Blog
Published: 4/16/21
War’s Early Days
Read South Carolina diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut's gripping account of the fall of Fort Sumter and its aftermath.
Published: 4/15/21
“The First Gun is Fired”
The story—and lyrics—of George Root's Apri 1861 song about Fort Sumter, "The First Gun is Fired: May God Protect the Right."
Published: 4/14/21
What Though the Field Be Lost (2021)
A collection of poems that are "cerebral" and "dense with literary and historical allusions."
Published: 4/9/21
Word-Clouding Lee’s and Grant’s Farewell Addresses
View the words Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee used in the farewell addresses they delivered to their men as represented in a word cloud.
Published: 4/7/21
Incidents in the Life of Cecilia Lawton (2021)
An insightful look at the mindset of white southerners in the wake of the Civil War.
Published: 4/5/21
Extra Voices: Shirkers
Read firsthand Civil War soldier quotes on shirking in the Union and Confederate armies.
Published: 3/31/21
First Chaplain of the Confederacy (2020)
A reminder of the nuanced role Catholics played in the Confederate and Reconstruction South.
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: 3/24/21
In the Shadow of Gold (2020)
Review of "a historical novel for our own challenging times."
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: 3/17/21
The Black Civil War Soldier (2021)
A visual history of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.
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Published: 3/17/21
St. Patrick’s Day, 1863
Experience the lively St. Patrick's Day celebrations held in the camp of the Irish Brigade in 1863 through Edwin Forbes' sketches of the event.
Published: 3/10/21
Thaddeus Stevens (2021)
An "accessible biography" of "a soldier of the Second American Revolution"
Published: 3/3/21
On Rising Ground (2021)
A well-researched, well-written, and empathetic account of an ordinary soldier and his family.
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: 2/24/21
Robert E. Lee and Me (2021)
Review of a book that deserves a wide readership.
Published: 2/17/21
Ambitious Honor (2020)
A book that's managed to find something new to say about George Armstrong Custer.
Published: 2/10/21
Bonds of Salvation (2020)
Review of a "strong and engaging history."