Published: 2/15/12Voice from the Past: “Absolute Naval Supremacy”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line We continue our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial celebration with the following diary entry by William Howard Russell, December, 1861: On my return to New York, at the end of February, the...
Published: 2/14/12Voice from the Past: Sending ValentinesBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Another Valentine’s Day 1862 “Voice from the Past” to mark the holiday. Friday, 14th — This is Valentine’s Day and some of the boys are having a great time sending...
Published: 2/14/12Voice from the Past: “To Be Your Valentine”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Happy Valentine’s Day from The Civil War Monitor. We hope you enjoy this letter from Valentine’s Day, 1862. Good morrow, ‘t is St. Valentine’s day All in the morning betime....
Published: 2/14/12Voice from the Past: “A Desperate Fight at Fort Donelson”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Good morning! Today’s Fort Donelson sesquicentennial post comes from a letter William Penn Lyon wrote to Adelia Caroline Duncotabe Lyon on February 17, 1862: Mound City, Monday noon, Feb. 17,...
Published: 2/13/12Voice from the Past: “St. Valentine’s Day, I believe”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line An early Valentine’s greeting from all of us at The Civil War Monitor. To celebrate, all this week, “The Front Line” blog will be publishing a “Voices from the Past”...
Published: 2/13/12Voice from the Past: “The Startling Intelligence from Fort Donelson”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Good morning! We have another contribution to our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series. This excerpt is from Alfred Lewis Castleman’s diary: What a week of news, opening on us with intelligence...
Published: 2/13/12From The Struggle of Slavery to the Struggle for LibertyBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Uncut sheet of twelve illustrated cards presenting the journey of a slave from plantation life to the struggle for liberty, for which he gives his life, as a Union soldier...
Published: 2/12/12Happy 203rd Birthday Abraham LincolnBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln – Image Credit: “President elect, Abraham Lincoln Portrait...
Published: 2/12/12Voice from the Past: “Great Victories…At Such a Price of Blood”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Good morning! Our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series continues with this excerpt from Lucy Larcom’s February, 1862 diary: There is news to-day of great victories in progress for us. Fort Donelson...
Published: 2/11/12The Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort DonelsonBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Today marks the beginning of the Battle of Fort Donelson’s sesquicentennial—February 11-16, 1862. After capturing Fort Henry on February 6th, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant advanced towards Fort Donelson. Five...
Published: 2/11/12Voice from the Past: “Such Astounding Events”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series begins with the following entry from John Beauchamp Jones’ February, 1862 diary: Such astounding events have occurred since the 8th instant, such an excitement has...
Published: 2/9/12Black Soldiers and Lady LibertyBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month celebration continues with this 1865 drawing of a wounded Union soldier by Thomas Nast. “Franchise. And not this man?” despite his service and sacrifice. Image Credit:...
Published: 2/8/12Roanoke Island…150 Years AgoBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Roanoke Island showing the position of Confederate Batteries Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, March 1, 1862.
Published: 2/7/12Camp Life for African American RegimentsBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “Army of the Potomac—Scene in camp of Negro regiments—Method of punishment of Negro soldiers for various offences.” Image Credit: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, December 10, 1864.
Published: 2/7/12Voice from the Past: “The Right to Citizenship”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in...
Published: 2/7/12The Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke IslandBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line February 7th and 8th mark the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke Island. A lesser known battle, Roanoke Island was part of Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition...
Published: 2/6/12Honoring the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry BandBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month Celebration continues… 107th U.S. Colored Infantry Band at Fort Corcoran in Arlington, Virginia, November 1865. Freed blacks served in various capacities in the Union army, including...
Published: 2/6/12The Battle of Fort Henry SesquicentennialBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The Union Gun-Boats Advancing Up the Tennessee River to the Attack of Fort Henry Today marks the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort Henry—a Confederate earthern fort on the Tennessee...
Published: 2/6/12Voice from the Past: “The 6th Dawned Mild and Cheering”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line The following is Rear Admiral Henry Walke’s recollection of the Battle of Fort Henry. …Heavy rains had been falling, and the river had risen rapidly to an unusual height; the...
Published: 2/6/12Aboard a Gun Deck During the Battle of Fort HenryBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Gun-Deck of one of the Mississippi Gun-Boats Engaged in the Attack on Fort Henry – sketched by Alexander Simplot – Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, February 22, 1862