Blog
Published: 12/20/11
Voices from the Past: The Battle of Dranesville
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Dranesville, Virginia. While a small encounter by modern standards, at the time—December 1861—the battle made headlines and captured civilian attention. The...
Published: 12/19/11
Voice from the Past: A Pleasant Christmas
Happy Holidays! Today’s Voice from the Past is David Day who wrote the following on December 26, 1861: Christmas went off very pleasantly and apparently to the satisfaction of all....
Published: 12/15/11
Voice from the Past: A Loud Rap on the Door
Good morning! Today’s Voice from the Past comes from a December 22, 1861 letter from Elisha Franklin Paxton to his wife. And if you hear a loud rap at the...
Published: 12/14/11
War No More (2010)
Even the most casual student of the Civil War frequently encounters Walt Whitman’s canonical statement from Specimen Days that “the real war will never get in the books.” While historians of the...
Published: 12/12/11
Voice from the Past: A Christmas Bundle
Good Morning! Today’s Voice from the Past is Julia Ellen LeGrand Waitz of New Orleans, Louisiana. The following excerpt is from a December 1861 diary entry. Just completed another bundle...
Published: 12/8/11
Voice from the Past: The Hardest Calamities to Bear
Among the calamities of war, the hardest to bear, perhaps, is the separation of families and friends. Yet all must be endured to accomplish our independence and maintain our self-government....
Published: 12/7/11
Tejanos in Gray (2011)
Historians consistently underestimate the ethnic diversity of the Confederacy. Regimental muster rolls from Texas, Louisiana, and other western states abound in German, Irish, French, and Spanish surnames. Until recently, these...
Published: 12/6/11
Image of the Day: Hope That Thing Isn’t Loaded!
A Union volunteer strikes a (potentially tragic?) pose with a group of comrades. We hope those guys were friends! Image Credit: Library of Congress
Published: 12/5/11
Voice from the Past – Christmasday!
Good morning! To celebrate the holidays, all of the quotables this month will reference Christmas 1861. Our first voice from the past is Raphael Semmes, who wrote the following statement...
Published: 12/1/11
Voice from the Past: 1861
ARM’D year! year of the struggle! No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you, terrible year! Not you as some pale poetling, seated at a desk, lisp- ing cadenzas...
Published: 11/30/11
Civil War Citizens (2010)
Civil War Citizens: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in America’s Bloodiest Conflict is the first effort to examine in one book the wartime experiences of Jewish, Irish, African, Native, and German Americans....
Published: 11/30/11
The Body of John Merryman (2011)
Among the battles that Abraham Lincoln fought to restore the Union—against the Confederacy, against the opposition party, against members of his own party—his dealings with the Supreme Court and Chief...
Published: 11/29/11
A Second Helping of Civil War Thanksgiving
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ate lots of turkey/tofurkey, and survived the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. Since, we did not post our regular...
Published: 11/29/11
Celebration or Riot?
Upon hearing the news of General George McClellan’s appointment to chief commander of the Union Army, Washingtonians embarked upon a grand torch-light procession down Seventh Street. The “compliment” proceeded from...
Published: 11/28/11
Voice from the Past: “The Best Man and the Best General”
“I am very glad to learn that my order changed Gen. Scott’s feelings entirely, and that he now says I am the best man and the best general that ever...
Published: 11/25/11
Voice from the Past – Thanksgiving is Over
Happy Black Friday! We hope you all had a wonderful (and delectable) Thanksgiving. Our final “Voice from the Past” comes from the November 1861 diary of Lucy Larcom of Nordom,...Published: 11/24/11
Voice from the Past – Thankfully Keeping Thanksgiving Day
Our Thanksgiving tribute continues. Today’s “Voice from the Past” is Wilder Dwight of the Second Massachusettes Infantry Volunteers. “Camp near Seneca, November 16, 1861. …The virtue of this military life...
Published: 11/23/11
Border War (2010)
In this well-researched and convincing work, distinguished historian Stanley Harrold departs from a traditional North-versus-South tale of sectional breakdown in the decades leading to the Civil War. Instead, he presents...