The Civil War

Britain and the American Civil War

When most people think of the American Civil War, they do not tend to think of the reaction that the United Kingdom had to it. Despite being across the Atlantic, a large number of people in Britain followed the war with great interest. For the most part, their reaction was quite mixed. Some people h...

Article by General Sherman on his ‘Grand Strategy’ of the Civil War

Another blog I regularly follow pointed me in the direction of a very interesting article written by General William T. Sherman about his ‘Grand Strategy’ of the Civil War. It’s interesting to read Sherman’s take on it about two decades after it actually took place. I know th...

Free Civil War and Reconstruction Lectures from Yale

The other day I stumbled upon a website called Academic Earth. The purpose of the website is to provide free lectures on various subjects from the leading universities in the US. I very eagerly browsed through their history section and ran across a series of lectures by Professor David W. Blight fro...

Wilson’s Creek Battlefield

As you’ve already read from the last post, I recently returned from a trip to Missouri. I saw the houses of the James brothers and I also took a day trip down to Springfield, MO and visited the Wilson’s Creek battlefield where one of the first large battles of the Civil War took place. T...

Interesting little-known Civil War trivia

CNN is running an interesting article with seven little-known trivia facts about the Civil War. I will list the seven facts below, but for more details about them, take a look at CNN’s article. Lincoln’s first solution to slavery was a fiasco Hungry ladies effectively mugged Jefferson Da...

Large Collection of Old Photos

Today I stumbled upon a website with quite a large collection of old photos from the 19th century and really early 20th century. The site contains several collections, including a Civil War collection and an Old West collection. A couple of my favorites come from the Civil War collection and are pos...

Remains of Civil War Solider Found

The remains of a Civil War Union Solider were found in Franklin, Tennessee by work crews digging a sewer line. Here is the full article: FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Construction crews digging a sewer line made a historic discovery in Franklin on Thursday. While digging near a Burger King restaurant at t...

Last photo of Lincoln before his death?

Lincoln seems to be in the news a lot this week. Today CNN is reporting that a new photograph of Lincoln has emerged that is believed to be the last taken before his assassination in 1865. It was discovered in a photo album belonging to General Ulysses S. Grant’s great-great grandson, Ulysses ...

Message found hidden in Lincoln’s pocketwatch

I found a really interesting news article on CNN about a message left to President Lincoln on the inside of his pocketwatch by a watchmaker who was repairing it at the time Fort Sumter was attacked. Here is the article: A long-hidden message has been discovered inside Abraham Lincoln’s pocket ...

New Worlds For All

This semester I am taking a survey class of US history up to 1865. For that class, I just finished reading a book entitled New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America by Colin G. Calloway. The book itself was actually quite interesting. Calloway discusses how the world ...