Published: 2/7/12Voice from the Past: “The Right to Citizenship”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in...
Published: 2/7/12The Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke IslandBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line February 7th and 8th mark the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke Island. A lesser known battle, Roanoke Island was part of Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition...
Published: 2/6/12Honoring the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry BandBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month Celebration continues… 107th U.S. Colored Infantry Band at Fort Corcoran in Arlington, Virginia, November 1865. Freed blacks served in various capacities in the Union army, including...
Published: 2/6/12The Battle of Fort Henry SesquicentennialBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The Union Gun-Boats Advancing Up the Tennessee River to the Attack of Fort Henry Today marks the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort Henry—a Confederate earthern fort on the Tennessee...
Published: 2/6/12Voice from the Past: “The 6th Dawned Mild and Cheering”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The following is Rear Admiral Henry Walke’s recollection of the Battle of Fort Henry. …Heavy rains had been falling, and the river had risen rapidly to an unusual height; the...
Published: 2/6/12Aboard a Gun Deck During the Battle of Fort HenryBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Gun-Deck of one of the Mississippi Gun-Boats Engaged in the Attack on Fort Henry – sketched by Alexander Simplot – Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, February 22, 1862
Published: 2/6/12Voice from the Past: “We Had Held Out for Over Two”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The following is Captain Jesse Taylor’s recollection of the Confederate defense of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862. …Arriving at the fort, I was convinced by a glance at its...
Published: 2/2/12Voice from the Past: Rallying with the Hearts of LionsBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The following letter is from Samuel Cabble, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, to his wife. Cabble was a slave before he joined the army at twenty-one years of...
Published: 2/2/12Preparing to See the ElephantBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Preparing the Negro Soldiers to Use the Minie Rifle Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, March 14, 1863.
Published: 2/1/12The Business of Civil War (2010)By: Brooks D. SimpsonCategory: Book Reviews At its core, Mark R. Wilson’s volume on military mobilization during the Civil War is the story of Union procurement principles, policies, and practices. Few observers anticipated that the war...
Published: 2/1/12Honoring African American Veterans for Black History MonthBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Happy Black History Month! Today—and throughout the month of February, we honor those African Americans who fought in the Civil War. Image Credit: “A Negro Regiment in Action,” Harper’s Weekly,...
Published: 1/30/12The Launching of a Legend…the USS MonitorBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Naval Historical Center’s Online Library of Selected Images 150 years ago today, the Union Navy launched the USS Monitor—its first ironclad—from the Continental Iron Works, at Greenpoint in Long Island,...
Published: 1/30/12Inboard the USS MonitorBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Naval Historical Center’s Online Library of Selected Images The above image is the USS Monitor‘s general plan featuring an inboard profile of the ironclad. First published in in 1862, the...
Published: 1/26/12The Mighty MississippiBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line General View of the Mississipii River from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the river. Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, January 11, 1862.
Published: 1/25/12The Battle of the Crater: A Novel (2011)By: Craig A. WarrenCategory: Book Reviews In recent months, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has sprinkled the campaign trail with promotional events for the books he published last year, including the Civil War novel The Battle...
Published: 1/24/12What Robert E. Lee Didn’t Do After AppomattoxBy: M. Keith HarrisCategory: The Front Line Actually, he didn’t do a lot of things. For starters, he didn’t lead a guerilla army against Federal invaders/occupiers—even though more than a few people suggested that he take that...
Published: 1/23/12Prisoners from the FrontBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Before Winslow Homer became a famed sea-scape painter, he was a Civil War correspondent and illustrator for Harpers Weekly. The above paiting, entitled “Prisoners from the Front,” (1866) was featured...
Published: 1/19/12Voice from the Past: “A Terrible Struggle if it Comes to War.”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “They do not know what they say. If it comes to a conflict of arms, the war will last at least four years. Northern politicians will not appreciate the determination...
Published: 1/18/12Remixing the Civil War (2011)By: Nina SilberCategory: Book Reviews Who could have anticipated that, by the early years of the 21st century, America’s bloodiest military conflict might be re-imagined in the form of a photograph of nine smiling Lincoln...
Published: 1/17/12The Feminine Art of Inspiring Male CourageBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Civil War illustrator Frank Leslie often parodied the evasion of the Enrollment Act of 1863. The image above encouraged women to make men feel obligated to go and fight via...