I’ve been working my way through the Washington, D.C. Evening Star, page by page, looking for vessels connected to the Siege of Petersburg. I’ve finished thirty-five issues now, June 10 through July 20, 1864.

I started this project to build itineraries for the civilian steamers: where a given boat was on a given date, so I can eventually put that information on the ship pages here at the site. What I did not expect was that reading the paper straight through, every column, would hand me something else entirely.

The Star counted the wounded as they came up the river. Boat by boat. Almost every day.

I’ll admit I wasn’t looking for this. I was after vessel names and dates, and the wounded counts were just something I was recording along the way because they happened to be in the same paragraph. It wasn’t until I had a month and a half of them lined up in a spreadsheet that I saw what I actually had.

The Washington, DC Evening Star, published during the Siege of Petersburg, is a great resource to track civilian and military vessel traffic.

Thirty-one loads. More than eleven thousand sick and wounded men. Six weeks.

Here are a few of them, in the Star’s own words:

• June 14, the Connecticut, Capt. Stranahan, 1,125 sick and wounded, among them 49 officers. That’s the largest single load in the six weeks.
• June 12, the John Brooks, about 250 wounded, seven of whom died on the way up.
• June 16, the Ranger, 150 wounded colored troops, 14 severe cases, two of whom died on the upward trip.
• June 21, the Wenonah, 505 wounded, six of them officers — very slight cases, the majority having walked in from the battle-field to City Point.
• June 23, the Connecticut again, 500 wounded, over 300 of whom could not be moved except on stretchers.
• July 1, the Connecticut once more, 540 wounded including 23 officers, six died on the upward trip, and a company of the Invalid Corps unloaded her from six in the evening until midnight.

Every load with a reported count is charted below, largest bar to smallest number of men, in the order they arrived. Green came down the Pamunkey from the White House. Red came up from City Point and the James.

What the boats show that the dispatches don’t

Two things jumped out at me once I had them in order.

The first is that you can watch the army change rivers. Every load before the middle of June comes down the Pamunkey from the White House Landing. After the crossing of the James, every load comes up from City Point. That’s not news to anybody who studies this campaign, of course. But it’s one thing to read that the base shifted and another to see thirty-one boatloads of wounded men do it in front of you.

The changeover is also messier than I expected. The Lizzie Baker came up from the White House on June 23 with a wounded cavalry officer and thirty-two men, well after the landing was supposedly cleared out. Three days later the Connecticut dropped down to Powhatan Landing on the James expecting to take on three hundred of Sheridan’s wounded and found that the Eliza Washington had already carried them off.

The civilian steamer Connecticut, not to be confused with the USS Connecticut, served as a hospital ship during the Siege of Petersburg. [Erik Heyl, “Connecticut,” in Early American Steamers, vol. 4 (Buffalo, NY: Erik Heyl, 1965), 65.]

The second thing is that Washington ran out of room. On June 28 the Thomas Morgan came up from City Point with 250 wounded and was ordered back down to Alexandria to unload. The same day the Mary Washington arrived with about 200 of Sheridan’s men and got the same order. On July 2 the Guide came in with 184, mainly of the Second Corps, and her men were sent on to Alexandria too. Ten days before that the Star had noted that only two regular hospital boats would be running to the city for the present, the Connecticut and the State of Maine. By the end of the month the traffic had blown past whatever arrangement anybody had made.

There’s a detail I can’t stop thinking about. On June 23 the City of Albany carried conscripts down to the front. A week later she came back up with 247 wounded, and the Star observed that a good many of them were the same men.

The river wasn’t safe either

While I’m at it, a few things from the same six weeks that didn’t fit anywhere else.

On June 22 the Lizzie Hancock was coming down the Pamunkey from the White House when a detachment of rebel cavalry fired into her. One hundred and forty-two shots struck the boat and her pilot was seriously wounded.

At City Point the New World, which had no engine, was towed up to lie as a floating hospital, waiting on a load of wounded for a destination the paper couldn’t name.

And on July 14, aboard the Connecticut off Newport News, a sick man said to be a Philadelphia newspaper correspondent went over the side and was drowned.

Every load, in order

A note on the numbers

Counts are exactly as the Star printed them, including the ones spelled out in words. Where an arrival got reported in two different issues, I’ve counted her once. I’ve left out sick and wounded landed in other theaters — there are Mississippi and Ohio River items in the same issues, and they don’t belong in a Petersburg total.

This is six weeks out of roughly ten and a half months. I’m going to keep reading, and I expect the picture to change as I go, especially once I get into the last days of July. Whatever the Crater did to these numbers, it’s going to be visible.

If you have anything that would fill this out (hospital steamer records, a nurse’s or surgeon’s letters, a soldier who describes his trip up the river, a diary from one of these boats) please Contact Us. My goal here is the same as it’s always been: to put together the most complete record of this campaign that anybody has assembled, and that includes the boats.

Source: thirty-five issues of the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), June 10 – July 20, 1864, read page by page. Every load above carries the citation for the paragraph it came from.

Ship Information (from the Lytle-Holdcamper List and Erik Heyl’s Early American Steamers)¹,²,³,⁴

Images:

⁵

Captain(s):
Captain Carpenter
Captain Image

Captain Pepper
Captain Image

Captain 3
Captain Image

Pre-Siege (June 1-12, 1864):

• Captain:
• Locations Mentioned:
  • June 2, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont sailed from New York on June 2, 1864.⁶

First Offensive Order of Battle (June 13-18, 1864):

• Captain:
• Locations Mentioned:
  • June 14, 1864, no time listed: The Admiral DuPont left White House on the morning of June 13 with matters quiet and unchanged in the Army of the Potomac. Guerrillas were reported becoming troublesome in the vicinity of White House. Shortly after leaving, eight deserters were found secreted on board and put under guard. As she neared Alexandria on the morning of June 14 three jumped overboard attempting to escape; two reached shore and got away, the third was drowned. The remaining five were taken in charge by the Provost Marshal on the boat’s arrival. No names were obtained.⁷,⁸,⁹
  • June 15, 1864, no time listed: On the morning of June 15, 1864 the Admiral DuPont and the North Point left the Sixth Street wharf at Washington with three hundred and twenty-four Confederate prisoners who had been confined in the Old Capitol Prison, to be conveyed to Fort Delaware.¹⁰

Second Offensive Order of Battle (June 19-30, 1864):

• Captain: Carpenter (June 19, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • June 19, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (U.S. transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Delaware, 18 hours, in ballast.¹¹,¹²

Third Offensive Order of Battle (July 1-31, 1864):

• Captain: Carpenter (July 3-21, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • July 3, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (U.S. transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 23 hours, in ballast, to the U.S. Quartermaster. Detained off Sandy Hook by a thick fog.¹³
  • July 6, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont sailed from New York on July 6, 1864, heading the day’s list of sailings.¹⁴,¹⁵
  • July 21, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (U.S. transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 40 hours, in ballast, to the U.S. Quartermaster.¹⁶
  • July 25, 1864, no time listed: The steamer Admiral DuPont arrived at Fort Monroe from New York with 108 bounty jumpers and deserters, also some 800 convalescents. Arrivals from the front that day reported no important movements.¹⁷,¹⁸,¹⁹

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle (August 1-31, 1864):

• Captain: Carpenter (August 7-26, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • August 7, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (U.S. transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 32 hours, to the U.S. Quartermaster, having had the Gabriel in tow.²⁰
  • August 18, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, in ballast, to the U.S. Assistant Quartermaster. The passage is given as 23 hours in three accounts and as 36 hours in a fourth.²¹,²²,²³,²⁴
  • August 22, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont sailed from New York on August 22, 1864, in company with the General Meigs.²⁵
  • August 26, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 23 hours, in ballast.²⁶,²⁷

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle (September 1-October 13, 1864):

• Captain: Carpenter (September 2-27, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • September 2, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Carpenter, arrived at New York from Washington, D.C.²⁸
  • September 8, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont arrived at Portland, Maine from New York.²⁹,³⁰,³¹
  • September 9, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Carpenter, cleared Portland, Maine for New York.³²,³³
  • September 14, 1864, no time listed: The steamer Admiral DuPont was to take 400 men from Hart’s Island to Washington, while the Blackstone conveyed 700 from the same rendezvous to the James River.³⁴,³⁵
  • September 15, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont sailed from New York on September 15, 1864, in company with the Blackstone, the Western Metropolis, the California and the Tubal Cain.³⁶
  • September 27, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (transport), Carpenter, arrived at New York from New Haven.³⁷
  • October 4, 1864, no time listed: The 23rd Massachusetts regiment, 180 men under command of Capt. Addison Centre of Gloucester, arrived at New York on the morning of October 4 aboard the steamer Admiral DuPont from Fort Monroe, and left that afternoon for Boston on the steam transport Charles Thomas to be mustered out of the service.³⁸,³⁹

