For Freedom and HumanityThe Civil War Memorandum of Owen Thomas Wright, 14th Indiana Volunteers
1862: War EscalatesTell Owen's story through Civil War historyUnderstand the Civil War through Owen's story
The recently discovered Journals of Owen Thomas Wright, 14th Indiana Volunteers, provide a fresh perspective on the Civil War through the pen of a young soldier who experienced almost the entire war. You can read the complete summary of Owen's story here:
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1862: War Escalates
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
The Shenandoah valley would host some of the ugliest battles of the war. In their pursuit of Stonewall Jackson's troops after the Battle of Winchester Heights Owen and his companions march hundreds of miles up and down the Shenandoah Valley, stopping only to fight their enemy or to tend to their bleeding bare feet.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
Nathan Kimball became the commander of Owen's brigade when under Brigadier General James T. Shields. While being removed from the Battle of Winchester after suffering an injury, Shields passed command of his division to Kimball. Kimball had served as a captain of volunteers during the Mexican War. With his commission as brigadier-general of volunteers during the Battle of Winchester, he led volunteers into the front lines of Antietam and Fredericksburg. After recovering from an injury during the assault on Marye's Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg, he commanded a division at the siege of Vicksburg and at the Battle of Franklin. He was promoted to major-general, then mustered out of service on 24 Aug. 1965. After the war, he went into politics, serving in the Indiana House of Representatives. He later was appointed Surveyor-General for the territory of Utah, then as Postmaster General in Ogden Utah.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
The 14th Indiana Volunteers rush to hook up with McClellan's Army of the Potomac as it retreats from a failed campaign to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
Owen marches and skirmishes to the bloodiest day of the Civil War, stopping for some sightseeing at President Lincoln's house along the way.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
In the Summer of 1862, the War was not going well for the Union.
A thrashing of the Union Army at the Second Battle of Bull Run was just another in a string of Confederate victories against the ever-cautious George McClellan--despite far superior forces and resources. The rebels were riding high with ever-increasing confidence that triumph for the Confederacy was near. Momentum was on the side of the Confederacy.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
What Owen missed on June 8th was the Battle of Cross Keys. Here Jackson secured an escape route across a bridge over the North River into Port Republic. In that town the following day, Jackson handily shredded his final barrier to escape.[1] By the time the Fourteenth arrived to reinforce the rest of Kimball’s brigade they met only their defeated comrades from Samuel Carrol’s and Daniel Tyler’s brigades.[2]
Jackson escaped. His Valley Campaign was over.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
Writing that "this day will be a day-long remembered as being the most desperate day of fighting in which the 1st Brigade has witnessed" was accurate. Owen had fought in the most violent part of the bloodiest day of the Civil War. For withstanding the enemy while others ran, they had reversed the momentum of the battle, giving Lincoln the platform he needed to release the Emancipation Proclamation.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
Poor conditions for volunteer regiments motivate many in the 14th Indiana to join the regular army. Despite the conditions and lack of pay, Owen remains loyal to the 14th Indiana. The diminished regiment marches toward the sounds of cannon fire.
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- © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD
History has an answer to Owen's pondering, "our beloved commander G. B. McClellan took his leave of us for Washington for what purpose I cannot tell." Cautiously pursuing a weak inferior enemy as they fled from defeat at Antietam, he had somehow maneuvered his army into being surrounded at Rectortown.
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1864
- Hard fighting to pleasant living: New York draft riot becomes race war
- Captured in the Wilderness
- Coming: Of all of the horrors of the Civil War, prison life is the most terrible
- Escape into the Swamp Wars