The Front Line
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Quarters for African American SoldiersRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/21/2012Our Black History Month Celebration continues with this Harper's Weekly depiction of "Negro Quarters, Army of the James."
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Special Field Orders No. 15Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/20/2012
SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 15.
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Rest in Peace Willie LincolnRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/20/2012
Sad and solemn is the occasion that brings us here to-day. A dark shadow of affliction has suddenly fallen upon this habitation, and upon the hearts of its inmates. The news thereof has already gone forth to the extremities of the country.
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Voice from the Past: "It Pleased Me Much More Than One Of Those Sentimental Things"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/17/2012
Our Valentine-themed series is coming to a close. We hope you have enjoyed reading some of these love letters from February 1862. Have a great weekend!
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After the BattleRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/16/2012Our celebration of the Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort Donelson concludes with this Harper's Weekly image...Seeking for the Wounded, by Torch-Light, After the Battle
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Voice from the Past: "Ask Us to Marry Him"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/16/2012
They were just as gay with us old nurses as if we had all been young. I told them, coming home, that the only omission, for St. Valentine's, had been that nobody had asked us to marry him; so they all began at once. The one-legs had the best of it, for they are sure of eight dollars a month.
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Voice from the Past: "Absolute Naval Supremacy"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/15/2012
On my return to New York, at the end of February, the North was cheered by some signal successes achieved in the West, principally by gunboats, operating on the lines of the great rivers. The greatest results have been obtained in the capture of Fort Donaldson and Fort Henry, by Commodore Foote's flotilla coöperating with the land forces. The possession of an absolute naval supremacy, of...
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Voice from the Past: "My Valentine to the Best Woman in the World"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/15/2012
It has this minute struck me that this is St. Valentine's day and this will be my valentine to ‘the best woman in the world’ [except, perhaps, dear mother]. That is another valentine for her.
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Voice from the Past: Sending ValentinesRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 2/14/2012
Another Valentine's Day 1862 "Voice from the Past" to mark the holiday. Friday, 14th -- This is Valentine's Day and some of the boys are having a great time sending out valentines to the girls in this locality; others are sending...
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Voice from the Past: "A Desperate Fight at Fort Donelson"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/14/2012
Wed. p. m., Feb. 19, 1862, Mound City, Ill., -- There has been nothing going on here to break the monotony for a few days past except the arrival of a part of the wounded from Fort Donelson. These, with those that have previously been sent here, make about 400 of them at this hospital. A great many of them are severely wounded. They seem to be in good spirits. Surgeons have flocked in from...
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Voice from the Past: "To Be Your Valentine"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/14/2012
Happy Valentine's Day from The Civil War Monitor. We hope you enjoy this letter from Valentine's Day, 1862.
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From The Struggle of Slavery to the Struggle for LibertyRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/13/2012Uncut sheet of twelve illustrated cards presenting the journey of a slave from plantation life to the struggle for liberty, for which he gives his life, as a Union soldier during the Civil War.
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Voice from the Past: "The Startling Intelligence from Fort Donelson"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/13/2012
Good morning! We have another contribution to our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series. This excerpt is from Alfred Lewis Castleman's diary: What a week of news, opening on us with intelligence of the capture of Fort Henry, with its...
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Voice from the Past: "St. Valentine's Day, I believe"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/13/2012
An early Valentine's greeting from all of us at The Civil War Monitor. To celebrate, all this week, "The Front Line" blog will be posting Valentine-themed Voices from the Past from 1862 and 1863. We hope you enjoy!
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Voice from the Past: "Great Victories...At Such a Price of Blood"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/12/2012
There is news to-day of great victories in progress for us. Fort Donelson is surrounded; there has been a deadly fight, and our flag waves upon the outer fortifications. It is said that the rebels must yield, as all approaches are cut off, but it is the struggle of desperation with them, as this is the key to the whole Southwest. There are victories in Missouri and in North Carolina also; more...
