Civil War Times

Civil War reenactors re-create the national pastime the way soldiers used to play it. http://bit.ly/OldBallGame From portraits of common soldiers to battlefield images of the dead, Civil War photographers brought the war home. http://bit.ly/ImagesOfC

Susannah J. Ural’s February 2021 article, “Texas Tough,” was an excellent look at how difficult it is to gain the trust and respect of the citizen soldier. The independent nature of the American soldier has been its hallmark of success, while also fr

A RARE LINCOLN BANNER dating from 1860 sold at Hake’s Auctions in York, Pa., for $143,104, the highest price ever recorded for a Lincoln textile. Hand-painted and hand-stitched, the banner bears the single-eye icon of the “Wide Awakes,” a group of yo

Weary travelers on West Virginia’s James River and Kanawha Turnpike welcomed the Tyree Tavern’s hospitality for decades. And now it’s for sale, and you have a chance to hoist a glass in this Fayette County structure that comes with its own Civil War

In the summer of 1861, two consequences of the war significantly increased the volume of mail ending up at the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C.: Soldiers sending letters without proper postage and the shuttering of federal post offices in the s

Two mid-19th century inventions, the tintype and the carte-devisite, made photographs affordable and accessible to a general population. Invented in 1856, the tintype is not actually tin at all, but iron. The term was a nickname for the more technica

On Memorial Day 1889, Civil War veterans gathered with civilians at the Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville, Pa., just east of Pittsburgh, to reminisce and remember those lost not only on the battlefield but on the home front as well. Notably, Lawren

Situated just outside the Pittsburgh city limits in the borough of Lawrenceville, the Allegheny Arsenal was established in 1814 on 30 acres of land sold to the U.S. Ordnance Department by the borough’s founder, William B. Foster. The arsenal grounds

“Oh, damn it.” Somewhere near Charlottesville, Va., Greg Gordon is scanning the expanse before him—the landscape mostly flat, a few rocky hills and groves of trees posing formidable barriers. Behind those trees, he knows, the enemy is waiting. Gordon

CAP BOXES don’t get much respect. The little black pouches hung off soldiers’ belts, often overshadowed by their martial neighbors, eye-catching brass belt buckles and scabbards that held wicked-looking bayonets. Veterans wrote poems in praise of the

This historical novel follows adventurer Woodie Hart to the violent goldfields of what would become Montana Territory. Woodie discovers the boomtowns of Virginia City, Bannack and Hell Gate and faces the twin terrors of road agents looking to get ric

As James Baldwin once noted, “People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” This is certainly true of the more than 180,000 Black men who served in the Union Army and whom Deborah Willis has done much to free through her groundbreak

With his latest work, James Oakes, two-time Lincoln Prize winner (The Radical and the Republican and Freedom National) has produced another thought-provoking and timely work. His highly original Crooked Path to Abolition portrays Abraham Lincoln as a

ELMER ELLSWORTH, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, killed in 1861 while tearing down a Confederate flag in Alexandria, Va., sparked a “Zouave craze” just before the war. His traveling drill company called the “Zouave Cadets” amazed Americans with intricat

I LOOKED QUICKLY AROUND, no one was watching—well, except for my two friends, Mike Kraus and Mark Grimm. I stooped down and pried the brick out of the cold, muddy ground. I held it low so no one could see my larceny, very pleased that I finally had a

WALTERS ART MUSEUM in Baltimore, Md., an extensive art collection gathered by magnate William Walters, is confronting its founding family’s history. The museum web site now includes details acknowledging the links between the Walters family and the C

KEN BURNS’ DOCUMENTARY on the Civil War has reached a larger audience and generated more interest in the subject than any book, theatrical film, or other influence in the past 50 years. First broadcast on PBS stations in 1990 and frequently re-aired

A CONFEDERATE-STAMP COLLECTING CLUB, formed in 1938 as the Confederate Stamp Alliance, voted in November 2020 to change its name to the Civil War Philatelic Society. The name change was favored by 85 percent of the members, and the society’s mission

ON WHAT PIECE of soldier equipment would you find this stamp? The first person who sends in the correct answer wins a Civil War Times water bottle. Send your answer to dshoaf@historynet.com, subject heading “Inspector.” ■

When Major General William Tecumseh Sherman prepared to set out from Atlanta in the fall of 1864, he tapped the 1st Alabama Cavalry—a regiment of White volunteers recruited from within the heart of the Confederacy—for a key role in the campaign to co

LOCATED ABOUT 19 MILES south of Lexington, Ky., Camp Nelson served as a critical supply depot, training center, and forward base for the Federal Army during the Civil War. Built in April 1863 on an easily defensible peninsular plateau, the camp once

CONGRATULATIONS to David White, of Round Rock, Texas, who correctly identified a common Western Theater Confederate battle banner nicknamed the “Full Moon” flag. This example was carried by the 34th Mississippi and captured by the 149th New York on N

FRANTICALLY TRYING TO DETERMINE the origin of a roaring sound, the caretaker grabbed an ax, climbed atop Ashwood Hall, and slashed through the tin, resin, and gravel roof of the mansion in rural Ashwood, Tenn. Then “a terrible flame leapt out like a

SAMUEL COLE WRIGHT of the 29th Massachusetts Infantry poses in his regiment’s early war uniform, which evoked the Revolutionary era and reflects a naive notion that the war would be a short adventure for young men. The long war, however, did its best

IN MARCH, Bomb technicians from Maryland’s Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) safely disposed of an unexploded 12-pounder cannonball found near the 1864 Monocacy battlefield in Frederick County. The projectile was in the possession of a homeowne

In the series “Maryland Underground,” four archaeological sites related to the lives of enslaved and free Blacks in Maryland are showcased in brief streaming videos produced by Maryland Public Television. Maryland Department of Transportation chief a

Some exciting new preservation efforts are underway at Manassas National Battlefield Park, including a prescribed burn conducted on March 9. It was the fourth prescribed burn for the park in as many years, and covered 75 acres near the Deep Cut, the

A young Civil War soldier gazes back at me from a carte-de-visite, a playing card-sized photograph I recently purchased. He has a steely look, and his right hand grasps the lapel of his military dress coat. His left hand, in his lap, wears a ring. A

Thaddeus Stevens became something of a household name in 2012 thanks to Tommy Lee Jones’ memorable portrayal of the Pennsylvania congressman in the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln. As Bruce Levine makes clear in this wonderfully clear and concise biogr

WITHOUT A STEADY SUPPLY of invigorating coffee at hand, soldiering was “misery indeed” according to a 17th Maine infantryman. Troops from both sides coveted bracing cups of hot coffee and its restorative powers. The Union Army made coffee a staple is