Civil War Archives

John Pelham was a pivotal figure at the Battle of Williamsburg and would redefine the concept of the flying battery for the Confederate artillery.

Civil War

“The Gallant Pelham” at the Battle of Williamsburg

by Nat R. Louis

During the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, in May 1862, General Joseph Hooker’s Union forces were in pursuit of the withdrawing Confederates. Read more

Civil War

At Shiloh, the Civil War Took a Turn

By Roy Morris, Jr.

No one expected this—not the fiercest “fire-eater” in South Carolina or the flintiest abolitionist in New England. Read more

Civil War

On This Day in History: The Battle of Philippi

On this day in 1861, Union and Confederate forces met at the Battle of Philippi in modern day West Virginia. (The area still belonged to Virginia during the early years of the Civil War.) Read more

Robert E. Lee turned to his capable commander, John B. Goron, to conduct the last great Confederate attack to break the Siege of Petersburg.

Civil War

John B. Gordon: Robert E. Lee’s Man for Fort Stedman

by Joseph Lowry

In selecting a leader for the attack on Fort Stedman, Robert E. Lee could scarcely have chosen a better commander than Maj. Read more

Civil War

Understanding the Civil War Though Photography

Much of the American Civil War can be understood through military correspondence, army documents and letters. But to understand the social impact of the bloodiest battles in the nation’s history, researchers and citizens alike often turn to what was then a budding technology: photography. Read more

Both the North and the South used the Western Theater as dumping grounds, especially for leaders seen as incompetent.

Civil War

The Civil War’s Western Territories As Leadership Dumping Grounds

By Mark N. Lardas

Strategically isolated from the South, geographically isolated from the Far West, and separated from the Union plains states by the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), Texas was a backwater whose ultimate fate depended on the success of the Confederacy. Read more

Civil War

The Origin of Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage

by Roy Morris Jr.

In the winter of 1893, a struggling young writer named Stephen Crane dropped by the art studio of his painter friend Corwin Linson at the corner of Broadway and 30th Street in New York City. Read more

Civil War

Museum Exhibit Celebrates Civil War Sesquicentennial

In celebration of the sesquicentennials of General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is opening a special exhibit titled “1864.” Read more

Earlier this month, researchers began a conservation and restoration project on the Hunley that will last the next five years.

Civil War

Another Look at CSS Hunley, the First Combat Submarine

The H.L. Hunley was a Confederate submarine that played a small, yet interesting role in the American Civil War. Often labeled as the first combat submarine that successfully sank another warship, the Hunley demonstrated some of the early advantages armies could attain by exploring undersea warfare. Read more

Civil War

Prisons in the American Civil War — New Details Emerge

According to a CNN article, 2014 was the 150 anniversary of “the peak year of suffering” in American Civil War prisons. Read more

Civil War

Great Britain and the American Civil War

1861 to 1865 marked a bitter time in U.S. history. Arguments over states’ rights, slavery and the role the federal goverment should play in national affairs brought both the North an South into a terrible conflict that became the American Civil War. Read more

Civil War

Civil War Quarterly Preview: General Phillip Sheridan and the Battle of Winchester

For General Philiip Sheridan, war was a tonic.

“He was a wonderful man on the battle field,” one of his fellow Union officers recalled, “and never in as good humor as when under fire.” Read more

Civil War

Was Sherman’s March a “Counterinsurgency Campaign”?

It isn’t how most would characterize William T. Sherman’s famous march across Georgia in 1864, but Thomas Ricks of Stars and Stripes begs to differ. Read more

Civil War

Avenues of Invasion: Captain Andrew Foote and Ulysses S. Grant

by Pedro Garcia

Seen from the Atlantic coast, the task of Northern armies appeared (at least to a skeptic) almost impossible, for the South looked truly boundless, an ocean of fields, valleys, mountains, forests, and rivers. Read more

Civil War

Fort Sumter: A Photographical Diary

by Al Hemingway

As the epicenter of the Civil War, Fort Sumter naturally attracted much photographic attention. The first photographer to visit the fort after the 1861 bombardment and surrender was F.K. Read more

Although Stonewall Jackson’s death was unpreventable, given the state of medicine at the time, it is more likely that he died from thromboembolism than from the indirect cause of pneumonia.

Civil War

Robert E. Lee’s “Right Arm”

Following his greatest victory, at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was scouting ahead of the lines with members of his staff when tragedy struck. Read more

As Robert E. Lee’s “right hand”, the death of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was a crushing blow to the Confederate army. But was it pneumonia?

Civil War

The Battle of Chancellorsville and the Death of Stonewall Jackson

Following his greatest victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was scouting ahead of the lines with members of his staff when tragedy struck. Read more

This letter written by a soldier in the Confederate army offers insight into the prevailing attitudes of both Union and Confederate Armies at the time.

Civil War

The Confederate Army: Letters Home

by Earl Echelberry

On May 10, 1861 the Confederate Secretary of War, L.P. Walker, assigned “control of the forces of the Confederate States in Virginia” to Maj. Read more

In just one year following Abraham Lincoln’s victory over Stephen Douglas in the election of 1860, America would be on the brink of a bloody Civil War.

Civil War

Abraham Lincoln and the Election that Shaped the Confederacy

by Roy Morris Jr.

The sudden wreck of the Whig Party in the 1850s led to the development of a new political party to contend with Stephen Douglas and the Democrats. Read more