?

I am going to quickly list what I "know" so far, and then explain why I am having a hard time grasping it (again, please remember I am not an expert whatsoever):

- a 6-gun artillery battery was essentially a little tiny rolling factory.

- It required anywhere from 90 to 150 men to support (including an 8 or 9 man team to operate each cannon, some men to drive/tend the horse teams, men to command, men to spot, men to work the forge, men to run ammo, men to run orders, etc)

- These guns could theoretically have an effective range of up to 1500 yards given the correct barrel and/or ammo type

So again my big question is like. . . what the hell did this look like?!? Where did all of these horses stand?? Did they put them all together like a parking lot? Did they just get scattered about the rear area wherever the drivers felt was good? Where did the battery commander stand?? How did they relay messages and direct fire? Did they throw up any improvised breastworks? How on Earth did Cemetery Hill, Culp's Hill, Big Round Top, and Little Round Top have enough room to accommodate all of the necessary infrastructure to keep their guns firing? It seems INSANE given the amount of guns present and the amount of men/horses required for each gun.

Sorry if this was long. Any help would be appreciated!

If you want see the prototype of the diorama I'm trying to make, an early version is free right now at this link: https://thebattleatlas.com/


r/CIVILWAR • • 2h ago

Sgt. Thomas Franklin Dornblaser. Mustered in as a Pvt. in CO E, 7th PA CAV on Oct. 14, 1861. Re-enlisted as Cpl. Nov 23, 1863. Promoted Sgt. Jan. 1, 1865. Mustered out Aug. 23, 1865. Later earned a Doctor of Divinity and served as a Lutheran Minister. His seminary roomate was a Confederate veteran.

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22 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 17h ago

Unknown photo help

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71 Upvotes

Found this is my grandfathers attic trying to identify where the uniform belongs to I think it’s union I think


r/CIVILWAR • • 10h ago

Gotten from the original family

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11 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 18h ago

Gettysburg 1863 OFFICIAL TRAILER

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64 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 5h ago

October 28, 1864 the second battle of Newtonia, Missouri

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4 Upvotes

The exhausted army of Missouri stopped at Newtonia because there was a floor mill there that would allow them to make bread.

General James T Blunt pursuit them rebels, and caught up with them with eight or 900 dismounted Cavalry from the brigades of Charles Jemison and james Ford. At first, the only Confederates engaged were from Shelby’s division, but troopers from Fagan’s division came up and formed on Shelby’s right and pushed the Yankees back. Blunt’s outnumbered men were on the verge of collapse when Sanborns brigade of Pleasonton’s division arrived and saved the day. The Confederate resumed their retreat Southward.

The Yankees lost 113 casualties. The rebels probably lost about the same number.


r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

What monument gives you the chills.

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175 Upvotes

For me it's Cowen's Battery at Gettysburg. "Double canister at ten yards.". The hell of combat summed up in five words. Double canister at a distance a little longer than a tape measure.


r/CIVILWAR • • 17h ago

British Consular Office and Residence in Charleston during War

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22 Upvotes

The residence is an historical landmark, the Joseph Yates House at 27 Meeting Street.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=187612

Here is on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/27-Meeting-St-Charleston-SC-29401/10904609_zpid/

But on Google Maps it is blurred out, and the landmark itself is erased from the GM database:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/27+Meeting+St,+Charleston,+SC+29401/@32.7723673,-79.930483,5a,75y,221.07h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suoXonHMZfKr18-z-Jkymog!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.clients6.google.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D3.741962262187144%26panoid%3DuoXonHMZfKr18-z-Jkymog%26yaw%3D221.0690187981176!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x88fe7a1acc08f053:0x61fb6733f7dbb73f!8m2!3d32.7722736!4d-79.9308088!16s%2Fg%2F11c15_mrhw?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MTAyMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

If appears its current rich owner wants to draw attention to the fact that they don't want attention. Shades of Streisand.

There is an excellent book about the British Consul, Robert Bunch, Our Man in Charleston by Christopher Dickey.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/209699/our-man-in-charleston-by-christopher-dickey/

But it appears Charlestonians still hate him for doing his job of reporting on the epicenter of slavery in the South to the British government. If you read the column about that "duplicitous" consul to discover what made him despicable it appears that it is simply that he made nice with the Charlestonians while writing accurate analyses of their society and politics to Whitehall.

https://www.charlestonmercury.com/single-post/meeting-street-memories-the-duplicitous-consul


r/CIVILWAR • • 11h ago

Andrew, Confederate Civil War Reenactor of the Battle of Palmetto Ranch, Groesbeck, Texas -(LQM2)

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7 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 21h ago

Black Powder Flask

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19 Upvotes

This was hanging on my grandmother’s wall for years. She had quite the antiques collection. She knew I was always interested in this as a young kid and she gave it to me in the early 2000s. It still has stuff in it, not too sure what it is. Would be interested in any type of value, how rare, etc.


r/CIVILWAR • • 23h ago

162 years ago today: Grant’s two-front gamble at Petersburg and Richmond, Boydton Plank Road and Second Fair Oaks (October 27, 1864)

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22 Upvotes

On October 27, 1864, Grant launched his Sixth Offensive. It was his last big push of the year, with simultaneous attacks on both ends of the 30+ mile front from Richmond to Petersburg. Neither went the way he hoped.

