First Person Civil War Podcast

At the Battle of Gettysburg, 2 July 1863, PVT J.S. McNeilly of the 21st Mississippi as part of BG Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade charged the salient created by the Union III Corps. The 21st Mississippi smashed into COL Tippin and the 68thPennsylvania which held the line in a Peach Orchard. After the Confederates successfully broke the III Corps’ line, PVT McNeily and the 21st Mississippi continue...

At the Battle of Mansfield, 8 April 1864, PVT J.P. Blessington and the 16th Texas form a line of battle to await the first Union column marching north along the Mansfield Road. After retreating up the Red River to consolidate forces, the Confederate Army now had a large enough force to turn around and face the Union Army which intended to seize Shreveport. Having successfully broken the first two...

At the Siege of Port Hudson, which began in May 1863, SGM George N. Carpenter and the 8th Vermont manned the trenches north of the town. The Army of the Gulf was working in conjunction with the MG Grant’s siege of Vicksburg to the North. Much rode on the success of these sieges. Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the last two Confederate fortresses on the Mississippi River. If the Army of the Gulf cou...

At the Battle of Bentonville, 19 March 1865, SGT Walter A. Clark of the 63rd Georgia and the Army of Tennessee advanced against the Left Wing of MG William T. Sherman’s Army. Though outnumbered when the Union Army was combined, General Joseph E. Johnston wanted to negate this by sending his Army of the South against one Wing at a time. After breaking the first line which consisted of the XIV Corps...

At the Battle of South Mountain, on the evening of 14 September 1862, PVT Phillip Cheek and the 6th Wisconsin advanced upon Turner’s Gap, one of three passes at South Mountain. Alongside the 19th Indiana, 2nd and 7th Wisconsin Infantries, the men of BG John Gibbon’s 4th Brigade met heavy resistance from COL Alfred H. Colquitt’s Brigade of Georgians and Alabamians but steadily advanced up the slope...

At the Battle of Cedar Mountain, 9 August 1862, PVT Worsham and the 21st Virginia formed the right flank of Garnett’s brigade in a wooded area along the Orange and Culpeper Road. Perfectly position for flanking fire upon advancing Union Regiments to the south and east, Garnett’s Brigade was itself flanked, and PVT Worsham witnessed what he called a “Hell Spot” as his Brigade was overrun and the wo...

At the Battle of Five Forks, 1 April 1865, PVT Joseph J. Sutton and the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry, advanced through the battlefield of the day before at Dinwiddie Courthouse only to find the Confederate Cavalry and Infantry have retreated to their fortified positions at Five Forks. After several hours of preparation and waiting for the V Corps to march into position, the Union Cavalry and Infantry...

At the Sacking of Lawrence, 21 May 1856, SGT Robert H. Williams of the Mounted Rangers, Atchison’s Border Ruffians, rode into the Free-State town of Lawrence during a time that is known as Bleeding Kansas. The Pro-Slavery Ruffians assembled in response to the Pro-Slavery Sherrif being shot in the town. These men were tasked with making several arrests of known Free-Staters, but also to destroy the...

An Unknown Soldier from Company A, 19th Iowa kept a diary of his time in the Union Army from September to December 1862. It was discovered after the Battle of Prairie Grove, 7 December 1862, somewhere along the advance or retreat of the 19th Iowa as they faced a Brigade of Arkansans. The Unknown Soldier of the 19th Iowa is unique in that all we have of him is his diary, which was found missing its...

At the Battle of Atlanta, 22 July 1864, CPT Charles W. Wills and the 103rd Illinois occupied recently vacated Confederate trenches, and believed the way was open to seize the city. As they got to work “turning the trenches” the Illinoisans heard tremendous firing on the left flank and rear of the Army of the Tennessee. As CPT Wills listened, he spotted a line of grey troops emerge from the woodlin...

At the Battle of Cross Keys, 8 June 1862, PVT William A. McClendon and the 15th Alabama posted in front of the Confederate left flank and narrowly escaped being cut off from the rest of the Army. After marching at the double quick across the battlefield, the Alabamians rejoined their brigade on the right flank and assisted in repulsing the first Union advance. The 15th Alabama then turned to the a...

At the Battle of Malvern Hill, 1 July 1862, the Union V Corps, reinforced by formations from across the Army of the Potomac, used massed artillery and infantry support against successive waves of Confederate assaults upon their line. Held in reserve and sustaining casualties from Confederate artillery, SGT Bennett and the 22nd Massachusetts relieved the 62nd Pennsylvania’s position in line after e...

While at Andersonville Prison Camp, Father Henry Clavreul, a Catholic Priest, ministered to the Union Soldiers captured on battlefields across the south. From 15 July to 20 August 1864, Father Clavreul and one other Priest, were the only religious men with authorization to enter the overcrowded camp to render aid. He lasted only 36 days among the sick and dying before he came down with an illness...

