The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 5/28/21
The Books that Built Me
Library of Congress A Civil War soldier and his reading material Civil War enthusiasts understand that historians construct campaign and battle narratives from official reports, maps, letters, journals, newspaper articles...
Published: 5/24/21
The Death of Colonel Ellsworth
Read The New York Times' lengthy tribute to Elmer Ellsworth after the young Union colonel's death in 1861.
Published: 4/29/21
Essential Reading on the Coming of the Civil War
Library of Congress Fort Sumter under fire, April 1861 The literature on the coming of the Civil War is more than vast—it is overwhelming. Choosing just a handful of the...
Published: 4/19/21
Kissing and Kicking Ass
Private Amos Breneman of the 203rd Pennsylvania Infantry was, by his own estimation, an ass. Addressing a male friend back in Lancaster County, he wrote in April 1865, “I am...
Published: 4/16/21
War’s Early Days
Read South Carolina diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut's gripping account of the fall of Fort Sumter and its aftermath.
Published: 4/15/21
“The First Gun is Fired”
The story—and lyrics—of George Root's Apri 1861 song about Fort Sumter, "The First Gun is Fired: May God Protect the Right."
Published: 4/9/21
Word-Clouding Lee’s and Grant’s Farewell Addresses
View the words Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee used in the farewell addresses they delivered to their men as represented in a word cloud.
Published: 4/5/21
Extra Voices: Shirkers
Read firsthand Civil War soldier quotes on shirking in the Union and Confederate armies.
Published: 3/29/21
A Reconstruction Bookshelf
Library of Congress In this sketch by Alfred Waud, a federal official stands between armed groups of southern whites and African Americans during Reconstruction. It’s safe to say that while...
Published: 3/22/21
The Hands-On Historian
Jimell Greene Photography Bryan Cheeseboro at Fort Stevens, where his interest in the Civil War was born. It was February 2004, and Bryan Cheeseboro was hurtling toward Olustee, Florida, in...
Published: 2/26/21
Letters Home: Correspondence from Men at War
Frank Leslie’s illustrated Newspaper Union soldiers take a moment to write home on the hurricane deck of the U.S. transport North Star while on campaign in the Gulf of Mexico...
Published: 12/28/20
Goodbye to All That
Library of Congress Lieutenant Robert Pryor James, Co. E, 20th North Carolina Infantry This will be my final column for the “American Iliad” series, a project I undertook five years...
Published: 12/21/20
Extra Voices: Coffee
Read firsthand quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about the the high value they placed on a good cup of coffee.
Published: 12/7/20
The Best Civil War Books of 2020
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2020 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we enlisted the help of a handful...
Published: 11/17/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 7
The seventh—and final—installment of historian Megan Kate Nelson's review of the Showtime miniseries "The Good Lord Bird."
Published: 11/11/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 6
The sixth installment of historian Megan Kate Nelson's review of the Showtime miniseries "The Good Lord Bird."
Published: 11/3/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 5
The fifth installment of historian Megan Kate Nelson's review of the Showtime miniseries "The Good Lord Bird."
Published: 10/27/20
“The Good Lord Bird”: Episode 4
The fourth installment of historian Megan Kate Nelson's review of the Showtime miniseries "The Good Lord Bird."