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Happy 203rd Birthday Abraham LincolnRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/12/2012"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
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Voice from the Past: "Such Astounding Events"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/11/2012
Our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series begins with the following entry from John Beauchamp Jones' February, 1862 diary:
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The Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort DonelsonRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/11/2012
After capturing Fort Henry on February 6th, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant advanced towards Fort Donelson. Five days of fighting ensued in which the Confederates failed to break through Grant’s lines. Finally, on February 16th, the fort’s 12,000-man garrison surrendered unconditionally to Grant.
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Black Soldiers and Lady LibertyRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/9/2012Our Black History Month celebration continues with this 1865 drawing of a wounded Union soldier by Thomas Nast.
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Roanoke Island...150 Years AgoRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/8/2012Roanoke Island showing the position of Confederate Batteries
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The Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke Island Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/7/2012
February 7th and 8th mark the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Roanoke Island. A lesser known battle, Roanoke Island was part of Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition and its successful outcome allowed the Union to...
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Voice from the Past: "The Right to Citizenship"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 2/7/2012
Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.
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Camp Life for African American RegimentsRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/7/2012Army of the Potomac—Scene in camp of Negro regiments—Method of punishment of Negro soldiers for various offences.
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Voice from the Past: "We Had Held Out for Over Two"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/6/2012
On the 4th of february the Federal fleet of gun-boats, followed by countless transports, appeared below the fort. Far as eye could see, the course of the river could be traced by the dense volumes of smoke issuing from the flotilla-indicating that the long-threatened attempt to break our lines was to be made in earnest. The gunboats took up a position about three miles below and opened a brisk...
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Aboard a Gun Deck During the Battle of Fort HenryRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/6/2012Gun-Deck of one of the Mississippi Gun-Boats Engaged in the Attack on Fort Henry
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Voice from the Past: "The 6th Dawned Mild and Cheering"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/6/2012
...Heavy rains had been falling, and the river had risen rapidly to an unusual height; the swift current brought down an immense quantity of heavy drift-wood, lumber, fences, and large trees, and it required all the steam-power of the Carondelet, with both anchors down, and the most strenuous exertions of the officers and crew, working day and night, to prevent the boat from being dragged...
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The Battle of Fort Henry SesquicentennialRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/6/2012Today marks the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort Henry—a Confederate earthern fort on the Tennessee River.
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The Week Ahead: February 6th-12thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 2/6/2012
February 12th @ 8pm: “The Rivalry,” an LA Theatre Works’ National Tour performance @ the Zeiterion Theatre (New Bedford, MA). LA Theatre Works production of The Rivalry is a riveting depiction of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, using dialogue from the original debate transcripts to bring to life the fierce competition between the future President and the incumbent Sena
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Honoring the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry BandRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/6/2012Our Black History Month Celebration continues...107th U.S. Colored Infantry Band at Fort Corcoran in Arlington, Virginia, November 1865
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Voice from the Past: Rallying with the Hearts of LionsRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/2/2012
The following letter is from Samuel Cabble, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, to his wife. Cabble was a slave before he joined the army at twenty-one years of age.
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Preparing to See the ElephantRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/2/2012Preparing the Negro Soldiers to Use the Minie Rifle - Our Black History Month Celebration Continues.
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Honoring African American Veterans for Black History MonthRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 2/1/2012Happy Black History Month! Today—and throughout the month of February, we honor those African Americans who fought in the Civil War.
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Inboard the USS MonitorRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/30/2012The above image is the USS Monitor's general plan featuring an inboard profile of the ironclad. First published in in 1862, the plan features hull cross section views, as well as views of the engine, boiler spaces, and areas below the upper deck.
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The Launching of a Legend...the USS MonitorRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/30/2012150 years ago today, the Union Navy launched the USS Monitor—its first ironclad—from the Continental Iron Works, at Greenpoint in Long Island, New York. Construction of the Monitor began in the fall of 1861 and Swedish engineer John Ericsson was responsible for her conception and design
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The Mighty MississippiRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/26/2012General View of the Mississipii River from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the river.
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What Robert E. Lee Didn’t Do After Appomattox Read More
Category: Analysis Posted: 1/24/2012
Actually, he didn’t do a lot of things. For starters, he didn’t lead a guerilla army against Federal invaders/occupiers—even though more than a few people suggested that he take that course of action. Second, he didn’t pick up and leave the country for Canada or Mexico. Finally, and most important, he didn’t take a public stance against the United States. He never...
