The Civil War was fought in 10,000 Places

The subject line courtesy, ofcourse, of Ken Burns. So now that the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war has started, I thought a neat idea would be as we have time move along we mark 150th anniversary's of the battles. Thus, a thread free of the political rancor in other Civil War threads. With Fort Sumter past we have some time for this thread to cook as nothing else of note happened in April and nothing at all happens on land until June 3 when the absolute worst Union victory of the war occurs.

Ehrie have you ever been to Johnstown, PA?

Waddaya mean "Worst" union victory?

Civil war was fought about the if a wbite person had a right to own a black person.

I've been a proud wbite man all my natural life.
Wanna fbight about it?

And the Yankees got their butts soundly whipped in most of them.

June 3rd, 1861. George McClellan takes the only decisive action of his entire life against sleeping Confederates. This leads to over a year of lost opportunities to win the war with him in command in the east.

Next to Robert E. Lee, George McClellen was the best thing that ever happened to the Confederate Army.

Jefferson davies was the best thing for northern armies according to grant.

But he made a nice saddle!

Nice for the horse.

Not so nice for the rider. ouch!

So far

ehrie is referring to the Battle of Phillipi in Western Virginia.

If you're going to do a Civil War chronology, on this date in 1861, Col. Robert E. Lee was offered command of the US Army.

Of course, he declined and resigned his commission from the US Army 2 days later, standing behind his "country", Virginia.

"Jefferson Davis was the best military commander the Union ever had." Ulysses S. Grant.

Really? His name was Davies?
He should have stuck with his brothers when he had the chance!

Davis was a better politician than a military leader. He tended to micromanage.

April 19, 1861 - Southern sympathizers in Baltimore cut telegraph lines and bridges to Washington, D. C. While passing through the city, the 6th Massachusetts Regiment is attacked. They open fire on a crowd. When the dust settles, three soldiers and one civilian were dead, the first casualties during fighting in the Civil War.

Surprising most people, Lincoln calls for a blockade of Southern ports, a major element of Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan.

Virginia forces take control of Harpers Ferry.

Federal marshals seize records of telegraphs sent from major northern cities, leading to the arrest of southern sympathizers.

You, of all people, should know that any politician who micromanages is a bad politician.

He actually was a pretty good Senator. He served in the Senate and was Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, then returned to the Senate. He argued against secession although he supported the states' right to do so.

He was a West Point grad and had some pretty good experience as a Colonel in the Mexican-American War. I believe his regiment was among the first to use the new percussion cap rifles.

His problem was that when he became President of the Confederacy, he needed to be the President and let his battlefield commanders take care of the army. He resisted appointing a General in Chief, taking that duty upon himself. He also had a bad habit of supporting friends as military officers, even when they weren't effective officers. Take Braxton Bragg for example.

He was too focused on the military, of course there was a war going on, when he should have been focused on his Presidency. He tended to ignore the common citizens and failed to rally any spirit of Southern nationalism. He fought quite a bit with VP Alexander Stephens, so I give him high marks for that.

He also traveled to Cumberland Gap and personally promoted my 3rd cousin to Colonel.

April 20, 1861 - Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army

Federal troops scuttle ships at the the Gosport Naval Yard and evacuate Norfolk, Virginia

Guyandotte calls for the state to approve the actions of the Virginia legislature

He resisted appointing a general in chief for good reason. Much like the Union government, Davis was very afraid of creating a general with so much power and that commanded so much authority that once the war was over that general would just march his army into Richmond and overthrow him. Politics never ends even when war begins. McClellan and Hooker both wrote about how if they won enough victories they could appoint themselves dictator. How serious they were, nobody knows, but it was a very real fear on both sides.

I can do a shorter chronology:

1861-1865: South gets ass kicked.
1865-Present: South whines about it.

McClellan and Hooker -- The two biggest douchebags in the Union Army.

Is that your new catchphrase that you'll be running into the ground for years?

If Hooker had a coke pocket in his frock coat, he had hookers and blow.

Morphine and cocaine use skyrocketed during and after the war. Morphine addiction became known as the "army disease". The field surgeons carried a lot of opiates. It was one of the few medications they had in those days. Unless you want to count fulminate of mercury. They used that for VD. They said they knew the treatment was working when your eyes rolled back and your teeth fell out.

Cocaine was first synthesized in 1859 IIRC. I was never aware of its use in the war until a few years ago when the seamstress who made my uniforms asked me if I wanted a "coke pocket". I said, "A what pocket?" She told me that they had a special pocket in the backs of their coats for their stash.

They also had porn in those days: photos, magazines, and books. They would often burn their porn collections before going into battle so that it didn't get sent home to their families.

In his memoirs, Grant stated that at the start of the war, the Confederacy had the superior command structure. His primary purpose in running for President was to reform the command structure within the Army (Sherman agrees with this and states that's why he became general in chief under Grant, to facilitate the process).

April 22, 1861

The Clarksburg (present-day West Virginia) Convention calls for a anti-secessionist convention to be held in May, 1861

Maryland Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks calls a session of the Maryland legislature to consider secession

April 23, 1861

George McClellan appointed Major General of the Ohio militia

Federal troops withdraw from Fort Smith

Virginia secessionist convention ratifies a temporary union with the Confederacy and accepts the Southern Constitution, subject to approval of the ordnance of secession