Fascinating Small Battles

[NFB22]

I just received my copy of this book......
Bill

I've traveled the entire length of the Indiana trail, and the routes different elements took. It was a good use of a weekend. A lot of other sites to see along the way.

 

[James N.]

Personally, I think we are all in love and fascinated by the large scale battles - Gettysburg, Antietam, Wilderness, Shiloh, and Chickamauga.

But what smaller scale action are you fascinated by? For me, it would be a toss up between Ball's Bluff, the battles that comprised Burnside's North Carolina Expedition, and the September 1863 battle of Sabine Pass in Texas.

In case you missed it, here's my last year's take on Ball's Bluff:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-battle-of-balls-bluff-october-21-1861.118672/

My own personal favorite "small battle" would probably be Cowpens, S. C., but seeing as how that's the wrong war, I guess I'll also go with Brice's Crossroads - the outcomes were about the same!

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

White Sulphur Springs. Less than 5000 engaged on both sides, but a bloody, vicious fight that lasted two days.

 

[NFB22]

My own personal favorite "small battle" would probably be Cowpens, S. C., but seeing as how that's the wrong war, I guess I'll also go with Brice's Crossroads - the outcomes were about the same!

That one and King's Mountain

 

[CSA Today]

Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina -- Savannah Campaign (1864)

http://www.nps.gov/abpp/battles/sc010.htm

 

[Booner]

The Lawrence (KS) Massacre.
Huge repercussion for the people of Missouri because of this.

 

[Yankeedave]

Chantilly/Ox Hill - bloody little fight in the driving rain. Glendale/Frayser's Farm.

 

[Yankeedave]

Ligny, Qutre Bras.

 

[General Casey]

I would add to my list as well. Honey Hill and Olustee have fascinated me since I was a reenactor. One of my favorite reenactments was an event at a state park in CT and we reenacted Honey Hill one year. Another year we did Fort Wagner, which was cool because we got to fight on the beach - almost sort of reminded me of Saving Private Ryan. It was May and it was close to 90 and during the battle, a few guys decided to charge in full uniform into the ocean instead of towards the "fort"

The St. Albans Raid is another event that I'm interested in, as is Morgan's Raid across Ohio and Indiana. Also the Battle of Portland Harbor in June 1863 is very fascinating. Not a lot of people know it - it wasn't a huge battle, mainly a Confederate naval vessel and some US Revenue Cutter and some shore battles - but many of the sights associated with the action are still in Portland, Maine today.

 

[James N.]

That one and King's Mountain

I prefer Cowpens for several reasons: 1) I believe Tarleton was hands down a bigger jerk than Ferguson so his defeat was that much sweeter even though unlike Ferguson he personally escaped; 2) More of the "British" at Cowpens really were (or else Scots - same thing under the circumstances), unlike King's Mountain where ONLY Ferguson was really British; 3) mainly, it was an actual field battle with tactics on both sides, not just individual bushwhacking; 4) for once - and maybe the only time in the entire war! - the Americans actually had a plan which worked smoothly and almost how it was conceived - even the near-disaster "retreat" was turned to advantage.

 

[DR_Hanna]

Here is an off the beaten path battle I only recently learned about: Pocotaligo.

 

[Borderruffian]

New Hope Church and Pickett's Mill of the Atlanta Campaign
Allatoona Pass, GA
Iuka, Corinth and Hatchie Bridge, MS
Valverde and Glorietta Pass of the New Mexico Campaign
Wilson's Creek, Lexington, Independence, Lone Jack, MO
Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Helena, and Jenkins' Ferry, AR
Red River Campaign (Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Blair's Landing, Monett's Ferry, Yellow Bayou)
Other small battles in Louisiana: Georgia Landing, Bayou Teche Campaign, Fort Butler/Donaldsonville, Kock's Plantation, Millikin's Bend, Bayou Bourbeau, Stirling's Plantation, etc.

And Carthage and Kirksville and Vassar Hill,Pilot Knob, Hartsville,West Port,the actions during the raids of '63 &'64.

 

[AUG]

And Carthage and Kirksville and Vassar Hill,Pilot Knob, Hartsville,West Port,the actions during the raids of '63 &'64.

With the exception of Pilot Knob I haven't read very much into Price's Raid yet. Some day I hope to read Kyle S. Sinisi's new book "The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864."

 

[damYankee]

The Battle of Glorieta Pass is also referred to as "The Gettysburg of the West"
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefield...ta-pass-history-articles/glorietaalberts.html


http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/91glorieta/91glorieta.htm

 

[Booner]

The Battle of Glorieta Pass is also referred to as "The Gettysburg of the West"

And so is the Battle of Westport, MO.

 

[Borderruffian]

Howdy and welcome. To answer your question, I will first state that I'm a resident of Boonville, Missouri. Thus, I am very interested in the fight that occurred here on June 17, 1861. If you look it up online, you are apt to see it described as "The Boonville Races", but that is a pejorative given to it by St. Louis journalists. In his after-action report, Nathaniel Lyon said his troops received a "galling fire" for quite a while on one of their flanks. He used cannon and superior numbers to drive the Missouri State Guard from the field in disarray. Lyon had (depending on whom you read) about
2,500 well trained troops with him. I am not sure there is an accurate count of the state guard troops in this fight. But I'll tell you this much: At least a few thousand troops were engaged and the hot-headed Union officer reported that the state guard gave his men a "galling fire". That was not reported in the St. Louis newspapers. Ergo, This fight was one of the earliest in the entire war and I would dearly love to read an impartial account of it. The problem is that I don't think an impartial account exists.

Well to be fair Marmadukes Troops were half armed and half trained but the did get off at least a couple of good vollies on Lyon's mostly German Wide Awakes and Turners before they got too hot and broke. But such was the state of afairs with the MSG at the time, and St Louis Papers played up any seeming triumph by the Union.

 

[MRB1863]

The Skirmish at Sporting Hill from You Tube

The Skirmish of Sporting Hill The Skirmish of Sporting Hill occurred on 28 June 1863, two days before the Battle of Sporting Hill. Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins Virginian Cavalry Brigade had approached Mechanicsburg that morning. Jenkins, a soul of caution, detached three units, the 16th Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 36th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, and two guns of Jackson's Kanawha Horse Artillery to ride north on the Hogestown Road, and then proceeded west on the Carlisle Pike to within shooting distance of Oyster's Point (present-day Camp Hill).
http://www.campcurtin.org/pdfs/2011_3.pdf
While this skirmish was of no particular account in itself, it is really historic. It was at the furthest northern point which was reached by the invaders, and marks the crest of the wave of the invasion of Pennsylvania.

I have written a short story regarding the site and maybe someday will post it.

 

[photoman475]

Why can't Glorietta Pass and Westport BOTH be considered Gettysburgs of the West?

I can see the case for both of them being considered as Gettysburgs. I think the problem is more semantic than anything else. I would suggest a better description is Glorietta Pass as the "Gettysburg of the Far West" and Westport as the "Gettysburg of the Trans-Mississippi". If anyone else has a better description, please post.

 

[Booner]

Why can't Glorietta Pass and Westport BOTH be considered Gettysburgs of the West?

It makes no difference to me; Who comes up with these names anyway? Both battles were game changers for the South, any chance they had in holding the territory was gone with the loss of the battle.

 

[Sbc]

Ligny, Qutre Bras.

Well Napolean's last victory hardly qualifies as "small". Quatre Bras does fall into this category.
Lol