CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

Silent Cavalry: 

How Union Soldiers from Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta - And Then Got Written Out of History

 

presentation by

HOWELL RAINES

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

6:00 pm ET

About the Topic:

This was our last meeting before the summer break, and we heard from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist!

Howell Raines, past New York Times executive editor and a Pulitzer Prize Winner for Feature Writing, expanded our knowledge about the little-known Union’s First Alabama Cavalry Regiment.

This unit was formed from staunch Union Loyalists from the hills of Northern Alabama and Middle Tennessee. Often dispatched as recon scouts and in raiding detachments, these troopers were familiar with the regions so bitterly contested in 1863 to 1865. They became Sherman’s eyes and ears during the Siege of Atlanta, subsequent March to the Sea and on to Bentonville.

The fact that we have heard little about these Southern Unionists speaks to the post-war suppression of history by Lost Cause historians.

Who were these men? Some were kin to Raines. How much did their families suffer during and after the War for their Loyalty to the Union?

Howell Raines has published a 2023 book on this regiment – “The Silent Cavalry’’ Crown Publishing, NY. ISBN 978-0-5931-3775-8. It is also available in Kindle form.

Raines has done well-regarded written and oral histories of the Civil Rights Movement and a book of how fly fishing helped him through a mid-life crisis.

There was no need to travel to see and hear this famous journalist. Attendees linked via our Zoom Invite, grabbed their favorite drink, and enjoyed. 

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