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3rd National Flag originally adopted to replace the "Stainless Banner" on March 4,1865. This was also reverently called the "Blood Stained Banner". Standard 3'x5' polyester with 2 grommets or Large 5'x7.5' G-Spec super polyester with 3 grommets and 4 rows of stitching on the end for long life outdoor wear.
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This is a collection of war letters written by teenagers George and Walter Battle during their service in Company F, 4th North Carolina Regiment, CSA. Underage, yet full of vitality and idealism, these boys were not just fighting for their country; they were fighting to protect their family's name. Two young brothers had gone off to war as mere boys. Their experiences quickly hardened and molded them into veterans of the greatest army ever to march on American soil.
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The Civil War was trying, bloody, and hard-fought combat for both sides. What was it, then, that sustained soldiers low on supplies and morale? For the Army of Tennessee, it was religion. “Onward Southern Soldiers" explores the significant impact of religion on every rank, from generals to chaplains to common soldiers. Religion unified troops, informing both why and how they fought, and providing the rationale for enduring great hardship for the Confederate cause.
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Midway between Memphis and New Orleans along the Mississippi River, Vicksburg was essential to both Confederate and Union campaigns. General Ulysses S. Grant began his campaign on the city in November 1862, but he was forced to abandon the operation in December when the fiery General Earl Van Dorn made a daring raid on Grant’s main supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi. With the help of the CSS Arkansas, Van Dorn’s single day raid on Grant’s supply base saved Vicksburg from Grant’s forces for an entire year.
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In February 1864, over seven thousand Union cavalry troops led by Gen. William Sooy Smith started a raid into the Mississippi Prairie to bring destruction to one of the few breadbaskets remaining in the South. Both Smith and Gen. Sherman intended to burn everything in their path. But neither reckoned with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's small Confederate cavalry forced defeated Smith in a running battle that stretched from West Point to Okolona and beyond. Forrest's victory prevented Smith from joining Sherman and saved the Prairie from total destruction.
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The Battle of Fort Donelson was the first major victory for Federal forces and the first decisive battle in the vital area from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. It gave the Federals control of both the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers; led directly to the fall of the first Confederate capital at Nashville and the Battle of Shiloh, and was the beginning of the fame and/or infamy of several Civil War generals, including U.S. Grant, N. B. Forrest, Gideon Pillow and John B. Floyd. It also resulted in the first surrender of an army by a Confederate general, and the largest capture of enemy troops in American history, up to that time.
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The Chancellorsville Campaign was the true high water mark for both the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac. The campaign would be the Confederates' greatest battle, though it came at the cost of losing General Stonewall Jackson. Although the Confederacy prevailed at Chancellorsville, Hooker used the defeat to institute a multitude of reforms, which paved the way for the hard-fought victory at Gettysburg.
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In late November 1864, the Army of Tennessee started out from northern Alabama with dreams of capturing Nashville and marching on to the Ohio River. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works and lost 30 percent of his attacking force in one afternoon. Local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid picture of this gruesome conflict.