Blog
Published: 2/1/12
Honoring African American Veterans for Black History Month
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: 1/30/12
The Launching of a Legend…the USS Monitor
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: 1/30/12
Inboard the USS Monitor
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: 1/26/12
The Mighty Mississippi
General View of the Mississipii River from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the river. Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, January 11, 1862.
Published: 1/25/12
The Battle of the Crater: A Novel (2011)
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: 1/24/12
What Robert E. Lee Didn’t Do After Appomattox
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: 1/23/12
Prisoners from the Front
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: 1/19/12
Voice from the Past: “A Terrible Struggle if it Comes to War.”
“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: 1/18/12
Remixing the Civil War (2011)
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: 1/17/12
The Feminine Art of Inspiring Male Courage
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...
Published: 1/16/12
Remembering Race and Reunion: Ten Years Later
There are four copies of David W. Blight’s magisterial Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory on the bookshelves lining my study, each replete with eager (and sometimes skeptical)...
Published: 1/12/12
Looking Back…Just Fifty Years
As we enter the second year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, there is some comparison back fifty years to the centennial—be that just for nostalgia or for analysis. Allow me...
Published: 1/11/12
The Enemy Within (2011)
Corruption in government and business remains a remarkably neglected aspect of the study of war. The unstated assumption behind this relative unconcern regards these impacts as collateral damage unworthy of...
Published: 1/11/12
Confederate Invention (2011)
Students of the American Civil War continue to make something out of very little. Almost all of the records of the Confederate States Patent Office burned with the evacuation of...
Published: 1/11/12
God’s Almost Chosen Peoples (2010)
“I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people,” Lincoln told an audience...
Published: 1/11/12
Michigan and the Civil War (2011)
The North may have won the Civil War, but the South has captured most of its historiography. Since the vast bulk of the fighting took place there, and since slavery—the...
Published: 1/10/12
2011: A Year in Review
Much to the delight of The Civil War Monitor editorial staff, another year and another sesquicentennial celebration have begun. As we look forward to all that 2012 has in store...
Published: 1/6/12
The Skating Season
Good Morning! Our celebration of New Year’s Day 1862 comes to a close with the following image “The Skating Season – 1862.” Source: Harper’s Weekly, January 18, 1862.