Encyclopedia of the Civil War

200 Pages·1992·63.825 MB·English

by  John S. Bowman

ENCYCLOPEDIA
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Reprint 2001 by Page 1: Three Federal soldiers warm their
World Publications Group, Inc. hands around an open fire.
455 Somerset Avenue Pages 2-3: The Battle of Stone's River
MA
North Dighton, 02764 (December 31, 1862-January 3, 1863), as
depicted by Kurz & Allison
©
Copyright 1992 Thi> page: Officers of the 55th New York
Infantry pose with a 32-pounder
All rights reserved. No part of this Columbiad.
publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form
by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying or otherwise, without first
obtaining the written permission of the
copyright owner.
ISBN 1-57215-285-0
Printed in China
-
PREFATORY NOTE
Because America's interest in the Civil War The general scheme of organization is, in the
seems never to wane, new books on the subject formal sense of the term, discursive - that is, a
continue to appear every year. Many of these heirarchy of interlocking entries. The longest
titles deal with particular subjects - with the life entries deal with the broadest topics (the major
of an individual, for example, or with a specific campaigns, the greatest leaders, the most im-
battle or campaign - while others deal solely portant issues and policies), and as entries
with aspects of the whole, such as naval opera- decrease in length they tend to become more
hons or wartime party politics. Indeed, so much narrowly focused and summary. This implies
has now been written about the Civil War that that the reader will usually be rewarded by
only a few (usually multi-volume) general histo- doing a little common-sense cross-referencing,
ries can still aspire to comprehensiveness. For example, the Encyclopedia entry on Joshua
Doubtless a good thing in itself, this explosion Lawrence Chamberlain notes that he was
of information can nevertheless cause difficul- awarded a Medal of Honor for 'his brilliant
ties for the casual reader, who, increasingly, defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg on
may be exposed to the problem of the unex- July 2, 1863.' If the reader wishes to know more
plained allusion. A passage such as, for where Little Round Top was located on the
example, "It was here, a year earlier, that Plea- battlefield, why it was important, and how
santon's troopers made their attack on Fitz Lee's Chamberlain defended it - these and other
brigade," may seem all too opaque to a non- details may be found in the longer entry on the
specialist, who can be left wondering who Plea- Gettysburg Campaign and Battle. Only in cases
santon and Fitz Lee were, which sides they were where the reader might not necessarily assume
on, and in what context their action was fought, that a cross-reference exists is the notation (See)
Similarly, unexplained references to Colum- employed - to have done otherwise would have
biads, the Baltimore Riot, the Wade-Davis produced a text so awash in (See)s as to the
On
Manifesto, the Lake Erie Conspiracy, panda, nearly unreadable. other matters, such as
Laird rams and dozens of other topics can prove the spellings of certain place names or whether a
both baffling and annoying to the lay reader - particular military engagement was important
and, often enough, to experts as well. enough to be dignified by the title 'Battle of,' the
The Encyclopedia is intended, if not to banish authors have in all cases been content to follow
such problems completely, at least to ease them, the most common usage, though they freely
Its more-than-1000 entries and nearly 300 illus- acknowledge that variants exist,
trations are, together, meant to form a kind of That having been said, it remains only to add
Civil War vademecum, a reliable companion to all that the authors hope the reader may find this
other Civil War reading. To that end it has been Encyclopedia not only useful and informative but
arranged in what the authors hope will be the also enjoyable simply for casual reading, for
most concise and accessible way possible. they intended that as well.
Abercrombie
Abolitionism Adams Revolver
Abolitionists were those pre- and early-war SeveralthousandcopiesofthisBritishservice
antislavery radicals who favored immediate, revolver were made under license in Mas-
uncompensated emancipation. The move- sachusetts, though Union forcesboughtonly
ment was divided in its aims and methods, anestimated 600. A potentsidearm, itdidnot
encompassing such extremes as John need to be cocked; unlike the more widely
