On the Fourth of July 1864 – 150 years ago – Mary Wadsworth sat down in her Washington, D.C., home and began writing to Abraham Lincoln. With thoughts of Gettysburg and another, more recent Civil War battle, she wanted a favor, and her appeal included references to her late husband and the U.S. flag. Mary’s… continue
By James Breig During the Civil War 150 years ago, flag-bearers were targets. On battlefields from Gettysburg to Petersburg, they were in the crosshairs of their opponents. The reason for that is that they played such a pivotal role when a battle was joined. Soldiers looked to flags, including their regimental colors, to show them… continue
By James Breig This year’s Fourth of July marks not only the 237th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but also the 150th anniversary of two seminal battles of the Civil War: Gettysburg and Vicksburg. If you subtract 150 from 237, you get a number associated with Abraham Lincoln. The twin historic conflicts, which spanned… continue
By James Breig One of the earliest accounts of the fall of the Alamo, the famous battle in the drive for Texas independence from Mexico, appeared in The Louisiana Advertiser. It ran about three weeks after the March 6, 1836, assault that captured the former mission and killed – among scores of others – Davy… continue