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Prisoners from the FrontRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/23/2012Before Winslow Homer became a famed sea-scape painter, he was a Civil War correspondent and illustrator for Harpers Weekly. The above paiting, entitled "Prisoners from the Front," (1866) was featured in an online Wall Street Journal article today entitled, "It's History (Believe It or Not)."
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Voice from the Past: "A Terrible Struggle if it Comes to War."Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 1/19/2012
Both sides forget that we are all Americans, and that it must a terrible struggle if it comes to war.
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The Feminine Art of Inspiring Male Courage Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/17/2012Civil War illustrator Frank Leslie often parodied the evasion of the Enrollment Act of 1863. The image above encouraged women to make men feel obligated to go and fight via the persuasive method of emasculation.
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The Week in Review: January 9th-13thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 1/13/2012
The Bookshelf has been very busy lately. Last week, renowned blogger Kevin Levin reviewed The Last Battle of the Civil War: United States Versus Lee, 1861-1883 by Anthony J. Gaughan, stating that “Gaughan does an admirable job of steering the reader through some complex legalese that helps to keep the narrative flowing.” This week, The Bookshelf featured four new reviews: Mark A. ...
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Looking Back...Just Fifty YearsRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 1/12/2012
As we start the second year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, it is only natural to also look back fifty years to how Americans viewed, and perhaps used, the centennial. Here's a brief look at those years through the covers of Life Magazine.
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2011: A Year in ReviewRead More
Category: Front Line Editor's Note Posted: 1/10/2012
Much to the delight of The Civil War Monitor editorial staff, another year and another sesquicentennial celebration have begun. As we look forward to all that 2012 has in store for us, we cannot help but reflect back on 2011 and the launch of The Monitor. Above all, we are thankful to all of our fans, supporters, readers, writers, and bloggers for making 2011 and the start of The Monitor such a...
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The Week Ahead: January 10th-15thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 1/10/2012
Happy New Year! With the start of a new year, we embark upon a whole new year of sesquicentennial events. Below are the Civil War events happening around the U.S. this week.
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The Skating SeasonRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/6/2012Good Morning! Our celebration of New Year's Day 1862 comes to a close with the following image "The Skating Season - 1862."
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A Soldier's Forty WinksRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 1/5/2012
But what was most interesting was that there was a good amount of current research on medicine in the Civil War, including new looks at old cases, biographies, and more.
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Voice from the Past: "The Cheer of the Glad New Year"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/5/2012
New Year's Day, and orders to go to Dam No. 5, with Ashby's cavalry. This was a bright sunny day, but a cold west wind made it disagreeable marching. This evening we are camped in a field near Dam No. 5, with cold beef, bread, and plenty of good water, and an old barn full of soft downy hay to sleep in to-night, all of which brightens the cheer of the glad New Year.
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The Angry Politics of Confederate HeritageRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 1/3/2012
In demanding political candidates' fealty to Confederate symbols, heritage advocates do themselves—and their candidates—no great favors among the general electorate.
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Voice from the Past: "A Dull Day"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/3/2012
Today's Voice from the Past comes from Alexander G. Downing. His 1862 New Years' celebration was a far cry from the revelry enjoyed by most modern day celebrants.
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Voice from the Past: "A Great Day of Sport to Usher in the New Year"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 1/2/2012
Happy New Year!
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The Great FairRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/29/2011Happy Holidays! As we prepare to ring in the new year, it seems fitting to recall a festive occassion from 1861.
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Voice from the Past: "Not peace, but a sword"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/26/2011
Happy Holidays! Today's Voice from the Past is Wilder Dwight of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. The following passage is an excerpt from a 15 December 1861 letter to his mother:
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The Funeral of a "Gentleman Cow"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/22/2011
Confederate garrison troops in Texas demonstrate against the issue of inedible rations in a distinctive way.
