South Carolina's First Son

Confederate Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg was killed December 15^th 1862 during the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Maxcy Gregg was born in Columbia, South Carolina August 1^st 1814.  He attended South Carolina College, and after passing the bar practiced law with his father.  When the Mexican – American War started Gregg served as a Major in the 12^th United States Infantry.  In the years leading up to the Civil War he was an advocate of secessionists.  He wrote a pamphlet called, "An Appeal to the State Rights Party of South Carolina."

In December 1860, when South Carolina seceded, Gregg went to work organizing the 1^st South Carolina, a six month regiment.  He served as their Colonel.  The 1^st took part in the bombing of Fort Sumter.  He would move up to become Brigadier General on December 14^th 1862; he took command of a brigade made up of South Carolina regiments in Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill’s Division at the Battles of Gaines’ Mills and Second Manassas.  While fighting at the Battle of Antietam, Gregg was wounded in the thigh by the same bullet which had killed Confederate Brigadier General Lawrence O’Bryan Branch.

While fighting at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gregg was commanding at a point in the Confederate line where there was a gap.   Union Major General George Gordon Meade’s soldiers were attacking that part of line lines.  As Gregg rallied his troops a bullet passed through his body, hitting his spine.  He died two days later on December 15^th 1862.  Gregg is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia, South Carolina.

A Proud Secessionist

Confederate Colonel Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb was killed during the Battle of Fredericksburg December 13^th 1862.

Thomas Reade Roots Cobb was born in Jefferson County, Georgia April 10^th 1823, the son of John A and Sarah [Rootes] Cobb.  He graduated from Franklin College in 1841 and was admitted to the bar in 1842.  Cobb reported for the Supreme Court of Georgia from 1849 through 1857.  He was a fervent secessionist and served as a delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention.  He was also one of the founders of the University Of Georgia School Of Law.

When the Civil War started Cobb served in the Confederate Congress, where he was the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, and helped with the drafting of the Confederate constitution.  In 1861 he organized Cobb’s Legion.  Cobb was commissioned the Legion’s Colonel August 28^th 1861.  They saw heavy action in the Battles of Seven Days, Second Manassas, and Antietam, which prompted Cobb’s promotion to Brigadier General in November 1862.  He still hadn't received a confirmation of the promotion when he was mortally wounded.

Cobb was carried inside the Stephens house near the Sunken Road on Marye’s Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13^th 1862 after an artillery shell exploded near his position.  A piece of the shrapnel damaged the femoral artery in Cobb’s thigh and he bleed to death.  He is buried in the Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.

Another web site with more information about  Thomas R. R. Cobb (1823-1862)  worth taking a look at.

Served For Almost Four Years

The 5th Wisconsin a Union infantry regiment was formed July 12th 1861 in Madison, Wisconsin.


The 5th Wisconsin Infantry was formed at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin July 12th 1861. The regiment left for Washington, DC July 24th 1861, where they went into camp on Meridian Hill. The 5th was assigned to Winfield Scott Hancock’s Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. This group saw action in many of the battles of eastern theater including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. In August and September of 1863 they were placed on detached duty in Albany and Tory, New York as part of the surpresion of the draft riots. The 5th was present at Appomattox when Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered. The unit served until June 24th 1865 and were mustered out of service July 11th 1865.

The 5th mustered in 1108 men, and add another 832 so the regiment totaled 1940 men. During the course of the war they had 17 officers and 332 enlisted who were killed or died from wounds and diseases.

The Gallant Pelham

Confederate artillery officer Major John Pelham died March 17th 1863 during the Battle of Kelly‘s Ford.

John Pelham was born September 7th 1838 on Cane Creek in Alexandria, Alabama, the son of Doctor and Martha [McGehee] Pelham. He grew up on his families plantation, where he learned to be a proficient rider. With the help of his local United State Congressman Sampson Willis Harris, Pelham received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. While at West Point Pelham was popular with his class mates, and ranked highest in his class in cavalry tactics. With the Civil War brewing Pelham resigned on April 22nd from West Point just two weeks before graduation in 1861.

Upon returning home, with the Civil War under way, Pelham accepted a commission in the Alabama militia. He soon became a Lieutenant in the artillery, a part of Confederate General Joseph E Johnston’s army. Pelham was quickly noticed by Confederate Cavalry General JEB Stuart, who transformed Pelham’s battery into Horse Artillery. Pelham and his artillery were involved in over 60 fights, including First Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. At Sharpsburg his guns harassed the flanks of the Union line causing heavy casualties. Lieutenant General Thomas Stonewall Jackson said of Pelham after the battle, “It is really extraordinary to find such nerve and genius in a mere boy. With a Pelham on each flank I believe I could whip the world."

On March 17th 1863 at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, Pelham took part in a cavalry charge. He was standing in his stirrups to urge his men forward, when he was struck in the head by a piece of exploding Union artillery shell. Pelham was carried six miles to the Culpeper Courthouse, where he died without ever regaining consciousness.