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle (October 14-31, 1864):

• Captain: Pepper (October 16-27, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • October 16, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Pepper, arrived at New York from Washington, 40 hours.⁴⁰
  • October 27, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Pepper, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 22 hours, in ballast.⁴¹

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle (November 1-December 31, 1864):

• Captain: Pepper (November 5-15, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • November 5, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (transport), Pepper, arrived at New York from City Point, 30 hours, with 870 men of the 11th US Infantry.⁴²
  • November 15, 1864, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Pepper, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 35 hours, to the U.S. Army Quartermaster.⁴³

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle (January 1-February 28, 1865):

• Captain: Pepper (February 17-21, 1865)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • February 12, 1865, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont arrived at Port Royal, South Carolina, from New York, in company with the America.⁴⁴
  • February 17, 1865, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont, Pepper, cleared Port Royal, South Carolina, for New York.⁴⁵
  • February 21, 1865, no time listed: The steamer Admiral DuPont, Captain Pepper, arrived at Fort Monroe from Hilton Head, S.C., having sailed on the 17th instant, via Beaufort, N.C. She brought the mails and important despatches for the War Department. Nothing was known at Hilton Head of General Sherman’s movements, as his base of operations was so far removed that there was but little communication carried on with his army except by mounted couriers.⁴⁶,⁴⁷,⁴⁸,⁴⁹,⁵⁰,⁵¹,⁵²

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle (March 1-April 2, 1865):

• Captain: Pepper (March 18, 1865)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • March 18, 1865, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont (transport), Pepper, arrived at New York from Fort Monroe, 18 hours.⁵³
  • March 22, 1865, no time listed: Steamer Admiral DuPont sailed from New York on March 22, 1865, listed among the day’s steamer sailings.⁵⁴

Siege of Petersburg Battles:

• None

Ship History:⁵⁵

As the ANGLIA the steamer was a well-known Irish cross-channel steamer running on the Holyhead Dublin route in consort with her sister the SCOTIA. After fourteen years of service both steamers were superseded by newer, larger and faster vessels. In 1861 the ANGLIA was bought by Alexander Duranty of Liverpool, who promptly converted her into a blockade runner. At that time the blockade was as yet not very stringent and a rather old and slow steamer like the ANGLIA had a good chance of evading any blockading men-of-war.

ANGLIA made a few successful trips through the Federal fleet, the profits of which probably repaid her owners their investment or speculation. But on October 27, 1862 she was met by USS FLAG at Bull’s Bay, S. C. and compelled to heave to. She was carrying a load of drugs and supplies consigned to Wilmington, N. C. from Nassau. Sent north the ANGLIA was condemned in prize court and sold to private parties, as she was too old and In too bad a state of repair to be of any use for naval services. The purchaser was Caleb Pierce of Boston, Mass., with whom the Whitney’s were associated.

Renamed ADMIRAL DUPONT she was put into service between Boston, Portland and St. John, N. B. for about a year or so. Apparently she was not a successful steamer on this route for in 1864 she was sold to Nathaniel McCready of New York, who transferred the ADMIRAL DUPONT to New York and ran her between New York and some of the open ports of the south, varied by occasional trips to Boston.

June 7, 1865 the ADMIRAL DUPONT left New York with a small detachment of some forty soldiers returning from their furloughs to their various commands at Fort Monroe. During the night a very heavy fog was encountered. At 4:20 AM June 8 the ship STADACONA was suddenly seen through a rift in the fog steering on an intercepting course. The helm of the ADMIRAL DUPONT was put hard aport, her engines were immediately stopped and then reversed but she had too much headway and the STADACONA drove into the ADMIRAL DUPONT‘s starboard side, Just forward of the wheel-housing.

The steamer was cut open nearly down to her keel; the fore-mast was carried away and she began to settle fast. The only people of the ADMIRAL DUPONT which were saved were those who had happened to be on deck and had Jumped over onto the STADACONA. Between fifteen and twenty lives were lost, while the monetary loss of the steamer and cargo, which were only insured for $50,000.-, ran well over $40,000.-.

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

• Admiral DuPont (Steamship) (1847-1865)

Sources:

Ship Information (from the Lytle-Holdcamper List and Erik Heyl’s Early American Steamers)¹,²

Images:

³

Captain(s):
Captain James Cannon (June 6, 1864 to March 17, 1865 and April 6-14, 1865)
Captain Image

Captain Bloodsworth (March 21 to April 6, 1865)
Captain Image

Captain 3
Captain Image

Pre-Siege (June 1-12, 1864):

Captain: Captain James Cannon (June 6, 1864 through March 13, 1865, and again April 6/10 through April 14, 1865)

• Locations Mentioned:
  • June 6, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴,⁵
  • June 6, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶,⁷
  • June 8, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸
  • June 10, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹
  • June 10, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰

First Offensive Order of Battle (June 13-18, 1864):

• Captain:
• Locations Mentioned:

Second Offensive Order of Battle (June 19-30, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon (June 20-28, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • June 20, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹
  • June 20, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹²
  • June 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹³,¹⁴
  • June 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁵,¹⁶
  • June 24, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon. Reported off the Patuxent River a Baltimore-bound brig, above Poplar Island a ship, and off Thomas Point a bark, all at anchor and supposed bound up.¹⁷,¹⁸
  • June 24, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹,²⁰
  • June 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²¹
  • June 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²²

Third Offensive Order of Battle (July 1-31, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon
• Locations Mentioned:

• • July 12, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²³
  • July 12, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁴
  • July 13, 1864, no time listed: The Philadelphia Railroad Company chartered the Adelaide and another boat to run passengers and mail daily to Perryville at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., in connection with Col. Markland, agent of the Post Office Department, after Confederate raiders (Gilmor and Johnson, part of Jubal Early raid on Washington/Baltimore) burned bridges on the Northern Central and Western Maryland Railroads.²⁵
  • July 14, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁶
  • July 14, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁷
  • July 18, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁸
  • July 18, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁹
  • July 19, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Fort Monroe from Baltimore. Major General (William F. “Baldy”) Smith arrived at Fortress Monroe aboard the Adelaide this morning from Baltimore, and left for the front in a special boat. (Same dispatch also reported the flag-of-truce steamer C. W. Thomas going down with the Assistant Commissioner of Exchange and a few prisoners, and unconfirmed rumors of an attack on the army gunboat Charles Chamberlain carrying Gen. Butler, near Wilcox’s Landing.).³⁰,³¹
  • July 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³²
  • July 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³³
  • July 26, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³⁴
  • July 26, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³⁵
  • July 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³⁶
  • July 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³⁷

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle (August 1-31, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon (August 3-22, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • August 3, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon. Passed off New Point a ship and a bark bound up.³⁸
  • August 3, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.³⁹
  • August 5, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴⁰
  • August 5, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴¹
  • August 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴²
  • August 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴³
  • August 10, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Fort Monroe from Baltimore, under Captain James Cannon. The U.S. mail steamer Adelaide, Capt. Jas. Cannon, arrived from Baltimore carrying several paymasters with well-filled pouches of greenbacks to pay the army in front of Petersburg, joining paymasters who had arrived earlier that day aboard the steamer Keyport from Washington (with Major Marvin and four others); the combined party left for the front at 10 a.m. Some soldiers had not been paid since the previous February.⁴⁴,⁴⁵
  • August 11, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴⁶
  • August 11, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴⁷
  • August 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴⁸
  • August 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁴⁹
  • August 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁰
  • August 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵¹
  • August 17, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵²
  • August 17, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵³
  • August 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁴