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Voice from the Past: Dressed All the Wards with Festoons and GarlandsRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/22/2011
We had taken some goodies and little traps with us for the men in the hospitals in Alexandria and were glad to find the nice arrangements that had already been made by Madame M. She had got Col. Davies to detail some of the 16th men to bring her Christmas greens, and had dressed all the wards with festoons and garlands, little flags, mottoes, etc., besides arranging for a grand Christmas dinner...
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Voices from the Past: The Battle of DranesvilleRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/20/2011
When the action had lasted about two hours I found that the enemy, being already in force larger than my own, was recovering from his disorder and receiving heavy re-enforcements. I could not, with my small numbers, being beyond the reach of re-enforcements, force his position without fearful sacrifice, and seeing that his artillery, superior to ours in numbers and position only, was pouring a...
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Voice from the Past: A Pleasant ChristmasRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/19/2011
Christmas went off very pleasantly and apparently to the satisfaction of all. Drills were suspended and all went in for a good time. The Irishmen had their Christmas box, the Germans their song and lager, while ball playing and other athletic sports used up the day, and music and dancing were the order of the evening. Santa Claus came with a Christmas dinner for a few, but more of us he passed by....
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The Week in Review - December 12th-16thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 12/16/2011
In the News… Recently, The Atlantic Magazine published a Civil War commemorative issue. Online contributions include Kevin Levin’s insightful piece, “Not Your Grandfather’s Civil War Commemoration” and Ta-Nehisi Coates...
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Voice from the Past: A Loud Rap on the DoorRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/15/2011
Good morning! Today's Voice from the Past comes from a December 22, 1861 letter from Elisha Franklin Paxton to his wife. And if you hear a loud rap at the door some night before long, you need not think robbers are breaking in, but that your own...
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The Week Ahead: December 13th-18thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 12/13/2011
FEATURED EVENT: December 16th @4-6pm: Bruce R. Wells, author and historian, will sign copies of his new book The Bermuda Hundred Campaign: The Creole & The Beast @ Book People (Richmond, VA).
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Voice From the Past: "There Was Death Only" — The Battle of FredericksburgRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/13/2011
Today marks the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg, a disastrous Union defeat that saw over 12,000 Federal soldiers killed or wounded. What follows is an account of the fight in the words of William Thompson Lusk, an officer in the 79th New York Infantry who observed the engagement from a safe distance and wrote about what he saw in a letter to his mother several days later:
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Voice from the Past: A Christmas Bundle Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/12/2011
Good Morning! Today's Voice from the Past is Julia Ellen LeGrand Waitz of New Orleans, Louisiana. The following excerpt is from a December 1861 diary entry. Just completed another bundle of clothes for poor Claude, which we hope...
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Voice from the Past: The Hardest Calamities to BearRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/8/2011
Among the calamities of war, the hardest to bear, perhaps, is the separation of families and friends. Yet all must be endured to accomplish our independence and maintain our self-government. In my absence from you I have thought of you very often, and...
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Image of the Day: Hope That Thing Isn't Loaded!Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/6/2011A Union volunteer strikes a (potentially tragic?) pose with a group of comrades. We hope those guys were friends!
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The Week Ahead: December 5th - 11thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 12/5/2011Those are the events and highlights for the week. If you would like to add your event to The Week Ahead, please email us.
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Voices from the Past - Christmasday!Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 12/5/2011
Good morning! To celebrate the holidays, all of the quotables this month will reference Christmas 1861. Our first voice from the past is Raphael Semmes, who wrote the following statement in his diary on Christmas Day, 1861:
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Voice from the Past: 1861 Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 12/1/2011ARM'D year! year of the struggle! No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you, terrible year!
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A Second Helping of Civil War ThanksgivingRead More
Category: Front Line Editor's Note Posted: 11/29/2011
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ate lots of turkey/tofurkey, and survived the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. Since, we did not post our regular week in review last Friday, we thought we would give you a second helping of all the great Civil War Thanksgiving inspired blog posts from last week. After all, the best part of Thanksgiving is going back for...
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Celebration or Riot?Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/29/2011Upon hearing the news of General George McClellan's appointment as chief commander of the Union Army, Washingtonians embarked upon a grand torch-light procession, set off a display of fire-works, and serenaded the General McClellan. The "compliment" proceeded from the soldiers of Blenker's Brigade, but numbered about 2000 infantry, two companies of cavalry, and a great number of citizens.They...