Brown's violence and the moral suasion of used Colt, the Adams could be fired simply
Harriet Beecher Stowe's powerful novel by pulling the trigger.
Uncle Tom's Cabin. William Lloyd Garrison
wasa majorinfluence on the rise ofabolition- Ager Battery Gun
ism in the 1830s, as were such periodicals as
the Liberator and the Emancipator and the de- An early machine gun, the Ager used a
velopment of such national organizations as crank-operated breech mechanism to deliver
the American Anti-Slavery Society (founded rapid fire from a single barrel. The designer
1833). Among many other orators, writers, claimed the gun could fire 100 rounds per
and activists, Wendell Phillips, Frederick minute. Union officials were unconvinced of
Douglass, Horace Greeley, and Harriet Tub- its capabilities, however, and only about 50
man agitated for abolition through the 1830s were sold.
and 1840s. In time, the Liberty Party
(founded 1839), the Free-Soil Party (1848) and Alabama, CSS, and
the Republican Party (1854) came to afford a Alabama Claims
broader-based political platform for the later
Abercrombie, John Joseph phases of the antislavery struggle, and A Confederate raiding ship built at Laird's
(1802-1877) Union general. ' organized abolitionism was somewhat in shipyard in England in 1862, the Alabama
decline in the years just before the outbreak spent 22 months under Captain Raphael
Tennessee-born Abercrombie, an infantry of the Civil War. Semmes attacking Federal snipping in the
veteran, was commissioned colonel in 1861. Atlantic and Indian oceans. Powered by
He commanded a brigade in the Peninsular Adams, Charles Francis steam and sail and armed with eight guns
Campaign, Abercrombie's Division in the (1807-1886) Diplomat. (the largestofwhichwasa100-pounderrifled
defense of Washington, and the Fredericks- Blakely), she was by far the most successful
burg depots before being mustered out in Son ofJohn Quincy Adams, he was US mini- of the Confederate commerce raiders,
June 1864. ster to Great Britain from 1861 to 1868. In this makinga total of66captures, 53 ofwhich she
crucial post his success in maintaining the sank. She was sunk by the sloop-of-war USS
Ableman vs Booth neutrality of England (and thus Europe) was Kearsarge (See) offCherbourg, France, inJune
regarded as the diplomaticequivalentofwin- 1864. Partly because of the Alabama's depre-
In March 1859 the US Supreme Court ruled ning a major military victory at home. dations, the US, during and after the war, in-
that state courts may not free federal prison- itiated claims against England for the nearly
ers, overturning a Wisconsin ruling. The Adams, Daniel Weisiger $20 million in damage done to Union ship-
state had released a man named Booth who (1821-1872) Confederate general. ping by vessels built or outfitted in that sup-
had been convicted of rescuing a fugitive posedly neutral country. Britain finally paid
slave. The ruling thus upheld the Fugitive AKentucky-bornlawyer, hecommanded the the US $15.5 million in 1873.
SlaveActof1850, andthe federalgovernment 1st Louisiana Regulars at Shiloh, then led a
returned Booth to prison. brigade at the battles of Perryville, Corinth, Albemarle, CSS Confederate ram.
Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga, where he
Citizens ofWorcester, Massachusetts, in the was wounded and captured. Eventually ex- Operating on the Roanoke River, the Albe-
1830s gather on the town common to listen to an changed, he commanded the District of marle, James W. Cooke commanding, aided
anti-slavery speech delivered by a local Central Alabama during the final months of in the capture ofPlymouth, NC, (See) inApril
spokesman for the abolitionist movement. the war. 1864 and fought a seven-ship Federal block-
ading squadron to a standoff the following
month. She was sunk in a daring midnight
torpedo raid commanded by a Union Lieu-
tenant named William B. Cushing (See) on
October 27, 1864.
Aldie, Virginia
Federal cavalry under General Alfred Plea-
sonton attacked Fitz Lee's cavalry brigade, of
James Longstreet's command, here on June
17, 1863. The bluecoats made a series of
spirited attempts on enemy defensive posi-
tions, and the Confederates withdrew after
dark. The Northern losses were 305, the
Southern around 100.
Alexander, Edward Porter
(1835-1910) Confederate general.
A Georgian graduate of West Point, he
fought at First Bull Run, in the Peninsular
and Antietam campaigns, and commanded
the artillery on Marye's Heights at Fred-
ericksburg. He commanded James Long-
street's reserve artillery at Gettysburg. As
Longstreet's chief gunner he also fought at