The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians and authors
Published: 4/27/12
Bowling with Beauregard
Good afternoon! Here’s a little Friday Funny to celebrate the end of the work week. Published in the April 26, 1862 edition of Harper’s Weekly, this Justin Howard cartoon celebrates...
Published: 4/26/12
Was Confederate Conscription an Instrument of Social Justice?
Last week brought the sesquicentennial of the first Confederate Conscription Act. The draft would later become a particularly divisive element in the Confederacy (as it also became in the North),...
Published: 4/26/12
Introducing “Iron Men Afloat” – A New Series on the Civil War Navy
Good morning! I am sure many of you noticed that yesterday we posted a two-part series on the fall of New Orleans (April 25th, 1862). Part 1: “The Men and...
Published: 4/25/12
The Surrender of New Orleans Part 1: The Men and The Skirmish
Today marks the sesquicentennial of the fall of New Orleans (April 25, 1862). As such, The Civil War Monitor is commemorating this event with a two-part series on the surrender....
Published: 4/25/12
The Surrender of New Orleans Part 2: The Machines and Technology
As you know, today—April 25th—marks the 150th anniversary of the fall of New Orleans. Part 2 of our tribute to the surrender of the Crescent City is located on the...
Published: 4/15/12
Did a C.S.S. Alabama Veteran Die in the Titanic Disaster?
The December 1912 issue of The Confederate Veteran carries a list of eleven members of the Joe Johnston UCV Camp No. 94 of Mexia, Texas, who died between July 1911...
Published: 4/12/12
Voice from the Past: “Another Bloodless Victory”
In belated honor of the fall of Fort Pulaski (April 11, 1862), we bring you Miss Susan Walker’s account of the battle: Friday 11th April Heavy firing all morning yesterday...
Published: 4/7/12
Voice from the Past: “Victory is Sufficiently Complete…Victory is Lost”
Our sesquicentennial celebration of the Battle of Shiloh continues with an excerpt from Confederate Colonel S.H. Lockett’s account of the battle printed in Battles and Leaders. It recalls how quickly...
Published: 4/7/12
Voice from the Past: “Those Savage Yells, And The Sight of Thousands of Racing Figures Coming Towards Them”
We close our Shiloh sesquicentennial celebration with Henry Morton Stanley’s recollection of the battle and the effectiveness of the legendary rebel yell. After a steady exchange of musketry, which lasted...
Published: 4/6/12
Voice from the Past: “Terrible Tales of the Scenes in Corinth”
In honor of Shiloh’s sesquicentennial, we bring you the following voice from the past. Taken from the April 9, 1862 diary of Kate Cumming, it recounts the battle’s deadly aftermath....
Published: 4/6/12
The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
Duke Library One of the legends of Shiloh was of a young drummer boy who died on the battlefield. Cast as a young lad who had run away from home...
Published: 4/2/12
Three Hundred Thousand More
Good afternoon! Today we bring you an 1862 song written by John S. Gibbons, to aid Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more Union troops. It first appeared in the New York...
Published: 3/30/12
Song of a Southern Prisoner to the Ladies of Baltimore
Happy Friday! We close Women’s History Month with this song, entitled “Southern Prisoner. Gives His Thanks to the Baltimore Ladies.” I left Winchester Court-house, all in the month of May,...
Published: 3/27/12
Song of the Southern Women
Good morning! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is a poem written by Julia Mildred. Entitled, “Song of the Southern Women,” it is one example of how women struggled to help...
Published: 3/27/12
Then and Now: Pope’s Canal to New Madrid
One-hundred and fifty years ago, Brigadier General John Pope faced a tactical dilemma on the Mississippi River. Confederate batteries at Island No. 10 blocked passage through a complex series of...
Published: 3/26/12
Women’s Work
Good afternoon! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is a Harper’s Weekly image entitled “Filling Cartidges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts.” It is a reminder that the war...
Published: 3/23/12
A Slave and A Spy
Good afternoon! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is of Mary Touvestre. Touvestre, a former slave, worked for one of the Confederate engineers transforming the USS Merrimack into the CSS Virginia....
Published: 3/21/12
“I will not attempt to hamper you with any minute instructions.”
On March 21, 1862, Major General Henry W. Halleck, commanding Federal forces in the Western Theater, sent this message to Major General John Pope, then commanding forces at New Madrid,...