Category Archives: New York Cameron Highlanders

Firing the 1861 Springfield

This Hungarian fellow who styles himself capandball on the Internet has a really thick accent but if you listen closely you can get the gist of his description of the 1861 Springfield percussion rifle-musket he’s firing here. Most Confederates, if … Continue reading

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“Our own good Colonel Cameron”

Long before they defended Fort Sanders’s Northwest Bastion, the Seventy-Ninth New York Cameron Highlanders was decimated on the slope of Henry Hill at First Manassas, where their first regimental colonel, James Cameron, was killed by a bullet in his chest. Cameron’s … Continue reading

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Colors of the 79th New York

Battle banner of the 79th New York Cameron Highlanders, principal defenders of the Northwest Bastion of Fort Sanders.

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The New York Cameron Highlanders

Prisoners after Bull Run: Some of the Highlanders, along with the Eighth Michigan, guarded by the Charleston Zouave Cadets (top), at Castle Pinckney in Charleston Harbor, SC. The Highlanders lost heavily at First Manassas (Bull Run) but stood their ground … Continue reading

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Starving privates, gorging generals

Gen. Burnside’s Union troops were so hungry, according to some diaries and memoirs, they were stealing corn meal from the feed bags of the artillery and cavalry horses. So when Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s troops arrived on Dec. 6 to … Continue reading

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Lt. Col. David Morrison

The Seventy-Ninth New York Cameron Highlanders was commanded at Knoxville by Lt. Col. Morrison, a veteran of the Crimean War, a native Scot and a former British officer in the 42nd Highland Infantry, known as the Black Watch. Via Antietam … Continue reading

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“My Office Is A Battlefield”

Post-war reconciliation monument by the veterans of the principal defenders of the Northwest Bastion. From Knoxville law professor Glenn Reynolds whose office is in the Fort Sanders neighborhood—the development that’s all that’s left of the old fort and environs—which now … Continue reading

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Troiani’s Highlander

Civil War artist Don Troiani’s rendition of a Seventy-Ninth New York Cameron Highlander, who certainly never appeared this way on the battlefield. The plaid trousers, called trews, were, like the kilts they also sometimes wore, strictly for ceremonial occasions. They … Continue reading

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