
50FISH Dev Team


Published: 4/19/21
Kissing and Kicking Ass
Private Amos Breneman of the 203rd Pennsylvania Infantry was, by his own estimation, an ass. Addressing a male friend back in Lancaster County, he wrote in April 1865, “I am...
Published: 4/16/21
War’s Early Days
A Diary From Dixie (1906) Mary Boykin Chesnut Two days after the fall of Fort Sumter, 38-year-old South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chesnut sat down with her journal—something she’d done faithfully...
Published: 4/15/21
“The First Gun is Fired”
Library of Congress George F. Root Published three days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, “The First Gun is Fired: May God Protect the Right” is known...
Published: 4/9/21
Word-Clouding Lee’s and Grant’s Farewell Addresses
On the night of April 9, 1865, only hours after surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Robert E. Lee sat around a fire with a group of...
Published: 4/5/21
Extra Voices: Shirkers
Hard Tack and Coffee In the Voices section of the Spring 2021 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about shirking. Unfortunately, we...
Published: 3/29/21
A Reconstruction Bookshelf
Library of Congress In this sketch by Alfred Waud, a federal official stands between armed groups of southern whites and African Americans during Reconstruction. It’s safe to say that while...
Published: 3/22/21
The Hands-On Historian
Jimell Greene Photography Bryan Cheeseboro at Fort Stevens, where his interest in the Civil War was born. It was February 2004, and Bryan Cheeseboro was hurtling toward Olustee, Florida, in...
Published: 2/26/21
Letters Home: Correspondence from Men at War
Frank Leslie’s illustrated Newspaper Union soldiers take a moment to write home on the hurricane deck of the U.S. transport North Star while on campaign in the Gulf of Mexico...
Published: 12/28/20
Goodbye to All That
Library of Congress Lieutenant Robert Pryor James, Co. E, 20th North Carolina Infantry This will be my final column for the “American Iliad” series, a project I undertook five years...
Published: 12/21/20
Extra Voices: Coffee
USAHEC A coffee cup used during the Civil War In the Voices section of the Winter 2020 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate...
Published: 12/7/20
The Best Civil War Books of 2020
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2020 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we enlisted the help of a handful...
Published: 11/17/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 7
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...
Published: 11/11/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 6
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...
Published: 11/3/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 5
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...
Published: 10/27/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 4
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...
Published: 10/23/20
The Five Best Books on the Confederate Homefront
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper In a New Orleans cemetery in 1863, a woman and her daughters adorn the graves of loved ones killed during the war. For decades, books about...
Published: 10/20/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 3
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...
Published: 10/13/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 2
On October 4, 2020, The Good Lord Bird, a 7-part miniseries about the life of abolitionist John Brown—based on the award-winning novel of the same name by James McBride—premiered on...