The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 12/1/16
Extra Voices: Curses
In the Voices section of the Winter 2016 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes about some of the colorful oaths uttered by soldiers and civilians...
Published: 9/15/16
Extra Dossier: Stonewall Jackson
For the Dossier section of the fall 2016 issue of The Civil War Monitor, we asked a panel of 20 Civil War historians a series of questions about Confederate general...
Published: 9/15/16
How ’bout them apples
Autumn is almost here and so are apples. Below is an apple pie recipe from the Civil War era to help you enjoy the season. Apple Pie Ingredients: Filling 8...
Published: 6/9/16
Extra Voices: Souvenirs
In the Voices section of the spring 2016 issue of The Civil War Monitor, we highlighted first-person quotes about the quest—by soldiers and civilians—for battlefield souvenirs. Unfortunately, we didn’t have...
Published: 3/8/16
The Unintended Expert
Lisa Shafer Garry Adelman holds the first Civil War image he ever owned, an ambrotype of an unidentified Union soldier given to him by his grandmother at age 16. It...
Published: 10/8/15
Embattled Banner: A Conversation with Tony Horwitz
tonyhorwitz.com Author Tony Horwitz To help make sense of the recent developments regarding the Confederate battle flag, we sat down with Tony Horwitz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Confederates in the...
Published: 6/1/15
Trial of a Confederate Terrorist
John Yates Beall’s friends stirred up a hornet’s nest of protest over the death sentence he had been given by a military commission sitting on Governor’s Island in New York...
Published: 11/3/14
Yankee Runaways
Major Charles P. Mattocks and his two comrades, Captain Julius P. Litchfield and Lieutenant Charles O. Hunt, were on the run. The three Maine Yankees, each the member of a...
Published: 10/13/14
The Death of Roger B. Taney
Throughout the Civil War, the highest judicial officer in the United States, Roger Brooke Taney, held sympathies for the Confederacy. In June 1861—before the first major battle of the war—Taney...
Published: 7/21/14
Terry’s Texas Rangers
It had been just one month since the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861, launching the Civil War. Texas and ten other states seceded from the Union and then...
Published: 6/30/14
Inside the Photographer’s Studio
Between 1861 and 1865, roughly one thousand photographers captured the people and places of the Civil War; dozens followed the armies, shooting pictures of the men who were firing the...
Published: 6/30/14
Sneak Peek | Lincoln Considered
As a special “thank you” for being an eNews subscriber, we wanted to give you an exclusive sneak peek into the Spring 2013 issue. This issue’s feature article is entitled,...
Published: 6/26/14
Sneak Peak | Ron Maxwell QA
As a special “thank you” to our eNews subscribers, we offer you this first look at our Q&A with Ron Maxwell, director of Gettysburg. Here, Maxwell tells how Gettysburg almost...
Published: 6/26/14
Summer Dessert Recipes
From the pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book to your table… Rhubarb Fool Ingredients: Quart of peeled, cut, and inch-long pieces Pint of cream Stick of cinnamon Small piece of lemon-peel...
Published: 6/9/14
Hunter Davidson and the “Squib”
Hunter Davidson understood the Union Navy, having been in Federal service since 1841 as a teen-aged midshipman, a graduate of its Naval Academy and an instructor there, an officer who...
Published: 5/26/14
The First Civil War Monument
On December 5, 1861, the residents of several Philadelphia suburbs gathered at Hatboro, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a monument to the men of their community who had died during the Battle...
Published: 5/5/14
What Should Historians Make of “Black Confederates?”
Library of Congress The topic of so-called “Black Confederates” is controversial. Some insist that Confederate nationalism motivated thousands of African Americans to fight alongside their masters, proving that slavery did...
Published: 3/24/14
The Death of Jim Jackson and the Oxymoron of “Postbellum” Missouri, 1865-1866
In June 1865, Jim Jackson—one of Missouri’s more notorious Confederate guerrilla commanders—made haste for the Illinois line. The Confederate experiment to which Jackson belonged had recently ended in disaster. On...