The massive destruction of Union forces at the crater at Petersburg closed out the eventful month of July 1864. It had been a month that had seen Jubal Early’s Confederate cavalry literally at the gates of Washington, unable to take the city but placing Abraham Lincoln in a combat situation. Federal cavalry had pursued Early as he retreated through the Shenandoah Valley, but at the end of the month Early turned the tables on his pursuers by sending his cavalry once again over the Potomac to burn Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Before Atlanta John Bell Hood, the controversial corps commander who had assumed control of Joseph Johnston’s Confederate army, struggled to withstand Sherman’s larger Union force. To many, the outcome of the war remained in question during the chaotic summer of 1864.
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.