Civil War

This Week in the Civil War

00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.

This Week in the Civil War - 531

Texas Public Radio | By Texas Public Radio

Published March 21, 2013 at 1:12 PM CDT

On Saturday, March 21, 1863, Union General Edwin Voss Sumner died of a heart attack while visiting his daughter’s home in Syracuse, New York. A career officer and the oldest corps commander on either side during the Civil War, Sumner was known as "Bull Head" because legend alleged that a musket ball once bounced off his head.

Sumner led the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac through the Peninsular Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, at Antietam, and at Fredericksburg. Yet when Joseph Hooker was appointed to command the Union army, Sumner was relieved at his own request, apparently disillusioned with the quarreling in the army. He was reassigned to a new command in Missouri effective in the spring but unfortunately did not live to assume his new command.