Eric Stange
Eric Stange is the founder and executive producer of Spy Pond Productions, which specializes in producing documentaries on historical and scientific topics. In addition, Strange is an award-winning director and writer whose work can be seen on PBS, The Discovery Channel, and the BBC. He has been awarded the Harvard University Charles Warren Fellowship in American History for his achievements, and writes a column on media and history for American Heritage.
Articles by this Contributor
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From the Editors of American Heritage
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February 12, 1862
FORT DONELSON, TN—General Ulyssess S. Grant moves his Union forces overland from Fort Henry on the Tennessee River to the outer defenses of Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote would move his flotilla downstream to support Grant's advance.
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February 6, 1862
FT HENRY, TN—A joint Union Army and Navy expedition captures Fort Henry along the Tennessee River, as Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman surrenders to Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. The rising waters of the Tennessee condemned several of the defensive batteries, leaving it vulnerable to enemy fire.
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February 5, 1862
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM—Queen Victoria ends all export restrictions on munitions from Great Britain, opening up the market for both sides to import British gunpowder and firearms.
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February 2, 1862
HAMPTON ROADS, VA—Flag Officer David Farragut's flagship, the U.S.S. Hartford, leaves Hampton Roads for Ship Island, Mississippi. Farragut, assigned to command the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, would lead a campaign to capture New Orleans in April.
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January 30, 1862
BROOKLYN, NY—The USS Monitor, the first American ironclad, is launched from the Greenpoint shipyards in Brooklyn.
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January 27, 1862
WASHINGTON, DC—President Lincoln, in a desperate move to motivate General McClellan, orders General War Order No. 1, stating that all naval and land units would attack Confederate insurgents by February 1862.
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January 19, 1862
NANCY, KY—Union forces in Kentucky secure a critical victory as they repel Confederate attacks at the Battle of Mill Springs. Led by Brig. General George H. Thomas, Federal soldiers forced the Confederates to retreat south of the Cumberland River, securing southern Kentucky.
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January 17, 1862
ROMNEY, VA—Stonewall Jackson postpones a planned attack on Cumberland, Maryland because of fatigue and poor health among his men. Many of Jackson's units were operating at below half strength, making an attack against a critical B&O Railroad terminus impossible.
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January 15, 1862
WASHINGTON, DC—United States Senate confirms Edwin Stanton as President Lincoln's second Secretary of War.
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January 13, 1862
HATTERAS INLET, NC—Union forces led by General Ambrose Burnside arrives in North Carolina and begins planning an amphibious assault on Roanoke Island.
