
50FISH Dev Team


Published: 7/25/23
The Five Best Books on the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley
Library of Congress “Sheridan’s Final Charge at Winchester” by Thure de Thulstrup For the past two decades I have been fortunate to live in the place I research and write...
Published: 6/30/23
Extra Voices: Trench Life
Library of Congress In the Voices section of our Summer 2023 issue we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about life in the trenches. Unfortunately, we didn’t have room...
Published: 6/23/23
The Top Five Civil War Biographies
Library of Congress It may seem a cliche to preface my Top Five articles with the disclaimer that the subject cannot possibly be done justice by so few recommendations. Then...
Published: 4/1/23
April-Fool’s Day
On March 30, 1861, Harper’s Weekly published the following image to mark April Fool’s Day. An accompanying article reads in part: We publish on the preceding page a picture of...
Published: 3/31/23
Voices From the Army of Northern Virginia, Part 6
This installment in the series focuses on the top leadership of the cavalry. The three titles include the correspondence of James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, by far the most important...
Published: 3/24/23
Extra Voices: Battle Fatigue
National Archives In the Voices section of our Spring 2023 issue we highlighted quotes about the onset of battle fatigue among soldiers in the Union and Confederate armies. Unfortunately, we...
Published: 3/9/23
Eyewitness to the Battle of Hampton Roads
Naval History and Heritage Command Lieutenant Samuel Dana Green During the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862—where the ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (Merrimac) fought to...
Published: 3/6/23
“When the Boys Come Home”
Harper’s Weekly Lincoln’s secretary John Hay In June 1864, Harper’s Weekly published the following poem by John Hay, one of two personal secretaries to President Abraham Lincoln. Hay, 25 at...
Published: 2/24/23
The Books That Built Me: Joan Waugh
DIANA LUNDIN Joan Waugh “There is properly no history; only biography.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson Narrowing down a list of “books that built me” was surprisingly difficult. The books finally selected,...
Published: 2/10/23
Civil War Emojis
The May 23, 1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly ran the following ad by E.P. Gleason, a New York-based manufacturer. The ad, which promoted Gleason’s “Kerosine Crater,” an attachment to be...
Published: 1/28/23
The Books That Built Me: George Rable
BRYAN HESTER Historian George C. Rable I was not one of those precocious Civil War enthusiasts who started reading Bruce Catton at the age of 10. Even when I was...
Published: 1/9/23
Josephine Miller and Her Stove
Marching To Victory (1888) Josephine Miller Slyder New Hampshire-born journalist Charles Carleton Coffin accompanied Winfield Scott Hancock and his II Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg...
Published: 12/12/22
Emancipation’s Truth
Apple TV+ Emancipation directed by Antoine Fuqua. Length: 2 hours, 12 minutes. Premiere: December 9, 2022. Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation could be one of this century’s great movies about self-emancipation. Not...
Published: 12/5/22
Extra Voices: Army Stragglers
Hard Tack and Coffee (1887) A straggler on the move In the Voices section of our Winter 2022 issue we highlighted quotes about “straggling” soldiers in the Union and Confederate...
Published: 11/29/22
The Best Civil War Books of 2022
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2022 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we’ve enlisted a handful of Civil War...
Published: 11/21/22
Extra Dossier: George G. Meade
Library of Congress Major General George G. Meade For the Dossier section of our Fall 2022 issue, we asked a panel of Civil War historians a series of questions about...
Published: 11/18/22
Voices From the Army of Northern Virginia, Part 5
A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee (1876) Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg Four division commanders wrote letters that rival the best from anyone...
Published: 10/31/22
Voices From the Army of Northern Virginia, Part 4
USAHEC Confederate corps commander James Longstreet Literature on the Army of Northern Virginia contains book-length testimony from four of the seven officers who commanded its infantry corps. These titles include...