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Voice from the Past: "The Best Man and the Best General"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 11/28/2011
"I am very glad to learn that my order changed Gen. Scott's feelings entirely, and that he now says I am the best man and the best general that ever existed."
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The Week Ahead: November 28th - December 4th Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/28/2011
Featured Announcement: Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier will operate its winter schedule from Nov. 28, 2011 through February 26, 2012.
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Voice from the Past - Thanksgiving is OverRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/25/2011
Happy Black Friday! We hope you all had a wonderful (and delectable) Thanksgiving. Our final "Voice from the Past" comes from the November 1861 diary of Lucy Larcom of Nordton, Massachusetts...
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Voice from the Past - Thankfully Keeping Thanksgiving DayRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/24/2011
Our Thanksgiving tribute continues. Today's "Voice from the Past" is Wilder Dwight of the Second Massachusettes Infantry Volunteers...
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Voice from the Past - "Fleshing our teeth in a secesh gobbler..."Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/23/2011
Good Morning! We continue our week long Civil War Thanksgiving celebration with an excerpt from William Wheeler's November 11, 1861 letter to his mother...
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Voice from the Past - A Thanksgiving Day ProclamationRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/22/2011While Americans had celebrated Thanksgiving since 1621, it was not until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the following Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. Only then, did the holiday became a national annual event, occurring on the last Thursday of November. The first observance of the Thanksgiving holiday occurred one week after the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg....
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Voice from the Past - Thanksgiving SensationsRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/22/2011
Happy Thanksgiving! The following account of an 1861 Thanksgiving dinner amongst the Union army comes from a letter written by Wilder Dwight of the 2nd Massachusettes Infantry.
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Voice from the Past - The Customs of Our Puritan FathersRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 11/21/2011
Good morning! To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, The Front Line will be posting different "Voices from the Past" about Civil War soldiers' Thanksgiving experiences. Our first quote comes from the 1861 diary of David L. Day, 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
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Week in Review – November 14th – 18thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/18/2011
Post Veterans’ Day, many news stories focused on War graveyards and commemorative sites. In Springfield, Illinois, Copper thieves recently stole a 3-foot sword from atop Abraham Lincoln's burial site. On a more positive note, the Truckee Cemetery District in California received tombstones to honor six previously unidentified Civil War veterans. Chaun Mortier, a research historian...
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Voice from the Past - "Am afloat, adrift"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 11/17/2011
"Am afloat, adrift, abroad, motion uneasy, “Inner man” “stomach” becoming so. I think I’ll try full-length. A cotton-bale & the open air on the for’ard deck. “Very grand.” The sea—if one could only see it and not sea-sickness. Very charming, too a sailor’s life, and so they say is hanging when one gets used to it. “Aye...
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"Soldiers of Fortune, Make Us Your Game!"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/15/2011
William Howard Russell was a “special correspondent” for the London Times, who travelled the North and South during the early years of the war. The exerpted quote describes a luncheon hosted by Confederate First Lady Varina Davis. While indicative of Russell's pro-Confederate views, it does call into question the scope of secession.
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A Civil War Cattle DriveRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/15/2011Beef for the Union Army Cross the Long Bridge at Washington.
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The Week Ahead: November 14th-20thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/14/2011
Starting November 14th: “Divided Loyalties: Civil War Documents,” a Missouri State Archives exhibit @ the Nodaway County Historical Society Museum (MO).
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Voices from the Past - The Integrity of the UnionRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 11/14/2011
"You will please constantly to bear in mind the precise issue for which we are fighting; that issue is the preservation of the Union and the restoration of the full authority of the general government over all portions of our territory..."
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Honoring our Veterans...Then & NowRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/11/2011The Civil War Monitor editors would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of the veterans and active duty personnel of our armed services. We salute you! To remember the Civil War veterans of yesteryear...
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Happy Birthday Marines!Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/10/2011
To celebrate the 236th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps, we found this image of Civil War marines.
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Who Will Be Worthy of Memorialization?Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/10/2011
The following cartoon is from the 9 November 1861 issue of Harper's Weekly...
