The Front Line

On March 17, 1863, Josiah Marshall Favill, a young lieutenant in the 57th New York Infantry, was one of many soldiers in the Army of the Potomac to observe the elaborate St. Patrick's festivities being hosted by General Thomas Francis Meagher and the men of the Irish Brigade. When he returned to his regiment's camp later that day, Favill recorded the following observations in his diary: 

In the Voices section of the Spring 2018 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes from Union and Confederate troops about the use of tobacco among soldiers and civilians. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to include all that we found. Below are those that didn't make the cut.   

While not commonly looked upon as part of the battlefield, the Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, played a significant role during the second and third days of the fighting at Gettysburg.

Why is the Civil War mostly absent in one of our most beloved film and television genres?

During the early days of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's attempt to capture Petersburg, Virginia, in the summer of 1864, 24-year-old Harvard-educated Union surgeon John Gardner Perry wrote a letter in which he recorded the following incident involving a brave, but reckless, young lieutenant. 

Little over a week after he participated in the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek—the first of the Seven Days Battles fought outside Richmond during General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign—Private Oliver Willcox Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry wrote home about his experiences ... and marvelled at how he was able to escape without serious injury.

In the Voices section of the Summer 2015 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes from Union and Confederate soldiers about the intense heat and discomfort that accomapied summer campaigning. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to include all that we found. Below are those that didn't make the cut. 

Looking for a hearty meal to help fend off winter's cold? Try this Civil War-era recipe for cabbage stew.

In 2010, Renee Savits faced a dilemma. A career archivist, Savits had been with the Library of Virginia for 11 years, rising to manager of its vast private papers section. The Pennsylvania native was just where she wanted to be: spending every day with her hands on history, organizing and preserving documents and photographs that had long outlived their creators. But budget cuts at the library...

In the Voices section of the Winter 2017 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted first-person quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about their regular bouts of hunger. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to include all that we found. Below are those that didn't make the cut.