Summer 2025 Issue Highlights
Cover stories surface in different ways. When the reveal themselves, it is unexpected and joyful. The image and story that leads are Summer 2025 issue is no exception. I was
Tag: Civil War photography
The Enduring Emotional Power of Civil War Portrait Photographs
I’ve heard from a number of you about the cover story in our last issue, “Wounded Warriors.” The gist of the comments: Seeing soldiers and sailors with amputated limbs brought
“Woe Be to Those Who Laugh at His Death”
War Department clerk and former army captain Edward C. Townsend was overcome with emotion after news of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln reached him. “Never before did I shed tears
Capturing Elmira: The photographers who documented a Northern prisoner of war camp
By Richard Leisenring, Jr., adapted from his forthcoming book Elmira. The name is as recognizable to any novice Civil War historian as Gettysburg, Appomattox, or Andersonville. Over the years, books
“‘Died at Gettysburg!’ No Prouder Epitaph Need Any Man Covet.”: The Tragedy of Capt. Richard Wistar Davids of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry
By Charles T. Joyce Visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park encounter stone sentinels of all shapes and sizes. One of them, an austere granite marker on the north side
Identifying Navy Images from the U.S. and Britain
By Ron Field, featuring images from the author’s collection The United States and British Royal Navy enlisted sailors frequented photographic studios at home and abroad during the American Civil War
A War of 1812 Era Saber
The distinctive P-guard cavalry saber, likely dating to the War of 1812 period, is held by a Union soldier, right. Whether cavalry or artillery, his shell jacket and 1851-pattern eagle
Lightning Strikes Twice
The cover story of our Summer 2024 issue profiled Evander M. Law’s rise to general in the Confederate army. The project began after I met collector Craig Wofford, who shared
Applying the “Trinity” to ID Some Faces in a 557-Image Album in the National Archives
By Kurt Luther Civil War photo sleuthing is more than just giving a name to an unidentified soldier or sailor portrait. While a name is a critical clue in rediscovering
A Sanitary Fair Memento Recalls a Company of St. Louis Defenders
Love of country dominates this portrait of a young woman who posed for this photograph during the Civil War. An analysis of this image points to her being a volunteer