Title: One day of the Civil War
Description: One Day of the Civil War describes the events of April 10, 1863, a typical day virtually at the midpoint of the American Civil War. The previous year had seen McClellan miss an opportunity at Antietam and Burnside fail at Fredericksburg. In the East, Hooker, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, was making plans to attack Lee south of the Rappahannock.

In the West, the Confederates still controlled the Mississippi from Vicksburg almost to Baton Rouge, but Grant was preparing to lay siege to Vicksburg. At sea, the Federal blockade was tightening its noose on the Confederacy.

As on most days during the Civil War, no great, decisive battles took place on April 10, 1863. Still, the day was full of war activity: men fought and died in numerous small actions across the country and at sea. Quoting extensively from the personal journals and intimate letters of the troops and their leaders, author Robert L. Willett, Jr., brings you deep into the Civil War experience.

He takes you on daring train raids and lightning-fast cavalry skirmishes and to the day's biggest clash, the First Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, where Granger's determined Union forces fought off Earl Van Dorn's legendary cavalry. It was a day that saw fatal mishaps, tactical blunders, military executions, deadly illness, boredom, terror, and acts of great courage. On this day, as on 1,458 others, families waited back home, responded to letters from their homesick loved ones, and prayed for an end to what seemed like an endless ordeal.

It was only half over.
Subjects: History, United States Civil War, 1861-1865, United states, history, civil war, 1861-1865, Alumni and alumnae, Authorship, New Trier High School
Places: United States
Time periods: Civil War, 1861-1865