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle (September 1-October 13, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon (September 22 to October 12, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • September 22, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁵
  • September 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁶
  • September 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁷
  • September 30, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁸
  • September 30, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁵⁹
  • October 2, 1864, no time listed: A satirical “Talk in Town” column reported Norfolk-area gossip comparing the three Baltimore line steamers running the Baltimore-Old Point-Norfolk route: the Louisiana, Georgiana, and Adelaide. A speaker defended the Adelaide as “a trim boat, clean and safe,” while the Louisiana and Georgiana were criticized by others as “old, dirty, badly ventilated and scarcely seaworthy” and “overcrowded with passengers and freight,” with the line’s owners accused of caring only to “get money.” The piece called for a new, enterprising company to put modern boats on the route.⁶⁰
  • October 3, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide sailed from Fort Monroe for Baltimore. The steam frigate Powhatan, Commander Wm. Ronckendorff, arrived at Fortress Monroe from Cape Haytien (Cap-Haitien, Haiti) carrying Rear Admiral James T. Lardner, who left shortly after aboard the mail steamer Adelaide bound for Baltimore, thence Washington, and on to Philadelphia to relieve Acting Rear Admiral Stribling. (The same dispatch reported Lt. Cmdr. John H. Upshur detached from the frigate Minnesota to command the captured blockade runner A. D. Vance, with Commodore Joseph Lanman assuming command of the Minnesota.).⁶¹,⁶²
  • October 6, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶³
  • October 6, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁴
  • October 12, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁵
  • October 12, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁶

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle (October 14-31, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon (October 23-28, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • October 23, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁷
  • October 24, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁸
  • October 24, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁶⁹
  • October 26, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁰
  • October 26, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷¹
  • October 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷²
  • October 28, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷³

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle (November 1-December 31, 1864):

• Captain: James Cannon (November 1 to December 27, 1864)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • November 1, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁴
  • November 1, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁵
  • November 3, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁶
  • November 3, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁷
  • November 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁸
  • November 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁷⁹
  • November 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁰
  • November 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸¹
  • November 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸²
  • November 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸³
  • November 11, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁴
  • November 11, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁵
  • November 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁶
  • November 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁷
  • November 17, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁸
  • November 17, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁸⁹
  • November 19, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon. The steamer Adelaide arrived at Baltimore this morning. Her passengers reported that the mission upon which the fleet at Fortress Monroe was to be engaged had been virtually abandoned, with many of the vessels comprising it ordered to rejoin the blockading forces (likely referring to the planned Fort Fisher/Wilmington expedition).⁹⁰
  • November 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹¹
  • November 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹²
  • November 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹³
  • November 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹⁴
  • November 23, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon. Passed off the Wolf Trap a full-rigged brig bound up.⁹⁵
  • November 23, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹⁶
  • November 29, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹⁷,⁹⁸
  • November 29, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.⁹⁹,¹⁰⁰
  • November 29, 1864 (date derived from the phrase “Tuesday last” in a correspondent’s letter datelined James River, December 4, 1864), no time listed: Governor Bradford of Maryland and his party — Adjutant General Berry and Colonel Thomas J. Morris of his staff, General Schriver of Frederick, Judge Morris Cochrane, Dr. Ward, Owen A. Gill, Augustus Bradford, Jr., Charles C. Fulton, and Richard King, the Maryland State Agent — left Baltimore on the Adelaide for the Army of the Potomac, to present to the Maryland regiments in the field the flags ordered by the last Legislature, in token of the appreciation in which their gallantry was held by the citizens of the State. They were met on board by Colonel Moor N. Falls, and Mr. Charles Klasson, the clerk, attended to the comfort of the party.¹⁰¹
  • December 1, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰²
  • December 1, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰³
  • December 5, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰⁴,¹⁰⁵
  • December 5, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰⁶,¹⁰⁷
  • December 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰⁸
  • December 7, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁰⁹
  • December 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁰
  • December 9, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹¹
  • December 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹²
  • December 15, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹³
  • December 19, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁴
  • December 19, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁵
  • December 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁶
  • December 21, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁷
  • December 23, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁸
  • December 23, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.¹¹⁹
  • December 27, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²⁰
  • December 27, 1864, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²¹

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle (January 1-February 28, 1865):

• Captain: James Cannon (January 2 to February 27, 1865)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • January 2, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²²
  • January 2, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²³
  • January 4, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²⁴
  • January 4, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²⁵
  • January 6, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²⁶
  • January 6, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹²⁷
  • January 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore. Amid harbor ice, the steamer Adelaide, of the bay line, came up to Baltimore about the usual time, having made her way safely through ice at the mouth of the river, from Bodkin Point to the wharf.¹²⁸
  • January 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe. The steamer Adelaide left Baltimore again last evening for Fortress Monroe amid harbor ice; sailing vessels were having no difficulty arriving or departing with the aid of tug-boats.¹²⁹
  • January 10, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁰,¹³¹
  • January 10, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³²,¹³³
  • January 12, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁴
  • January 12, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁵
  • January 14, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁶
  • January 14, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁷
  • January 16, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹³⁸,¹³⁹
  • January 16, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁴⁰,¹⁴¹
  • January 18, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁴²
  • January 18, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁴³
  • January 20, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁴⁴
  • January 20, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁴⁵
  • January 22, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Annapolis from Fort Monroe. The steamer Adelaide arrived at Annapolis from Fortress Monroe (departed the 21st inst.), bringing dispatches datelined Fortress Monroe, Jan. 21, 1865, reporting the arrival there that day of the steamer De Molay from Fort Fisher with eight hundred rebel prisoners captured in the assault, and a heavy rain storm that had commenced that morning and continued into the evening. The Philadelphia Inquirer (Baltimore correspondence) later explained the cause: for the first time in thirty years the Patapsco River was so choked with drifting ice that the Adelaide, having left Baltimore on the 20th, could not force her way back and was obliged to put into Annapolis; once her safety and whereabouts were confirmed in Baltimore, the Bay Line dispatched the steamer Louisiana (preceded by the icebreaker steamer Georgia) on Sunday morning, the 22d, to force a passage through the ice.¹⁴⁶,¹⁴⁷,¹⁴⁸,¹⁴⁹,¹⁵⁰
  • January 23, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Fort Monroe from Annapolis. After the ice-blockaded steamers Louisiana and Georgia were forced to turn back to Baltimore on Sunday, Jan. 22 (arriving 8 p.m.), the Bay Line rerouted passengers for Fortress Monroe via Annapolis: on Monday, Jan. 23, roughly two hundred passengers — including a U.S. Christian Commission delegate who led shipboard Divine services — took the 4:30 p.m. train to Annapolis, arrived after dark in muddy, rainy conditions, and with the help of a local boy located the steamer Adelaide at the wharf. The Adelaide carried them safely to Fortress Monroe, arriving the evening of the 23rd, to the reported relief of residents of Fortress Monroe and Norfolk who had been without mail and newspapers for three days.¹⁵¹
  • January 26, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon. Reports several vessels in the lower part of the bay hove up (ice-bound). The Sun additionally reported bitter cold (thermometer 24-26 degrees) and that the Adelaide came up from Norfolk through the ice track, with the steamship Seagull also arriving from New York and mooring at Locust Point, and numerous oyster boats reported ice-bound near North Point.¹⁵²,¹⁵³
  • February 2, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk and Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon. The Sun reported little obstruction to navigation in the harbor; the Adelaide, of the Bay Line, came up to her wharf, having come from Norfolk and Fortress Monroe, and Captain Cannon reported large quantities of heavy drift ice all the way from Sandy Point to the city.¹⁵⁴
  • February 4, 1865, no time listed: The steamer Adelaide, due at an early hour Saturday morning, was forced by drift ice to put into Annapolis; a number of her passengers came the rest of the way to Baltimore by railroad.¹⁵⁵
  • February 4, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Annapolis. After putting into Annapolis that morning on account of drift ice, the Adelaide got under way again in the afternoon and reached her Baltimore wharf shortly before six o’clock that evening.¹⁵⁶
  • February 5, 1865 (date derived from “yesterday afternoon” in the issue of February 6, 1865), about 3:00 p.m.: Shortly before the Adelaide started from her Baltimore wharf, a valuable horse belonging to an officer, which was being placed on board, fell from the gang-board into the water. Some time elapsed before the animal was gotten out, and it was almost frozen to death.¹⁵⁷
  • February 6, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁵⁸
  • February 7, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon. Reports the river and bay clear of ice except what made last night.¹⁵⁹
  • February 7, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁰
  • February 8, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶¹
  • February 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶²
  • February 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶³
  • February 11, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁴
  • February 11, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁵
  • February 13, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁶
  • February 13, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁷
  • February 14, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon. Encountered heavy ice down to Annapolis.¹⁶⁸
  • February 15, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁶⁹
  • February 17, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon. Reports the ice very heavy and running. Passed off Sharp’s Island, bound up, with a tug ahead of her.¹⁷⁰,¹⁷¹
  • February 17, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁷²,¹⁷³
  • February 21, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁷⁴,¹⁷⁵
  • February 21, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁷⁶,¹⁷⁷
  • February 23, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁷⁸
  • February 23, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁷⁹
  • February 24, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸⁰
  • February 24, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸¹
  • February 25, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸²
  • February 25, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸³
  • February 27, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸⁴,¹⁸⁵
  • February 27, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸⁶,¹⁸⁷

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle (March 1-April 2, 1865):

