The Archive
All Articles
Every article indexed from the pages of Civil War News — 2551 of them across113 issues, 2016 to 2026. Each one opens the full text on civilwarnews.com.
Breakfast
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote of the ideal democratic republic as a society of self-sufficient agrarians. His plantation estate Mo…
Book Reviews — September 2019
Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with timely analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War research and scholarship. Contact Stephen Davis,…
Betcha haven’t seen this one!
Quick! What’s this view—a photograph taken by one of the Civil War’s most prominent cameramen? Chances are that you’ve seen a slightly different view of this same…
American Battlefield Trust — September 2019
As hundreds of American Battlefield Trust members and staff prepared to gather in Lexington, Ky., for our Annual Conference in May, I was delighted to learn that…
Accessing the Official Records Online
Circling back to March 2016, and the focus of the first installment of this column, this month we update readers on an additional online tool for searching the Of…
A Delaying Action
“the rebels are coming in bunches.” – U.S. Cpt. Heber S. Thompson By September 1863, U.S. Gen. William Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland had driven C.S. Gen. Bra…
“If Farragut had only been here…”
Blockade duty during the Civil war usually proved to be deadly dull… weeks of boredom, punctuated by moments of pure excitement. The following, recently discovere…
Young Skirmishers Join the Fun at N-SSA 139th Nationals
The North-South Skirmish Association prides itself on its motto of “History, Competition and Camaraderie.” One of the many ways the Association does this is throu…
William and Stiles Hinson at Fussell’s Mill
During the spring of 1864, in the continuing effort to bolster the Richmond, Va., defenses, five veteran companies of cavalry were brought up from South Carolina…
Walking in Footsteps of the 69th New York State Militia
Like many of you, I have always been interested in where my family walked during the Civil War. This past May, the well-known private tour guide and Bull Run hist…
The Soldiers’ Journal
Shifting her focus from the hospitals, where she worked as a nurse tending to wounded and ill Federal soldiers, Amy Morris Bradley began publishing The Soldiers’…
The Scholarship of Confederate Nationalism
In January 1862 a Georgian serving in Virginia wrote home about the sunny prospects for the Southern Confederacy. “I have no more idea that the Yankees will whip…
The Lincoln Funeral Train Commemorated
A single shot from a derringer, at 10:15 pm on April 14, 1865, was all it took to transform the end-of-the-war celebration in Washington, D.C., into shocked anger…
The Battle of Champion Hill
HINDS COUNTY, Miss.— On May 16, 1863, following the Union capture of Jackson, Miss., Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s 32,000 advancing Union soldiers met 22,000 Confe…
The Artillery Fuze
“The Ordnance Department of the Confederate States has accomplished immense results of which the people are almost wholly ignorant…From the Richmond Arsenal and t…
Spanish “Enfield” Rifles in the American Civil War
During the latter part of the 1850s, the Spanish military adopted a family of .577 caliber, percussion ignition, muzzleloading long arms based on the British Patt…
Sometimes Readers Send Us Research Questions….
Publisher’s note: From time to time one of our regular columnists receives an e-mail from a reader who writes, “Hey, I liked your recent article, and it prompts m…
Hollywood History
Disney’s movie The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) was based on the Andrews railroad raid in Georgia in 1862. John Ford’s The Horse Soldiers (1959) was based on Ben…
Henry G. Heidebrink
Recently Kent Masterson Brown, President of the Lexington, Ky., Civil War Roundtable challenged the membership to write an article about their Civil War relative…
Going Paperless
An errant tee shot from the Atlanta Country Club’s 13th hole will transport the ball a century and a half back in time. The ball will fly out of bounds, out of th…
Globe Tavern or Weldon Railroad, August 1864
This column highlights prints from the Civil War, discusses their meaning, and most importantly, details what the print maker or artist was trying to achieve. Lik…
Gettysburg Trivia
Who sent this note to Pickett, “The 18 guns have been driven off. For God’s sake come on quick or we cannot support you. Ammunition nearly out”? 2. Who was the on…
General’s Presentation Sword
I received a phone call from the owner of a presentation sword given to General Alpheus Williams just prior to 2018 hurricane that threatened the South Carolina c…
GBPA’s 46th Annual Gettysburg Civil War Collector’s Show
GETTYSBURG, Penn.— The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association held its 46th Annual Gettysburg Civil War Collector’s Show on June 29-30 at the Allstar Exp…