Published: 5/28/21The Books that Built MeBy: Steven H. NewtonCategory: The Front Line 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: 5/24/21The Death of Colonel EllsworthBy: The New York TimesCategory: The Front Line Library of Congress Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth On May 24, 1861, 24-year-old Elmer E. Ellsworth, colonel of 11th New York Infantry, led a group of his men from their camp...
Published: 4/29/21Essential Reading on the Coming of the Civil WarBy: Russell McClintockCategory: The Front Line 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: 4/19/21Kissing and Kicking AssBy: Tracy L. BarnettCategory: The Front Line 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: 4/16/21War’s Early DaysBy: Mary Boykin ChesnutCategory: The Front Line A Diary From Dixie (1906) Mary Boykin Chesnut Two days after the fall of Fort Sumter, 38-year-old South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chesnut sat down with her journal—something she’d done faithfully...
Published: 4/15/21“The First Gun is Fired”By: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Library of Congress George F. Root Published three days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, “The First Gun is Fired: May God Protect the Right” is known...
Published: 4/9/21Word-Clouding Lee’s and Grant’s Farewell AddressesBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line On the night of April 9, 1865, only hours after surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Robert E. Lee sat around a fire with a group of...
Published: 4/5/21Extra Voices: ShirkersBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Hard Tack and Coffee In the Voices section of the Spring 2021 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about shirking. Unfortunately, we...
Published: 3/29/21A Reconstruction BookshelfBy: Brooks D. SimpsonCategory: The Front Line 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: 3/22/21The Hands-On HistorianBy: Jenny JohnstonCategory: The Front Line 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...