• Captain:
  • James Cannon (March 1-17, 1865)
  • Bloodsworth (March 21-31, 1865)
• Locations Mentioned:
  • March 1, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁸⁸,¹⁸⁹
  • March 1, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹⁰,¹⁹¹
  • March 7, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹²
  • March 7, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹³
  • March 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹⁴,¹⁹⁵
  • March 9, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹⁶,¹⁹⁷
  • March 11, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹⁸
  • March 11, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.¹⁹⁹
  • March 13, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain James Cannon.²⁰⁰,²⁰¹
  • March 13, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.²⁰²,²⁰³
  • March 14, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide sailed from Fort Monroe for Baltimore. Maj. Gens. George Crook and Benjamin Franklin Kelley, exchanged the previous day at Varuna after their February 1865 capture at Cumberland, MD, arrived at Fort Monroe that afternoon from City Point on the mail steamer Dictator, then left for Baltimore aboard the Adelaide.²⁰⁴
  • March 14, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Fort Monroe for Baltimore. Major Generals George Crook and Benjamin F. Kelley, who had been captured by Confederate partisan rangers at Cumberland, Maryland in February and were exchanged the previous day (March 13) at Varina, arrived at Fortress Monroe this afternoon aboard the mail steamer Dictator from City Point, and left for Baltimore on the steamer Adelaide. (Same dispatch reported the steamship Champion had arrived at Fortress Monroe that morning from Wilmington, N.C., carrying the first definite intelligence of General Sherman’s army reaching Fayetteville, N.C.).²⁰⁵,²⁰⁶
  • March 17, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.²⁰⁷
  • March 17, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Norfolk, under Captain James Cannon.²⁰⁸
  • March 21, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²⁰⁹
  • March 21, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹⁰
  • March 23, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, Va, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹¹
  • March 23, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, Va, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹²
  • March 27, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹³,²¹⁴
  • March 27, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹⁵,²¹⁶
  • March 29, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹⁷,²¹⁸
  • March 29, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²¹⁹,²²⁰
  • March 31, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide arrived at Baltimore from Fort Monroe, under Captain Bloodsworth.²²¹
  • March 31, 1865, no time listed: The Adelaide cleared Baltimore for Fort Monroe, Va, under Captain Bloodsworth.²²²

Siege of Petersburg Battles:

• None

Ship History:²²³

According to scuttlebutt ADELAIDE was designed and laid down for Cornelius Vanderbilt who planned sending her to California to run on the Sacramento River and its tributaries, the rush to the gold fields being at its height. However she was purchased on the stocks by the Calais Steamboat Company and on completion was put on the Boston and St. John, N.B. run, with calls en route at Portland and Eastport.

ADELAIDE remained on this service until 1859 when she was sold to the Baltimore Steam Packet Co., for $91,250. and sent to Baltimore. The “Old Bay Line” urgently needed a replacement for their burned NORTH CAROLINA and ADELAIDE most closely resembled her. She arrived at Norfolk just one month after the loss of her predecessor and joined the LOUISIANA and GEORGEANNA on the Baltimore-Norfolk service.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War the “Old Bay Line” continued operating between Baltimore and Norfolk until May 7, 1861 when Federal authorities detained ADELAIDE at Fortress Monroe and compelled her to land her passengers and mail. From then on the Baltimore boats could proceed only as far as Old Point.

During the summer of 1861 both ADELAIDE and GEORGE PEABODY were chartered by the U.S. War Department and in the middle of August 1861 were readied to tow nineteen stone-laden old schooners to block the inlets to the North Carolina sounds.

August 26, 1861 a combined naval-military squadron under Flag Officer Stringham and General Butler left Hampton Roads for Hatteras Inlet, N. C., the main channel into Pamlico Sound. ADELAIDE, Butler’s flagship and GEORGE PEABODY transported about 900 troops. Following the surrender of Forts Hatteras and Clark and the securing of Hatteras Inlet, General Butler returned in the ADELAIDE to Hampton Roads to report to Washington. She continued under charter to the War Department but was not mentioned in connection with any important service.

After the end of the war the Baltimore Steam Packet Co., resumed Chesapeake Bay services with ADELAIDE, LOUISIANA, GEORGEANNA and THOMAS KELSO; at Fortress Monroe THOMAS COLLYER and MILTON MARTIN made connections for James River landings and Richmond. ADELAIDE continued running for the “Old Bay Line” until 1879 when she was turned over to Harlan & Hollingsworth, probably as part payment for the VIRGINIA then being built at Wilmington.

Resold in the same year to Joseph Martin & Co., of New York, who operated her between New York and Long Branch, N.J., where she docked at the famous Ocean Pier.

On June 19, 1880 ADELAIDE had returned early in the evening from Long Branch having landed all but one passenger at the West 23rd Street pier. At 7:00 PM the excursion steamer GRAND REPUBLIC had discharged at a Brooklyn pier a large crowd of members of Henry Ward Beecher’s church returning from a special excursion to Cold Spring and was on her way to her 23rd Street pier, rounding the Battery.

ADELAIDE was heading for her wharf at the foot of Hudson Street, Jersey City, N. J., when the GRAND REPUBLIC was sighted about half-a-mile distant. Despite frantic cross-signalling both boats stuck obstinately to their courses with the upshot that the excursion steamer tore into the ADELAIDE on the port side, broke the hog frame and crushed the boiler, escaping steam roaring thru the hull. ADELAIDE at once began to settle but some tugs took her in tow to haul her to the foot of West 13th Street where some large derricks might have kept her from sinking.

But at the foot of 11th Street ADELAIDE ran aground, stuck fast and settled to her hurricane deck. About 10 PM she suddenly heeled over and sank, only her wheel housing remaining visible above the water. While awash much of her cabin furniture floated away, a welcome windfall, undoubtedly, to the lucky salvagers. ADELAIDE’S general condition, plus the damages sustained in the collision and subsequent submerging and salvaging made repairs prohibitive and she was abandoned.

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

• Adelaide (Steamship) (1854-1880)
• NP: February 25, 1925 Potsdam NY Courier and Freeman: Orlando P. Benson Diary, 92nd NY, Part 3

Sources:

by John Horn

SOPO’s Take: Coming soon!

Book Summary/Review:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

The nine-month siege of Petersburg was the longest continuous operation of the Civil War. Contrary to popular belief, it was anything but static trench warfare, as John Horn ably demonstrates in Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864. Large-scale Union “offensives”—grand maneuvers that triggered some of the large-scale battles—broke the monotony of siege warfare. Once his First Offensive (the assaults of June 15-18) failed to capture the city, the Union commander planned and launched his next major effort within hours. This Second Offensive was one of the most dramatic operations of the entire war.

To pave the way for success, Grant brought the city’s bridges under the fire of his siege guns to slow the transfer of enemy troops in and out of Petersburg. He also seized a bridgehead at Deep Bottom on the James River’s north bank to draw Confederate forces out of Petersburg by menacing Richmond. Next, he took more ambitious measures by sending infantry to hem in Petersburg from the Appomattox River above and below the city. The move was designed to cut the critical Weldon and South Side railroads and force the Rebels to abandon Petersburg and Richmond. As his infantry went to work, his cavalry set out to cut the Confederate railroads below Petersburg to slow reinforcements coming up from the south and west.

Grant’s opponent, however, was General Robert E. Lee with his veteran infantry, not the inept John Floyd of Fort Donelson or the distracted John C. Pemberton of Vicksburg. Lee and his infantry subordinate, William Mahone, marched to meet the enemy and, in a stunning turn of events, routed Grant’s foot soldiers at Jerusalem Plank Road. Together, Confederate cavalry leader Wade Hampton and Mahone smashed Grant’s troopers at the battles of Sappony Church and First Reams Station. Thousands of Federal prisoners of war flooded into Confederate camps. Not until April 1865, after seven more offensives, would Grant reach the Appomattox above Petersburg and force Lee to relinquish that city and the capital of Richmond.

This is tactical battle action at its finest. Horn’s explanation for the context and consequences of every decision is grounded in hundreds of primary sources and supported by 40 original maps. Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864 is the first full-length book to put Grant’s second effort into its proper perspective—not only in the context of Petersburg’s siege and the Civil War, but in the context of warfare’s history.

