(This map tells it all. Vicksburg is in the middle- literally- just south of the great blob of the Mississippi Delta. Grant’s Bayou Operations are to the are to the west of the City, which commanded the Mississippi River. The trick was to get to the east and across the water so the Union could […]

(William’s Canal- later Grant’s- on the De Soto Peninsula near Vicksburg, MS.) There is little possibility that either Great-Great Uncle Patrick or Great-Great Grandfather James ever saw Major General Earl Van Dorn in the flesh, though they certainly were not far away from one another. In fact, we are coming to a place in the […]

The 72nd OVI wearily trudged into Memphis at the end of July, 1862. I am hoping that part of the long journey was via the railcars of the Memphis and LaGrange Railroad, but that space was often reserved for the mounds of munitions and supplies necessary to keep thousands of men in the field. In […]

Great-Great Grandfather James and his Service Buddies in the 72nd OVI were preparing to move out from their bivouac in front of Corinth. The Confederate decision to withdraw from the city, and leave the critical rail junction to the Federals had changed the calculus of the War in the West. General Halleck was returned to […]

The circuitous route of the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry on their way from Corinth to Memphis, Tennessee, is a matter of some speculation. Their route of march would have put them in places where Yankees were not welcome- and also other places in the upper South that enthusiastically contributed troops to the Union cause. It […]

I saw a Holiday note this morning that showed a prominent politician eating an ice-cream cone. The caption- it was from one of the parties, of course- wished me a “Happy Memorial Day.” I have done the same thing- said the same words, though I don’t eat as much ice cream as I used to. I […]

(General Henry Wager Halleck, Union Commander in the West, 1862). It is only about 24 miles from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth, MS, but it can seem a lot further. Maybe it is the state line. Maybe it is the guy in charge. The front end of the War in the West features General Ulysses Grant […]

It is all about choice, you know? General Lew Wallace had a choice about the road he took to get to the Pittsburg Landing battle at Shiloh. I showed you a picture of the bend in the Shunpike- the spur to the left would have taken Lew Wallace’s Division to the River Road, and thence […]

Major General Lew Wallace, his division, and my Great-great Grandfather stopped at Crump’s Landing to destroy the tracks of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. It was one of the things armies did in those days, and I am interested to discover that my ancestors specialized (in appropriate context) the mass destruction of railroad rolling stock […]

(Union troops at ease, reading letters and smoking in the field. Image USG). James Foley was as excitable an Irishman as you can imagine- which is to say, he was a sort of passive-aggressive approach to events that were far larger than any individual, and a determined insistence on doing things his way. He had […]