On September 23, 1897 Horatio Collins King, a member of Dickinson College Class of 1858, received a Medal of Honor for his acts of bravery during the battle of Five Forks.  As quartermaster of the first cavalry division of the Army of the Shenandoah, King fought in one of the final Eastern battles of the Civil War in Five Forks, Virginia on April 1, 1865.  Maj. General Philip Sheridan led 50,000 Union troops in a victory over a Confederate force only one-fifth the size.  In his military history, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (2008), William Swinton explains the Union victory and capture of the Southside Railroad at Five Forks in terms the battle’s greater significance in the war.  Within the eight days following the battle of Five Forks the Confederate Army had retreated from Petersburg and Richmond and General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

Nonetheless, for the soldiers who fought at Five Forks, the battle remained a personal experience.  In his Civil War Journal (digitized in the Dickinson College database “Their Own Words”), Horatio King did not go to lengths to discuss the meaning of the battle and the Confederate retreat. Instead, King wrote a poignant passage describing a dead Southern soldier he encountered while collecting the wounded: “his face was raised toward heaven and the open eyes & sweet expression of countenance together with the hands uplifted as in prayer gave me the impression that he still lived.”  Battles were personal affairs for generals as well, as exemplified by Gouverneur Kemble Warren’s obsession with Five Forks. After the battle, Sheridan relieved Warren of his command of the V Corps, and when Warren “personally sought of General Sheridan a reason for his order,”  “he would not or could not give one.” After more than a decade of seeking an explanation, Warren finally received official recognition of his unjust treatment when President Rutherford B. Hayes authorized a court of inquiry on December 9, 1879.

The National Park Service has preserved Five Forks as part of the larger Petersburg National Battlefield. Their website contains Five Forks resources including multiple battle maps. J. Tracy Power’s Lee’s Miserables : Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox (1998) is a unique military history of the last year of the war that uses Confederate soldier’s letters and diaries as a primary source of evidence, giving readers a different angle on the battle of Five Forks.

To view a Flickr slideshow on this battle, click on any of the images below:

On June 9, 1863, the Battle of Brandy Station, also known as the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, took place in Culpeper County, Virginia.  Early in the morning, Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton and his forces began a surprise attack on the Confederates and General James Ewell Brown Stuart.  Brandy Station was one of the largest cavalry battles and marked the opening of the Gettysburg Campaign.  The National Park Service’s website provides a summary of the battle as well as a list of different stops and descriptions of each for those planning on visiting or taking a field trip.  The Brandy Station Foundation has a website that includes tour dates as well as information for visiting  Brandy Station’s “Graffiti House” which contains messages and signatures of Union and Confederate soldiers.  In his book, War Years with Jeb Stuart, W.W. Blackford commented on the battle:

“At that time their cavalry could not stand before us at all, and it was not until the great battle on this same ground on the 9th of June, 1863, “Fleetwood Fight,” that they offered us any determined resistance.  From that time the difficulty of getting remounts acted disastrously upon the strength of our cavalry arm, not only in diminishing the numbers but impairing the spirit of the men.”

Another resource that may be valuable to look at is Henry McClellan’s book I Road with Jeb Stuart: the Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart; both McClellan and Blackford’s recollections provide a firsthand perspective of General Stuart from men who fought alongside him in battle.  In terms of modern scholarship, Emory Thomas’s Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart, available as a preview on Google Books, gives a concise overview of the battle and a map that depicts Stuart’s movements into Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign.   Also, Brandy Station 1863: First Step Towards Gettysburg  includes a list of all the Union and Confederate troops present at the battle.