At the Battle of Mill Springs, 19 January 1862, SGT McMurray and the 20th Tennessee marched through the night in a persistent rain to attack a Union Division encamped approximately 10 miles to the north. Armed with flintlock muskets, SGT McMurray and the Tennesseans formed on the right flank of the Confederate battle line and were soon flanked by a brigade with men from their own state: the 1st an...

At the Battle of Antietam, beginning at approximately 5:30a.m. on 17 September 1862, a Cornfield owned by the Miller Family became the scene of intense fighting. By about 9a.m., after a series of attacks and counterattacks the mangled Cornfield was in possession of the Union and greatly contributed to the single bloodiest day in United States History.   Elements of the Union I and XII Corps which...

At the Battle of Chickamauga, 18 – 20 September 1863, the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War, LTC Bishop and the 2nd Minnesota face CPL Carter and the 27th Mississippi in vicinity of the Reed’s Bridge Road on 19 September. As the reserve for the XIV Corps on 20 September, they plug a hole in the line made by LTC Ray and the 60th North Carolina’s Division around noon. After the Army of the Cu...

At the Battle of Gettysburg, 1 July 1863, CPT Frederick Otto Baron von Fritsch and the 68th New York face PVT George Washington Nichols and the 61st Georgia north of the town of Gettysburg along Rock Creek and what would soon be known as Barlow’s Knoll. The 68th New York retreated with the rest of the XI Corps and reformed south of the town on Cemetery Hill. On 2the evening of July, CPT Neill W. R...

At the Battle of Brandy Station, 9 June 1863, SGT Edward P. Tobie of the 1st Maine Cavalry in the Left Wing of the Cavalry Corps attempt a double envelopment of MG J.E.B. Stuart’s Cavalry Division. After crossing the Rappahannock River and riding for several miles, SGT Tobie and the 1st Maine Cavalry formed with their brigade and charged upon Fleetwood Hill, the site of MG Stuart’s Headquarters. S...

At the First Battle of Bull Run, PVT Casler and the 33rd Virginia formed on the left flank of BG Thomas J. Jackson’s all Virginia 1st Brigade on Henry Hill. The Virginians stood like a Stonewall through several Union advances. During this time, PVT Casler and the 33rd Virginia charged and captured a Union Battery that unlimbered too close them but eventually returned to the line on Henry Hill. The...

At the Battle of Missionary Ridge, 25 November 1863, 1LT Charles T. Clark and the 125th Ohio advanced in the Second Line of their brigade in what was intended to be the seizure of Confederate Rifle Pits at the base of the ridge. Once completing this, the Ohioans rallied with the rest of their Division and joined in the spontaneous charge of the Army of the Cumberland up the face of Missionary Ridg...

At the Battle of Globe Tavern, 21 August 1864, SGT William V. Izlar and the 25th South Carolina advanced alongside the rest of Hagood’s Brigade against what was perceived to be an open flank of the Union V Corps, but in reality occupied by BG Lysander Cutler’s 4th Division. Sources used for this episode: Izlar, William V. A Sketch of the War Record of the Edisto Rifles, 1861-1865. Columbia: The St...

At the Battle of Yellow Tavern, 11 May 1864, MAJ James H. Kidd, commander of the 6th Michigan Cavalry faced the Confederate Cavalry under MG J.E.B. Stuart. After a fight that lasted several hours, MG Sheridan, commander of the Union Cavalry Corps, ordered his men to charge. Sources used for this episode: Kidd, James H. Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman with Custer’s Michigan Cavalry Brigade i...

At the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, 10 August 1861, SGT William H. Tunnard and the 3rd Louisiana advanced north against an artillery battery which opened upon them only to run into a Battalion of US Infantry. After being repulsed, the regiment hastened south to face a Union Brigade marching from the south. Sources used for this episode: Tunnard, William H. A Southern Record. The History of the Third...

At the Battle of Secessionville, PVT Herbert W. Beecher and the 1st Connecticut Light Artillery Battery supported the advance of the 2nd Division upon the Tower Battery on James Island with their 4x 14-inch James Rifles. Though the Confederate Artillery mostly focused on the several infantry advances upon the Tower Battery, they eventually dueled with the men from Connecticut. Sources used for thi...

At the Battle of Champion Hill, 16 May 1863, CPL Ephraim M. Anderson and the 2nd Missouri (Confederate) rush north along with their entire division to bolster the Confederate left flank which was crumbling under an advance by the Union Army of the Tennessee. After forming in line of battle, the Missourians charged and successfully routed this first Union line, and advanced toward Champion Hill whe...