The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 10/13/11
Bolting On the Civil War Navy
Several months back, my friend Matthew Eng, coordinator at the Hampton Roads Navy Museum, asked me why the naval aspects of the Civil War tend to stand off from the...
Published: 10/11/11
D. W. Griffith’s Other Civil War Movie
The infamous director’s 1930 biography of Lincoln was one of only two “talkies” made by Griffith, and stars Walter Huston in the title role. The screenplay is by Stephen...
Published: 10/10/11
Voices from the Past: A “Plucky” Young Soldier
Good morning! The Civil War Monitor has added a new section to The Front Line: Quotables. Each Monday, we will share a Voice from Past to help you learn more...
Published: 10/4/11
“It made us an ‘is’.”
It's one of the great quotes, from one of the great documentaries, that sums up the legacy of the American Civil War: Before the war, it was said 'the United States are'– grammatically it was spoken that way and thought of as a collection of independent states. And after the war it was always 'the [...]
Published: 9/29/11
A War of Words
There’s a lot that remains unsettled about the Civil War: “Manassas” or “Bull Run”? “Civil War” or “War Between the States”? Forget the big questions about what the war was...
Published: 9/27/11
Texas SCV Calls for a New Strategy
Recently Mark Vogl, Lieutenant Commander of the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called for a shift strategy in that organization’s approach to “heritage defense,” away from throwing...
Published: 9/21/11
These Sacred Fields: Union Commemorations at Gettysburg
For Union veterans of the Civil War, the battlefield at Gettysburg served as the epicenter for war remembrance. The modern landscape certainly attests to this. A forest of marble, granite,...
Published: 9/21/11
We Cannot Know Their Minds
Undoubtedly one of the reasons for the tremendous, abiding interest Americans have with the Civil War is that a great many of us have a personal connection to it. We...
Published: 9/21/11
Welcome to The Front Line!
The goal of The Front Line is to provide a vibrant and active space for both our readers and our contributors. Just as printed editions of The Civil War Monitor...