Civil War

Civil War

Battle of Chickamauga: Death in the Deep Woods

By Cowan Brew

It was nearly 11 on the morning of September 20, 1863, and the woods around slow-moving Chickamauga Creek in northwest Georgia were ominously quiet. Read more

Civil War

Union Balloon Corps

By Don Hollway

A week after the first shots of the War Between the States at Fort Sumter in April 1861, the future of warfare came to Appalachia. Read more

Civil War

Union Army Colonel Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski

By John E. Spindler

The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the American Civil War. Various parts of the battle have been proposed as pivotal moments for the Union victory, such as the successful defense at Little Round Top or Pickett’s failed charge on the final day. Read more

Civil War

Confederate General Joseph Wheeler

By Mike Phifer

A  cold rain was falling as Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Wheeler led his brigade of horse soldiers north from the Confederate position at Stones River at midnight on December 29, 1862. Read more

Civil War

The Battle of Rich Mountain

By William F. Floyd, Jr.

The blue-coated soldiers trudged uphill through the forest trying their best not to get snagged on the laurel branches or stumble over the tree roots. Read more

Civil War

Bound For Glory: Poet-General William H. Lytle

By Roy Morris JR.

Seemingly from birth, William Haines Lytle was bound for glory. As the last surviving male offspring of one of Cincinnati’s leading pioneer families, Lytle was the prototypical golden boy. Read more

Civil War

Antietam National Battlefield to Receive Trump Donation

President Donald Trump has kept true to his pledge to donate his presidential income while in office, with the President’s first paycheck going, in full, to fund projects to maintain and restore the Antietam National Battlefield. Read more

Civil War

Robert S. Garnett: First General to Die in the Civil War

By William E. Welsh

Rather than embrace his appointment to command the confederate forces in northwestern Virginia with enthusiasm, Brig. Gen. Read more

Civil War

The Worst American Civil War Generals and Commanders

By William Welsh The Worst Civil War Generals on the Confederacy

Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. After gaining ground trying to cut an escape path for the Confederates during the February 1862 siege of Fort Donelson by Union forces led Brig. Read more

Civil War

“Put the Boys In”: Confederate Cadets at the Battle of New Market

By Pedro Garcia

As the Civil War continued in the spring of 1864, a Shenandoah Valley resident lamented, “Our prospects look gloomy, very gloomy.” Read more

Civil War

Sherman’s March to the Sea

By William Stroock

On September 3, 1864, a triumphant Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman telegraphed Washington, “Atlanta is ours and fairly won.” Read more

Civil War

Stalemate at Seven Pines

By David Norris

On the last day of May 1862, heavy gunfire rumbled and thundered in the distance beyond the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Read more

Civil War

Making “The Ors”: The 138,579-Page Official History of the Civil War

By Stephen D. Lutz

The title of the 128-book, 138,579-page work was a suitably large mouthful: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Read more

Civil War

The Battle of Franklin: John Bell Hood’s Catastrophic Defeat in Tennessee

By John Walker

On the morning of November 30, 1864, Fountain Branch Carter, a 67-year-old farmer, planter, and Confederate sympathizer, watched as his front yard in Franklin, Tennessee, filled up with Union soldiers pitching tents and starting campfires. Read more

Civil War

Harpers Ferry: The Rise of Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart

By Melanie Savage

On the morning of October 17, 1859, an aide to Secretary of War John B. Floyd hurried off with an urgent message for Colonel Robert E. Read more

Civil War

Dying to Get Home: PTSD in the Civil War

By Kevin L. Cook

A slight knee wound brought the New Jersey boy to a Washington military hospital, but “his mind had suffered more than his body,” wrote volunteer nurse Louisa May Alcott. Read more

Civil War

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman’s Futile Assault

By John Walker

Shortly after dawn on June 27, 1864, Union artillery crews sprang into action on 200 guns facing miles of the Confederate defenses along the Kennesaw Line near Marietta, Georgia. Read more

Civil War

Military Music of the Civil War

By James A. Davis

Winter was the calmest period for Civil War soldiers. Knowing that there was no combat immediately looming on the horizon allowed the soldiers to relax and recuperate in ways they had not been able to enjoy beafore. Read more

Civil War

CSS Alabama vs USS Kearsarge: The Greatest High Seas Duel of the Civil War

By Don Hollway

On August 24, 1862, newly promoted Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate States Navy called his largely English crew to the quarterdeck of his new command, the 220-foot battle cruiser Alabama, lying off the coast of Terceira in the Azores. Read more

Civil War

The Last Long Ride: Wilson’s Selma Raid

By Arnold Blumberg

As reveille sounded through the Union encampments on the south bank of the Tennessee River between Eastport, Mississippi, and Chickasaw, Alabama, on March 22, 1865, sleepy Federal troopers roused themselves, built fires, and cooked breakfast. Read more