This Week in the Civil War-- On Thursday, April 7, 1864 the Confederate War Department ordered James Longstreet’s corps, which had spent the winter and spring in eastern Tennessee, to return to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederate War Department fully expected Ulysses Grant to launch a full scale assault against Lee’s forces within the next one or two months, and Longstreet’s corps of seasoned, battle hardened veterans were essential if Grant’s forces were to be repelled. The Confederate War Department knew of Grant’s tenacity against Vicksburg, and it feared that without every able bodied defender who could be mustered into Lee’s army that Richmond might be General Grant’s next objective. Believing that Richmond would be Grant’s objective was one thing; actually thwarting his plans would, of course, be more difficult.
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.