Lincoln and Yosemite
The Front Line
In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt paid his first visit to the Yosemite Valley of California, with John Muir as his guide. For three days the president and the naturalist explored a…
A New Look at America’s Greatest Conflict
Current Issue
Robert E. Lee's Unwritten History
Vol. 14, No. 3
Grant and Sherman did it. Hood and Longstreet and Johnston too. So why didn’t the Confederacy’s greatest general write a memoir of the war?
Recent Posts
Young Abolitionists (2024)
Book Reviews
“Young Abolitionists” succeeds in highlighting a dramatically understudied facet of both the history of childhood and the history of reform and abolitionism.
Death of a Loyal Brother
The Front Line
In September 1861, Byron B. Wilson, 24, enlisted as a private in Company H of the newly forming 4th Vermont Infantry. Over the time of his service, Wilson wrote home…
Yankees in the Hill City (2024)
Book Reviews
“Yankees in the Hill City” straddles the line between a local history of Lynchburg and a micro history of a prisoner of war camp.
Episode 1: The 1864 Presidential Election
The 1864 Project
Our host, John Heckman, talks to Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer about the 1864 presidential election, which pitted incumbent Abraham Lincoln against his Democratic challenger, George B. McClellan. Holzer discusses the…
To Dig or Not To Dig
The Front Line
What do the battlegrounds at Gettysburg, Kennesaw Mountain, and Murfreesboro have in common? From a tactical perspective, large portions of these fighting fields resisted digging, prohibiting entrenching as a defensive…
Featured Posts
The 1864 Project Trailer
Featured
We’re excited to announce that the Monitor’s first-ever podcast series is launching later this month. The 1864 Project is a 7-part series that focuses on a vitally important year during the Civil War—1864. Listen to the trailer for more.
The Civil War’s Epidemics
Civil War Medicine
It’s well-known that the Civil War was the United States’ deadliest conflict. Between 750,000 and 1 million Americans died, shockingly high figures that still drive interest in the conflict more…
McClellan’s Culture of Command
Featured
George B. McClellan profoundly affected the course of the Civil War. His inexplicable retreat following a major victory at Malvern Hill in July 1862 undoubtedly lengthened the conflict and, to…
A Hospital Steward’s Story
Featured
During the Siege of Port Hudson in 1863—part of the Union military’s attempt to seize control of the Mississippi River—James Kendall Hosmer, a soldier in the 52nd Massachusetts Infantry,…
The Best Civil War Books of 2023
Featured
The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2023 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we’ve enlisted a handful of Civil War…
The Books That Built Me: John Hennessy
Featured
The contruction of my historiographical self began on a rainy afternoon in fifth grade. There was no chance for outdoor romping, or venturing through the deluge to a friend’s house…