Advance Praise

“I’ve been editing books and magazine articles on the Civil War for decades, but Lee Besieged is in a class of its own. Elegantly written and deeply researched, it abounds with judicious assessments of commanders, strategy, tactics, and leadership at all levels. Horn’s use of more than 1,000 quotations from participants on both sides puts everything in context and takes you back in time like few other books I have read. Highly recommended!” — Keith Poulter, publisher North & South magazine

“The Second Petersburg Offensive of late June 1864 is among the least understood operations of the entire campaign. Through exhaustive research, engaging prose, and thoughtful analysis, John Horn provides the most detailed account yet written of this Union effort to conquer the Cockade City.” — A. Wilson Greene, author of A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg

“John Horn’s Lee Besieged adds considerably to our knowledge of the Petersburg Campaign. It is also the first to deal in depth with Grant’s ill-fated Second Offensive. It is yet another excellent study by Horn.” — Sean Michael Chick, author of The Battle of Petersburg, June 15–June 18, 1864

“John Horn’s Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive adds a much-needed volume to his extensive writings and study of the Petersburg Campaign. Grant’s Second Offensive is often overlooked and hard to comprehend, but Horn’s thorough research and writing carries readers through every aspect of the offensive, providing enjoyment and understanding for the Civil War enthusiast. Firsthand accounts populate the narrative, adding powerful insights into the struggle and fighting of June 1864.” — Jerry Netherland, Petersburg Battlefields Foundation

Hardcover Edition

• Buy the Hardcover Edition

ISBN: 978-1-61121-738-4

Publisher: Savas Beatie

Release Date: June 2025

Pages: 448 pages

The Siege of Petersburg Online Pages Which Mention This Book:

• Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18–July 1, 1864 by John Horn

by Sean M. Chick

SOPO’s Take: Another in the now well-established Emerging Civil War Series, and the second book by the author in a series of studies covering the 1864-65 Campaigns around Richmond.  Other authors will presumably be called in for their battles/offensives of expertise.  This book provides an introductory look at the Second Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864.  With maps by the always excellent Edward Alexander, this ECW series book is a GREAT way to understand what happened at Petersburg in those four high-stakes days. Had the Federals broken through here, there would have been no Siege of Petersburg and Richmond would have fallen much more quickly, with massive ripple effects on the rest of the war.  As always, the end of the book contains an excellent section on further reading during the Siege of Petersburg.

Book Summary/Review:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

Author: Sean Michael Chick

Pub Date: January 2025

ISBN: 978-1-61121-721-6

eISBN: 978-1-61121-722-3

Binding: Trade paper

Specs: 100 images; 10 maps; 192 pp.

May and June 1864 in Virginia witnessed some of the most brutal and bloody fighting of the Civil War. After the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, and Cold Harbor, combined losses for the two armies exceeded 80,000 men killed, wounded, and captured. And the result after all that carnage was a stalemate outside the gates of Richmond.

Federal Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant remained undeterred and set his armies toward their next target: The logistical powerhouse of Petersburg. Grant’s surprising maneuver, which included the construction of a massive pontoon bridge across the broad James River and a surprise march against Petersburg, caught Confederate commander Robert E. Lee by surprise. Petersburg was but lightly guarded and seemed at the mercy of the aggressive Federal commander. Its fall would cut the lifelines into Richmond and force the evacuation of the Southern capital. Ther capture of the city would ensure President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection and eliminate whatever thin hopes the Confederacy still had for victory.

Petersburg was fortified, its garrison small but determined to hold the city. Department commander, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, realized the danger and shifted as many men as he could spare into the defenses and took the field himself. North of the river, meanwhile, Lee remained unconvinced that Grant had stolen a march on him. Three days of battle (June 15-17) followed. The Federals bungled the effort, and somehow the understrength Confederates managed to fight the Federals to a standstill. Reinforcements from Lee’s army finally arrived on June 18. Petersburg would hold—for now.

Beauregard had won one of the Confederacy’s most impressive victories and one of the Confederacy last strategic victories.

Sean Chick’s A Grand Opening Squandered: The Battle for Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864 provides fresh and renewed attention to one of the most important, fascinating, and yet oddly forgotten battles of the Civil War. Inside are original maps, new research, and dozens of images—many published here for the first time. A Grand Opening Squandered is the first in a series on the Petersburg Campaign, which will provide readers with a strong introduction to the war’s longest campaign.

Paperback Edition

• Buy the Paperback First Edition (Savas Beatie)
• Buy the Paperback First Edition (Amazon)

ISBN: 978-1-61121-721-6

Publisher: Savas Beatie

Release Date: January 2025

Pages: 192 pages

The Siege of Petersburg Online Pages Which Mention This Book:

• A Grand Opening Squandered: The Battle for Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864 by Sean M. Chick

by Bradley M. Gottfried and Linda I. Gottfried

BTC’s Take:

Coming soon.  However, author Brad Gottfried is a well-known author in Civil War circles.  He is the author of many of the Savas Beatie “Maps of…” series and continues work there, hoping to complete the Seven Days and the Peninsula for publication in 2027. In addition, he is known for his “Brigades of..” and “Commanders of…” series on Gettysburg and Antietam, the latter coming very recently. In his latest effort he partners with his wife Linda.  I cannot wait to jump into this one for the Petersburg portion.

Book Summary/Review:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

The war effort had sputtered in Virginia for three years until President Abraham Lincoln appointed General U. S. Grant as General-in-Chief of all Union armies. By maintaining his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Grant established an uneasy relationship with the army’s commander, Gen. George Meade, the victor of Gettysburg. How these men worked together to bring Robert E. Lee to surrender is covered in this volume. The relationship began cordially with Grant initially promising to only provide broad strategic directions to Meade. The latter would then direct his army as he desired. However, as the war churned on and Grant believed Meade’s army was underachieving, he took a progressively stronger role in its activities.

How these two strong-willed military leaders worked together to achieve a common goal was not easy. The thin-skinned Meade constantly worried about losing his job and railed against any hint of disrespect by the press, politicians, or the general public. Grant worried less about image and concentrated on ending the war.

Using a wealth of first-person accounts and maps, this book covers the seminal campaigns of 1864-65 (including the Overland, Petersburg, and Appomattox Campaigns) to help explain the complex and evolving relationship between the two men.

Paperback Edition

• Buy the Paperback First Edition

ISBN: 979-8-234-03694-0

Publisher: Seminole Press

Release Date: May 2026

Pages: 206, many maps and illustrations

The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book:

• Grant & Meade: An Uneasy Alliance by Bradley M. Gottfried and Linda I. Gottfried

by Nigel Lambert

SOPO’s Take: Nigel Lambert, despite being a relative newcomer to studying the Siege of Petersburg, has utilized his background as a scientist (now retired) to produce the first monograph to ever come out on the Battle of Hatcher’s Run.  This battle, fought from February 5-7, 1865, has been misunderstood since the week it was fought.  Nigel, utilizing primary sources and and the Official Records, has shed a tremendous amount of light on what actually happened at this battle. He realized early on that the “standard” account of the battle was missing key info in some places and outright incorrect in others. Nigel’s feat is doubly impressive given the relative lack of Confederate sources from this time period. What’s more, this book is available as a FREE download at Nigel’s site https://www.hatchersrunbattle.com/.

Full disclosure: Nigel reached out to me on this site around 2021.  While I provided him some images of pages from regimental histories, that is the extent of my involvement. He and Bryce Suderow collaborated in the intervening years, and Nigel has produced numerous articles on the battle prior to writing his eBook:

Emerging Civil War : a 2024 article describing the Rebel assault on February 5.

Emerging Civil War : a 2024 article describing the battle’s 14 Medal of Honor recipients. 

Emerging Civil War : a 2024 article describing John Pegram’s fateful day.

Emerging Civil War: a 2024 article describing David Gregg’s final mission. 

Emerging Civil War: a 2024 article describing the Union great skedaddle. 

Emerging Civil War: a 2024 article describing the Union reaction to the great skedaddle. 

Emerging Civil War : a 2024 article describing the origins behind the offensive. 

Emerging Civil War: a 2025 article describing the consequences of the battle.  

Emerging Civil War: a 2025 article describing Crawford’s controversial assault on February 7.  

2024 UK American Civil War Round Table Lecture: The Battle of Hatcher’s Run on 5-7 February 1864 – YouTube

2025 UK American Civil War Round Table Podcast: The Battle of Hatcher’s Run With (Nigel Lambert) – YouTube

2025 Podcast  The Petersburg Campaign: Trent’s Reach to Fort Stedman (Sean Michael Chick, Luke Freet, Neil Chatelain, Nigel Lambert)

Nigel Lambert & Bryce A. Suderow (2022) “The Battle of Hatcher’s Run: A Re-Appraisal” North and South Magazine, Series 2, Vol. 2, No. 5, 35-46.

