The events of the last several years and the current trends in public attitudes—however they may be construed and from whatever source they may emanate—have created a different world than that which most of us grew up in. Regardless of how we may personally feel about these changes in society, they are not likely to cease and, coupled with astounding advances in technology, will continue to...
With the help of an Artificial Intelligence-based, computerized color identifier and cutting-edge software that created a 3D rendering of McPherson Ridge in 1868, a group of Civil War detectives have pinpointed the camera location of aniconic, and previously unidentified, Gettysburg battle image. Patrick Brennan, a longtime editorial advisor for The Civil War Monitor, has been working on a book...
On August 13, a statue of Robert E. Lee took center stage in the struggle over the meaning and legacy of the Civil War. That day a "Unite the Right" rally of self-proclaimed white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, anti-Semites, and neo-Confederates protested the city’s decision to remove an equestrian statue of Lee from a public park. The rally erupted in violence, killing one...
To help make sense of the recent developments regarding the Confederate battle flag, we sat down with Tony Horwitz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Confederates in the Attic. His insightful 1998 book details his yearlong travels through...
The trial of John Yates Beall, accused of attempting to derail a passenger train in Buffalo, NY, stands in a class alongside the trials of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, with ramifications that echo today in the cases of those men held at Guantanamo.
On November 3, 1864 Major Charles P. Mattocks and two comrades slipped away from a Confederate prison camp outside Columbia, South Carolina, hoping to cross three hundred miles of mountains and hostile terrain to reach Union lines in East Tennessee.
The death of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a name almost as indelibly tied to the Dred Scott decision as Scott's own, was met with various reactions both North and South when it happened 150 years ago on October 12, 1864.
Terry's Texas Rangers went into the Civil War with a reputation they had not earned, but left it with one that lingers to this day.
Historians and students of Civil War photography get only rare glimpses inside the photographer's studio, but a few trial transcripts from the National Archives reveal more than what the camera caught.
As a graduate of and former instructor at the US Naval Academy, Confederate Lieutenant Hunter Davidson understood the Union Navy, as well as how submersible vessels and spar torpedoes could be used to exploit its weaknesses.
In June 1865, Jim Jackson - one of Missouri's more notorious Confederate guerrilla commanders - made haste for the Illinois line...
When Confederates massacre black soldiers the latter are engaged in a desperate fight for freedom. But our popular understanding of the Civil War leaves little room to understand the story when the roles are reversed.
After the losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the Confederacy considered a risky plan to fortify their officer corps by raiding a prison on the shores of Lake Erie and freeing the 2000 men held there.
The Union authorities who dismissed W.T. Glassell from the U.S. Navy after 15 years of service hardly suspected that they would be fighting against him soon enough.
In the face of a tightening blockade and difficulties with England, the Confederate Navy sought new rams from shipyards in nearby France.
In 1867, George Maddox--a guerrilla who had ridden with Quantrill--stood trial for the murder of John Zane Evans during the infamous raid on Lawrence four years earlier.
Virginia's "Historic Triangle" is best known as a setting for the American Revolution. But during the Civil War's Peninsula Campaign the area saw many slaves play an active role in bringing about their liberation and aiding the Union Army.
Three days after Gettysburg, the people of Frederick, Maryland greeted George Gordon Meade "like a lion," while President Lincoln and General-in-Cheif Henry Halleck felt him cautious and slow.