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The Week Ahead: November 7th - 13thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/8/2011All Month: “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit” @ the Onslow County Public Library (Jacksonville, NC).
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A Regiment of InventorsRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 11/8/2011
Ingenuity was wielded as a weapon during the American Civil War, with inventors plying their trade in the “arts of death,” as Shaw put it. One newspaper, noting that the “inventive faculty of the country is in the Northern States,” put out a colorful call:
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Voices from the Past: "Sagacious Military Conjecture"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/7/2011
Wilder Dwight was a Lieutenant Colonel inthe 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Prior to dying September 19, 1862 from wounds at the Battle of Antietam, Dwight wrote some conjectures about the events at the Battle of Port Royal.
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The Confederate Perspective: "Port Royal...has been taken by the enemy's fleet"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 11/7/2011
— From the 9 November 1861 entry of John Beauchamp Jones Diary—
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Voices from the Past: "The Glorious News from Port Royal"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/7/2011
After the Union victory at Port Royal, Major General George Brinton McClellan wrote the following letter to his wife, Mary Ellen Marcy McClellan.
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Voices from the Past: "A Slow Affair"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/7/2011
William Thompson Lusk (May 23, 1838 – June 12, 1897) was an American obstetrician, who left medical school to join the Union Army. Lusk participated in the Battle of Port Royal and wrote about his experiences. Unusually, Lusk did not vilify the Southern soldiers he encountered; he seemed to regard the Southerners highly, often criticizing the "Yankee hordes" who invaded the ...
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Voices from the Past: "The Gratifying Duty"Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/7/2011
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Port Royal—one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War. The United States Navy fleet and the United States Army expeditionary force worked together captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, including Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island and Fort Beauregard on Phillip's Island. The following is Union Flag Officer Samuel Du ...
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Week in Review: October 31st-November 4thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/4/2011
Civil War in the News… The big news this week is that President Barack Obama designated Fort Monroe a national monument on Monday. The President stated, "Fort Monroe has played a part in some of the darkest and some of the most heroic moments in American history...In related preservation news, our friends at the Civil War Trust recently announced the successful completion of efforts to protect...
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Image of the Day: The Dogs of WarRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/4/2011From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, "An Incident of Battle — A Faithful Dog Watching the Dead Body of His Master" ...
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Sarah Morgan's Arrival in Yankee-Occupied New OrleansRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 11/3/2011
In April 1863, 21-year-old Sarah Morgan, along with her mother and sisters, found herself on a ship headed for the city of her birth, New Orleans. The Morgan familiy had lived in Baton Rouge for years, but after Union forces took the town the previous August, they abondoned their home...
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The Week Ahead: Nov 1st-6th Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 11/1/2011
Featured Event: 38th Annual DC Historical Studies Conference - Thursday, November 3rd - Sunday, November 6th Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library Conference events include the 2011 Letitia Woods Brown Lecture, “Lincoln’s Citadel: The Civil War in Washington, DC” (by Kenneth J. Winkle, Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln), sessions on "Toward a ...
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Voices from the Past - Out of That Silence Rose New Sounds More Appalling StillRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 10/31/2011
The Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15, 1862) was a decisive loss for the Union Army, crippling Northern morale. The chilling quote below derives from Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's description of the battle's aftermath
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Voices From the Past: "I am truly thankful for the institution of ghosts..." Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 10/31/2011
"You perceive that my idea of ghosts is not limited to graveyards and tombs, or the tenants thereof; indeed, so far from it..."
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"They See a Ghost or Something."Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 10/31/2011
On May 25, 1863, Union soldier David L. Day, of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteers, recorded a strange incident that occurred while his regiment was on a recent nighttime march:
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Mrs. ("Beast") Butler's Scary DreamRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 10/31/2011
On April 4, 1862, Sarah Hildreth Butler, wife of Union general Benjamin F. ("Beast") Butler, wrote a friend to document her recent activities on Ship Island, off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which Union troops commanded by her husband had occupied since the previous December. As she notes, a recent storm made for a particulary spooky night:
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Week in Review – October 23rd – 28thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/29/2011
Over on The Bookshelf, we posted two new book reviews. Elizabeth Varon reviewed The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America by William G. Thomas—a “tour-de-force, and offers a series of bracing insights about the origins, shape and outcome of the Civil War” and a “must-read for students, scholars and enthusiasts alike” for its &ldquo...