Nigel Lambert (2023) “A Civil War Medal of Honor Mystery” North and South Magazine, Series 2, Vol. 3 No. 6, 88-92.

​Nigel Lambert (2025) “Curious Tales from Hatcher’s Run” Crossfire Magazine, American Civil War Round Table (UK), No. 137, 4-7.

Gerald Prokopowicz’s Civil War Talk Radio, Episode 2207, Oct 22, 2025, Nigel Lambert, Hatcher’s Run: Episode 2207: “Hatcher’s Run” with Nigel Lambert 

Book Summary/Review:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

The reason I [Nigel Lambert], a semi-retired UK scientist, wrote a scholarly book on the Battle of Hatcher’s Run is too long a story to relay in detail. My fascination with the Civil War dates back to my 1960s childhood amid the centennial activities. I have since built a sizable library on the war and have had the pleasure of visiting most of the major battlefields on several occasions. Thus, I have a sound overall knowledge of the Civil War.

I stumbled upon the Hatcher’s Run battle during the COVID lockdowns of 2020. At the time, I knew little about the event. I soon realized that history had not treated this battle kindly. Thanks to the internet, many senior US historians supported my curiosity, and I built a substantial Hatcher’s Run database. From 2021 to now (2025), through numerous articles and lectures, I have been at the forefront in raising awareness about the battle. The fact that such a task fell to someone like me shows how neglected the event had become. One of my proudest achievements was updating the Hatcher’s Run Wikipedia page, as it’s often the first stop for curious minds. Previously, the site was a derisory two pages of limited information, another sign of the battle’s neglect. This book represents the most comprehensive account of the battle to date.

In constructing a coherent Hatcher’s Run narrative, some statements are currently uncontested. For example, the battle occurred on February 5-7, 1865; John Pegram died on February 6; the Confederates attacked Humphreys’s line late on February 5, etc. Uncontested statements provide a solid foundation for the narrative. Many statements, however, are contested. Often, one can use logic and the established framework to dismiss errant claims. For instance, there is testimony suggesting that John Pegram was killed near Dabney’s Mill before 2 p.m. on February 6. However, the reliable framework shows that at 2 p.m., Pegram was fighting down Vaughan Road over a mile away from Dabney’s Mill, and that he died in the late afternoon.

In many places, my narrative diverges from the more common summary accounts. Bryce Suderow and I addressed these differences in a 2022 magazine article. Typically, I do not repeat these debates here; however, I do share my critical thinking on significant incidents.

There remain significant gaps in the narrative where flimsy or no testimony currently exists. I freely admit these gaps. For instance, there is no record explaining why Pegram split his division on the morning of February 6. We also do not know why Crawford rashly charged the formidable Confederate works at 6 p.m. on February 7. When I propose speculative scenarios, I clearly label them as such.

eBook Edition

• Download the FREE eBook at Nigel’s Hatcher’s Run Site

ISBN: N/A

Publisher: Self-published

Release Date: April 2026 (3rd Edition)

Pages: 227 pages

The Siege of Petersburg Online Pages Which Mention This Book:

• Hatcher’s Run Grant’s 8th Petersburg Offensive February 5-7, 1865 by Nigel Lambert

by Edward B. McCaul, Jr.

SOPO’s Take: Coming Soon!

Book Summary/Review:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

SOPO Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

Edward B. McCaul, Jr.
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 217
Bibliographic Info: 28 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2026
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9888-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5809-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1—Prelude 7
Chapter 2—Situation 14
Chapter 3—Federal Defensive System 29
Chapter 4—Confederate Plan and Preparation 59
Chapter 5—Confederate Attack 84
Chapter 6—Federal Resistance and Counterattack 100
Chapter 7—Confederate Withdrawal 141
Chapter 8—Impact of the Battle of Fort Stedman 150
Appendix I—Brigadier General Griffin Alexander Stedman, Jr. 155
Appendix II—Medals of Honor Awarded for the Battle of Fort Stedman 159
Appendix III—Confederate Dispositions Before the Battle of Fort Stedman 170
Appendix IV—Mining at Petersburg 175
Appendix V—Controversies 182
Chapter Notes 189
Bibliography 201
Index 207

The Confederate attack on Fort Stedman, near Petersburg, Virginia, was a desperate gambit that nearly succeeded in the final weeks of the Civil War. Shedding light on a battle that, despite being well known to historians, has received less attention than it deserves, this book examines the reasons for the battle, the Confederate preparations, the Federal defenses, the Confederate attack, the Federal counterattack, and the impact of the engagement in the overall war.

Although many felt the attack was a “forlorn hope,” both Generals Robert E. Lee and John Gordon had great hopes of success. “The plan was well conceived and the execution of it very well done indeed,” wrote Ulysses S. Grant, but confusion, misorientation, and daylight, along with a stubborn Federal defense, doomed it to failure. This work analyzes the Confederate plan in depth, finding it prescient of much modern day military strategy. A breakthrough was to be followed by expansion of the breach and the entry of fast moving mobile units whose mission was to destroy the enemy’s logistical base. This detailed history makes the case that the details of this overlooked battle are highly relevant to 21st century military theorists.

Paperback Edition

• Buy the Paperback First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-61121-280-8

Publisher: McFarland and Co.

Release Date: April 2026

Pages: 217 pages

The Siege of Petersburg Online Pages Which Mention This Book:

• The Battle of Fort Stedman Lee’s Forlorn Hope, March 25, 1865 by Edward B. McCaul, Jr.

Burnside’s Ninth Corps traveled more and more often than perhaps any other Corps in either army during the entire Civil War.  In Burnside’s Boys: The Union’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East, Darin Wipperman provides a popular history of Burnside’s Ninth Corps backed by a scholarly level of sources. A lack of maps and sometimes lengthy sentence structure prevent the book from being better than otherwise, but readers will enjoy this look at the Ninth Corps across multiple theaters from 1862-1865.

Author Darin Wipperman is a native of Iowa with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science. He worked for the U.S. Government for 17 years and served as an editor and reporter for weekly newspapers in northern New Hampshire. He is also the author of First for the Union: Life and Death in a Civil War Army Corps from Antietam to Gettysburg.

Stackpole has been publishing Civil War books for many years now and has been in existence for 90+ years.  Run by the Detweiler family for many years, it was acquired by Rowman & Littlefield in 2014. The book’s page at Stackpole leads with a curious statement: “Unique among Union army corps, the Ninth fought in both the Eastern and Western theaters of the Civil War.” Veteran students of the Civil War know the 11th and 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac moved to the Western Theater after Gettysburg and fought at Chattanooga, in the Atlanta Campaign and beyond.

The Ninth Corps’ crossed cannon and anchor badge proudly symbolized its varied service and lengthy travels across both major theaters of the Civil War.  The Corps found its origins from units involved in Ambrose Burnside’s early 1862 invasion of the North Carolina coast as well as Thomas Sherman’s men who saw action at Secessionville near Charleston, South Carolina.  From there, they fought in many of the famous battles in the East with the notable exceptions of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863. First attached to Pope’s Army of Virginia at Second Manassas and again seeing action at South Mountain, the Ninth Corps saw one of its most iconic and worst days of the war at Antietam, losing 25% of its strength in bloody attacks at what became Burnside’s Bridge and further advances in the direction of Sharpsburg.  Portions of the Ninth Corps were sent forward against the southern end of the famous stone wall at the base of Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg, all of which met with bloody failure.

The Ninth Corps was transferred to Newport News, Virginia in January 1863.  Two divisions were sent to Kentucky while a third stayed behind and participated in the Siege of Suffolk.  This division would not again serve with the Ninth Corps with the exception of one regiment. The Kentucky stay was brief and most of the two divisions were sent on to the Siege of Vicksburg in June 1863. After the siege was won the Ninth Corps moved east to Jackson, helping to capture the Mississippi capital.  Their next and last assignment of 1863 was to secure East Tennessee for the Union.  This they did, withstanding a siege of Knoxville by Longstreet’s veteran First Corps, ANV in late Fall.  After wintering in East Tennessee the remnants of the Corps were sent to Annapolis to refit and reorganize for the 1864 campaigns. By the time this reorganization finished the Ninth Corps was a vastly changed organization. Men from the Knoxville Campaign, those who stayed in Kentucky during most of 1863, and entirely new recruits and regiments all came together to form this new version of the Ninth Corps.  Every single brigade of white troops was a mix of Ninth Corps veterans and regiments new to the unit.  In addition, a Fourth Division composed entirely of USCT regiments under Edward Ferrero were added to the Ninth Corps.

