The Mule Shoe Salient

[quincannon]

We have the same saying over on this side as well, thus my comment, but what the hell preaching to the choir, bringing a knife to a gun fight, and talking tactics with Captain Pretend, yields the very same non-favorable result.

[deadwoodgultch]

As to your thread, this pertains, 'you betcha'!

www.civilwar.org/battlefields/spotsylvaniacourthouse/spotsylvania-courthouse-maps/spotsylvania-court-house-1.html

And for your continued viewing enjoyment.

thomaslegion.net/bloodyanglebattleofspotsylvania.html

[Beth]

I moved the conversation about Minnesota and accents down to General Chat.

[yanmacca]

Getting back to original theme of this thread and the ACW, how far west did this conflict reach, and whose side were the troops on, who garrisoned the sea defences in areas along the west coast. I recall that Alcatraz was originally a military installation built to protect San Francisco bay from attack and it was active in this role before the start of the ACW.

There must have been plenty of forts and garrisons stretching along the west coast and the Mexican border, so did these just splinter into two fractions, or did the war simply not affect the people this far west.

Yan.

[dave]

Yan
The April 1862 skirmish at Stanwix Station and the 1863 incident at La Paz, both actions in Arizona, were the farthest west engagements of the War. The St. Albans, VT raid in 1864 was the farthest North action of the War. California and Oregon were the farthest west states of the US and did not experience enemy action.
Regards
Dave

[yanmacca]

Were the troops serving in the western garrisons given the option to fight for their respected side, or were they forced to stay at their posts for the duration of the war. I am sure that the officer cadets at West Point were given the option.

[dave]

Yan

I am a amature historian and so take what I share with a grain of salt but thought the material below would be of interest to you:

"Of the 1098 officers in the Regular Army at the outbreak of the war, one record lists 286 who resigned and joined the Confederacy. Of this number 187 were West Point graduates, and 99 non-West Pointers. Of those who did go with the South, 26 were appointed from the North, including 16 West Point graduates. One estimate states that out of 350 West Point graduates from slave states who were in military service at the beginning of the war, 162 remained with the North and 168 went South. Of the Regular Army enlisted men, only 26 are recorded as having joined the South, a surprisingly low figure.

Source: "The Civil War Day By Day" by E.B. Long" *



George Pickett of Gettysburg fame left Oregon and traveled back to Virginia to enlist in the Confederate army and resign his US commission. General Albert Sidney Johnson, who died at Shiloh, resigned his commission and traveled east to accept a Confederate commission. There were others less famous who traveled east to throw in with the South. I am not sure regarding the enlisted men as to the numbers who left Federal service but I don't think it was many. Perhaps QC, Deadwood or
heyoka can provide more reliable and in depth material for all of us.
Regards
Dave
PS Tow books that would be of great interest for you are by Bell I Wiley, Billy Yank and Johnny Reb. Great detail of the average soldier's life from both side


*http://www.civilwarhome.com/themen.html