"Fred Grant at Vicksburg" by Albert Nofi

When I wrote my historical novel Brookhaven, I was aware of this story, but I didn’t know it in terms of details. Now I do. 

In the spring of 1863, Frederick Dent Grant was 12 going on 13. He’d been born in St. Louis. His mother was Julia Dent Grant, daughter of a slaveowner in St. Louis County. His father was Ulysses S. Grant, general in the Union Army, who was now encamped down the Mississippi River, charged with taking Vicksburg, the last Confederate fortification not in Union hands along the Mississippi. Memphis, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge were all in Union hands; Vicksburg was the last impediment to Union control of the river.

 

And then Grant did something that would seem almost inexplicable to parents today. In early March of 1863, he sent for his oldest son Fred to join him for the Vicksburg campaign. Fred’s mother also did something inexplicable – she let him go, although she did keep nine-year-old Ulysses Jr. with her and the family.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Why We Don’t Trust the “Elites” – Gary Houchens at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The American: A Frank Capra Retrospective – Ryan Shenkel at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Left-Wing Violence is Being Normalized – Max Horder at The Spectator.

 

Archaeologist uncovers ‘compelling evidence’ of true location where Jesus turned water into wine – Andrea Margolis at fox News.

Some Thursday Readings

Murders for September – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine. 

On the name ‘Hamlet’ – Adam Roberts at Adam’s Notebook.

 

Podcast: The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg – Tim Smith and Chris Mackowski.

 

Poet Laura: Poems for Liminal Times – Michelle Rinaldi Ortega at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Alexandre de Moraes is no hero – Elijah Grant at The Critic Magazine.

 

Why Thrillers Matter – Mike Maden at CrimeReads.

 

New Titanic photos show major decay to legendary wreck – Amarachi Orie at CNN.

 

Allan Pinkerton’s Civil War Legacy: Justified or Overblown? – Michael Stroud at The Historians Magazine.

 

Who is the best British novelist? – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

“A History,” poem by Tom Hood – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Photograph: The Titanic leaving Queenstown, Ireland, one of the last photographs taken of the ship.

“The Summer of ’63: Vicksburg & Tullahoma,” edited by Chris Mackowski & Dan Welch

There are few more momentous years in American history than 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation. The Battle of Gettysburg, ending Robert E Lee’s invasion of the North. The Fall of Vicksburg, which effectively cut the Confederacy in half. More than 30,000 books have been written on the Battle of Gettysburg alone. 

And there are few more actively maintained and managed Civil War web sites than Emerging Civil War. With 28 contributors and seven editors (all of whom also contribute), the site is updated daily and often several times a day. 

 

Chris Mackowski serves as editor-in-chief, and Dan Welch is one of the site’s contributors. Together, they have edited some 40 articles about the Civil War summer of 1863, focusing ontwo major campaigns – Vicksburg in Mississippi and Tullahoma in Tennessee. Usually works about that momentous summer address the Battle of Gettysburg; The Summer of ’63: Vicksburg & Tullahoma are about the other two campaigns whose outcomes had as much to do with the defeat of the Confederacy as did Gettysburg. In fact, one might argue that Vicksburg had at least as great an impact on the war as Gettysburg did, and perhaps more.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.