Gil R.
Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005 Status: offline
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Here’s Corse, who seems to have had uncanny luck at missing the worst fighting, though he more than made up for it at Antietam and 2nd Manassas. The bit about casualties at Antietam must be wrong, since no regiment could have 56 men. Anyone have a good book on Antietam to consult? By the way, while Googling the 17th Virginia I found this nifty video of their reenactors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMGXSdXriA8 Brig. Gen. Montgomery Dent Corse (b. 1816, d. 1895). Corse was born on March 14, 1816 in Alexandria, Virginia. During the 1830’s, Corse helped organize the militia in Alexandria. He became Captain of Company B, 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers during the Mexico War. After the war, he traveled to California and took part in the Gold Rush in 1849. Corse would later become Captain of the Sutter Rifles from Sacramento. In 1856, he returned to Alexandria and went into banking with his brother. Corse organized the Old Dominion Rifles in 1860 and later that year became major of the local militia battalion. He remained in Alexandria until its evacuation in May 1861, soon after the start of the Civil War. The battalion was assigned to the 17th Virginia Infantry and Corse became its colonel. On July 18, serving in Gen. James Longstreet’s brigade, the regiment defended Blackburn’s Ford and repelled the Union advance by Gen. Daniel Tyler, in the first engagement of the Manassas Campaign. Guarding the ford during the battle three days later, Corse’s men were not engaged in the main fighting, since the Union army crossed the Bull Run creek further north. During Gen. George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign of March-July 1862, Corse’s regiment continued to serve under Longstreet, who by then was commanding a division. Corse and his men were present for the Siege of Yorktown and fought in the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines and for the Seven Days’ Battles. Corse was later given command of Gen. James L. Kemper’s brigade after Kemper was made temporary commander of Gen. George Pickett’s division while Pickett was recovering from a wound received at Gaines’ Mill. At the Battle of 2nd Manassas, Corse and Kemper’s Brigade would lead Longstreet’s major attack on the Union left on August 30, during which Corse was wounded. Corse would lead his regiment through the Battle of South Mountain two weeks later, again receiving a wound. The Battle of Antietam on September 17 would be a test of courage for Corse and the 17th Regiment, which was attached to Kemper’s brigade and stationed near the stone bridge later known as “Burnside’s Bridge” after Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside subjected his men to intense fire while pushing across the Antietam Creek. Wounded as his position overrun, Corse lay within the enemy’s line for awhile, until Gen. A.P. Hill’s division arrived and smashed into Burnside’s flank, forcing the Union back. Hill’s advance had rescued Corse and revealed the fight’s results: of the 56 (THIS NUMBER CAN’T BE RIGHT) men of the 17th Virginia only seven remained, along with two captured Union battle flags. Corse was promoted to brigadier general on November 1 and given a brigade in Pickett’s division in time for the Fredericksburg Campaign, though the brigade was held in reserve during the battle. In the spring of 1863, Corse was with Longstreet’s Corps in southeast Virginia and missed the Battle of Chancellorsville; during the Battle of Gettysburg, Corse’s brigade was guarding a railroad junction missed this battle too, including the fate of participating in Pickett’s Charge; and, in late 1863 the division went west with Longstreet, but was detached from the corps and thus missed the Battle of Chickamauga. Instead, Corse took part in the siege of Knoxville and the Battle of Dandridge in January 1864. He was then sent to North Carolina to join in the battle for New Bern. That May he would help defeat the Union at Drewry’s Bluff, but was then among those besieged at Petersburg. In April 1865, just before the war’s end, Corse fought in the Battle of Five Forks and at Sayler’s Creek, where he was captured and sent to Fort Warren in Massachusetts. Upon his release in July, he returned to Alexandria and went into banking with his brothers. On February 11, 1895, Corse died in Alexandria and was buried in St. Paul Cemetery. (Bio by Andrew Thayer) Leadership: 4 Tactics: 4 Initiative: 4 Command: 4 Cavalry: Teaches: Resilient (23), Shooters (10) Start date: 44
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Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I torment eager potential customers by not sharing screenshots of "Brother Against Brother." Everyone has a talent.
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