As the 1864 Overland Campaign kicked off the Ninth Corps was part of an awkward command arrangement.  Corps commander Ambrose Burnside reported directly to Ulysses S. Grant because he ranked Army of the Potomac commander George G. Meade.  This arrangement proved so unwieldy that Grant quickly abandoned the idea after three weeks of combat, getting Burnside to waive his rank and report directly to Meade. Through the month of May 1864, the Ninth Corps was heavily engaged at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, the North Anna River, Totopotomoy Creek, and Cold Harbor, before moving on to the Petersburg Campaign.

The Ninth Corps was present throughout the Siege of Petersburg.  They participated in three attacks on June 17, 1864 over much the same ground east of Petersburg, each with only one division. The Ninth Corps had center stage for the disastrous Battle of the Crater, and Burnside ultimately lost command of his longtime corps as a result. Soldiering on under longtime Burnside staffer John Parke, the Ninth Corps came to the rescue of Fifth Corps at Globe Tavern on August 19, 1864, suffered another disaster at Pegram’s Farm on September 30, 1864, and suffered relatively few casualties serving as a distraction during the Sixth Offensive in late October 1864. The Ninth Corps had two final major acts at Petersburg in 1865.  On March 25, after losing Fort Stedman and portions of their works, the Ninth Corps mounted a massive counterattack, took back their positions, and captured several thousand Confederates in a major victory.  In what seems to be one of the least known parts of the Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2, 1865, the Ninth Corps divisions of Potter and Hartranft attacked Fort Mahone, gaining a lodgment in the Confederate works and keeping thousands of Confederates busy who were desperately needed elsewhere. The Ninth Corps played a backup role in the Appomattox Campaign.

By my count, this is one of only a handful of modern studies on entire Corps of Civil War armies.  I recall a Second Corps study not too long ago, and Savas Beatie published a two-part history of the much maligned Eleventh Corps by James Pula. Wipperman himself penned a study of the Union First Corps entitled First for the Union: Life and Death in a Civil War Army Corps from Antietam to Gettysburg.

Burnside’s Boys utilizes a “you are there” approach to the Ninth Corps’ experiences during the war.  Although leadership decisions are sometimes discussed and dissected, especially at Antietam and the Crater, the author mainly follows the common fighting men of the Corps.  Utilizing dozens of first-person accounts, many from archival sources, the author was able to provide a wide variety of experiences at every fight and many places in between. Unit histories written by men who fought in regiments were widely used, as well as letters, diaries, and reports to Adjutant Generals of the various states from which Ninth Corps regiments hailed.

This may be a personal preference, but I found the writing style to be somewhat disjointed on occasion.  A better editor might have helped smooth out some fairly unwieldy sentences in places. I’m guilty of too-lengthy sentences myself, and I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t mention this.  In addition, I found several words misused in a few places, preemptory order for peremptory order (39), internment for interment (199), ordinance for ordnance (4, 237, 242).  Though there were a more than acceptable number of first-person accounts, the letters of Charles J. Mills are absent.  Mills was a staffer in the First Division and later at Ninth Corps HQ during the Overland Campaign and the first half of the Siege of Petersburg.  To be fair to the author, there were only 300 copies of the first edition of a book of Mills’ letters, and Greg Acken’s recent updated version was not yet available.

I don’t want to spoil Darin Wipperman’s conclusions about the various battles in which the Ninth Corps fought.  I thought the author did a fair job of evaluation for the most part and did not fall into the trap of making excuses for his topic of study. In one instance, at the Crater, one of the most important battles in Ninth Corps’ history, I did find myself disagreeing quite often with Mr. Wipperman.  I feel he isn’t nearly harsh enough with regards to division commander James Ledlie.  Ledlie was one of the most incompetent division commanders to ever serve with the Army of the Potomac.  He was in over his head, he had provided evidence of his incompetence several times during the Overland Campaign and at Second Petersburg on June 17, 1864, and his actions were inexcusable on July 30, 1864.  Burnside is given too much of a pass for picking his leading division in the attack by drawing straws.  Under no circumstances should Ledlie have been leading a critical charge where time was of the essence. The author also bizarrely (to me, at least) blames Gouverneur Warren for much of the failure because he did not support the attack well enough.  Ord’s Eighteenth Corps was detailed as the reserve force in the attack, but Eighteenth Corps commander Edward O. C. Ord receives very little comment. Warren is called “cowardly” later in the book as the Ninth Corps came to the rescue of the Fifth Corps at Globe Tavern.  Gouverneur Warren was a lot of things, hesitant, perfectionist, obstinate, but cowardly is not a remotely applicable word to use in his case. The author also claims Meade should have resigned for his role in the Crater disaster.  I do not recall ever reading this take on the affair.

The maps, done by Hal Jespersen, are excellent, as is always the case with his work.  The issue is, there are not nearly enough of them.  Wipperman often goes into good detail on the fighting in each battle, but without maps to pair with the text many readers will have trouble visualizing the action.  A good example occurs at Second Manassas, the first large scale battle in which the Ninth Corps participated.  The text was excellent, but it had been years since I last looked at a map of Second Manassas.  I knew Jackson’s wing was positioned behind a railroad line and that the Ninth Corps was involved in disjointed attacks during the first day of fighting, but I did not know where the various units of Ninth Corps attacked specifically. A map of the battle would have gone a long way to helping my understanding of the situation.  The maps were often positioned multiple pages after a particular battle’s details began to appear in the text.  I found myself looking ahead trying to see if a map was upcoming or not for each new battle. The biggest misses were Second Manassas, Second Petersburg, Globe Tavern, and Pegram’s Farm.  The Ninth Corps played big roles at these fights and one map each would have added tremendously to the book.

I’ve spent a lot of time (maybe too long) on some perceived negatives, but I want to make sure I end on multiple positive notes.  This was a good book and followed the Ninth Corps’ career throughout the Civil War.  It excels in describing the quiet times in between battles and what the Ninth Corps was doing.  A good example is the movement of Ninth Corps from North Carolina to Virginia in 1862 prior to Second Manassas.  These affairs often do not get mentioned in battle and campaign histories, so the book fills many important gaps in the story.  There was one appendix in the book. Important and otherwise memorable soldiers of the Ninth Corps receive paragraph length discussions of their postwar activities. Ambrose Burnside, by far the most important man in Ninth Corps history, is present, as well as division commanders including Robert Potter, Orlando Willcox, Edward Ferrero, and Samuel Sturgis.  The bibliography, as I mentioned earlier, is chock full of good and sometimes rarely used sources from men who fought in the Ninth Corps.  Daniel Larned, Burnside’s personal secretary for much of the war, is utilized to good effect in multiple places.

Darin Wipperman’s Burnside’s Boys: The Union’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East, the second of his books to focus on a specific Union Corps in the war, has plenty of good features.  An exciting narrative bolstered by many first-person accounts help modern day readers understand what it was like to be a soldier in Burnside’s wide-traveled Ninth Corps.  A shortage of maps hurts a bit, but the maps which do exist are fantastic.  Wipperman has a unique perspective on the Ninth Corps’ role in some fights, and readers will be interested to see how he differs from conventional takes on specific battles. Anyone with an interest in the Ninth Corps or Ambrose Burnside will want to own this book.  Those who enjoy higher level unit histories than the regiment or battery level will also find it enjoyable.  Ultimately, despite some minor issues, I recommend this book to interested readers of Civil War history.

Editor’s Note: A copy of this book was provided gratis for the purposes of this review.

William Venner’s second unit history for McFarland, The 11th North Carolina Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster, is an excellent unit history featuring many first-hand accounts from the men of the “Big Bethel Regiment.” The book is an interesting and detailed look at the 11th North Carolina Troops, who suffered severely at Gettysburg and Bristoe Station, among other fights, and surrendered with the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.  The author utilizes “over 1,500 first person accounts” throughout the text, both by men of the regiment and their Union foes.  Venner weaves these together into a cohesive and entertaining whole.  Add good maps and a comprehensive roster and McFarland has produced another really good unit history.

Author William Thomas Venner has written quite a few articles and books on various topics.  He has a nicely done web site profiling his work. In addition to several unit histories and articles in America’s Civil War and Civil War Times, he has also written on archaeology and has some fictional works. His other regimental histories for McFarland cover the 7th Tennessee and the 30th North Carolina.

Publisher McFarland, located in Jefferson, North Carolina, has a long history of producing Civil War books, especially unit histories.  McFarland books tend to be a bit more expensive than most non-academic presses, but this is due to their business model: “From the beginning, McFarland has been a library-oriented publisher, producing comprehensive reference works and scholarly monographs on a variety of subjects.” Despite the heftier price, most of the Civil War books I’ve read from this publisher have been very well done and often cover obscure topics which might otherwise never see the light of day. Typically, the prices for McFarland Civil War books only increase on the used book market.

