In the Spring of 1861, men from Roanoke, Botetourt, Craig and Bedford Counties enlisted in Confederate service and became members of the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Their story is an integral part of the history of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This is a social-military study which documents the war-time careers of the men in the 28th Virginia. Letters, diaries, personal accounts and other primary sources were utilized in addition to various secondary sources. An examination of letters and diaries written by soldiers in the 28th Virginia is vital for one to understand Civil War army life. The 28th Virginia participated in most of the major eastern campaigns. As a part of Longstreet's corps, Pickett's division, they fought at 1st and 2nd Manassas, Seven Day's battles, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Seige of Richmond and Petersburg and the retreat to Appomattox. / Master of Arts

The Reverend Henry Clay Trumbull served as chaplain to the 10th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment from 1862 to 1865 during the American Civil War. During that time he wrote nearly 250 letters to his wife alone (he wrote hundreds more), describing his actions and experiences as he ministered to the soldiers. Along with the letters, he kept detailed diaries and a lengthy journal of a four-month experience in a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Columbia, S.C. Trumbull's letters therefore constitute an important collection of primary source research material. Reverend Trumbull provides us with an in-depth portrait of a highly qualified, dedicated and concerned chaplain. Because he exposed himself to the hardships and uncertainties of warfare, he earned the respect, admiration and affection of both officers and enlisted men. / Master of Arts

The history of the 9th Virginia reveals a personal struggle within a much larger conflict. The regiment's performance at the June, 1862, battle of Seven Pines was disappointing. After the encounter, the unit not only marched against the Federals but looked for the opportunity to redeem itself. However, the occasion to regain its good standing was slow in coming. General Lewis A. Armistead, the regiment's brigade commander, initially posted the 9th Virginia to guard roadways during subsequent engagements at Malvern Hill. Armistead also held the regiment in reserve while most of the brigade counterattacked along the York River Railroad. The entire brigade remained as a support unit during the clash at Second Manassas. Following the battle, Armistead declined to set in motion a night attack, as suggested by a fellow general, because Armistead felt his command would have trouble executing such a complicated assault. At Fredericksburg the brigade defended the Confederate middle-- the safest position on the Southern line. The second rate assignments the regiments received spawns the obvious question concerning the unit. Did Armistead lack faith in the 9th Virginia? The summer after Seven Pines, the regiment participated in Pickett's charge at Gettysburg and the flow of events changed. The Confederacy began its painful decline. Armistead was killed and the 9th Virginia suffered tremendous casualties. Yet the unit established a positive place for itself in military history. / Master of Arts

Libby Prison ranked as one of the most notorious of Civil War compounds. Used as a transitory depot and hospital as well as a permanent place of confinement, over 125,000 Federal prisoners passed through Libby's doors. The Confederate States Military Prison headquarters located in Libby Prison made it the focal point of Richmond's spindly prison system. Prisoners' diaries tell of depravations suffered during captivity. Insufferable living conditions, poor food rations, inadequate hospital facilities and harsh punishment composed a majority of the prisoners' complaints. Daily newspaper accounts reflected the lifestyles of Richmond's population and residents' attitudes toward the presence of Federal captives in their city. A majority of the time, prisoners had access to the daily papers. Yet very few of them attempted to draw a correlation between the type of existence that they endured within Libby Prison versus the civilian population's struggle to sustain itself in likewise unsuitable circumstances. The Official Records of the Civil War round out the picture of the difficulties faced by the Confederate government in trying to maintain large numbers of prisoners with proper shelter and food. Added to this was the continual desire of Confederate authorities to establish an exchange system to alleviate their burden and Federal prisoners' suffering. This thesis attempts to draw these major sources of information together. Prisoners' reminiscences used in this study were critically evaluated for their validity. To establish the diarists' retention in Libby Prison for the period indicated in the diary, Roll Call Books located at the National Archives were consulted. Newspapers and official correspondence balanced out the interpretation of Libby life. Throughout the Civil War, the Confederate government did not attempt intentionally to deprive Federal prisoners of adequate provisions. A majority of the time, circumstances dictated the actions disliked by captor and prisoner alike. / Master of Arts

