In response to yesterday’s post, Todd Berkoff wrote, “There must have been some tension between John Irvin and his cousin David M. Gregg over that postwar appointment to the 8th US Cavalry. Like many people, we wonder why David M. Gregg left the service when he did…I tend to believe he couldn’t stand Sheridan’s ego any longer and refused to serve under him.” Stan O’Donnell echoed the sentiment, writing, “I’m wondering the same thing Todd is? You mentioned that Long John got command of the 8th US Cav in the post-war summer of 1866 and that David McM Gregg had covetted that same command. Is the implication that D MCM Gregg would have reentered the US Army had he …

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Stan O’Donnell specifically requested this one, so here’s a profile of forgotten cavalryman Bvt. Maj. Gen. John Irvin Gregg….

John Irvin Gregg was born on July 26, 1826 at Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, his family’s home for nearly 100 years. His grandfather, Andrew Gregg, served two terms in the United States Senate. He was a first cousin of Bvt. Maj. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg, and both were first cousins of Pennsylvania’s war-time governor, Andrew Gregg Curtin.

J. I. Gregg stood 6’4” tall, and was called “Long John” by the men who served under his command. He received a sound education in the academies of Centre and Union Counties. In December, 1846, he volunteered as a private for the Mexican War, …

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My friend Dave Powell, who does not maintain a blog of his own (but probably should), asked me to post this for him about a tour he will be leading at Chickamauga in March. It sounds like a great program, and if I didn’t already have stuff booked two weekends in March, I would probably go. Anyway, Dave asked that this be posted, so here goes:

Chickamauga Tour: Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, 2008.

2008 Theme: Friday: Wilder’s Brigade; Saturday: Defending (and defining) Horseshoe Ridge.

Tour Leaders: Jim Ogden, Park Historian, and Dave Powell

All tours meet at the Visitor’s Center parking lot 15 minutes before scheduled start time.

Friday Morning: 8:30 a.m. to Noon. Wilder’s Brigade, September …

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Old friend Ted Savas has a fun little poll on the first page of his blog. Some may recall Ted’s prior publishing venture, Savas-Woodbury, which he co-owned with fellow blogger David Woodbury. The quiz takes a walk down memory lane and asks readers to vote for their favorite Savas-Woodbury title.

Through Savas-Woodbury, Ted and David published two of my very favorite Civil War books. One was Mark L. Bradley’s excellent Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville, which is one of the best campaign studies I’ve ever read. It’s included in Ted’s poll, and was the book I voted for. The other is Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr.’s outstanding book The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of …

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Susan, Nero, Aurora, and I all join to wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2008.

We had 265 posts and 1,737 comments this year, meaning that 2007 was a productive year ’round these parts. Thanks to all who make this site part of your daily ritual.

There will be more rantings to come in the new year……

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I’m a cav guy. That’s no secret. In fact, cavalry operations interest me most of all. I find the evolution of tactics fascinating, and I likewise find the changing role of the cavalry in the Civil War to be one of the most interesting studies of the evolution of military doctrine I’ve yet found.

By 1864, as a consequence of changing technology, weaponry, tactics, and the emergence of competent leadership, cavalry doctrine had changed substantially from where it was at the beginning of the war. By late 1864, large mounted forces began acting as independent commands, almost like a mounted army. Each side featured one such force. Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson’s mounted army tore the guts out of the …

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For years and years, there was only one full-length biography of Wade Hampton, written in the 1940’s by Manly Wade Wellman titled Giant in Gray: A Biography of Wade Hampton of South Carolina. Although it was an early biography and clearly biased toward the Southern perspective, it nevertheless gave full coverage to both Hampton’s military career during the Civil War as well as his long-running post-war political career. This book’s weaknesses are its obvious lack of objectivity, and its failure to take advantage of unpublished manuscript material.

The last few years have seen a sudden explosion of new biographies of Hampton. The first one, by Ed Longacre, is titled Gentleman and Soldier: A Biography of Wade Hampton, III. …

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Daniel Mallock maintains a blog called Books, Film & Music, which includes a nice hodgepodge of information on a variety of subjects. Dan, a transplanted Northerner, has made his first foray into posting on the Civil War with a really outstanding summary of the Battle of Franklin, which I commend to you. It’s probably the best concise summary of this fascinating battle I’ve seen yet.

If Dan continues to post this level of quality material on the Civil War, I will have to find a place for him in the blogroll. 🙂

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Well, you’ve heard me talk about the retreat book plenty here. Sorry to keep banging away at it, but the book now has an official write-up on Amazon.com and on the distributor’s web site. Here is the write-up:

ONE CONTINUOUS FIGHT
The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863
Eric J. Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi, & Michael F. Nugent

The titanic three-day battle of Gettysburg left 50,000 casualties in its wake, a battered Southern army far from its base of supplies, and a rich historiographic legacy. Thousands of books and articles cover nearly every aspect of the battle, but not a single volume focuses on the military aspects of the monumentally …

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I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and/or Festivus. Susan and I spent the day as we always do: a movie and dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. From my perspective, the best thing was having four days in a row off to recharge my desperately drained mental batteries. I really needed the break.

Unfortunately, I spent a fair portion of those four days once again fighting the neo-Confederate wars. I spend a fair amount of time posting on the Armchair General forum boards. I enjoy the interaction with most of the people there, many of whom are extremely knowledgeable. Over the course of the past days, a clown calling himself Thomas Jefferson has been there espousing the …

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