Civil War
An Occurrence at Wrightsville Bridge
By Don HollwayThe citizens of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, awoke one morning in late June 1863 to find the Civil War literally at their doorsteps. Read more
Civil War
Warfare History Network is your best source for military history online. This is where we bring you our coverage on all aspects of the American Civil War—from the first shots fired at Fort Sumter to Antietam to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. In addition to substantial military coverage, we also examine the political climate of the 1860s and how the war influenced civilian life in the North and South. A trove of Civil War photos, maps, and color illustrations complement our written contributions from a team of established writers, including William Welsh, Pedro Garcia, and acclaimed author-historian Roy Morris Jr.
Civil War
The Confederate Spy Ring: Spreading Terror to the Union
By Peter KrossThe Civil War was fought out in the open on battlefields across the United States. But beginning in early 1864, the highest levels of the Confederate government decided that another, more clandestine war would be fought behind the lines in the North. Read more
Civil War
Civil War Spies: Timothy Webster
By Roy Morris, Jr.Spying is a dangerous game.
Even the best spies sometimes get caught, as Confederate raider John Yates Beall, “the Mosby of the Chesapeake,” learned the hard way in 1865, and the consequences are never pretty to contemplate. Read more
Civil War
The Dahlgren Affair: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond
By Robert SuhrOn the night of February 28, 1864, an advanced unit of bluecoat troopers captured two guards at the Rapidan River ford, and the remainder in a house near the river. Read more
Civil War
American Civil War Timeline – Southern Offensives Turned Back
by William E. WelshConfederate offensives into two border states, Maryland and Kentucky, formed the key highlights of the second half of 1862 for the Confederacy. Read more
Civil War
The Battle of Cedar Creek Offers Insight into Valley’s Final Months
By William E. WelshOut of the mist on the rolling ground of the Shenandoah Valley the bulk of the Confederate Army bore down on the Union left flank on the morning of October 19, 1864. Read more
Civil War
Winfield Scott Hancock & George Armstrong Custer After Hancock’s War
By Roy Morris, Jr.Tall, handsome, and ramrod-straight Winfield Scott Hancock perfectly embodied his flattering nickname, “Hancock the Superb.” His performance on Civil War battlefields from Antietam to Gettysburg underscored that sobriquet. Read more
Civil War
John Pope vs. Little Crow: The Sioux Uprising
By Roy Morris Jr.John Pope’s second campaign as an army commander went considerably better than his first. Not that it did his reputation—or Abraham Lincoln’s, for that matter—any particular good. Read more
Civil War
Walt Whitman—The Civil War’s One-Man Sanitary Commission
by Roy Morris Jr.When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, the great American poet Walt Whitman was a man on the skids, personally and professionally. Read more
Civil War
The Curse of the Whig Party
By Roy Morris, Jr.The short-lived Whig Party had a fair degree of success electing candidates for president, winning two of the five presidential elections in which it fielded a candidate. Read more
Civil War
Civil War’s End: The Battle of Appomattox Court House
by William E. WelshWhen Confederate General Robert E. Lee learned on the morning of April 9, 1865, that Union infantry was both in front and behind of his meager army of 12,500 effectives as it approached Appomattox Court House in central Virginia, he resigned himself to the sad task before him. Read more
Civil War
Swan Song for the CSS Shenandoah
By Mark SimmonsThe River Mersey was fog shrouded on the morning of November 6, 1865, and the city of Liverpool was scarcely visible from the deck of the CSS Shenandoah. Read more
Civil War
Mark Twain Joins the Marion Rangers
By Roy Morris, Jr.Twenty-five-year-old Mississippi River pilot Samuel Clemens (not yet known by his famous pen name, Mark Twain) was in his home port of New Orleans in late January 1861 when word reached the city that Louisiana had seceded from the Union. Read more
Civil War
The Chattanooga Campaign: Then and Now
by Roy Morris, Jr.Living in Chattanooga is a little like living inside a museum. American Civil War reminders are all around: many of us remember going as students on field trips to Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield and spending long Sunday afternoons driving with our families along the winding, monument-strewn Crest Road on Missionary Ridge. Read more
Civil War
Tapping Into the Spirit of Freedom at Harpers Ferry Historical Park
by William E. WelshLike the tall hills that surround it, the history of Harpers Ferry has many layers. While some of the nearby Civil War battlefields, most notably Antietam National Battlefield, are picturesque, they can’t compete with the grandeur of Harpers Ferry. Read more
Civil War
The Mystery Behind Custer’s Last Stand & The Battle of Little Bighorn
By William E. WelshA single cavalryman burst from the copse in mid-afternoon on June 25, 1876, riding hell-bent for the swift flowing river. Read more
Civil War
John Chivington: From Glorieta Pass to the Sand Creek Massacre
by Roy Morris Jr.Major John M. Chivington, Colorado’s “fighting parson,” played a large role in the Union victory at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in 1862. Read more
Civil War
What to See at Fort Donelson National Battlefield
by William E. WelshThe soldiers of the two armies at Fort Donelson awoke on the morning of February 15, 1862, to another frigid morning. Read more
Civil War
Union General John T. Croxton’s Southern Odyssey
by Arnold BlumbergAfter escaping from Brig. Gen. William H. Jackson’s Confederate division on April 1, Union Brig. Gen. John T. Read more
Civil War
Failed Confederate Ambush at the Battle of Bentonville
By William E. WelshThe weary Union foot soldiers tramped north toward Goldsboro the morning of March 19, 1865. Foragers who had gone out at sunup reported the heavy presence of Confederate cavalry on the route of march. Read more