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Are You Ready for Some (Civil War) Football?Read More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 10/28/2011Winslow Homer's depiction of Union soldiers playing "Foot-Ball" in camp. Looks harmless enough...
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Teaching Slavery as the Cause of the Civil WarRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 10/27/2011
“What caused the Civil War?” Historians have killed forests trying to answer this deceptively simple question. In a recent essay in The Journal of the Civil War Era, Frank Towers discusses changing interpretations over the last 150 years, finding that starting in the 1960s historians “foregrounded slavery as the war’s cause, situated within a global process of modernization...
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Respect My Heritage; You Can Stick YoursRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 10/25/2011
Several news stories appeared in the media recently updating recent developments in a neighborhood dispute in South Carolina that’s been brewing for about year now. The brief recap is that a white woman, Annie Chambers Caddell, moved into the historically African American neighborhood of Brownsville, an formerly-unincorporated area now part of the city of Summerville.
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The Week Ahead: October 24th – October 30th Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/24/2011
In celebration of Halloween, there are several "spooky" Civil War events this week...
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Voices From the Past: "An Inferior Force"Read More
Category: Quotables Posted: 10/24/2011
“Well, so far we seem to have applied a new maxim of war, always to meet the enemy with an inferior force at the point of attack.”
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Week in Review: October 17th-21stRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/21/2011
The other hot topic, not surprisingly giving the Silas Chandler buzz last week, has been the African American soldier. Ethan Rafuse discussed the controversial photograph of a group of black Union soldiers posed for with a white officer while Kevin Levin spent his week “Thinking About the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.”
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Ball's Bluff RememberedRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 10/21/2011
One hundred fifty years ago today, on October 21, 1861, Union troops suffered a humiliating defeat in what would come to be known as the Battle of Ball's Bluff. After crossing the Potomac River to conduct a reconnaissance in the vicinity of Leesburg, Virginia, a small Union force was routed by the opposing Confederates, who drove the survivors back down the steep banks of the Potomac and...
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Progress and Change and PreservationRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 10/20/2011
We often hear a good location is critical in many business pursuits, particularly in retail. Yet for those who study Civil War battles, the battlefield IS the location...
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"Coal for the Furnaces is as important as Gunpowder for the Guns"Read More
Category: Analysis Posted: 10/18/2011
If cannon and rifles were the engines of war, then gunpowder was the fuel for those engines. On countless Civil War battlefields, the fuel was employed to great effect—physically and psychologically—just as it had for the centuries prior...
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Southward BoundRead More
Category: From the Archives Posted: 10/17/2011
One hundred fifty years ago today—October 17, 1861—25-year-old Lieutenant W. H. Timberlake of the 8th Maine Volunteers wrote the following letter from his regiment's camp in Annapolis, Maryland. The men of the 8th had been in service little over a month at the time; four days later, they would board ships for the coast of South Carolina as part of the Port Royal Expedition.
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The Week Ahead...October 17th - 23rd Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/17/2011
Ongoing through November 2nd – “The Art of War: Exhibit depicts news images from Civil War”- a collection of more than 70 wood engravings at the Mandeville Gallery, Union College (Schenectady, NY). Joshua Brown, director of the American Social History Project and author of Beyond the Lines: Pictorial Reporting, Everyday Life and the Crisis of Gilded Age America, will discuss the...
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Week in Review: October 9th-16thRead More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/16/2011
Colgate University (formerly Madison University) will be inducting George Gavin Ritchie into the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum over a 150 years after he was expelled from the campus. The Unison Battlefield has become an official state historic district and should be a national historic battlefield district soon; the National Register of Historic Places is expected to confirm its...
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Bolting On the Civil War NavyRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 10/13/2011
Several months back, my friend Matthew Eng, coordinator at the Hampton Roads Navy Museum, asked me why the naval aspects of the Civil War tend to stand off from the main discussion of the war. When you think of the war’s great battles the likes of ...