Dickinson College‘s 1860 commencement exercises occurred on Saturday evening, July 7, 1860.  Two local papers’ contrasting reports on the evening demonstrate the partisan nature of nineteenth century newspapers.  The Carlisle paper, The Herald, founded by Ekuries Beatty in 1799 originally supported the Whig party, but by 1860 printed articles with a strong Republican bias. In contrast the American Volunteer (another Carlisle paper) founded by William B. and James Underwood in 1814, reported the Democrat Party’s view of the news.  The Volunteer charged Dickinson’s commencement speakers with attacking the “vulnerable” democratic president James Buchanan, himself a Dickinson alum from “when the institution was worthy of the name of a college.” According to the Volunteer many of the commencement speeches were full of dangerous “Abolitionist preaching” which must “be stopped.” Mr. George A. Coffey, of Philadelphia, spoke at an alumni gathering on the Wednesday before commencement and particularly offended the writers of the Volunteer who labeled his speech as “fierce and outrageous.”  While the Herald admitted that Mr. Coffey introduced “topics which were offensive to many in the audience,” the paper concluded “it was a masterly speech.” Overall, the Herald presented a very different picture of the commencement exercises, carefully listing the names of the student speakers followed by a brief, usually complimentary, analysis of their speeches.  The two Carlisle papers’ distinctly partisan accounts of Dickinson’s 1860 commencement reflect the political spin of the press throughout the Civil War era.

For modern scholarship on the subject of partisanship and the press see David T. Z. Minchin’s Just the Facts: How “Objectivity” Came to Define American Journalism (1998). The Library of Congress also provides an online newspaper directory to find more information on newspapers from across the country.

The Battle of Oak Grove took place on June 25, 1862 in Henrico County, Virginia and marked the beginning of the Seven Days’ Battles that were part of the Peninsula campaign of 1862, a grand scheme to destroy the Rebel army in Richmond and effectively end the Civil War. Union Major General George B. McClellan planned to end the war through short and decisive battles rather than one major, war-winning battle. He corresponded with his wife before the undertaking; “It now looks to me as if the operations would resolve themselves into a series of partial attacks, rather than a general battle.” McClellan’s goal was to seize the high ground on the Nine Mile Road with the objective of bringing his siege guns within range of the Confederate capital. Union Private Thomas B. Leaver of the 2^nd New Hampshire wrote home on the night prior to the battle, “I hope the day of decision will come soon…I believe the Rebels will skedaddle as they did at Yorktown and Corinth. Keep up good courage dear Mother, the end is near at hand.”

Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee met the Union attack and defended against the attempted Union advance with three brigades of Confederate General Benjamin Huger. Huger encountered the forces of Union Brigadier Generals Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearny. Intense fighting throughout the day led to inconclusive results for the Union Army. McClellan failed to achieve his objective, his troops gaining only 600 yards while sustaining estimated casualties of 626. The Confederate soldiers sustained 441 casualties bringing the total for the battle over 1000. Included in this total is the death of Thomas B. Leaver, whose last letter home predicted his ironic and tragic fate.

The Battle of Oak Grove set the tone for the Seven Days’ Battles and the rest of the Peninsula campaign, alluding to the intensity of fighting that both sides would encounter. Much of the battle consisted of the Union soldiers advancing on ground that they had previously won earlier in the day. Confusion and poor communication hindered the Union Army throughout the battle. Sergeant Edgar Newcomb of the 19^th Massachusetts eloquently described the wearisome nature of battle:

“It is not the marching nor the firing that wears men, but the suspense of the slow advance and frequent halt…till finally when at once the storm of bullets whirs over and on each side, and men begin to fall, and orders come think and fast, the sweet oozes from every pore. It is not fear but uncertainty, that makes men live days in every moment.”

For more information on the battle and the Peninsula campaign, Stephen W. Sears’ To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign is one of the best available secondary sources on the subject and details the Battle of Oak Grove within the context of the grand campaign. The book is partially available on Google Books and includes maps of the battle and a great bibliography for further readings. Another scholarly secondary source partially available on Google Books is John S. Salmon’s The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide which offers a great overview and background information on the Seven Days’ Battles. For primary material, teachers should utilize the Official Records, volume 11 for reports on the Peninsula campaign including one from Union General Joseph Hooker.

James Smith Colwell, who worked as a lawyer in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was one of the men who answered President Abraham Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Colwell joined the Carlisle Fencibles, a local volunteer company under the command of Robert Henderson, as a first lieutenant. Six weeks later the Fencibles left Carlisle for Camp Wayne in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where they received training and were designated Company A of the 7th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. His wife, Ann, had not been happy with that decision. “You left me without talking about it,” as Ann reminded him. While James admitted that “[he] err[ed] frequently,” he observed that “it [was] nearly always an error of the judgment & not of the heart.” Yet in this case he argued that it was impossible to get out of the army. “I do not see how I could get out of the service without bring[ing] disgrace and dishonour on myself & my little family,” as Colwell explained. Colwell had in mind his four children – two sons and two daughters. Colwell’s oldest daughter, Nannie, was about six years old in December 1861 when she announced in her “first letter” that she “[could] read” and “[sent him] a big kiss.” Colwell was able to return to Carlisle on furlough, but on September 17, 1862 he died during the Battle of Antietam. Local newspapers published obituaries, including the Carlisle (PA) American, which noted that “[Colwell’s] high moral character and exemplary life had made him a bright example in our midst.”When Civil War veterans in Carlisle established a local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic in February 1881, they decided to call it the Captain Colwell Post.

