Sarah, Lizzie, and Lida

Last week I was working an educational program and I had the opportunity to tell one of my favorite local stories from the Civil War - the story of the Waterford News. Little did I know that it would lead me down another research rabbit hole. I've mentioned the paper before, but for those unfamiliar …

“Harass the enemy, capture their pickets, and do all the damage [you can] accomplish” – Cole’s Cavalry in the aftermath of Monocacy

When we last left night was falling on July 9th, 1864. The exhausted troops of Lew Wallace's command were trudging eastward towards the safety of Baltimore. They had done their job admirably by holding off a superior force of rebels for the better part of the day. The men of the 1st and 3rd PHB …

“[They] fully sustained the enviable reputation they had won” The Potomac Home Brigade at Monocacy

We'll pick up where we left off last time with the role of the Home Brigade regiments during Jubal Early's 1864 invasion of Maryland. We ended on the evening of July 8th. Early's advance forces had been checked on the western outskirts of Frederick the previous evening, and much of the 8th was spent in …

“Our men did not retreat, but held their own”

I'll admit it. I'm terrible at remembering anniversaries. I really wanted to do an in depth, day-by-day account of the various Home Brigade regiments during the Gettysburg Campaign. That'll have to wait at this point. Instead we'll turn our attention from Lee's second invasion to that other July campaign - Early's Maryland campaign in 1864. …

Mystery solved…mostly

A few weeks back I wrote a little piece on John Hudson, a Sergeant in Cole's Cavalry. During the early days of the Gettysburg campaign Hudson was in Frederick, along with much of the rest of the battalion. From there Cole's men scouted along the rolling hills of western Maryland looking for Lee's army, frequently …

War comes to Sharpsburg

When you ask someone to name some of the battles of the American Civil War the Battle of Antietam always comes out near the top. The name is instantly recognizable to even the most casual history buff. On one brutal Wednesday in September more men became casualties than on any other single day in American …

Memorial Day

In an effort to properly observe the Memorial Day holiday I packed up the HistorySprout and my dear wife and we returned to Union Cemetery in Leesburg. My mission was to place flags at the graves of the Union veterans buried there. My wife was gracious enough to accompany me - eager to get the …

“Shot Through the Head and Seriously Wounded”/Field Dispatch: Mt Olivet Cemetery

  Let's return from hiatus and get back to the Civil War with a visit to one of my "must see" historic sites - Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, MD. I touched on the cemetery briefly in one of my earlier posts about Frederick's cemeteries. Chartered in 1854 the cemetery was Frederick's premier "garden cemetery" and anyone who's anyone …

Moving forward while still looking backwards

I want to take a moment to make an apology to any regular readers out there. Recently the blog has taken a back seat to both work and family life. Funny how a new job and a new baby will do that to you! As much as I want to get out there and focus …

The Desertion of Private Foskey

Today we're returning to the hills of wild and wonderful West Virginia to take a very personal look at an issue that has plagued armies since the dawn of time - desertion. It was a constant drain on manpower for both armies during the Civil War. Most studies show that somewhere in the ballpark of 10 percent …