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D. W. Griffith’s Other Civil War MovieRead More
Category: Commentary Posted: 10/11/2011The infamous director's 1930 biography of Lincoln was one of only two "talkies" made by Griffith, and stars Walter Huston in the title role. The screenplay is by Stephen Vincent Benét, who the year previous had won the Pulitzer Prize for his book-length poem, John Brown's Body. The film is the earliest feature-length film on Lincoln.
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The Week Ahead…Civil War Events for October 10th-16th Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/10/2011Featured Event of the Week: Center for the Study of the Civil War Era: Saturday, October 15, 6:00 p.m. The Center for the Study of the Civil War Era at Kennesaw State University presents Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. and ‘The Untold Civil War.’ Dr. Robertson 's lecture topic, and title of his latest book soon to be published by National Geographic, represent a compilation of some of the...
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Voices from the Past: A "Plucky" Young SoldierRead More
Category: Quotables Posted: 10/10/2011Good morning! The Civil War Monitor has added a new section to The Front Line: Quotables. Each Monday, we will share a Voice from Past to help you learn more about the Civil War...from the men and women who actually lived it.
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Week in Review: October 3rd – 9th, 2011 Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/9/2011
Civil War History in the News... In a surprising bit of news, The Virginia Military Institute finished acquiring the Stonewall Jackson House. Also in commemoration news...
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"It made us an 'is'."Read More
Category: Analysis Posted: 10/4/2011It's one of the great quotes, from one of the great documentaries, that sums up the legacy of the American Civil War:
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Weekly Roundup: October 4-9, 2011Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/3/2011Here are some of the upcoming Civil War events this week:
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Week in Review: September 25th - October 2nd Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 10/2/2011
The Internet and the introduction of Web 2.0 tools have shattered the ability of any one institution or even a select few to speak for the nation. The democratization of the web allows all of us to engage in individual acts of remembrance through participation in wikis, listservs, blogs and the creation of ever more creative digital projects…We have always had the ability as...
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A War of WordsRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 9/29/2011
There’s a lot that remains unsettled about the Civil War: “Manassas” or “Bull Run”? “Civil War” or “War Between the States”? Forget the big questions about what the war was about: we cannot even agree on something as simple as what words to use to describe what actually happened between 1861 and 1865. It’s the sort of disagreement that...
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Texas SCV Calls for a New StrategyRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 9/27/2011
Recently Mark Vogl, Lieutenant Commander of the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called for a shift strategy in that organization's approach to "heritage defense," away from throwing up legal challenges to perceived slights and instead focusing on a more proactive, less-confrontational approach.
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Week in Review: September 18-24, 2011Read More
Category: News & Events Posted: 9/24/2011
Welcome to the first edition of our “Week in Review.” Obviously, the big news of the week is that the CivilWarMonitor.com Web site is live and that a free digital copy of The Civil War Monitor’s premier issue has become available online. We hope you enjoy!
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These Sacred Fields: Union Commemorations at GettysburgRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 9/21/2011
For Union veterans of the Civil War, the battlefield at Gettysburg served as the epicenter for war remembrance. The modern landscape certainly attests to this. A forest of marble, granite, and bronze—monuments to the Union cause—cover the rolling farmland and rocky hills of the area immediately surrounding the small Pennsylvania town where in the summer of 1863, two armies clashed in...
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We Cannot Know Their MindsRead More
Category: Analysis Posted: 9/21/2011
Certainly there are many people from that era, men and women, soldiers and civilians, who left diaries and letters that have survived down to the present that give us real insight into their thoughts at the time. There are also those who wrote memoirs decades later; these are helpful but come with the caveat that they were written both from the perspective of the intervening years, and with the...
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Welcome to The Front Line!Read More
Category: Commentary Posted: 9/21/2011
The goal of The Front Line is to provide a vibrant and active space for both our readers and our contributors. Just as printed editions of The Civil War Monitor attempt to bridge the chasm that divides many professional scholars from broader historical audiences, this space utilizes the infinite reach and timeliness of the Internet to achieve the same goal. As such, ...
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