The map of the Shelling of Carlisle compiled by Leigh Oczkowski is a virtual tour of the Confederate shelling that occurred on July 1, 1863. The tour begins with the entrance of Major General Fitzhugh Lee into the town of Carlisle and ends at the burning of the Carlisle Barracks. We have created a resource for those visiting the area and those who want to discover the historical past of Carlisle. Each marker on the map gives a brief explanation of what happened in 1863 and shows the location in town today. Such locations include the Old Courthouse downtown, the First Presbyterian Church, buildings on Dickinson College’s campus and the Carlisle Barracks. The purple line indicates the location of the Cumberland Valley Railroad that ran through Carlisle from 1837-1932.Visitors can use this map to explore  the town of Carlisle and view its sights.

The House Divided Research Engine can provide additional information on Carlisle from the Civil War.  House Divided is beginning to post maps on various Civil War topics which can be found on Google Maps.

Corinth, Mississippi, founded in 1854, became an important site for Union and Confederate troops following the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard of the Confederate army set his troops in Corinth in April 1862 until a much larger force led by Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck followed and began to encroach on the Confederate stronghold. On the evening of May 29, after sustaining Union bombardments, the Confederates set up several convincing tricks to mask their retreat and convey the arrival of reinforcements. They cheered when trains arrived and set up deceiving cannon-like log imitations called “quaker guns”.

The actual Battle of Corinth did not take place until October 3 and October 4, 1862. Confederate forces led by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn sought to return Corinth to Confederate control, for since the siege from five months before Union fortifications had strengthened in the small town. Though some Confederate soldiers did break the Union’s barriers around the city, the approaching Confederates retreated from Corinth as Union forces followed them across Tennessee.

The siege and battle at Corinth illustrate important shifts in the early part of the Civil War. Corinth became a key battlefront in 1862 despite being developed less than a decade prior. The “fighting, occupation, and carnage,” as noted by Timothy B. Smith in his article published by the Mississippi Historical Society,  that occurred in this small town show the true scale of the Civil War. Battles did not always take place on the battlefield. Several recent efforts have been made to recognize Corinth in the Civil War, including several landmarks within Corinth. Corinth’s Crossroads Museum and the National Park Service’s Corinth Interpretive Center commemorate the impact of the Civil War felt in the town. Teachers may find useful other photos of Corinth and the park taken by Michael Noirot as part of a photo contest for Corinth on his blog.

Manning Ferguson Force’s From Fort Henry to Corinth provides a summary of the battle from a nineteenth-century perspective. For more modern scholarship on the siege and battle see the National Park Service’s summaries and lessons of the conflict. Michael Ballard dedicates a chapter in Civil War Mississippi: A Guide to the Battle of Corinth and focuses on mistakes made by Van Dorn as the Confederate force sought to regain control in Corinth.

Albert Hazlett was among several of John Brown’s raiders who were not with their leader on the morning of October 18, 1859 when US Marines attacked the engine house at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Instead, Hazlett and Osborne Anderson watched the short battle from afar. The two men had left Harpers Ferry undetected late on October 17. After they could not find the five raiders who also escaped, they decided to head north – which eventually brought them into southern Pennsylvania. While Anderson lived to publish a book in 1861 about his experience, Hazlett was arrested in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania on October 22, 1859. Local authorities, however, at first thought that they had in custody “a man supposed to be Capt. Cook.” (John E. Cook was arrested three days later outside of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania). The initial confusion offered an opportunity for Hazlett, who claimed that he was actually William Harrison and had nothing to do with Brown’s raid. On October 29 Hazlett appeared before a judge in Carlisle on a writ of habeas corpus, but Hazlett’s claim that he was the wrong person failed to convince the judge. While “there is no evidence that we have any man in our custody named Albert Hazlett,” the court ruled that “we are satisfied that a monstrous crime has been committed [and] that the prisoner…participated in it.” Hazlett was sent back to Charlestown, Virginia on November 5 for a trial and was executed on March 16, 1860. Historian David Reynolds, who wrote John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, notes that the judge sent Hazlett back to Virginia “even though the evidence linking him to Harpers Ferry was circumstantial.”

