A New Look at America's Greatest Conflict

Subscribe

“Union Prisoners at Salisbury, N.C.” by Otto Boetticher
Current Issue

An Unholy Alliance

Vol. 11, No. 1

Behind the cloak-and-dagger relationship between detective Allan Pinkerton and Army of the Potomac commander George B. McClellan

Explore Issue

Recent Posts

TEMPLE: Whisperwood (2020)

Book Reviews

Van Temple's novel "Whisperwood" presents an illuminating exploration of Southern memory about the Civil War.

Essential Reading on the Coming of the Civil War

Articles

The literature on the coming of the Civil War is more than vast—it is overwhelming. Choosing just a handful of the thousands of books...

BUNN: The Assault on Fort Blakeley (2021)

Book Reviews

Mike Bunn's "The Assault on Fort Blakeley" is a fact-packed, authoritative, and amply illustrated book.

HARRIS: The Last Slave Ships (2020)

Book Reviews

John Harris' "The Last Slave Ships" is a model for scholars who wish to place the U.S. Civil War within a broader international context.

Kissing and Kicking Ass

Articles

A long-used vulgarity takes on new life during the Civil War ...

War's Early Days

In the First Person

Two days after the fall of Fort Sumter, 38-year-old South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chesnut sat down with her journal—something she'd done...

"The First Gun is Fired"

From the Archives

Published three days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, "The First Gun is Fired: May God Protect the Right" is known to be the...

KEMPF: What Though the Field Be Lost (2021)

Book Reviews

"What Though the Field Be Lost" sees the past and present together in their deadly, alien, sometimes ironic and sometimes enlightening...

Word-Clouding Lee's and Grant's Farewell Addresses

Articles

On the night of April 9, 1865, only hours after surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Robert E. Lee sat around a fire...

STOKES (ed.): Incidents in the Life of Cecilia Lawton (2021)

Book Reviews

"Incidents in the Life of Cecilia Lawton" brims with nostalgia for the antebellum South, teems with malice for Sherman, and articulate the...

Extra Voices: Shirkers

Articles

In the Voices section of the Spring 2021 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about...

Edward Steers' New Book

Advertisement

Show More »

Featured Posts

Extra Voices: Coffee

Articles

In the Voices section of the Winter 2020 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about the...

The Best Civil War Books of 2020

Articles

With the help of a handful of Civil War historians and enthusiasts, here is our list of the best Civil War books of 2020.

An Infernal Machine

Image of the Day

In the July 27, 1861, issue of Harper's Weekly, the editors published a small story about an "infernal machine" recently removed from the ...

New Year's Eve in Camp

In the First Person

On New Year's Eve 1862, 24-year-old William Thompson Lusk, a captain in the 79th New York Infantry—a regiment known as the "Highlanders"...

Winter is Coming

Photo Essays

With the winter season nearly upon us, we thought it the perfect time to compile Civil War scenes—in photos and sketches—that invoke the...

The Best Civil War Books of All Time

Analysis

What are the best Civil War books ever published? We asked a panel of Civil War historians—J. Matthew Gallman, Matthew C. Hulbert, James ...