The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
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
What are the best Civil War history books ever published? We asked five top historians to give us their picks.
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...
Published: 10/20/17
A Ball’s Bluff Letter
Massachusetts Historical Society Captain Caspar Crowinshield, 20th Massachusetts Infantry On October 21, 1861, Union forces crossed the Potomac River to attack what they thought was a Confederate camp near Leesburg,...
Published: 9/23/17
Extra Voices: Sounds of War
Library of Congress Alfred R. Waud’s depiction of the Battle of Fredericksburg In the Voices department of our summer 2014 issue (Vol. 4, No. 2) we featured soldiers’ quotes that...
Published: 9/15/17
The Search for Orville Wheelock
The Boys in White Julia Wheelock One hundred fifty-five years ago this month, 28-year-old Michigan resident Julia Wheelock learned that her brother, Orville, a soldier in the 8th Michigan Infantry,...
Published: 9/8/17
Robert E. Lee, Confederate Memorials, and the Burden of the Past
By Cville dog – Own work, Wikimedia Commons The Robert E. Lee monument in Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park On August 13, a statue of Robert E. Lee took center stage in...
Published: 8/25/17
The Civil War as a Home Invasion
Spoiler Alert: This article, which appears in the Fall 2017 issue of The Civil War Monitor, will discuss major plot points in the 2017 film The Beguiled. The Beguiled may...
Published: 8/11/17
A Bad Day on the March
Wisconsin Historical Society Surgeon Alfred Lewis Castleman, 5th Wisconsin Infantry After it was thwarted in its attempt to capture Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign in the summer of 1862, the...
Published: 8/4/17
Gettysburg: The Army’s Living Classroom
Brigadier General (Ret.) John W. Mountcastle Cadets from West Point take in the view of the battlefield from Little Round Top during a Gettysburg staff ride. During any visit to...
Published: 7/28/17
Extra Dossier: Grant
Library of Congress General Ulysses S. Grant In 2014, we asked a panel of leading Civil War historians a series of questions about General Ulysses S. Grant—a way of assessing...
Published: 7/21/17
Eyewitness to Bull Run
War Letters of William Thompson Lusk (1911) William Thompson Lusk, 79th New York Infantry A week after the Battle of Bull Run—a humiliating defeat for Union forces—23-year-old officer William Thompson...
Published: 7/14/17
Living History: Bringing Battles to Life
Republican American Don Troiani in his Connecticut studio Last year, historical artist Don Troiani put the final brushstrokes on a painting called Valverde. The work captures the February 1862 lancer...
Published: 7/3/17
News from Gettysburg
Library of Congress Lieutenant Waters Whipple Braman, Co. C, 93rd New York Infantry During the Battle of Gettysburg, First Lieutenant Waters Whipple Braman, 23, and his regiment, the 93rd New...