The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek (also known as the Battle of Mechanicsville) took place on June 26, 1862 in Hanover County, Virginia as a part of the Peninsula Campaign.  During this battle, the second of the Seven Days’ Battles, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his forces attacked Union Brigadier General Fitz John Porter and sustained high casualties as a result.  Although it was declared a Union victory, the Confederate forces were able to push the Union troops to retreat about thirty miles away from Richmond as they advanced.  The National Park Service’s website provides a concise overview of the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek and comments on the preservation of the battlefield for those looking to take a field trip to the area.  The Civil War Preservation Trust ’s website includes a list of recommended readings as well as historical articles on the Seven Days’ Battles.  The website also has a map that depicts the movement of Union and Confederate troops throughout the course of the fighting.  Confederate General Robert E. Lee commented on the battle in his official reports:

“In expectation of Jackson’s arrival on the enemy’s right the battle was renewed at dawn, and continued with animation for about two hours, during which the passage of the creek was attempted and our troops forced their way to its banks, where their progress was arrested by the nature of the stream.  They maintained their position while preparations were being made to cross at another point nearer the Chickahominy, Before they were completed Jackson crossed Beaver Dam above, and the enemy abandoned his intrenchments and retired rapidly down the river, destroying a great deal of property, but leaving much in his deserted camps.”

Another resource that may be interesting to browse on Google Books is Battles and Leaders of the Civil War which gives a firsthand perspective of the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek and offers a map of the plan of battle.  In terms of modern scholarship, Echoes of Thunder: A Guide to the Seven Days’ Battles is available in limited view on Google Books and provides various official reports from different commanding officers.  For those planning on visiting the battlefield, John S. Salmon’s The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide may be useful as it includes a summary of the battle, directions to the battlefield, and information on other battle sites in the surrounding areas.

The Dickinson College Class of 1860’s graduation marked for many students the beginning of a necessary transition into an divided country. Given that thirteen students hailed from Slave States and eleven from Free States, the transition differed for each student as they returned to their homes on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. This dynamic map features several notable alumni that served, and perished, on both sides of the battlefield during the Civil War. While some did not enlist in the military, more than half of the class members noted on this map served either the Confederate or Union armies in some way.

George Baylor, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, entered Dickinson College in 1857 and graduated with the Class of 1860. He initially returned home and became an assistant teacher after graduation, but once the war began he enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Infantry. By 1863 Baylor engaged Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, was taken prisoner, and incurred various battle wounds. His reputation grew as a practical military leader and effective director of Confederate raids through Virginia in 1864. One such raid secured Baylor as a Dickinson legend. While in combat in Trevilan, Virginia, a Union soldier shot Baylor in the chest. Because Baylor wore his Union Philosophical Society badge in battle as a reminder of the organization he belonged to at Dickinson, the bullet did not penetrate his skin and he survived. The war ended soon thereafter, and Baylor sought out a profession in law.

John Henry Grabill followed a similar trajectory, for once the Civil War began he enlisted in the 33rd Virginia Volunteer Infantry centered near his birthplace in Mount Jackson, Virginia. In 1862 Grabill, at the age of twenty-two years old, recruited and trained his own unit of soldiers in the Shenandoah Valley. This unit went on to fight during the retreat to Appomattox Court House in 1865. Grabill fought in several key battles himself including the Battle of Brandy Station and Battle of the Wilderness. He elaborated on these engagements as part of his general service in the army in Diary of a Soldier of the Stonewall Brigade (1909). After the war Grabill entered the field of education as a superintendent in Shenandoah County.

Baylor, Grabill, and their classmates offered several stories that contribute much to one’s understanding of the Civil War and its lasting impact on Dickinson College and the surrounding area of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This dynamic map is one of several projects utilizing modern tools to examine these local and personal responses to the war.