The Front Line
Our communal blog featuring the latest in Civil War news, research, analysis, and events from a network of historians
Published: 11/21/11
Voice from the Past – The Customs of Our Puritan Fathers
Good morning! To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, The Front Line will be posting different “Voices from the Past” about Civil War soldiers’ Thanksgiving experiences. Our first quote comes from the...
Published: 11/17/11
Voice from the Past – “Am afloat, adrift”
“Am afloat, adrift, abroad, motion uneasy, “Inner man” “stomach” becoming so. I think I’ll try full-length. A cotton-bale & the open air on the for’ard deck. “Very grand.” The sea—if...
Published: 11/15/11
“Soldiers of Fortune, Make Us Your Game!”
William Howard Russell was a “special correspondent” for the London Times, who travelled the North and South during the early years of the war. The excerpted quote describes a luncheon...
Published: 11/15/11
A Civil War Cattle Drive
Beef for the Union Army Cross the Long Bridge at Washington. Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, 16 November 1861.
Published: 11/14/11
Voices from the Past – The Integrity of the Union
“You will please constantly to bear in mind the precise issue for which we are fighting; that issue is the preservation of the Union and the restoration of the full...
Published: 11/11/11
Honoring our Veterans…Then & Now
The Civil War Monitor editors would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of the veterans and active duty personnel of our armed services. We salute you! To...
Published: 11/10/11
Who Will Be Worthy of Memorialization?
The following cartoon is from the 9 November 1861 issue of Harper’s Weekly. The caption reads: “BROTHER JONATHAN, who has been getting up a Military Statue, succeeds very well in...
Published: 11/10/11
Happy Birthday Marines!
To celebrate the 236th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps, we found this image of Civil War marines. The caption reads, “The United States Marines and Marine Barracks at...
Published: 11/8/11
A Regiment of Inventors
“In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery all the slaughter of plague, pestilence,...
Published: 11/7/11
Voices from the Past: “A Slow Affair”
William Thompson Lusk (May 23, 1838 – June 12, 1897) was an American obstetrician, who left medical school to join the Union Army. Lusk participated in the Battle of Port...
Published: 11/7/11
Voices from the Past: “The Glorious News from Port Royal”
After the Union victory at Port Royal, Major General George Brinton McClellan wrote the following letter to his wife, Mary Ellen Marcy McClellan. “Nov. 1861. — You will have heard...
Published: 11/7/11
The Confederate Perspective: “Port Royal…has been taken by the enemy’s fleet”
“Port Royal, on the coast of South Carolina, has been taken by the enemy’s fleet. We had no casemated batteries. Here the Yankees will intrench themselves, and cannot be dislodged....
Published: 11/7/11
Voices from the Past: “Sagacious Military Conjecture”
Wilder Dwight was a Lieutenant Colonel inthe 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Prior to dying September 19, 1862 from wounds at the Battle of Antietam, Dwight wrote some conjectures about...
Published: 11/7/11
Voices from the Past: “The Gratifying Duty”
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Port Royal—one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War. The United States Navy fleet and the United States...
Published: 11/4/11
Image of the Day: The Dogs of War
From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, “An Incident of Battle — A Faithful Dog Watching the Dead Body of His Master”: Credit: Frank Leslie’s The Soldier in Our Civil War.
Published: 11/3/11
Sarah Morgan’s Arrival in Yankee-Occupied New Orleans
In April 1863, 21-year-old Sarah Morgan, along with her mother and sisters, found herself on a ship headed for the city of her birth, New Orleans. The Morgan family had...
Published: 10/31/11
Mrs. (“Beast”) Butler’s Scary Dream
Happy Halloween! To celebrate, we found a spooktacular letter from the archives… On April 4, 1862, Sarah Hildreth Butler, wife of Union general Benjamin F. (“Beast”) Butler, wrote a friend...
Published: 10/31/11
“They See a Ghost or Something.”
On May 25, 1863, Union soldier David L. Day, of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteers, recorded a strange incident that occurred while his regiment was on a recent nighttime march: Sometime...