The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 7/30/18
“Martyrs” to Their Cause: John Brown, Edmund Ruffin, and Harpers Ferry
John Grady The old court house at Charles Town, Jefferson County, Virginia, where John Brown was tried for treason. Long before the tumult and rage in Charlottesville last year over...
Published: 7/2/18
The Best Gettysburg Books
For our latest newsstand-only special issue, Gettysburg, we asked a number of Civil War historians for their opinions on a variety of topics, including the battle’s most overrated and underrated...
Published: 6/25/18
Whither Public History?
CLAUDIO VAZQUEZ Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park pause during a tour of the battlefield. Every one of you reading this magazine is a member of the public history world:...
Published: 5/2/18
Battlefield Echoes: MOPs, MOEs, and Chancellorsville
Library of Congress Kurz & Allison’s depiction of the Battle of Chancellorsville In the aftermath of his army’s defeat at Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee welcomed a brother of Secretary...
Published: 4/20/18
The Best Civil War Books of 2017
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2017 issue contained our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we enlisted the help of a handful...
Published: 4/6/18
Beyond the White Man’s Iliad
CATNAP72 / ISTOCK A statue of Robert E. Lee sits atop the Virginia Monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield. The Confederate monument controversy that has exploded in recent months raises fundamental...
Published: 3/17/18
St. Patrick’s Day in the Army
On March 17, 1863, Josiah Marshall Favill, a young lieutenant in the 57th New York Infantry, was one of many soldiers in the Army of the Potomac to observe the...
Published: 3/16/18
Extra Voices: Tobacco
Library of Congress In the Voices section of the Spring 2018 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes from Union and Confederate troops about the use of...
Published: 3/9/18
The Eisenhower Farm during the Battle of Gettysburg
Wikipedia February 1959 White House portrait of President Dwight D. Eisenhower In the fall of 1950, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, signed a contract to purchase a...
Published: 2/23/18
The West’s Missing War
URSULA COYOTE/NETFLIX Jack O’Connell and Michelle Dockery in a scene from the Netflix miniseries Godless. As in previous depictions of the postwar West, the Civil War factors little into the...
Published: 2/2/18
A Story from the Trenches
Letters from a Surgeon of the Civil War John Gardner Perry During the early days of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s attempt to capture Petersburg, Virginia, in the summer of...
Published: 1/19/18
Close Calls at Beaver Dam Creek
Army Letters, 1861–1865 Oliver Willcox Norton as he appeared in 1863 Little over a week after he participated in the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek—the first of the Seven Days...
Published: 1/12/18
Extra Voices: Dog Days of Summer
Library of Congress Union soldiers bask in the sweltering summer sun in camp In the Voices section of the Summer 2015 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person...
Published: 12/15/17
Civil War Cabbage Stew
Library of Congress Cooking in the Union camp at City Point, Virginia Looking for a hearty meal to help fend off winter’s cold? Try this Civil War-era recipe for cabbage...
Published: 12/1/17
The History Seeker
Jennifer Gleason Library of Virginia archivist Renee Savits In 2010, Renee Savits faced a dilemma. A career archivist, Savits had been with the Library of Virginia for 11 years, rising...
Published: 11/17/17
Extra Voices: Hunger Pangs
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War In the Voices section of the Winter 2017 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers...
Published: 11/10/17
The Best Civil War Books of All Time
For our latest newsstand-only special issue, The Civil War Almanac, we asked a panel of Civil War historians—J. Matthew Gallman, Matthew C. Hulbert, James Marten, and Amy Murrell Taylor—for their...
Published: 11/3/17
Then and Now: How Civil War-Era Doctors Responded to Their Own Opiate Epidemic
USAHEC Nurse Annie Bell tends to wounded soldiers after the Battle of Nashville. Many injured troops, North and South, would become addicted to opiates. Hidden among the many headlines about...