The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 5/26/14
The First Civil War Monument
On December 5, 1861, the residents of several Philadelphia suburbs gathered at Hatboro, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a monument to the men of their community who had died during the Battle...
Published: 5/5/14
What Should Historians Make of “Black Confederates?”
Library of Congress The topic of so-called “Black Confederates” is controversial. Some insist that Confederate nationalism motivated thousands of African Americans to fight alongside their masters, proving that slavery did...
Published: 3/24/14
The Death of Jim Jackson and the Oxymoron of “Postbellum” Missouri, 1865-1866
In June 1865, Jim Jackson—one of Missouri’s more notorious Confederate guerrilla commanders—made haste for the Illinois line. The Confederate experiment to which Jackson belonged had recently ended in disaster. On...
Published: 3/17/14
Reconsidering the “Myth” of the Black Union Soldier
It’s hard to believe that 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the Hollywood movie Glory. Twenty-five years later it is also difficult to remember that for many...
Published: 2/10/14
The Civil War on the Great Lakes
When President Jefferson Davis refused to sanction a plot to take the American Civil War to the Great Lakes in the winter of 1863, Confederate Navy Lieutenant Robert D. Minor...
Published: 12/2/13
“Destructionist and Capturer”
Navy Lieutenant W.T. Glassell was furious that his faithful service was being questioned when he landed in Philadelphia in early 1862. He was coming off a long tour that had...
Published: 10/9/13
The Wound Dresser
During the Civil War, renowned poet Walt Whitman served as a nurse. His battlefield medical career began at Fredericksburg, where he tended to wounded soldiers—including his brother. Deeply moved by...
Published: 10/9/13
Civil War Amputation…In Their Own Words.
Throughout the Civil War, surgeons performed approximately 60,000 amputations—the most common battlefield operation. Such drastic measures were a consequence of the damage caused by Minié balls, which often shattered and...
Published: 10/9/13
Civil War Medical Remedies
While these nineteenth century remedies might not cure what ails you, they make an intriguing read. For Dysentery Dissolve as much table salt in pure vinegar as will ferment and...
Published: 9/30/13
The Civil War’s French Accent
In October 1862 during a wide-ranging meeting, the French Emperor Napoleon III asked Commissioner John Slidell why the Confederacy didn’t have a navy capable of breaking the blockade. The two...
Published: 8/19/13
Of Eyes and Teeth: The Trial of George Maddox, the Raid on Lawrence, and the Bloodstained Verdict of the Guerrilla War
Just after seven o’clock on the night of April, 2 1867, George Maddox slipped out the backdoor of the Ottawa, Kansas, courthouse, hopped on his horse, and rode for Missouri....
Published: 8/12/13
Williamsburg Battlefield Trust, Embattled
In Virginia’s “Historic Triangle” of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, colonial and revolutionary history far outshine the area’s role in the Civil War. Further, when one considers the role of African...
Published: 7/15/13
The Pursuit
On July 7 Major General George Gordon Meade left Gettysburg and traveled to Frederick, Maryland. He found the streets crowded with people eager to get a glimpse of him. The...
Published: 7/8/13
The Day Holt Collier Killed Hogzilla
Holt Collier (c. 1845-1936) was a Mississippi slave who went off to the Civil War as a servant to his master, Howell Hinds, and Hinds’ son Tom. Although he was...
Published: 7/1/13
The Battle in Public: Newspaper Reports from Gettysburg
Undoubtedly, over the next few days newspapers and blogs will provide enthralling details about the Battle of Gettysburg on the 150th anniversaries of each of its three days. In our...Published: 6/24/13
Oh Lord, Where Art Thou? Civil War Guards, Prisoners, and Punishments
A prison register was a seemingly strange place to write the Our Father. Nonetheless, one guard from the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, charged with guarding Johnson’s Island Prison, scribbled the...
Published: 6/10/13
A New Battle for Brandy Station
On June 8, 1863, Major General J.E.B. Stuart reviewed his cavalry division on the farm of Unionist John Minor Botts in Culpeper County, Virginia. It was a rare, memorable pageant...
Published: 6/3/13
Friends Across the Color Line
David Cornwell, formerly an infantryman in the 8th Illinois Infantry and a veteran of Shiloh, was serving with Battery D, 1st Illinois Artillery, in the summer of 1862. Stationed not...