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Departments
Civil War News runs to a standing structure. These are its departments, with every indexed article sorted into one of them — 438 across 90 issues.
Features
70 articlesSoldiers & Leaders
62 articlesBattles & Campaigns
44 articlesPreservation
33 articlesBook Reviews
32 articlesArms & Equipment
25 articlesNews & Notes
22 articlesArtifacts & Collecting
10 articlesMuseums & Historic Sites
2 articlesReenacting & Living History
Features
All 138 →Long-form reporting and research that does not sit inside a standing department — the pieces an issue is built around.
Vision and Valor: The War Through Women’s eyes
Most “Vision and Valor” articles focus on women’s lives and roles during the Civil War. However, the lives of Civil War women did not begin with the firing on For…
This & That
n the two previous issues, I wrote about three men who played various roles in the tense standoff in Charleston Harbor between Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the…
The Graphic War
During the Victorian period in America, a woman’s place was in the home. The Civil War changed all that. With the man of the house off to war, much of the work, p…
Steve Davis: Requiescat in Pace
first met Steve Davis in 1982. He was the Director of – Gould Hagler Education at the Medical Association of Georgia; I was a new hire, on board as a lobbyist. On…
Soldiers & Leaders
All 70 →The men who fought it: commanders and privates, regiments and brigades, careers traced through the records they left.
The Unfinished Fight
The vulcanized rubber ground cloth, or “gum blanket”, was a straightforward and utilitarian piece of equipment that was greatly prized by soldiers on both sides.…
Soldier Pickups Part I Old Abe
On June 10, 1990, the Lions Club and citizens of Jim Falls, Wisconsin, held a dedication ceremony for the unveiling of a statue they had erected. The statue was o…
General James Henry Lane
My dear Father, I barely have time to write to you to tell you that we have been in several terrible engagements with the enemy, first in the Wilderness & then at…
Blue & Gray Education Society The Guns at Raymond
Founded in 1994, Blue and Gray Education (BGES), was the vision of retired Air Force Major Leonard (Len) Riedel, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute and a 2…
Battles & Campaigns
All 62 →Engagements, sieges, raids, and the operational decisions behind them, walked over the ground where they happened.
Spared & Shared A Time For Memory and For Tears
This well-composed letter written before Petersburg in July 1864—just days before the Battle of the Crater— was composed by Robert Nelson Traver (1841–1904) who w…
Houston CWRT Frank E. Vandiver Award
On July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of cartridges to each man and filling their stomachs. Captain Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, C.S. Gen. John Bell James E.…
Two Artists: One Forgotten Battle
General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, ordered his commanders to move from their earthworks and to cross the Potomac River from Maryla…
The Graphic War The Connecticut Plan
The lithographic firm of Currier and Ives was not known for its political cartoons. Rather, it chose to document the battles and leaders of the Civil War with an…
Preservation
All 44 →The fight for the ground itself — acquisitions, easements, threatened acreage, and the trusts and volunteers doing the work.
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust
During the Chancellorsville Campaign, the 53rd Georgia Infantry’s Pvt. William Stilwell took a few minutes to pen some lines to his wife Molly. Writing on May 2,…
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust
The Civil War’s impact endures both in physical sites and collective memory. Once battlefields, these now peaceful places remind us of division’s cost and unity’s…
Cavalry Hill Cemetery: Rediscovering the Lost Graves
am so excited,” exclaimed retired eye surgeon, relic hunter, and preservationist, Dr. William “Bill” Blackman of Dalton, Ga., as a small task force descended upon…
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust
noticed “three or four graves—one of a federal captain ‘died May 24, 1864.’” They quickly came to the spot where Gen. Charles Griffin’s V Corps division had advan…
Book Reviews
All 33 →New Civil War scholarship read and assessed, so subscribers know what is worth the shelf space.
Civil War Book Reviews
Detailed Account of Thirty-Nine Days of the Atlanta Campaign The Atlanta Campaign: Volume 2: From the Etowah River to Kennesaw Mountain, May 20 – June 27, 1864. B…
Civil War Book Reviews
In-depth account of the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters Thunderbolt to the Rebels: The United States Sharpshooters in the Civil War. By Darin Wipperman. Maps, tabl…
Civil War Book Reviews
Extensive Book on Identification of Relics Relics: A Guide to Identification. By William Plummer. Author’s note, forward, acknowledgments, introduction, appendice…
What makes a good battle book?