The “Bloody Bethel Regiment” had an interesting and storied history.  The original 1st North Carolina Volunteers fought in the first real land battle of the Civil War at the Battle of Big Bethel in June 1861 before mustering out in November of the same year.  The core of this regiment then formed the new 11th North Carolina Troops, mustering in on March 31, 1862.  They hoped to be sent to the main army fighting in Virginia like their illustrious predecessor. Instead they floundered in the swamps of North Carolina and later Virginia for the better part of a year, fighting in some defensive battles, gaining experience, and joining Pettigrew’s North Carolina Brigade in December 1862.

Pettigrew’s Brigade was called into the Army of Northern Virginia as part of Heth’s Division, Third Corps in time to participate in the Gettysburg Campaign.  They had wished for this in 1862.  By the time the Gettysburg Campaign had ended, most of the men probably wished they were back in some backwater of the war instead.  The North Carolinians fought and eventually flanked the 19th Indiana of the legendary Iron Brigade at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, with both sides suffering massive casualties. They  rested and refit on July 2 before taking part in the famous Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge on July 3, again suffering horrific casualties in that ill-fated assault.  Their poor luck continued on the retreat.  Fighting as part of the rear guard at Falling Waters on July 14, 1863, they were outflanked by Union cavalrymen on both flanks and suffered many men captured before they could cross the pontoon bridge into Virginia. The year 1863 continued to be unkind to the Bethel Regiment, when, at Bristoe Station on October 14, they participated in the botched attack against Union troops stationed along a railroad embankment and were nearly cut off in the ensuing chaos. Mercifully for the 11th North Carolina their major fighting for 1863 was over.

The next year promised more of the same bloody fighting.  They fought in the Wilderness both days, being severely driven back on day 2, and had several fights at Spotsylvania, first on the far left near the Po River and then against Burnside’s Ninth Corps on the right. The Bethel Regiment fought on June 1 and 2, 1864 at Cold Harbor before being moved down the Chickahominy on picket duty near Bottom’s Bridge on June 9.

The Petersburg Campaign began on June 12 as Grant moved to cross the James River.  As part of Heth’s Division, the 11th North Carolina stayed east of Richmond at White Oak Swamp to protect the Confederate capital from a coup de main by Grant’s army.  They didn’t reach Petersburg until June 18, 1864, moving with Heth’s Division to occupy Lee’s far right south of Petersburg in the Dimmock Line near the lead works. They spent portions of the Siege here, portions on the east side of the Petersburg lines, and even made a move to Deep Bottom and the New Market Heights lines briefly before defending the Boydton Plank Road late in the Siege.  The 11th North Carolina fought at Globe Tavern on August 21 which resulted in a failed assault and at Second Ream’s Station on August 25, where they scored a smashing success against the vaunted Union Second Corps. They and the rest of MacRae’s Brigade tried a flank attack with Weisiger’s Brigade at Boydton Plank Road on October 27, 1864, but found themselves nearly surrounded and lost many captured before escaping.

The last year of the war saw the 11th and MacRae launch an unsuccessful attack against Second Corps units along Hatcher’s Run on February 5, 1865.  They settled back into earthworks near the Burgess Mill Pond for the remainder of the Siege, with the 11th being sent a little left up the Boydton Plank Road to cover recently departed Confederate brigades on April 1, 1865.  They were in a bad spot and knew it.  The Federal Breakthrough occurred just to their left against Lane’s Brigade, and the 11th North Carolina was shattered soon after by Truex’s Brigade of the Sixth Corps.  The survivors rallied to participate at Sutherland’s Station but were again routed.  The remaining men moved west along the south bank of the Appomattox River until they found a crossing point, joining Lee’s Army but surrendering less than a week later at Appomattox.

This is the second of three Confederate unit histories author William Thomas Venner has written under the McFarland banner. It follows McFarland’s standard “history and roster” format with 210+ pages of text and another 120 or so of roster and casualties suffered by date.  Venner faced some unexpected danger with a cousin in college and it made him realize people react very differently under pressure.  Given that knowledge he emphasized including first person accounts from as many members of the 11th North Carolina as possible, managing to insert over 1,500 first person accounts into 200+ pages of text.  I didn’t count and will take his word for it but noticed there are first person accounts on pretty much every single page.  It was impressive and the author backed up his boast. An interesting and useful twist is the use of accounts from the units across the firing line.  This was done intentionally and done often, helping the reader gain a better appreciation of what was happening in the Bethel Regiment’s fights.  This isn’t a traditional battle history. Venner often focuses on the quieter times and how men felt about them.  His accounts of the desertion prevalent in 1865 were especially well done. The author has done something else I have often thought about doing for many Confederate regiments at Petersburg.  He used the Compiled Service Records to find out how many men could have been present on any given day.  He often gives unit strengths, casualties, and commanders by company throughout the text. Anyone who has studied the Petersburg Campaign in any detail knows how difficult it often is to discover who was commanding a given regiment on a given date, much less the companies of said regiment. The maps are generally well done too, often showing exactly where in the battle line the 11th North Carolina was located.  Illustrations of the men from the Big Bethel Regiment are scattered throughout the book, but come mostly from Clark’s classic if sometimes flawed book series on Confederate units from North Carolina. There were a wide variety of other sources used.

The 11th North Carolina Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster is well-edited, with few to almost no noticeable spelling or grammatical mistakes.  One small issue occurred several times (at least pages 38 and 47) when Kinston, North Carolina was called “Kingston.” This minor error in no way detracted from the book. Another item which caused this reader some confusion surrounded a small skirmish on July 8, 1864.  Venner indicates this fight occurred “near the Weldon Railroad tracks not far from Ream’s Station.”  I believe this fight occurred along the main Confederate Dimmock line in the vicinity of the railroad, which is several miles from Ream’s Station.  The way the text was written, I originally interpreted it to mean that MacRae’s Brigade marched out to some earthworks in the direct vicinity of Ream’s Station outside of the main Confederate works, but this doesn’t appear to be the case.  Perhaps this whole matter hinges on whether one considers several miles away “not far from” Ream’s Station. Readers of unit histories often get a postwar afterword or even a large chapter, but nothing like that exists in this book.  It ends shortly after Appomattox and moves right to the appendices. But these are quibbles in what was an enjoyable and successful book.

I cannot yet compare this book to Craig S. Chapman’s 1998 unit history More Terrible Than Victory: North Carolina’s Bloody Bethel Regiment, 1861-65, but I plan to read that book next and will perhaps offer a comparison in my review there. At a high level, Chapman offers 50% more text and more maps, but completely lacks a roster. He seems to spend more time on Bristoe Station and the 1864-65 campaigns than Venner.  Venner includes more first-person accounts and images and spends more time on Gettysburg than any other battle. More to come there after I read Chapman’s book in detail.

There are two appendices in this book, and both are well done and useful for researchers.  The first appendix looks at 11th North Carolina casualties throughout the war, grouping them for particular battles or periods of time. Nature and locations of wounds are added where known, with enlistment dates and companies also present.  The roster proper is the second appendix.  It includes the name, rank, date of birth, residence, and occupation of each soldier at the time of enlistment.  Remarks add detail about what happened to the soldier during the war.  Men in boldfaced type were killed during the war.

William T. Venner’s The 11th North Carolina Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster is chock full of “you are there” accounts of both the battles and the quieter times in the life of the Big Bethel regiment. The letters of Lewis Warlick were used extensively throughout the book, though his voice is missed while he was detained as a POW after Gettysburg. The Big Bethel regiment yearned to be a part of the fighting in Virginia while they whiled away 1862 and part of 1863 in the swamps of North Carolina and Virginia.  They got all of the fighting they could have ever wanted as part of Heth’s Division, Third Corps, ANV from Gettysburg to Appomattox, losing two thirds of their strength in their first major campaign. Venner spends quite a bit of time at the Siege of Petersburg for those interested in this topic.  Although the book ends abruptly after Appomattox, the lists of casualties by date and the well-done roster ease the sting of the sudden ending.  Anyone interested in first person accounts of the war in the Eastern Theater will want to own this book.  Enthusiasts of North Carolina in the Civil War will likewise enjoy this one as it is also somewhat of a history of the Pettigrew/Kirkland/MacRae Brigade. The book is worth the price and well done. I highly recommend it.

Editor’s Note: A copy of this book was provided gratis for the purposes of this review.