Category: Civil War in My Delta
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Aaron Forrest
Aaron Forrest was born April 8, 1863 in Bedford County, Tennessee. He was a younger brother of Nathan Bedford Forrest. For awhile, he and his older brother were involved in a slave trading business at Memphis. Still in this trade Forrest moved to Vicksburg around 1858. When the Civil War started he joined a company…
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Yazoo Pass Expedition
In early 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant decided to try another method of getting around the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg. This time, he would attempt to send a combined army and navy group into the Yazoo River located above the Mississippi city. To do this, they would have to navigate a series of streams…
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Major Samuel Madison Corley
Samuel Madison Corley was the Fighting Preacher of Colonel Dobbin’s Regiment who led a company early in the war known as “Corley’s Spies.”
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Union Commanders at Helena during the Civil War
Helena had a number of Union generals and colonels in charge during the Civil War while it was occupied territory. March To Helena. Friday, July 11, 1862 Written by a correspondent of the Cincinnati…
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James M. Flynt of the 2nd Arkansas
“The men were good sized, healthy and well clothed, but without any attempt at uniformity in color or cut. Out front, General Liddell was wildly waving his cap.” Description of Genera Liddell’s Arkansas Brigade at Stones River from “No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River” by Peter Cozzens. page 95. James M.…
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Captain Thomas Jefferson Williams
Captain Thomas Jefferson Williams Arkansas was a divided state in 1862. East versus West; Hill versus Delta; Rich versus Poor. All of these factors were at play in 1862 Arkansas as a Union Army came marching into the state. Many of the small hill farmers had never supported secession and not many slaves were found…
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My Own Place: Story of Archibald S. Dobbins
The Delta of Arkansas and Mississippi in the 1850s was a hard place to live. There was disease, flooding and violence. It took a special kind of person to live there and this adventure is probably what attracted Archibald Stephenson Dobbins. Archibald Dobbins was born around 1827 in Mount Pleasant located in Maury County, Tennessee.…
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The Swampers Finish the War (Chapter 5)
The Mississippi Swampers of Company B had come a long way from home since June 11, 1861 when they were mustered into Confederate service, but they would have still further to travel before the war ended. The men had seen the loss of many of their fellow soldiers, while others had simply gotten tired…
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A Brave Ship: The U.S.S. Tyler
The U.S.S. Tyler was a timberclad warship of the United States Navy during the Civil War. She was one of three wooden steam ships purchased in 1861 by the Federal government to convert for use on western rivers. It was sheathed with 5-inch thick white oak planks and the engines and boiler were retrofitted.…
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Skirmish at Lick Creek: January 12, 1863
Helena was a city under siege in January 1863. The Army of the Southwest had marched into the town about six months earlier in 1862. Since that day they had been fortifying Helena and making it a center of Union operations in the area around the town in both Arkansas and Mississippi. However, there were…
My Delta World 