It is safe to say that, aside from President Abraham Lincoln, no other figure from the Civil War era has been the subject of more books and articles than General…
Arms & Equipment
All 32 →Muskets, carbines, revolvers, edged weapons, artillery, ordnance, uniforms, insignia, and accoutrements examined in detail.
The Long Journey Home Finding the Owner of a Stolen Rifle
Afew years ago, I was in my office at work when a man walked in the front door. After I approached the front counter, he introduced himself as FBI Special Agent R…
Vision and Valor: The War Through Women’s eyes
This article focuses on the women who ministered to sick and wounded soldiers in the Civil War. From the moment war became a reality, women sought roles supportin…
This & That Crisis in Charleston
imminent attack. Protecting the women and children made perfect sense to everyone, the officers, the men, and the Charlestonians. The move aroused no suspicion. A…
Fort McAllister Southern Sentinel on Georgia’s Ogeechee River
Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia, was an invincible Confederate stronghold during most of the American Civil War. The bastion’s sturdy…
News & Notes
All 25 →Briefs, letters, editorials, obituaries, and the shorter items that keep the community current.
Award in Publication Excellence Presented to Terry L. Futrell
The East Tennessee Historical Society presented an Award in Publication Excellence to Terry L. Futrell on May 5 for his 2-part series on Burnside’s invasion of Ea…
47th Southeastern Civil War Show & Antique Gun show News
were plant based, and a number of plants were indigenous only in the Southern states. From a physician’s perspective, this was one of the few bright spots of the…
Interview with Harold Holzer
Interview with Harold Holzer Interviewed by Jonathan W. White Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at H…
DOUGLAS SOUTHALL FREEMAN LEE’S LIEUTENANTS: A STUDY IN COMMAND
Lincoln and Immigration: Was Lincoln a WINO? Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. By Harold Holzer, notes, bibliography, ind…
Artifacts & Collecting
All 22 →The artifact market: auctions, shows, notable pieces, and what collectors should know before they buy.
The 31st Annual Chickamauga Civil War Show
The 31st Annual Chickamauga Civil War Show while encouraging others to participate and share their own returned to the Dalton Convention Center in Dalton, collect…
Library of Congress Collection 10-inch Columbiad in Charleston.
Confederate Brig. Gen. Roswell S. Ripley, commander of the Charleston District in Beauregard’s department, always worried about Federal ironclad gunboats getting…
American Digger’s Antique
For the eighth year in a row, the Camp Jordan Arena in East Ridge, Tennessee, July 26-27, welcomed one of the Southeast’s premier gatherings for Civil War, antiqu…
47th Annual Southeastern Civil War and Antique Gun Show
The North Georgia Relic Hunters Association held its 47th Annual Southeastern Civil War and Antique Gun Show on August 9-10, 2025. The show was held at the Cobb C…
Museums & Historic Sites
All 10 →Museums, national parks, monuments, cemeteries, and exhibitions — what is on view and what has changed.
A Healer’s Hat and Manual Fannie Palmer, Artist
Objects relating to hospital stewards who served either Army during the Civil War are incredibly rare, so the National Museum of Civil War Medicine was pleased wh…
Fort Fisher’s New Visitor Center and reconstructed Earthworks
On October 29, 2024, after years of anticipation and overcoming challenges like flooding delays, the new visitor center at Fort Fisher State Historic Site finally…
Mary Todd Lincoln House Falls Victim to Attempted Arson
Mary Todd Lincoln House Falls Victim to Attempted Arson LEXINGTON, KY—Mary Todd Lincoln’s teenage home was nearly burned to the ground intentionally by a suspect…
Historical Society Opens New Museum at Gettysburg
Historical Society Opens New Museum at Gettysburg By Leon Reed The redevelopment of Gettysburg, now well underway with a new children’s museum at the Rupp House,…
Reenacting & Living History
All 2 →Reenactments, encampments, and commemorations, and the people who put them on.
Living History Association Brings Tidewater Maritime History to Military Through the Ages
By Bob Ruegsegger When it comes to accurately explaining and depicting maritime history, the Tidewater Maritime Living History Association ranks as one of the pre…
Fort Branch, North Carolina, Reenactment Survived Covid
HAMILTON, N.C.—Over the November 5 and 6 weekend, the Fort Branch reenactment made its annual appearance. This year’s event was leaner with only some 200-250 part…