New Confederate Command Stands

Tennessee and Louisiana Command stands

Georgia Command Stand with Red Georgia Flag.

The past year has been very productive for me. I managed to paint the following.

Union Cavalry=  48 figures and horses.
Union Artillery= 8 cannons and 48 crew
Union Infantry= 760 figures
Union Brigadier Generals= 5 figures and horses.
Union Generals (characters)= 30 figures and horses (including guidon carriers)
Total of 982 individual soldiers, cannons and horses

Confederate Cavalry=  48 figures and horses.
Confederate Artillery= 9 cannons and 54 crew
Confederate Infantry= 640 figures
Confederate Brigadier Generals= 6 figures and horses.
Confederate Generals (characters)= 24 figures and horses (including guidon carriers)
Total of 859 individual soldiers, cannons and horses

grand total of 1841 individually painted Generals, soldiers, horses, cannons.

Snowball Fight Feb 25, 1863

I found this article awhile back and thought I should repost it here.

Two back-to-back snowstorms in February of 1863 provided the ammunition for a friendly snowball battle amongst rival divisions of Confederate troops in Fredericksburg,Virginia. On February 19, eight inches of snow fell on the region. Two days later, nine inches of snow fell. On February 25, sunny skies and mild temperatures softened the deep snow cover, providing ideal conditions for making snowballs.

During this time, the Confederate Army was camped near Fredericksburg. Some of the Divisions of the army had been reorganized, which had created friendly rivalries between the Confederate brigades and regiments. This helped spark a huge snowball battle near Rappahannock Academy in which approximately 10,000 Confederate soldiers participated. One soldier who participated in the snowball battle described it as one of the most memorable combats of the war.”

The battle started on the morning of February 25, 1863, when General Hoke’s North Carolina soldiers marched towards Colonel Stiles’ camp of Georgians, with the intent of capturing the camp using only snowballs. The attacking force, composed of infantry, cavalry and skirmishers, moved in swiftly. Battle lines formed and the fight began with “severe pelting” of snowballs. Reinforcements arrived from all sides to assist the brigade under attack. Even the employees of the commissary joined the snowball battle. Soon, the attacking soldiers were pushed back.

Hoke’s beaten soldiers retreated back to their camp. Colonel Stiles then held a Council of War on how best to attack the retreating force. He decided to organize his men and march directly into their camp, with snowballs in hand. When Stile’s forces finally arrived in Hoke’s camp, they were quite surprised to find that their adversaries had rallied and filled their haversacks to the top with snowballs. This allowed Hoke’s soldiers to provide an endless barrage of snowballs “without the need to reload.” The attacking force was quickly overwhelmed and many of their soldiers were captured and “whitewashed” with snow. The snowball battle came to an end and both brigades settled back into their respective camps. The captured prisoners were quickly paroled and returned to their camp, to much heckling from fellow soldiers. It was noted that General Stonewall Jackson had witnessed the snowball battle. One soldier remarked that he had wished Jackson and staff had joined the fight so he could have thrown a snowball at “the old faded uniforms.”

The weather turned mild and rainy in the following days. Other snowball battles were documented during the War – including a snowball fight at Dalton, Georgia – but The Snowball Battle of Rappahannock Academy was unique in size, strategy and ample snow cover. The depth of the snow cover on the day of the battle was documented in a soldier’s diary to be 12 inches.http://www.weatherbook.com/Snowball.htm 

This is an excerpt from the book, Washington Weather .

Army of Northern Virginia Commanders

Army Of Northern Virginia Commanders From June 1862- May 1863.

General Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. Jackson, James Longstreet, J.E.B. Stuart.
Both "Stonewall" Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart were killed during the war. Jackson met his end at the Battle Chancellorsville in May of 1863. Stuart would be shot and killed by a dismounted Union Cavalryman at Yellow Tavern in 1864.

Army of Northern Virginia June 1863- 1864
General Robert E. Lee
MG  James Longstreet
MG  Richard Ewell
MG  A.P. Hill
MG  J.E.B. Stuart

Richard Ewell took command of Jackson's Corp after his death. A.P. Hill was given a new Corp.

Confederate Commanders During The Peninsula Campaign.
Gen Joseph E. Johnston and MG John B. Magruder

General Joseph E. Johnston was commander of the Confederate forces until he was wounded by a shot in the chest at the battle of Seven Pines.

MG John B. Magruder had Command of The Army of The Peninsula.
Lafayette McLaws, James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, and Jubal Early held Division Commands

BG Wade Hampton of South Carolina with BG John B. Hood of Texas.

BG Cadmus Wilcox and BG Robert E. Rodes.
 Wilcox was Born in North Carolina but was raised in Tennessee. At the beginning of the war he given command of the 9th Alabama Regiment. He would end the war as a Major General. Robert E. Rodes Was born in Virginia. He was one of Lee's first divisional commanders who was not a West Point Graduate. After graduating from Virginia Military Institute he accepted a teaching position as assistant professor. He left shortly after a full professor position was given to Thomas J. Jackson instead of himself. Rodes was a civil engineer in Alabama when the war started. He was given command of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment. On Sept 19, 1864, Rodes was killed at the Third Battle of Winchester while directing his division on the field.

Group Shot of Brigadier Generals Cadmus Wilcox, Robert E. Rodes, William Mahone, and John B. Hood.

BG William Mahone and BG John B. Hood both commanded brigades during the fighting in the Peninsula.
William Mahone was a railroad man by trade. he received a civil engineering degree from Virginia Military Institute.One of his instructors was Thomas Jackson. Mahone was described as small in stature. he was 5 feet 5 inches tall and 100 pounds. One of his soldiers said. "He was every inch a soldier, though there were not many inches of him." His wife Otelia Mahone was working as a nurse in Richmond when Governor  John Letcher came and told her William was wounded at The Second Battle of Manassas. Upon hearing that it was only a "flesh wound." It is said that Otelia replied. "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh." He suffered from dyspepsia and had to watch what he ate. His headquarters was easy to spot for it usually was accompanied by a milking cow and chickens. The last days of the war was particularly hard for him. Artillery battalion commander William Poague ran into Mahone during the retreat to Appomattox. "I found him sheltering himself under a poplar tree from a passing thunder shower and in a towering passion abusing  and swearing at the Yankees, who he had just learned had that morning captured his headquarters wagon and his cow, saying it was a most serious loss, for he was not able, in the delicate condition of his health, to eat anything but tea and crackers and fresh milk." After the war he went back to the railroad and later had a successful political career as a senator from Virginia

BG John B Hood and BG Wade Hampton.

Jackson's Valley Campaign Stonewall Jackson and Richard Ewell

In the spring of 1862, Major General Thomas Jackson took his division of 17,000 men and made life an immortal hell for union forces in the Shenandoah Valley.  His troops marched 646 miles in 48 days and engaged three different Union Armies numbering 52,000 men and defeated them. Jackson's only defeat was his first engagement at Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862.
By pinning down these armies and keeping them off the doorsteps of Richmond, He became a hero to the south. Popular songs of the period were, "Stonewall Jackson's Way" and "Jackson in the Valley."
"Stonewall" Jackson's Valley Campaign is still taught at West Point to this day. The principles of fast maneuver, hitting your enemy hard and not letting them regroup, have inspired future Generals both here in the United States and abroad. General George S. Patton Jr. and Germany's Erwin Rommel used what was referred to as "Jacksonian Tactics" in their battles of World War Two.