Southwest of Petersburg: Boydton Plank Road (Burgess Mill / First Hatcher’s Run)

Grant sent roughly 30,000 men around Lee’s right to cut the Southside Railroad, Petersburg’s last open rail line: Hancock’s II Corps, Warren’s V Corps, Parke’s IX Corps, and Gregg’s cavalry. The plan assumed Lee’s entrenchments ended east of Hatcher’s Run. They didn’t. Parke and Warren probed Heth’s works, found them strongly held, and never attacked. That left Hancock alone west of the run, where he pushed up the Boydton Plank Road to Burgess Mill.

That afternoon, Heth’s infantry and Wade Hampton’s cavalry struck him from two directions and nearly cut him off. Hancock fought his way clear and withdrew that night. The Confederates kept the Plank Road through the winter.

North of the James: Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road (Second Fair Oaks)

Butler’s Army of the James was supposed to keep Lee looking north. Grant told him to try turning the Confederate left but explicitly not to attack entrenchments. Terry’s X Corps would demonstrate on the Darbytown Road while Weitzel’s XVIII Corps swung far to the right onto the Williamsburg Road.

Under pressure from Butler to produce results, Terry sent a single brigade against the Darbytown works, and it was repulsed. Longstreet, just back from his Wilderness wound, read the reports, sensed the real threat was farther north, and rushed Field’s division to the Williamsburg Road. Field arrived just in time to stop Weitzel’s attack. Black troops of the XVIII Corps’ 3rd Division were also driven back on the Nine Mile Road by Gary’s cavalry, and accounts from members of Gary’s brigade describe wounded and captured Black soldiers being killed after the fight.

Butler lost more than 1,600 men. Confederate losses were under 100.

Aftermath

Afterward, the whole operation was relabeled a “reconnaissance in force,” a description that newspapers North and South openly mocked. It was the last major Union offensive at Petersburg until 1865.

Discussion question: Which failure was worse? Meade and Warren leaving Hancock unsupported at Burgess Mill, or Butler pushing frontal attacks after Grant specifically told him not to? Was the Sixth Offensive worth attempting at all with winter coming on?

For anyone who wants to dig in, Hampton Newsome’s Richmond Must Fall is the standard study of the October 1864 operations, and it covers both battles in detail.

I’ve been posting a day-by-day “162 years ago” series on the Siege of Petersburg on my profile if anyone wants to follow along.


r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

Has a battlefield or other location ever made you emotional?

98 Upvotes

Folks say that some places feel “heavier”, and I’ve definitely felt that, but there have been a handful of places that I’ve visited that made my eyes a little (and sometimes a lot) soggy. One of those was Antietam, where I had multiple ancestors fight and die at, the other, most recently today was at Lincoln’s tomb. I’m not a super emotional person but every once in a while when I visit a place I’ve learned so much about for the first time, it can be kind of surreal and just gets me.


r/CIVILWAR • • 21h ago

Today in the American Civil War

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7 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

October 27, 1864 The battles of the second fair Oaks and Burgess Mill

10 Upvotes

This is also known as grants sixth offensive at Petersburg

In his previous offensive grant had threatened Richmond in order to compel Lee to weaken his Petersburg forces.

In this offensive, he launched simultaneous attacks both south of the James and north of the James.

With less than a week to go before the presidential election grant set in motion an attempt to reach the southside railroad involving 45,000 union troops. The plan failed for two reasons.

First, George Meade sent too many troops to threaten the main confederate line. This involved two divisions of the ninth army, CORPS and two divisions of the fifth Army CORP. they spent the day skirmishing with the Confederate and accomplishing nothing.

Second reason, grant miscalculated that the confederate earthworks ended on the far side of hatchers run. In fact, they extended to Burgess Mill.

The attacking column consisted of Winfield Scott Hancock, and two divisions of the second army CORPS. They’re simply were not enough troops involved in this part of the field. Confederate General William, Mahone attacked Hancock and at the same time Wade Hampton attacked him on the White Oak Rd., Rooney Lee attacked him on the Quaker Road, and james Dearing attacked him from the North Bank of hatchers run. The Confederate attacks were not coordinated. Although the Yankees were compelled to retreat that night, the Confederate did not win a Signal victory. The Yankees announced to the Press that they were not mounting an offensive. Instead, the federal leaders called the operation a reconnaissance in force.

