Blog
Published: 9/27/21
The Five Best Books on Civil War Guerrillas
Library of Congress Two guerrillas stop a civilian rider to rob him in this sketch from a December 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly. “This Mr. Wales is a cold-blooded killer....
Published: 9/24/21
Mr. Gridley and His Sack of Flour
In the January 21, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly, the editors published a small story about a man from Nevada who had lost an election for city office—but gained national...
Published: 9/22/21
Surviving Southampton (2021)
The name that is associated with any given event usually reveals how we remember it. In the case of “Nat Turner’s Rebellion,” the focus on the revolt’s “leader” is clear....
Published: 9/20/21
Unceasing Fury at Chickamauga
Fourteen hundred and 91 days in the Confederate Army (1953) W.W. Heartsill as he appeared after the Civil War The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 18–20, 1863, pitted William...
Published: 9/15/21
Lincoln and Citizenship (2021)
Two days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Abraham Lincoln delivered the last speech of his life. Responding to Louisiana’s plans for a new state constitution, Lincoln expressed his support for...
Published: 9/13/21
Extra Voices: Nicknames
Library of Congress Roosters prepare for battle in a Union army camp. In the Voices section of the Fall 2021 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by...
Published: 9/8/21
A Fire in the Wilderness (2021)
The two-day battle fought in the Wilderness of Spotsylvania on May 5 and 6, 1864, opened the Overland Campaign and the famous confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E....
Published: 9/1/21
A Holy Baptism of Fire & Blood (2021)
Historians of the U.S. Civil War have long recognized the power and centrality of religion during the nation’s defining struggle. James P. Byrd has entered the conversation with the goal...
Published: 8/27/21
Voices From the Army of Northern Virginia, Part 2
IN CAMP AND BATTLE WITH THE WASHINGTON ARTILLERY OF NEW ORLEANS (1885) Confederate gunners fire at the enemy in a postwar illustration titled “The Artillery Duel.” Artillerists created an invaluable...
Published: 8/25/21
Unlike Anything That Ever Floated (2021)
From the very first shots of the Civil War, it was apparent that control of maritime access to the self-proclaimed Confederate States would play a crucial role in the conflict’s...
Published: 8/18/21
The First Reconstruction (2021)
The First Reconstruction provides a new account of northern party politics during the early republic that places Black men’s participation in electoral politics at the center of the narrative. For...
Published: 8/11/21
Grand Army of Labor (2021)
The memory and meaning of the Civil War exerted a profound and expansive influence on American workers for decades after the conflict concluded. Matthew Stanley’s Grand Army of Labor is a...
Published: 8/4/21
The Bonds of War (2021)
Recent years have witnessed a growth in the use of the unit history as a vehicle for exploring the Civil War soldier. Scholars such as Lesley J. Gordon, Susannah Ural,...
Published: 7/28/21
No Place for Glory (2021)
Robert J. Wynstra has established himself as one of the Gettysburg Campaign’s most capable modern scholars. His prize-winning At the Forefront of Lee’s Invasion: Retribution, Plunder, and Clashing Cultures on...
Published: 7/21/21
West of Slavery (2021)
As an historian of the Civil War’s westernmost reaches, I have been eagerly anticipating the publication of Kevin Waite’s West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire. Waite’s...
Published: 7/20/21
After Fort Wagner
National Park Service Lewis Douglass, 54th Massachusetts Infantry On July 20, 1863, 22-year-old Lewis Douglass, a member of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry—and son of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass—wrote the following...
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Published: 7/18/21
The 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner
On July 18, 1863, Union troops commanded by Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore launched an attack on Fort Wagner, the Confederate bastion that protected Morris Island, located south of Charleston Harbor—part...
Published: 7/16/21
Bully Boys
“If you want to have a good time, join the cavalry!” Detailing the early war exploits of J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederate troops, this song immortalized the daring ride around George B....