A Fighting Lawyer

Union General Robert Brown Potter died February 19th 1887.


Robert Brown Potter was born July 16th 1829 in Schenectady, New York, the son of Alonzo Potter. He was a lawyer in New York City.

Potter enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War as a private in the New York militia. He was quickly promoted to lieutenant and then commissioned on October 14th 1861 to Major. Potter was wounded March 14th 1862 at the Battle of New Bern. He was in command of the 51st New York Volunteers at the Battle of Second Bull Run. As a Colonel Potter led the 51st in the Battle of Antietam, where he was wounded again. March 13th 1863 saw Potter commanding the Second Division of the IX Corps during the Siege of Vicksburg, and a new rank of Brigadier General. He was leading the Division during the Overland Campaign, and the Siege of Petersburg were he was the only division commander at the Battle of the Crater. Potter was wounded again in the Battle of Fort Stedman April 2nd 1865, this wound keeping him out of the war until it ended.

With the war having ended and Potter recovered, he was given command of the Districts of Rhode Island and Connecticut which were parts of the Department of the East. Potter married September 20th 1865 to Abby Stevens. It was also on that day he received a promotion to Major General. He was mustered out of service on January 15th 1866. Potter spent the post war years as a receiver for the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. He lived in England from 1869, before returning the to states and settling in Rhode Island in 1873. Potter died February 19th 1887 in Newport, Rhode Island. He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

If you would like more information about this subject check out Alonzo Potter Family Website

The Father Of Battlefield Medicine

Jonathan Letterman the “Father of Battlefield Medicine”, a Union surgeon during the Civil war was born December 11th 1824.

Jonathan Letterman was born December 11th 1824 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a surgeon. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1849. That same year Letterman excepted a position as assistant surgeon of the United States Army Medical Department. He served during the Seminole Indian Campaign in Florida, at Fort Ripley, Minnesota, Fort Defiance in the New Mexico Territory, Fort Monroe, Virginia, and in California through 1861.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Letterman was assigned to the Union Army of the Potomac, with the rank of Major. Receiving permission from Major General George B McClellan, Letterman reorganized the Medical Service. The Union Army was grossly inefficient in handling casualties from the Seven Days Battle, and Letterman saw the need for changes. By the Battle of Antietam, he had set up regimental aid stations, the use of triage, field hospitals, and an ambulance corps. The system was so proficient that an Act of Congress in March 1864 established it as the Union Armies medical procedure. The Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 left over 20,000 Union and Confederate wounded, and the vast medical encampment set up on the George Wolf farm was named for Letterman.

Letterman ended his military service as the Inspector of Hospitals, he resigned in December 1864. He moved to San Francisco, California where he was a coroner until 1872. He wrote a memoir in 1866, “Medical Recollections of the Army of the Potomac”. Following the death his wife, Letterman became quite sick, and died March 15th 1872 in San Francisco, California. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Lost Orders

Special Order Number 191, written by Confederate General Robert E Lee on September 9th 1862, outlined plans for the Maryland Campaign. The Order detailed the dividing of his army, with Major General Thomas J Stonewall Jackson going to Harpers Ferry, Major General James Longstreet north to Boonsboro and the rest of the army to Hagerstown. Confederate Adjutant Robert H Chilton made copies of #191 for each commander and their subordinate commanders. One of the copies which was made for Major General Daniel Hill, was in some way left at the Best Farm in Frederick County Maryland.


Union Private Barton W Mitchell of the 27th Indiana found the Orders on September 13th 1862, in an envelope wrapped around a bunch of cigars. Giving the find to his superiors Orders #191 made its way into the hands of Union Major General George B McClellan. McClellan having the Confederate troop movements was reported to have said, "Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home." The two armies would meet at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, the bloodiest day of the war.

For further information about this subject check out this web site Special Order No 191

Legendary 20th Maine

The 20th Maine and Joshua L Chamberlain were mustered into service on August 20th 1862 under Colonel Adelbert Ames. They were assigned to the 5th Corps in the Army of the Potomac, part of Colonel Strong Vincent‘s Brigade in the First Division. Although they were at Antietam, their first action was on Marye’s Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. When the 20th reached Gettysburg, Chamberlain was in command, and it was here on July 2nd 1863 that they became part of legend.


The 20th Maine left Appomattox Virginia after the surrender of General Robert E Lee on May 2nd 1865, and marched to Washington DC. The men were mustered out of service July 16th 1865. The initial enrollment of the 20th Maine was 1,621 men, 150 died in combat, 146 died of disease, and 381 were wounded.