Meanwhile, in the second battle of Fair Oaks Benjamin Butler made an attack against newly created Confederate lines outside Richmond. Longstreet commanded the confederates, having just recovered from the wound he received on May 6 in the wilderness. The 10th Army CORPS under Terry threatened to confederate right but it was not a real attack. The main thrust occurred further north at the Derby town Road and the Williamsburg Road. Godfrey Weitzel, commanding the 18th CORPS attacked with two white brigades. Longstreet sent reinforcements in the nick of time to the threatened sector and they pinned down the Yankees in a dip in the ground. Most of the Yankees were compelled to surrender. On the Williamsburg Road to brigades of black troops made an attack. They over ran a confederate battery and murdered the gunners. Martin Gary arrived with his cavalry and murdered some of the black soldiers.


r/CIVILWAR • • 2d ago

Third Union soldier discovered in Second Manassas surgeon's limb pit will be buried will full military honors at Arlington on Nov. 4

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181 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

162 years ago tomorrow: 100 Pennsylvanians with axes take a Confederate fort near the Crater, and the gun never fires because the defenders think they're deserters

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114 Upvotes

October 27, 1864 is remembered at Petersburg for two big battles: Boydton Plank Road southwest of the city and Fair Oaks/Darbytown Road east of Richmond. But that same night, in the trenches east of Petersburg, there was a small fight that I think is one of the more remarkable episodes of the siege.

With Lee's attention pulled to both flanks, Meade had Nelson Miles's Second Corps division probe the Confederate lines in its front to see how thin they'd gotten.

Opposite Fort Morton, near the Crater, the picket lines were only about 40 paces apart. Just at dark, 100 men of the 148th Pennsylvania under Capt. Jeremiah Z. Brown went forward carrying axes. They chopped through the chevaux-de-frise and charged a small one-gun work the Federals called "Fort Crater" in two columns.

The gun never fired. The Confederates apparently took the attackers for deserters coming into their lines. Most of the garrison fled, and Brown's men came away with 17 prisoners from Wise's Virginia brigade, including the colonel and lieutenant colonel of the 46th Virginia.

Then it fell apart. The supports, the 26th Michigan, arrived too late, and a Confederate counterattack retook the work. According to Brown, Miles told him the next day that he had never expected the attack to succeed, that it was meant only as a demonstration, and that he had considered the men a forlorn hope and a sacrifice. Brown received the Medal of Honor in 1896.

A second raid the same night, by 130 men under Lt. Col. D. F. Burke of the 88th New York, took about 200 yards of picket line at "The Chimneys" opposite Fort Sedgwick before pulling back with 8 prisoners as Wallace's South Carolinians prepared to counterattack. Total Union losses for both: 4 killed, 25 wounded, 38 missing.

Nothing changed hands in the end, but it's a striking glimpse of how stretched Lee's lines were by late 1864, and of how close and strange trench warfare at Petersburg could be.

Sources if you want to dig in: Miles's report (OR Vol. 42, Part 1, Report #19); Brig. Gen. William H. Wallace's Confederate report (OR Vol. 42, Part 1, Report #365); J. W. Muffly, The Story of Our Regiment: A History of the 148th Pennsylvania Vols. (1904), pp. 800-805; and Austin C. Brightman Jr., "Glory Enough: The 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers at Fort Crater," Civil War Regiments Vol. 2, No. 2, which has an excellent map of the assault by David Woodbury.

Anyone have ancestors in the 148th PA, 88th NY, or Wise's or Wallace's brigades? And does anyone know of other cases where an attack succeeded because defenders mistook the attackers for deserters?


r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

Camp Jackson Affair site

10 Upvotes

Likely going to be in St Louis for work soon and wanted to check out where the Camp Jackson Affair took place and, maybe if there’s time, the Old US Arsenal site.

The Camp Jackson Affair started (or ended?) around Compton and Olive Streets, right?

Were other sites associated with the riots in the city?


r/CIVILWAR • • 2d ago

Private Peter Best; Co. E, 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Best mustered in as a Private on October 14, 1861 and was discharged on August 23, 1865. Note the Smith Carbine. The regiment had originally been issued "belgian rifles" but these were defective and they were reissued with Smith Carbines.

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109 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

An alligator was the mascot of the steamboat Sultana, which caught fire, killing hundreds of Civil War soldiers. A new museum in Marion, Ark., is confident kids will sink their teeth into the story of the beast and one lucky passenger

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20 Upvotes

r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

Preservation Practice: Reading a Civil War Fortification Map

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7 Upvotes

Sharing


r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

5th and 8th Maine Regimental Reunion halls & Museums on Peak’s Island, Maine

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41 Upvotes

1- 8th Maine Front
2- 5th Maine Front
3- 5th Maine Back Porch
4- 5th Maine Plaque
5-View from 5th Maine Backporch
6- View from 8th Maine Backporch


r/CIVILWAR • • 2d ago

Robert E.T.

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1.9k Upvotes

My boyfriend and I dressed up like Robert E.T. For reference, here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/nANois3n-Cs?is=p3ZHYSt6Gng-lhV7


r/CIVILWAR • • 1d ago

Mississipi v NY 1850s i believe

3 Upvotes

Mods pls remove if not appropriate

Can anyone help me find refferences of this court case?? im not even sure if it went to the Supreme court

BACKGROUND: I unfortunately was dumb enough to watch a Prager"U" video about the south slavery and the civil war

They argued that mississipi was claiming NYs interpretation of states rats (mispelled on purpose) was too strong since they decided to block enslavement sales in their port of Nyc