Blogs

On October 21, 1861, Union forces crossed the Potomac River to attack what they thought was a Confederate camp near Leesburg, Virginia. Even after they discovered there was no camp—Union scouts had mistaken a line of trees for an enemy camp in the darkness of the previous night—Colonel Edward Baker decided to reinforce the raiding party. A lack of boats delayed the movement; by the time the...

...this book is a strong choice for those wishing to learn more about the Atlanta campaign.

Green...examines the development and creation of the Union high command.

Hettle's book is a wonderful resource for those who wish to deepen their understanding of the Civil War era and those who lived it.

Kentucky is the sphinx on the landscape of the American Civil War...

In the Voices department of our summer 2014 issue (Vol. 4, No. 2) we featured soldiers' quotes that highlight some of the many different sounds of war. Below are some additional examples that we could not run in the magazine, do to space limitations.

...essential reading for those seeking to better know Douglass.

One hundred fifty years ago this month, 28-year-old Michigan resident Julia Wheelcock learned that her brother, Orville, a soldier in the 8th Michigan Infantry, had been wounded at the September 1, 1862, Battle of Chantilly. She and Orville’s wife, Anna, along with Anna’s sister, Mrs. Peck, determined to travel to Virginia to look for him in the hospitals of Alexandria. The following is an...

...this collection of primary sources provides important insight into John Quincy Adams's views on the most divisive issue of his generation.

On August 13, a statue of Robert E. Lee took center stage in the struggle over the meaning and legacy of the Civil War. That day a "Unite the Right" rally of self-proclaimed white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, anti-Semites, and neo-Confederates protested the city’s decision to remove an equestrian statue of Lee from a public park. The rally erupted in violence, killing one...

...illustrates irregular activity in a region that has long been understudied in the scholarly literature.

...a well-written, engaging treatment of the 27th USCT that does far more than most regimental histories.

....a valuable contribution to the study of black Civil War regiments.

The Beguiled may not seem, at first, to be a Civil War film. The movie, which is a remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood feature (which was itself based on the novel A Painted Devil by Thomas Cullinan, published in 1966), begins with a panning shot of treetops and the sound of birdsong and buzzing insects. As the camera comes to the ground, it follows a young girl named Amy (Oona Laurence), humming to...

Reconstruction was much, much more than the political restoration of the ex-Confederacy to the Union; rather, it involved fundamental issues of race, citizenship, colonialism, and American identity.

By placing the Vicksburg and Port Hudson campaigns into a broader context, Frazier offers something for both military and social historians.

A slender but useful study of a Shenandoah Valley family at war...

After it was thwarted in its attempt to capture Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign in the summer of 1862, the Army of the Potomac retreated southeast. Along the way, Alfred Lewis Castleman, a surgeon in the 5th Wisconsin Infantry, kept a detailed diary—a chronicle of happenings in a defeated and demoralized army. Below is but one such event, which occurred in August after the army reached ...

Slavery's roots in the Kansas-Missouri borderland ran deep.

During any visit to Gettysburg National Battlefield Park it is not uncommon to encounter a group of military officers, noncommissioned officers, soldiers, or cadets huddled together, staring intently at the ground. They pore over maps ...