Blogs

In 2014, we asked a panel of leading Civil War historians a series of questions about General Ulysses S. Grant--a way of assessing his record and legacy during the 150th anniversary of the Overland Campaign.

...a sympathetic portrait of one soldier's Civil War experience that is readable and educational...worth reading by experts and beginnings alike.

A week after the Battle of Bull Run--a humiliating defeat for Union forces--23-year-old officer William Thompson Lusk of the 79th New York Infantry wrote a letter ...

In the weeks following the chaos of two major Confederate surrenders...military authorities arrested Benjamin Gwinn Harris, a Democrat congressman from Maryland, for committing treason.

Last year, historical artist Don Troiani put the final brushstrokes on a painting called Valverde. The work captures the February 1862 lancer charge by Company B of the 5th Texas Mounted Rifles against a superior force of Union infantry in what is now New Mexico. As with all Troiani’s wartime depictions, the painting is so vivid it feels almost three-dimensional: The Confederate soldier at...

...the volume engages new perspectives suggestive of important critiques to well-established conventions.

Johansson's fine book is an excellent source for scholars interested in guerrilla warfare, mixed-race units, federal military policy toward southern civilians, and the Trans-Mississippi Theater in general.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, First Lieutenant Waters Whipple Braman, 23, and his regiment, the 93rd New York Infantry, served as Army of the Potomac commander George G. Meade's headquarters guard. Two days after battle's end, Braman, who had sold his lumber business in 1861 to join the army, wrote a letter (copied below) to his uncle in which he provided his intital thoughts about the epic...

Americans have long been fascinated by the Battle of Gettysburg, the epic struggle fought between the forces of generals Robert E. Lee and George G. Meade over three days in July 1863. Hardly had the fighting—in which the opposing sides suffered a total of between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties—ended before many of the country's prominent artists began producing renditions of the battle. Some...

...the reader truly gets a sense of the horror that resulted from fighting in such close confines.

Mackowski...has crafted a crisp narrative that captures the urgency of Grant's struggle to complete his work, and the public spectacle surrounding that struggle.

In the Voices section of the Spring 2017 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes about some Union and Confederate officers who weren't much admired by their contemporaries. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to include all that we found. Below are those that didn't make the cut. 

...a skillfully argued, thoroughly researched examination of a critical episode in a Civil War hero's military career.

In May, Simon & Schuster released Wrestling With His Angel, the second book in veteran journalist and presidential advisor Sidney Blumenthal’s multivolume political biography of President Abraham Lincoln. (A Self-Made Man, the series’ critically acclaimed first volume, was released in 2016.) We recently sat down with Blumenthal to learn more about his work, including how he came to study ...

Historians still need to grapple with the intellectual, political, and religious disruptions that took place in the Civil War era....

Clemens' thoughtfully edited volume, enhanced by excellent maps, is an essential published primary source for anyone interested in the 1862 Maryland Campaign....

...this commendable contribution to understandings of the transnational and global contexts of the U.S. Civil War encourages scholars, students, and general readers to research, inquire, and collaborate too.

Lande delivers a succinct, introductory volume on the emotional toll wrought by the Civil War on civilians and soldiers alike.

...readers seeking a concise history of the final Civil War veterans will enjoy this book.

Stanley's book is a perceptive study...provides an admirable model for future studies of regional identity in the Civil War era...