Blogs

Published 6/7/2023

TOWLE: African Americans, Death, and the New Birth of Freedom (2022)

By: Daniel Kotzin Category: Book Reviews

Ashley Towle's "African Americans, Death, and the New Birth of Freedom" is an essential read.

Published 5/31/2023

MARTIN: From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge (2022)

By: Gordon Berg Category: Book Reviews

In "From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge," Brian Martin describes Canada's unique role in the U.S. Civil War.

Published 5/24/2023

Elmer Ellsworth's Civil War

By: The Civil War Monitor Category: Photo Essays

On May 24, 1861, 24-year-old Elmer E. Ellsworth—colonel of the 11th New York Infantry—was shot and killed by the pro-secessionist proprietor of the Marshall House, an inn located in Alexandria, Virginia, after the young officer removed a Confederate flag that flew from its roof. Ellsworth, who had risen to fame before the war while touring the country with his military drill team, the Zouave ...

Published 5/24/2023

HARMAN: All Roads Led to Gettysburg (2022)

By: Codie Eash Category: Book Reviews

Troy D. Harman returns with another contemplative treatment of the summer of 1863 in "All Roads Led to Gettysburg."

Published 5/17/2023

HOOPER: Delivered Under Fire (2023)

By: Tim Talbott Category: Book Reviews

Candice Shy Hooper’s "Delivered Under Fire" gives students of the conflict a greater appreciation for one of its more fascinating individuals.

Published 5/9/2023

CIMPRICH: Navigating Liberty (2022)

By: Cecily N. Zander Category: Book Reviews

John Cimprich's "Navigating Liberty" gives thorough attention to the most important subjects in the literature on the transition from slavery to freedom.

Published 5/3/2023

PRIDE: Storm Over Key West (2020)

By: Kevin McPartland Category: Book Reviews

Mike Pride's "Storm Over Key West" interrogates the social, political, and racial dynamics of the island from the 1840s into the early phases of Reconstruction.

Published 4/25/2023

MAXFIELD: Man of Fire (2023)

By: Brian Matthew Jordan Category: Book Reviews

Neither blind to the general's foibles nor taken by the Lost Cause caricatures, Derek D. Maxfield's "Man of Fire" renders a human portrait of William Tecumseh Sherman.

Published 4/19/2023

HAUMESSER: The Democratic Collapse (2022)

By: J. Matthew Ward Category: Book Reviews

In "The Democratic Collapse," Lauren N. Haumesser contends that gender was a fountainhead of political contention in the antebellum United States.

Published 4/12/2023

MacKENZIE: The Fifth Border State (2023)

By: Jonathan A. Noyalas Category: Book Reviews

MacKenzie's thoughtfully researched and lucidly argued "The Fifth Border State" offers a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding West Virginia's formation.

Published 4/5/2023

SMITH: Young America (2022)

By: Benjamin E. Park Category: Book Reviews

Mark Power Smith's "Young America" challenges our framework for understanding the two decades immediately preceding the Civil War.

Published 4/1/2023

April-Fool's Day

By: Harper's Weekly Category: From the Archives

On March 30, 1861, Harper's Weekly published the following image to mark April Fool's Day. An accompanying report reads in part: 

Published 3/31/2023

Voices From the Army of Northern Virginia, Part 6

By: Gary W. Gallagher Category: Articles

This installment in the series focuses on the top leadership of the cavalry. The three titles include the correspondence of James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, by far the most important cavalryman in the Army of Northern Virginia, and Wade Hampton, his successor in 1864, together with staff officer Henry B. McClellan’s combination memoir and biography of Stuart. Other notable books with cavalry...

Published 3/29/2023

LONGACRE: Unsung Hero of Gettysburg (2021)

By: Codie Eash Category: Book Reviews

In "Unsung Hero of Gettysburg," Edward G. Longacre has commendably done his part to ensure that David McMurtrie Gregg is unsung no more.

Published 3/24/2023

Extra Voices: Battle Fatigue

By: The Civil War Monitor Category: Articles

In the Voices section of our Spring 2023 issue we highlighted quotes about the onset of battle fatigue among soldiers in the Union and Confederate armies. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to include all that we found. Below are those that just missed the cut.

Published 3/22/2023

KENT: Lincoln: The Fire of Genius (2022)

By: Jonathan Tracey Category: Book Reviews

David J. Kent's "Lincoln: The Fire of Genius" supplies strong evidence that Lincoln was a thoughtful and curious man who defied stereotypes.

Published 3/15/2023

TROTTI: The End of Public Execution (2022)

By: Aaron David Hyams Category: Book Reviews

With "The End of Public Execution," Michael Ayers Trotti gives us yet another perspective on how the world white Southerners envisioned and held as truth had to be most unnaturally forced into place.

Published 3/9/2023

Eyewitness to the Battle of Hampton Roads

By: Samuel Dana Green Category: In the First Person

During the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862--where the ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (Merrimac) fought to a draw--Lieutenant Samuel Dana Green was in the thick of the fight. The 23-year-old Maryland served as Monitor's executive officer, and would temporarily take command of the vessel after its captain, John Worden, was wounded during the battle. Five days after the...