Echoes of Battle: Annals of Ohio's Soldiers in the Civil War, 1861-1865. Volume 2: Fredericksburg to Fort Sanders

Echoes of Battle: Annals of Ohio's Soldiers in the Civil War, 1861-1865. Volume 2: Fredericksburg to Fort SandersIn volume 2 of the Echoes of Battle series, we focus on the experiences of Ohios boys in blue during the critical middle period of the war covering the period from December 1862 through the end of 1863. Union fortunes at the end of 1862 reached the nadir of the war. War weariness and discouragement at the armys continued misfortunes threatened to end the effort to save the Union. The month of December witnessed a major defeat at Fredericksburg in the

In volume 2 of the Echoes of Battle series, we focus on the experiences of OhioÕs boys in blue during the critical middle period of the war covering the period from December 1862 through the end of 1863. Union fortunes at the end of 1862 reached the nadir of the war. War weariness and discouragement at the armyÕs continued misfortunes threatened to end the effort to save the Union. The month of December witnessed a major defeat at Fredericksburg in the east and a minor defeat at Chickasaw Bayou along the Mississippi in the west, but the New Year brought extraordinarily bloody if narrow victory at Stones River in Tennessee.

The new year of 1863 would witness untold horrors as the casualty lists of battles like Fredericksburg and Stones River would be eclipsed at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga. But the year which began so inauspiciously ended with the Union army having turned the tide. Ohio would see its only action of the war during General John H. MorganÕs abortive cavalry raid in July. Robert E. LeeÕs invasion of Pennsylvania was turned back at Gettysburg while General Ulysses S. Grant, a Buckeye in blue, split the Confederacy in two by his hard-fought campaign taking Vicksburg. At the same time, General William S. RosecransÕ army pushed the Confederate army out of Tennessee and took the strategic city of Chattanooga. RosecransÕ defeat at Chickamauga in September led to the consolidation of multiple Union armies at Chattanooga under GrantÕs command. Within a few weeks, the Confederate siege of that city was ended and the Union armies poised to plunge into the heartland of the Confederacy.

In battle after battle, Ohioans played a key role in turning the tide of war and left an incredible written record of their efforts to end the rebellion. As in volume 1, our focus is on the words of the company grade officers and enlisted men who won the fight and can tell the story of Union defeat and victory from the ground up.