Confederacy Archives

Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis commands his 124th New York as the fighting grows desperate. Later he would lead a charge that would stifle the Confederate advance, but at the cost of his own life.

Confederacy

What Happened at the Devil’s Den at the Battle of Gettysburg

By Don Williams

The struggle for the Devil’s Den at Gettysburg occurred on July 2, 1863, under a hot and cloudless afternoon. Read more

The Scottish-built, 252-foot-long blockade-runner Banshee II represented the state of the art in mid-19th-century shipbuilding. Giant sidewheels drove her through the water at nearly 16 knots.

Confederacy

Last of the Gray Phantoms: The Confederate Blockade Runners

By R. Thomas Campbell

Despite the increasing effectiveness of the Union naval blockade, more and more steamers plied the waters between the few remaining Confederate ports and Nassau, St. Read more

Confederacy

Confederate Cavalryman Turner Ashby

By Roy Morris Jr.

Even in an army not lacking for larger-than-life figures, Confederate cavalry leader Turner Ashby stood out from the crowd. Read more

Confederacy

The Dakota War of 1862: What Caused the Great Sioux Uprising

By Eric Niderost

Shortly after midnight on the morning of Monday, August 18, 1862, an uneasy group of Santee Sioux warriors arrived at the simple frame home of Taoyateduta, known to the whites as Little Crow. Read more

General Phil Sheridan’s Ride during the Battle of Cedar Creek was one of the most famous vignettes in Civil War history. Sheridan commanded United States troops poised to cross the Mexican-American border as tensions rose shortly after the Civil War.

Confederacy

Could the United States Have Gone to War With France Over Mexico?

By Roy Morris

The continued presence of a handpicked French puppet emperor in Mexico, which had so worried the Lincoln administration during the Civil War, remained a sore point with American political and military leaders after the Union victory in 1865. Read more

Confederacy

The “Gallant” John Bell Hood

By Roy Morris Jr.

When Confederate general John Bell Hood assumed command of the embattled Army of Tennessee at Atlanta in mid-July 1864, he was already grievously wounded in both body and spirit. Read more

Confederacy

Black Soldiers, Blue Uniforms

By John Walker

Although several overzealous Union Army field commanders organized African Americans into ad hoc militia units early in 1862 and several black regiments were mustered into service later that year, it wasn’t until after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, that the federal government began actively recruiting and enlisting black soldiers and sailors. Read more

Confederacy

Civil War Identification Badges

By Don Troiani

The American Civil War may well have been the first major conflict in which soldiers felt the need to wear some sort of a personal identification badge in the event that they were killed or wounded in battle. Read more

Confederacy

Controversial Civil War Commanders: Gideon Pillow

By Roy Morris Jr.

Few Mexican War generals fought more battles than Tennessee-born Gideon Pillow—the problem was that many of those battles were with his own superiors. Read more

Confederacy

William T. Sherman: A Hard Lesson in War

By Arnold Blumberg

With the fall of Vicksburg in the first week of July 1863, the strongest remaining Confederate presence in Mississippi was a recently thrown together force of 26,000 soldiers under General Joseph E. Read more

Confederacy

The 1862 Battle of Richmond: The Confederacy in the Balance

By Pedro Garcia

Our cause is on the advance—our star in the ascendant. The tide is swelling in our favor: shall we take it at its flood…? Read more

Confederacy

Civil War Generals: Albert Sidney Johnston

By Roy Morris Jr.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis considered his old West Point classmate Albert Sidney Johnston “the greatest soldier, the ablest man, civil or military, Confederate or Union, then living,” and it is safe to say that no other general in either army began the Civil War with a more glittering—or fleeting—reputation. Read more

Confederacy

No Glory at The Battle of Glorieta Pass

By Chuck Lyons

In June 1861, two months after Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War, 44-year-old, Louisiana-born Henry H. Read more

Confederacy

Swan Song for the CSS Shenandoah

By Mark Simmons

The 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

Confederacy

Michigan’s Ottawa Indians in the American Civil War

By Roy Morris Jr.

While many Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians threw in their lot with the Confederacy, fighting alongside southern troops at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, a more northern-based tribe—the Ottawa—chose to remain loyal to the Union, in the forlorn hope that its willingness to fight for the white men’s country would help preserve its increasingly imperiled way of life. Read more

Confederacy

The CSS Alabama’s Place in Naval History

By Roy Morris, Jr.

The CSS Alabama went to her watery grave on June 19, 1864, off the coast of France, but the lingering effects of her wartime successes made naval history: she continued to haunt the American and British governments for years to come, embroiling the two English-speaking nations in a legal test of wills that would last well into the next decade. Read more

William Welsh shares with us the highlights of visiting Manassas Battlefield Park, and why it's become an essential site to visit for any Civil War or American history enthusiast.

Confederacy

Manassas Battlefield Park: Illuminating the Outset of the Civil War

by William E. Welsh

The first thing that strikes a visitor to Henry Hill at Manassas National Battlefield Park is the spectacular view. Read more

From Around the Network

Rangers Led the Way at Zerf

The Weapons at Sannahs Post

The Prussian Army at the Battle of Waterloo

Eaker and the Mighty Eighth