The Death of General Thomas Stevenson. Identifying the ground where he fell.
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
3y ago
  The following is the culmination of a project I began over sixteen years ago, brought out again currently by the expressed desire of others to place a historical marker pertaining to the death site of Brigadier General Thomas Greeley Stevenson. Since early 2004 I have studied the terrain around which he was killed and the documentation that exists detailing the incident. Many thanks to historian Eric Mink of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park for providing access to copy documents within their holdings. Also, in remembrance of the late historian Greg Coco, I wa ..read more
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Fox House Below The North Anna: The front has always been the front. Concern raised as restoration work nears.
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
4y ago
Last May the Emerging Civil War blog published a piece about the American Battlefield Trust's acquisition of the Fox House, a vital landmark of the North Anna Campaign, and location of a near fatal blow to Robert E. Lee himself. In that article there was raised the question as to which face of the house, east or west, was the 1860's entrance. The answer to that question is easily established, yet a few days ago, May 23, 2020, ECW posted an on-site video with co-founder and editor-in-chief, Chris Mackowski, wherein he presents the west face of the house as being the wartime entra ..read more
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Myer's Hill Map Examinations
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
4y ago
     Today is the 156th anniversary of the fighting on Myer's Hill, an important opening engagement of the second week of fighting at Spotsylvania, Virginia, May 14, 1864.      After 20 years of this author's advocacy, the site has been preserved by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. The two accompanying videos supply some brief overview of the fighting that took place, and of the cultural resources on the preserved property and surrounding area. They are brief, 9:45 minutes, and 6:20 minutes, but I hope they provide a satisfying introduction to a project th ..read more
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New Book - Coming May 2021
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
4y ago
Two immigrants, born on the same day, a year apart, came to America for all the opportunity it offered. The Civil War brought them both to a hilltop farm near Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. Without ever meeting, their lives would collide on May 14, 1864. One would lose his life, the other his property. Over twenty years in the making, historian John Cummings brings his exhaustive research, and passion for battlefield preservation, into telling the story. Cummings has been a devoted advocate for the preservation and interpretation of what remains of the John Henry Myer Farm, and this c ..read more
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155th Anniversary of the Action on Myer's Hill: On Location, and Authentic Weather To Boot
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
It's been some time since I've posted here while handling numerous other projects, but today I decided to head up to Myer's Hill on the 155th Anniversary of the fighting there. May 14, 1864. Studying this battlefield has been a twenty year passion of mine, and after an equal effort of advocating for its preservation, I can finally see that goal coming to fruition. Use the "Search This Blog" bar for previous posts I've done regarding other aspects of the Myer family experience and the soldiers engaged here. The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has acquired the nearly 74 acres that constitut ..read more
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Jackson's Line At First Manassas - A Radical Re-examination
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
     This posting will certainly open a can of worms, I have no doubt, but I will present this with great confidence, for as you will see, there is substantial evidence to back it up.       Have you ever stood behind the Jackson monument on Henry Hill and wondered to yourself, "It took him an hour to arrange this line?" There is nothing spectacular about the ground we are led to believe contained his Virginians, lying prone behind the thirteen assorted pieces of artillery, yet here it has been marked, with one prior adjustment, and worshiped as sacrosanct.      The prior adjustment I mention d ..read more
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2nd Fredericksburg - Captain Russell's Photo. Not taken immediately after the action...
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
Today is the 155th anniversary of the action known as Second Fredericksburg, fought along the Stone Wall. It is also the same day this image of the Confederate dead behind the wall was taken by Captain A. J. Russell, official photographer for the United States Military Railroad. It is certainly an intriguing documentary image, and the only one known to have been taken of dead soldiers during the Chancellorsville Campaign. It would not be until three years later that skeletonized human remains were photographed on the former battlefields west of Fredericksburg, by the photographic entourage o ..read more
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Photo reveals Fredericksburg Landscape in 1866
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
It's always exciting to find new images to study. A batch of previously unseen stereoviews from the April 1866 Bontecou expedition has been revealed, and they fill a few holes in the 121 image series. Until now, there were only about 65% of the series known to exist in any printed form. Unfortunately, all the glass negatives have long vanished, including the number that had been apparently purloined from the Surgeon General's collection by assistant George Oscar Brown, and later published under his name while setting up his post-military career in Baltimore, Maryland. Previous posts on this bl ..read more
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Harvest of Death vs Garry Adelman
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
Since Garry Adelman has chosen to go after the work I have done on the "Harvest of Death" images, yet again, five years after his initial efforts, and state that he "looks forward" to my rebuttal, what I'll do here is take a point by point approach to Garry's recent video installment on Gettysburg Daily. Garry talks real fast, as usual, in his video, and makes use of smoke and mirrors (unless he really believes these things), in a frantic display of sleight of hand and magician's banter. At 1:41 he asserts that I "misunderstood" him when he pointed to a tree (which he described as "distinctiv ..read more
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And Just Like That - GONE! The Minor House is no more...
Spotsylvania Civil War Blog
by John Cummings
5y ago
     Some final photographs delivered by our friend Stephen Masters, who has been on-site today, documenting the tragic loss of one of Northern Virginia's historic treasures. Admittedly, the Minor House was lost before today due to obscurity. With additions and expansions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the house faded from view. Its historical importance forgotten as the neighborhood grew around it, only to be revealed at the eleventh hour like so many preservation losses, usually too late to have a happy ending.      Stephen has logged many personal hours in an effort to save ..read more
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