Remembrance as History
The sheer volume of surviving writings by those citizen and professional soldiers who experienced the Civil War firsthand is immense. Accounts in diaries, letters, periodicals and books stand as a
Tag: 20th Massachusetts Infantry
“Lost an Arm in Freedom’s Fray”: Union amputees after Gettysburg
By Charles T. Joyce The destructive force of explosive artillery shells and soft lead Minié balls, combined with 19th century military medicine, took a toll on Union soldiers. The wounded
A Few Minutes and a Street Block: A Massachusetts soldier recalls his wounding at Fredericksburg
By Scott Valentine On an inclement December eve at a Grand Army of the Republic meeting about 30 years after the war, veteran Josiah Murphey experienced a dull ache in
Faces of Gettysburg
Gettysburg is a soldier’s story. On one side marched an army of Northern men burdened by the weight of losses in the recent engagements of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Opposing them,
Faces of Ball’s Bluff
They Perished in the Potomac Two German-born officers in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry died together in the Potomac. Alois Babo, a clerk who hailed from Rastatt in Baden
Exhilaration and Anguish at Ball’s Bluff
By James A. Morgan and Ken Fleming The Battle of Ball’s Bluff was the result of a faulty reconnaissance report made by an inexperienced officer. On the evening Oct. 20,