
The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians


Published: 12/19/19
The Drummer Boy of Our Regiment
The December 19, 1863, edition of Harper’s Weekly contained the following full-page illustration that highlighted a variety of scenes associated with the service of a Union drummer boy, some of...
Published: 12/14/19
Eyewitness to the Battle of Fredericksburg
War Letters of William Thompson Lusk Union officer William Thompson Lusk The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought on December 13, 1862, resulted in a disastrous Union defeat that saw over 12,000...
Published: 12/3/19
Extra Voices: Gambling
Library of Congress In the Voices section of the Winter 2019 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes by Union and Confederate troops about the pervasiveness of...
Published: 11/22/19
The Dogs of Andersonville
Between April 15, 1864, and April 6, 1865, 351 Union prisoners escaped from the prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Of these, 163 were able to reach safety. The other 188...
Published: 11/16/19
Word-clouding the Gettysburg Address
At the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered a “few appropriate remarks” to the assembled crowd. Though it lasted only a few minutes,...
Published: 11/15/19
The March to the Sea Begins
Library of Congress William T. Sherman On Nobember 15, 1864, Major General William T. Sherman and his army of some 60,000 men departed the city of Atlanta, which they had...
Published: 10/21/19
Grant’s War Horse: Cincinnati
While Ulysses S. Grant rode a number of horses during the Civil War, he was particularly attached to one of them: Cincinnati. According to Grant’s son Frederick, Cincinnati, who came...
Published: 10/14/19
Lee’s War Horse: Traveller
Of the several horses Robert E. Lee rode during the Civil War, the one he named Traveller was the object of his greatest affection. Lee, who purchased the grey gelding...
Published: 10/4/19
Which Way Did They Go?
Library of Congress Union soldiers find dummy defenders and wooden cannon after storming a Confederate trench in Julian Scott’s 1872 painting “Sold.” Both sides used such phony weapons—known as Quaker...
Published: 9/27/19
A Hair-Raising Incident at Shiloh
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated History of the Civil War Frank Leslie’s Illustrated History of the Civil War, published in 1895, contained a broad collection of sketches that had appeared during the...
Published: 9/23/19
A Triple Bereavement at Cairo
Woman’s Work in the Civil War (1865) Nurse Mary Livermore Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Mary Livermore, a 40-year-old native of Boston, volunteered to work for the...
Published: 9/20/19
Rock of Chickamauga
Library of Congress Major General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga” In the American Iliad, the Civil War’s chief victors are well known: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and...
Published: 8/25/19
Extra Voices: Clara Barton—The Angel of the Battlefield
Library of Congress Clara Barton In the Voices section of the Fall 2019 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by and about famed nurse Clara Barton (1821–1912),...
Published: 8/14/19
Mutiny in the Army
Harper’s Weekly The men of the 79th New York Infantry march through the streets of New York City en route to the front during the summer of 1861 On August...
Published: 7/26/19
“My Little ‘Rebel’ Heart Was on Fire”
Tennessee State Library and Archives Belle Boyd In July 1861, only months after the outbreak of the Civil War, Belle Boyd—the 17-year-old daughter of a prosperous family in Martinsburg, Virginia...
Published: 7/26/19
History as Imagination
Library of Congress Harriet Tubman, as she appeared in the late 1860s Anyone who has spent considerable time in research libraries or logging onto digital archives knows what it feels...
Published: 6/14/19
Extra Dossier: J.E.B. Stuart
Library of Congress Major General J.E.B. Stuart We recently asked a panel of Civil War historians a series of questions about Major General James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart—a way of...
Published: 6/4/19
The Best Civil War Movies of All Time
Alamy A scene from the movie “Cold Mountain” For our recent newsstand-only special issue The Civil War Almanac, we asked a number of Civil War historians for their opinions on...