Boscobel Civil War Reenactment: Battle of Malvern Hill

I haven’t ever taken a camera to a reenactment and discovered two problems while taking pictures.  Trying to keep modern stuff, such as light poles, power lines, buildings and tourists out of the shots plagued most photos.  Also trying to get a shot of the cannons or the muskets at the point of ignition turned out to be much more difficult than I thought, especially during the battle with all the movement.

Keeping the modern stuff out of the battle scenes proved next to impossible, so you’ll just have to tolerate people and buildings in the background.

The battle began as most American Civil war battles began — with infantry exchanging volleys.

Eventually Union infantry drove off the Confederate infantry when Union Cavalry moved up on the flank.

Leading to a cavalry showdown in the middle of the field as Confederate cavalry moved up to counter.

After this the cavalry continued to skirmish along the flanks, but Confederate infantry moved back up to retake the field.

Union artillery slowly silenced the Confederate guns.

Leading to a desperate attempt by Confederate infantry to try to take the Union guns on Malvern Hill.

Union artillery proved far too deadly for this desperate gamble however.

With the confederate attack repulsed the Army of the Potomac could make its escape.

Union infantry covered the withdrawal of the big guns and Robert E Lee could only watch as the Union army got away.

On This Day, 8-4-08: Anne Frank

Anne Frank and her family arrested by Gestapo

On this day in 1944, a German-born Jewish girl and her family, who had been hiding in German-occupied Holland, are found by the Gestapo and transported to various concentration camps. The young girl’s diary of her time in hiding was found after her death and published. The Diary of Anne Frank remains one of the most moving testimonies to the invincibility of the human spirit in the face of inhuman cruelty.

“Anne Frank and her family arrested by Gestapo.” 2008. The History Channel website. 3 Aug 2008, 01:54 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6540.

 

On This Day

1735 – Freedom of the press was established with an acquittal of John Peter Zenger. The writer of the New York Weekly Journal had been charged with seditious libel by the royal governor of New York. The jury said that “the truth is not libelous.”

1753 – George Washington became a Master Mason.

1892 – Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, MA. Lizzie, Andrew’s daughter, was accused of the killings but was later acquitted.

1914 – Britain declared war on Germany in World War I. The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality.

1922 – The death of Alexander Graham Bell, two days earlier, was recognized by AT&T and the Bell Systems by shutting down all of its switchboards and switching stations. The shutdown affected 13 million phones.

1949 – An earthquake in Ecuador destroyed 50 towns and killed more than 6000 people.

1964 – The bodies of Michael H. Schwerner, James E. Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were found in an earthen dam in Mississippi. The three were civil rights workers. They had disappeared on June 21, 1964.

1972 – Arthur Bremer was found guilty of shooting George Wallace, the governor of Alabama. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison.

1977 – U.S. President Carter signed the measure that established the Department of Energy.

1993 – Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, Los Angeles police officers were sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating Rodney King’s civil rights.

1997 – Teamsters began a 15-day strike against UPS (United Parcel Service). The strikers eventually won an increase in full-time positions and defeated a proposed reorganization of the companies pension plan.

 

Union generals squabble outside of Atlanta

A Union operation against Confederate defenses around Atlanta, Georgia, stalls when infighting erupts between Yankee generals.

The problem arose when Union General William T. Sherman began stretching his force—consisting of the Army of the Ohio, the Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Cumberland—west of Ezra Church, the site of a major battle on July 28, to Utoy Creek, west of Atlanta. The Confederate army inside of Atlanta, commanded by General John Bell Hood, had attacked Sherman’s army three times in late July and could no longer mount an offensive operation. Sherman now moved General John Schofield, who commanded the Army of the Ohio, from the east side of Atlanta to the west in an attempt to cut the rail lines that supplied the city from the south and west. Schofield’s force arrived at Utoy Creek on August 3.

The Army of the Cumberland’s Fourteenth Corps, commanded by General John Palmer, had also been sent by Sherman to assist Schofield. But on August 4, the operation came to a standstill because Palmer refused to accept orders from anyone but General George Thomas, commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Although Schofield was the director of the operation, Palmer felt that Schofield was his junior. The two men had been promoted to major general on the same day in 1862, but Schofield’s appointment had expired four months later. Schofield had been reappointed with his original date of promotion, November 29, 1862, but Palmer insisted that the reappointment placed Schofield behind him in seniority.

“Union generals squabble outside of Atlanta.” 2008. The History Channel website. 3 Aug 2008, 01:55 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2272.