50FISH Dev Team
Published: 3/16/20
History in the Digital Age
Michaela Levin Historian Kevin M. Levin In November 2005 I created the website Civil War Memory, which included a blog. I had recently completed a master’s degree in history and...
Published: 3/13/20
Extra Voices: Payday
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History A Civil War greenback In the Voices section of the Spring 2020 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by...
Published: 3/6/20
The Fashion Trends of 1864
On February 27, 1864, Harper’s Weekly published the following illustration—”a few of the various styles of garments manufactured by” New York City–based clothing wholesalers Kirkland, Bronson, & Co. “New York...
Published: 2/20/20
A Goodbye Gift
While attending services at St. Paul’s Church in Richmond on Sunday, April 2, 1865, Confederate president Jefferson Davis received word that Confederate forces had begun evacuating Petersburg in the wake...
Published: 1/26/20
“What will not the human body endure?”
Harper’s Weekly Union soldiers march through Baton Rouge in May 1863. While on furlough in Baton Rouge in May 1863, Corporal James K. Hosmer of the 52nd Massachusetts Infantry volunteered...
Published: 1/21/20
Grant and Lee at Appomattox
Library of Congress The McLean House in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, where Robert E. Lee met with Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, to discuss terms of surrender. In...
Published: 1/11/20
Badge Quest
On a Saturday morning this past April, a tiny compact car pulled into the parking lot at the Gettysburg National Military Park’s visitors center. Out of the car popped four...
Published: 12/30/19
The Best Civil War Books of 2019
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2019 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we enlisted the help of a handful...
Published: 12/20/19
Extra Dossier: William T. Sherman
Library of Congress William T. Sherman For the Dossier section of the Fall 2017 issue of The Civil War Monitor, we asked a panel of Civil War historians a series...
Published: 12/19/19
The Drummer Boy of Our Regiment
The December 19, 1863, edition of Harper’s Weekly contained the following full-page illustration that highlighted a variety of scenes associated with the service of a Union drummer boy, some of...
Published: 12/14/19
Eyewitness to the Battle of Fredericksburg
War Letters of William Thompson Lusk Union officer William Thompson Lusk The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought on December 13, 1862, resulted in a disastrous Union defeat that saw over 12,000...
Published: 12/3/19
Extra Voices: Gambling
Library of Congress In the Voices section of the Winter 2019 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes by Union and Confederate troops about the pervasiveness of...
Published: 11/22/19
The Dogs of Andersonville
Between April 15, 1864, and April 6, 1865, 351 Union prisoners escaped from the prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Of these, 163 were able to reach safety. The other 188...
Published: 11/16/19
Word-clouding the Gettysburg Address
At the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered a “few appropriate remarks” to the assembled crowd. Though it lasted only a few minutes,...
Published: 11/15/19
The March to the Sea Begins
Library of Congress William T. Sherman On Nobember 15, 1864, Major General William T. Sherman and his army of some 60,000 men departed the city of Atlanta, which they had...
Published: 10/21/19
Grant’s War Horse: Cincinnati
While Ulysses S. Grant rode a number of horses during the Civil War, he was particularly attached to one of them: Cincinnati. According to Grant’s son Frederick, Cincinnati, who came...
Published: 10/14/19
Lee’s War Horse: Traveller
Of the several horses Robert E. Lee rode during the Civil War, the one he named Traveller was the object of his greatest affection. Lee, who purchased the grey gelding...
Published: 10/4/19
Which Way Did They Go?
Library of Congress Union soldiers find dummy defenders and wooden cannon after storming a Confederate trench in Julian Scott’s 1872 painting “Sold.” Both sides used such phony weapons—known as Quaker...