tactics

Published: 9/1/25

Fatal Terrain

By: Scott Hippensteel

Category: The Front Line

How terrain helped influence the nature of combat—and of the many resulting casualties—on Civil War battlefields.

Published: 5/5/25

Smoothbore vs. Rifled Muskets

By: Phil Spaugy

Category: Commentary

A look at the military philosophy of Colonel George Willard, whose advocacy for the use of the smoothbore (not rifled) musket in battle flew in the face of contemporary thinking.

Published: 10/21/24

To Dig or Not To Dig

By: Scott Hippensteel

Category: Battles

Learn how the presence of certain rock types influenced tactics and battlefield dynamics during the American Civil War.

Published: 6/30/23

Extra Voices: Trench Life

By: The Civil War Monitor

Category: Firsthand Accounts

Uncover the harsh truths of trench life as described by Union and Confederate soldiers in their own words.