Blogs

Published 3/8/2023

ROTHERA: Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas (2022)

By: Chase H. McCarter Category: Book Reviews

Evan Rothera's "Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas" shifts focus away from Europe and centers the interconnected civil wars and reconstructions that transpired concurrently in the U.S., Mexico, and Argentina.

Published 3/6/2023

"When the Boys Come Home"

By: John Hay Category: From the Archives

In June 1864, Harper's Weekly published the following poem by John Hay, one of two personal secretaries to President Abraham Lincoln. Hay, 25 at the time, remained with Lincoln until the president's assassination in April 1865. After the war, Hay remained active in politics, serving as secretary of state under President William McKinley. He died in 1905 at age 66.

Published 3/2/2023

CHERVINSKY & COSTELLO (eds.): Mourning the Presidents (2023)

By: Brian Matthew Jordan Category: Book Reviews

Students of Civil War history have much to grapple with in "Mourning the Presidents," edited by Lindsay M. Chervinsky and Matthew R. Costello.

Published 2/24/2023

The Books That Built Me: Joan Waugh

By: Joan Waugh Category: Articles

Narrowing down a list of “books that built me” was surprisingly difficult. The books finally selected, four biographies and one autobiography, stand as touchstones marking different periods of my intellectual enlightenment, framing a lifelong interest in using the biographical method to understand the past. Emerson’s above quotation held meaning for me almost as soon as I learned how to read...

Published 2/22/2023

KRETZ: Administering Freedom (2022)

By: Evan C. Rothera Category: Book Reviews

Dale Kretz's "Administering Freedom" begins where some scholars have ended their accounts: the shuttering of the Freedom's Bureau in 1872.

Published 2/15/2023

WOOD: Lady Rebels of Civil War Missouri (2022)

By: John Sarvela Category: Book Reviews

In "Lady Rebels of Civil War Missouri," Larry Wood takes readers into the most complex and contentious period of the state's history...

Published 2/10/2023

Civil War Emojis

By: The Civil War Monitor Category: From the Archives

The May 23, 1863, issue of Harper's Weekly ran the following ad by E.P. Gleason, a New York-based manufacturer. The ad, which promoted Gleason's "Kerosine Crater," an attachment to be used with a kerosine lamp, was ahead of its time, as evidenced by Gleason's use of what we'd today call emojis—small images or icons used to epress ideas, emotions, etc. It's unclear how well Gleason's ad...

Published 2/8/2023

NEWSOME: Gettysburg's Southern Front (2022)

By: Jonathan M. Steplyk Category: Book Reviews

In "Gettysburg’s Southern Front," Hampton Newsome takes readers beyond the fields of Pennsylvania to examine Union efforts to threaten Richmond.

Published 2/1/2023

WILLIAMS: I Saw Death Coming (2023)

By: Jennifer Andrella Category: Book Reviews

In "I Saw Death Coming," Kidada E. Williams provides an essential cross-section into how racist violence targeted Black families and postwar freedom.

Published 1/28/2023

The Books That Built Me: George Rable

By: George C. Rable Category: Articles

I was not one of those precocious Civil War enthusiasts who started reading Bruce Catton at the age of 10. Even when I was in high school, my tastes ran more to literature than to history. The first history book that left a serious im- pression was John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage (1957). For some reason the chapter on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and Kansas senator Edmund G. Ross,...

Published 1/25/2023

THORP & ROSSINO: The Tale Untwisted (2023)

By: Brian Matthew Jordan Category: Book Reviews

In "The Tale Untwisted," Gene Thorp and Alexander Rossino build on but meaningfully extend Maryland Campaign revisionism.

Published 1/18/2023

LOWENSTEIN: Ways and Means (2022)

By: Gordon Berg Category: Book Reviews

Roger Lowenstein's "Ways and Means" flows with a confident grace, guiding readers through myriad financial schemes, government policies, and political intrigue.

Published 1/11/2023

MORGAN III: Six Miles from Charleston, Five Minutes to Hell (2022)

By: A.J. Blaylock Category: Book Reviews

"Six Miles from Charleston, Five Minutes to Hell" argues that Secessionville was a key battle, outweighing in scope what it lacked in scale.

Published 1/9/2023

Josephine Miller and Her Stove

By: Charles Carleton Coffin Category: From the Archives

New Hampshire-born journalist Charles Carleton Coffin accompanied Winfield Scott Hancock and his II Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg Campaign. Coffin wrote about a memorable encounter between Union troops and Gettysburg resident Josephine Miller, 23, who remained in the family house with her father as the battle intensified in the area. Coffin’s account, published as part...

Published 1/4/2023

FULLER & KNIGHT (eds.): Contemners and Serpents (2022)

By: George C. Rable Category: Book Reviews

"Contemners and Serpents" presents the correspondence of a family who ended up in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina during and after the Civil War.

Published 12/28/2022

MINGUS, SR., & WITTENBERG: “If We are Striking for Pennsylvania” (2022)

By: Codie Eash Category: Book Reviews

Mingus and Wittenberg present a comprehensive retelling of the critical period that preceded the conflict’s bloodiest encounter.

Published 12/21/2022

COBB: C. Vann Woodward (2022)

By: Aaron David Hyams Category: Book Reviews

James C. Cobb's biography "C. Vann Woodward" provides unique insight into the power and production of history.

Published 12/16/2022

The Holiday Season During War

By: The Civil War Monitor Category: Photo Essays

How did Americans observe Christmas and the New Year during the Civil War? Illustrated newspapers, like Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's, published many illustrations throughout the conflict that showed readers how their fellow countrymen marked the holiday season, both in the army and on the homefront.

Published 12/14/2022

REDD: Hidden History of Civil War Florida (2022)

By: Angela Zombek Category: Book Reviews

Robert Redd's "Hidden History of Civil War Florida" highlights the depth fo the state's Civil War history.

Published 12/12/2022

Emancipation's Truth

By: Anthony J. Cade II Category: Analysis

Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation could be one of this century’s great movies about self-emancipation. Not because of its fragile historical accuracy, or because it stars Will Smith, but because it lives up to its title: