Civil War
Stand-up Fight at Peachtree Creek
By Arnold BlumbergDuring the early afternoon of July 9, 1864, the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment of Maj. Gen. John M. 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
Union Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing
By William E. WelshOne of the smoothbore cannons in Captain Merritt B. Miller’s Third Company of the Washington Artillery deployed west of Emmitsburg Road just south of the town of Gettysburg fired a single round at 1:07 p.m. Read more
Civil War
J.E.B. Stuart and Kilpatrick Butt Heads at Buckland Mills
By Arnold BlumbergFor the Federal government at Washington, D.C., the news from Tennessee was grim in late September 1863. The Union Army of the Cumberland, under Maj. Read more
Civil War
Savage Encounter at Champion’s Hill
By Robert L. DurhamThe barren summit of Champion’s Hill presented an ideal site for Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton’s Confederate army to deploy artillery batteries on the morning of May 16, 1863. Read more
Civil War
Kansas Brigadier James Henry Lane
By David A. NorrisAt dawn on August 21, 1863, 450 Confederate Irregulars under William C. Quantrill descended on the town of Lawrence, Kansas. Read more
Civil War
The Model 1857 12-pounder
By Gustav PersonAmong the historic inventory of the United States Army’s artillery weapons, few pieces have enjoyed a more predominant role or reputation than the Model 1857 12-pounder gun-howitzer, which became a mainstay of the Federal artillery during the Civil War. Read more
Civil War
The Creation of the U.S. Sanitary Commission
By Lawrence WeberIn the spring of 1861, a group of influential northern men and women, led by Unitarian minister Henry Whitney Bellows and social reformer Dorothea Dix, met in New York City to discuss the formation of a sanitary commission, modeled after the British Sanitary Commission established during the Crimean War, to provide relief to sick and wounded soldiers in the Union Army. Read more
Civil War
Bloody Assault on Knoxville
By Mike PhiferAt midnight on November 13, 1863, two companies of the Palmetto (South Carolina) Sharpshooters Regiment led by Captain Alfred Foster slipped down to the south bank of the Tennessee River at Huff’s Ferry. Read more
Civil War
Clash of the Civil War Ironclads
By David A. NorrisSmoke swirled amid the thunderous noise that roared from powerful Dahlgren guns and Brooke rifles. Thousands of spectators along the shore watched the two most dangerous warships in the world at each other at point-blank range. Read more
Civil War
City Point Bombing
By William E. WelshBy the Summer of 1864, it was no longer likely the Army of Northern Virginia would invade the North a third time, would launch another major offensive, or even drive Union forces away from Richmond and Petersburg. Read more
Civil War
Disaster at Fort Donelson
By Mike PhiferA signal rocket set off by Confederate pickets streaked skyward in the damp early morning of February 4, 1862. Read more
Civil War
Costly Confederate Victory at Gaines’ Mill
By John WalkerWith just an hour of daylight remaining on the smoke-shrouded battlefield near Gaines’ Mill six miles northeast of Richmond, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Read more
Civil War
Thomas O. Selfridge: A Naval Hero of the Civil War
By James M. PowlesMarch 8, 1862, dawned sunny and mild at Hampton Roads, Virginia. To the men of the Union blockading squadron, the day seemed like any other. Read more
Civil War
One Gallant Rush: Black Soldiers at Fort Wagner
By Eric NiderostThe sun had already set, but the western sky was still bright from its fiery departure not long before. Read more
Civil War
“Let Us Die Like Men”
By Mike PhiferMajor General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne rose to his feet in the early afternoon of November 30, 1864, when he saw the courier galloping toward him. Read more
Civil War
Uniform: The 8th Texas Cavalry
By Don Troiani & William WelshColonel Benjamin F. Terry, a sugar planter from Fort Bend County on the coastal plains of Texas, raised the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment. Read more
Civil War
Grant’s Army of the Tennesee overcame adversity on the roundabout road to Vicksburg.
Major General Ulysses S. Grant sat on his horse in late April 1863 next to a narrow bridge over a wide marsh on the west bank of the Mississippi River in northeastern Louisiana. Read more
Civil War
War So Terrible: The Battle of Fredericksburg
By Arnold BlumbergWord spread like wildfire through the camps of the Army of the Potomac during the second week of November 1862: “Little Mac” was out, “Old Burn” was in. Read more
Civil War
Winter Storm on Stones River
By Robert L. DurhamOne of the most hard-fighting divisions in the Army of the Cumberland, the one led by Maj. Read more
Civil War
John Stanton: From Secretary to First in Command
By Paul A. ThomsenIn the late hours of April 14, 1865, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton sat at a small table in the Petersen House across the street from Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Read more
