A Nurse in Her Home-Turned Hospital
A Pennsylvania officer survived the worst of a fever while waylaid in a Washington, D.C., military hospital. Feeble but alert, he longed to write his wife about his condition. A
Category: 2018 Winter
Here Among the Chiefs: The Cherokee Nation’s Lewis Downing, in gray and blue
By Scott Vezeau and Ronald S. Coddington The pop and crack of small arms fire shattered the stillness of a northwest Arkansas afternoon in the autumn of 1862. The gunplay
What Are The Odds? Photo Sleuthing by the Numbers
By Kurt Luther One of the great strengths of the Civil War Photo Sleuth software we’re developing is that it makes it easy to find soldiers who look very much
Our Initiative to Educate Future Historians
In our last issue, we debuted a new campaign, “Help us find the next Shelby Foote or Ed Bearss.” You may have noticed it promoted on the inside front cover
Foundation of the Rock
Wise. Calm. Self-poised. Steadfast. These words were used by a comrade and biographer of George Henry Thomas to describe the venerable soldier long after he had been christened with the
A Few Minutes and a Street Block: A Massachusetts soldier recalls his wounding at Fredericksburg
By Scott Valentine On an inclement December eve at a Grand Army of the Republic meeting about 30 years after the war, veteran Josiah Murphey experienced a dull ache in
Red Blankets & Blue Blouses: Faces of Rhode Island’s First Responders, April-June 1861
The wild array of uniforms on display in the Union army during the spring of 1861 exuded a vivid patchwork of color and design. The mishmash of state styles included
Crystal Clear: Representative portraits from the Dan Binder Collection
Dan Binder grew up in a home with a cache that most kids would envy. “Our old nine-room house was pretty much packed to the rafters with guns, uniforms, books,
Military Schoolboys Fostered ‘Virtuous Citizens’
With no television, internet or any other form of electronic mass entertainment, 19th-century Americans turned to activities that tended to make them more enlightened and productive citizens. One such pursuit
A “Red Burial Blent” at Nashville
On Dec. 16, 1864, the second day of the Battle of Nashville, Maj. Gen. George H. “Pap” Thomas’s Union army readied for a bloody assault. His men marched amidst a