Published: 3/1/12Honoring Civil War Women for Women’s History MonthBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Today marks the first day of Women’s History Month. To celebrate, The Front Line will have a month-long series of women’s history posts including images, quotes, writings, and biographies. We...
Published: 2/29/12WITTENBERG: Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry ActionsBy: A. Wilson GreeneCategory: Book Reviews Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions: Farnsworth’s Charge, South Cavalry Field, and the Battle of Fairfield, July 3, 1863 by Eric J. Wittenberg. Savas Beatie, 2011. Paper, ISBN: 1611210704. $17.95. This is the...
Published: 2/28/12Weird Essay WinnerBy: Frank GrzybCategory: Book Reviews This winning entry was submitted by Mr. Frank Grzyb of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, to The Civil War Monitor’s “Weirding the War Essay Contest”—an event held in honor of Weirding the War:...
Published: 2/28/12Mustered Out…The U.S. Colored TroopsBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “Mustered Out,” Little Rock, Arkansas, April 20, 1865 by Alfred R. Waud. Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, May 19, 1866 courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Published: 2/28/12Mustering Out Continued…General Orders No. 1By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line COMRADES: The hour is at hand when we must separate forever, and nothing can take from us the pride we feel, when we look upon the history of the ‘First...
Published: 2/27/12Recruiting Black Soldiers – The Fight for Equal RightsBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union army began recruiting African American soldiers. The first authorized black regiments came from Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Tennessee. While initially...
Published: 2/24/12A Request from the 36 U.S. Colored RegimentBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month celebration contines with this letter written by the 36th U.S. Colored Regiment to the commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau. Stationed near Petersburg, VA at the time,...
Published: 2/23/12Black Soldiers and the Bloody Battle of Milliken’s BendBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Part of the Vicksburg Campaign, the Battle at Milliken’s Bend occured on June 7, 1863 and included hand-to-hand combat between Confederate troops and a newly formed “African Brigade.” The following...
Published: 2/22/12MARTEN (ed.): Children and Youth During the Civil War Era (2012)By: Catherine M. WrightCategory: Book Reviews Children and Youth During the Civil War Era edited by James Marten. New York University Press, 2012. Paper, ISBN: 0814796087. $25.00. Despite the explosion of social history since the 1970s, few...
Published: 2/21/12BLIGHT: American Oracle (2011)By: David SilkenatCategory: Book Reviews American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era by David W. Blight. Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0674048555. $27.95. David Blight’s Race and Reunion (2001) established him as...
Published: 2/21/12Quarters for African American SoldiersBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month Celebration continues with this Harper’s Weekly depiction of “Negro Quarters, Army of the James.” Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, February 25, 1865.
Published: 2/20/12Rest in Peace Willie LincolnBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him...
Published: 2/20/12Special Field Orders No. 15By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our Black History Month celebration continues with General Willaim Tecumseh Sherman’s Special Field Orders No. 15. Issued January 16, 1865, Sherman’s orders confiscated approximately 400,000 acres of Confederate coastal property,...
Published: 2/17/12Voice from the Past: “It Pleased Me Much More Than One Of Those Sentimental Things”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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! Camp Porter, Virginia, Tuesday,...
Published: 2/16/12Voice from the Past: “Ask Us to Marry Him”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Alexandria, February, 1863. I must tell you about a little excursion we made on the 14th. Dr. S. gave us leave (Mrs. B. and me) to go down to Mt....
Published: 2/16/12After the BattleBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Our 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 Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly,...
Published: 2/15/12DAVIS & ROBERTSON (eds.): Virginia at War, 1865By: Michael B. ChessonCategory: Book Reviews Virgina at War, 1865 edited by William C. Davis and James I. Robertson. University of Kentucky Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0813134684. $40.00. The fifth and final volume of Virginia at War is the...
Published: 2/15/12FARMER-KAISER: Freedwomen and the Freedmen’s Bureau (2010)By: Carolyn ChesarinoCategory: Book Reviews Freedwomen and the Freedmen’s Bureau: Race, Gender, and Public Policy in the Age of Emancipation by Mary Farmer-Kaiser. Fordham University Press, 2010. Cloth, ISBN: 0823232115. $80.00. “If women-whippers and negro shooters...
Published: 2/15/12Voice from the Past: “My Valentine to the Best Woman in the World”By: Laura June DaviceCategory: The Front Line Union Mills, Va., February 14th, 1863. Dear Wife: It has this minute struck me that this is St. Valentine’s day and this will be my valentine to ‘the best woman...
Published: 2/15/12Voice from the Past: “Absolute Naval Supremacy”By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line We continue our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial celebration with the following diary entry by William Howard Russell, December, 1861: On my return to New York, at the end of February, the...