Old Pop

General George Sears Greens graduated from West Point July 1st 1823, he was second in a class of thirty-five.
George Sears Green the son of Caleb Green was born in Warwick Rhode Island May 6th 1801. He graduated from West Point July 1st 1823, and served as an artillery officer until 1836. He then worked for twenty-five years as a civil engineer. Green volunteered in January 1862 as the Colonel of the 60th New York Infantry, becoming a Brigadier General in April. Commanding a brigade he saw service in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. At Gettysburg he was the oldest Union General on the field, his men calling him “Old Pop“ or “Old Man Greene“. At Gettysburg on the evening of the second day it was Greene’s defense of Culp’s Hill that saved the Union right flank.
After the war Greene went back to his civil engineering work in New York. He became one of the founders of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects. He also wrote a genealogy “Greenes of Rhode Island” in 1903.

A Horse Shoe Caused The Explosion

On September 17th 1862 the Allegheny Arsenal, an important manufacturing and supply depot for the Union Army blew up.

At about 2pm on Wednesday September 17th 1862 the Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, which is located about 5 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania exploded. Colonel John Symington the commander of the arsenal rushed from his quarters when he heard the sound of the explosion. As he approached the arsenal there were two more explosions. A volunteer fire company from Pittsburgh came to assisted in fighting the fire, using a bucket brigade of water to put out the flames.

By the times the flames were out, the Arsenal had been reduced to rubble. There were 78 deaths at the lab, all workers who were mostly women. Fifty-four of the bodies were never identified and were buried in a mass grave at the Allegheny Cemetery. The explosion is thought to have been caused when a metal horse shoe made a spark in the roadway near the arsenal and set off several barrels of gunpowder. A Coroner’s Jury held Colonel Symington responsible for the explosion, as he and his subordinate had allowed loose black powder to accumulate in the roadway and around the arsenal. The military inquiry into the explosion found Symington innocent of any wrong doing.

The explosion of the Allegheny Arsenal was superseded by the news of the Battle of Antietam which took place the same day in Sharpsburg Maryland.

Death's Of Two General

Fox’s Gap, one part of three battles known collectively as the Battle of South Mountain were fought on September 14th 1862.

The Battle of Fox Gap was one of the three battle fought on September 14th 1862, known as the Battle of South Mountain. Major General George B McClellan’s Army of the Potomac needed the passes in order to pursue General Robert E Lee’s Confederate Army of the Northern Virginia. Confederate General A P Hill’s division defended Fox Gap against Brigadier General Jacob D Cox. Cox’s Kanawha Division attack at 9am and secured south side of the gap. The Union troops pushed through the North Carolina troops at the crest of the gap, but were exhausted when they got there, and the failed to drive the Confederates out. Major General Jesse Reno sent in more Union troops, but they were unable to dislodge the Confederates due to Brigadier General John Bell Hood’s reinforcements.

At the end of the day, with Crampton’s Gap lost to the Confederates and Fox’s and Turner’s Gap sketchy at best, Lee ordered a withdrawal from the area. Confederate Brigadier General Samuel Garland Jr and Union Major General Jesse Reno were both killed in nearly the same spot at Fox’s Gap, with in hours of eachother. With Confederates broke up, McClellan could have closed in but instead gave Lee time pull his divisions together in time for the coming battle of Antietam.

Another good web site
The Battle of South Mountain Fox's Gap

She Became a Union Soldier

Sarah Emma Edmonds who while serving as a Union Civil War soldier was known as Franklin Flint Thompson died on September 5th 1898.

Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in New Brunswick, Canada in December 1841. She left a verbally and physically abusive home when her parents tried to force her to marry. Edmonds worked selling Bibles around New Brunswick and New England, before working her way west and settling in Flint Michigan.

With the coming of the Civil War she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Infantry. She became Franklin Flint Thompson. Her first service was as a male nurse, where she saw duty under George B McClellan at the battles of First Bull Run, Antietam, and others. She would as Thompson become a Union spy. Edmunds / Thompson used several disguises to travel behind Confederate lines including dying her skin black to pose as a black man, and as an Irish peddler woman. Her career as the soldier Frank Thompson came to end when she developed a case of malaria. Edmonds left the army and went to a private hospital for treatment. Once she recovered she found that Frank Thompson was listed as a deserter. Instead of taking the chance of being shot as deserter Edmonds spent the rest of war working as a nurse in Washington DC for the United States Christian Commission.

The publisher DeWolfe, Fiske and Co of Boston MA published “The Female Spy of the Union Army” in 1864, an account of Edmond’s military experiences. A year latter the it was reprinted in Hartford CT under the title, “Nurse and Spy in the Union Army”, it sold over 175,000 copies.

Edmonds married a Canadian mechanic, L H Seelve in 1867. She began to petition the US goverment for a pension in 1882 and was finally granted one in 1884 under her married name Sarah E E Seelye. She received a government pension for $12 a month for her service in the Union Army. Edmonds died September 5th 1898 in La Porte Texas and is buried in the Washington Cemetery in Houston Texas.