It is the purpose of this study to reveal that the morale of the southern civilians was an important factor in determining the fall of the Confederacy. At the close of the Civil War, the South was exhausted and weak, with only limited supplies to continue their defense. The Confederacy might have been rallied by the determination of its people, but they lacked such determination, for the hardships and grief they endured had turned their cause into a meaningless struggle. Therefore, the South fell because its strength depended upon the will of its population. This study is based on accounts by contemporaries in diaries, memoirs, newspapers, and journals, and it reflects their reaction to the collapse of homefront morale.

Of the large amount of writings concerning the Civil War only a small percentage pertains to the Federal Navy's role. This is understandable since this was primarily a land war. A few of the Navy's exploits such as the capture of New Orleans, the sinking of the Alabama, the capture of the Florida in Brazilian waters, and the Trent affair received great amounts of publicity, but the majority of the naval activities were of a routine nature, each individually warranting little notice but collectively contributing immensely to the final Federal victory. The purpose of this paper is to show in detail the role of only a portion of the Navy, the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, during this struggle.

No description available.

This study investigates the development of large unit command and control in the United States Army prior to the American Civil War. It examines the results of this development in one early campaign of the war. The paper's theme is that the excessive casualties suffered during the early stages of the war were not only a result of the improvements in weapons technology, the size of the armies or the personalities of the individual commanders. Another, and potentially more serious cause was the inability of the Union commanders to command, control, and maneuver these units to achieve campaign objectives.The paper begins by describing how war is organized into three levels: strategy, operations, and tactics; and defining the concepts related to command and control. The influences on the development of the Civil War leadership are next examined. These include: Napoleonic Warfare, the teachings of Jomini, Mahan, and Halleck; the the formal and informal educational experiences of the officers. Next command and control doctrine within the Union Army is examined.The case study used for examining operational command and control during the early period of the Civil War is the Maryland Campaign of 1862 which culminated at the Battle of Antietam in September of that year. Throughout the thesis, the education and performance of the Army of the Potomac's commander, George B. McClellan is examined.The conclusion of the paper is that the United States Army was poorly prepared for the conduct of large unit operations. This poor preparation, and performance, could not be blamed on any single individual, including McClellan. It was the result of complex educational, experiential, and organizational factors which shaped the pre-war Army.Finally, this paper concludes that General McClellan's inability to decisively maneuver the forces at his disposal was a significant factor in the outcome of the engagement at Sharpsburg, Maryland on 17 September, 1862.

This dissertation is a study of morale in the western Confederacy from early 1864 until the Civil War's end in spring 1865. It examines when and why Confederate morale, military and civilian, changed in three important western states, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Focusing on that time frame allows a thorough examination of the sources, increases the opportunity to produce representative results, and permits an assessment of the lingering question of when and why most Confederates recognized, or admitted, defeat. Most western Confederate men and women struggled for their ultimate goal of southern independence until Federal armies crushed those aspirations on the battlefield. Until the destruction of the Army of Tennessee at Franklin and Nashville, most western Confederates still hoped for victory and believed it at least possible. Until the end they drew inspiration from battlefield developments, but also from their families, communities, comrades in arms, the sacrifices already endured, simple hatred for northerners, and frequently from anxiety for what a Federal victory might mean to their lives. Wartime diaries and letters of western Confederates serve as the principal sources. The dissertation relies on what those men and women wrote about during the war - military, political, social, or otherwise - and evaluates morale throughout the period in question by following primarily a chronological approach that allows the reader to glimpse the story as it developed.

This thesis is concerned with the design of a Civil War Museum depicting battles which took place in and around the Fredericksburg, Virginia area. I chose the topic Civil War action dramatized at Fredericksburg, Virginia (1862-1864), because I was concerned with the future application for my career as an architect, with the personal significance as subject matter, and with an integrative vehicle for my studies. / Master of Architecture