As we know Civil War soldiers were some of the most prolific writers in the history of modern warfare (if you want to call the Civil War the first modern war or the last Napoleonic I don’t care!). As a collective they wrote easily hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of letters home. Some regiments had their own newspapers and published their own pamphlets. But also, countless soldiers wrote home to…

In the March 2012 Issue of The Journal of the Civil War Era there was a series of essays/editorials that dealt with the future of Civil War studies. Stephen Berry, associate professor of history at the University of Georgia, kicked it off with his piece, “The Future of Civil War Era Studies“. In it he offered his “‘top ten’ predictions for how broader professional trends will reshape Civil War historiography.”…

Historian and author Dr. Gilpin Faust has written extensively about death and the Civil War. Her book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008) explored the impact of death on the Civil War generation. I just recently came across a 2001 article Faust wrote called “The Civil War Soldier and the Art of Dying” published in “The Journal of Southern History,” (Feb., 2001)….

In fiction writing there are things called “Plot Points,” these send the narrative in a new and unexpected direction. These story points make up the important parts of the story and bring it ultimately to a conclusion. In history, there are “Turning Points” that send the trajectory of time and space into new and unexpected directions. When looking at the American Civil War we can find many important events and…

The story of Sgt. William H. Carney’s heroic efforts on July 16, 1863, at Fort Wagner, which later earned him a Medal of Honor, is the stuff of Civil War legend; and yet not always told. Though it was not unusual for MOH recipients to not be awarded for some time after the event, for African-American soldiers the struggle to be recognized was almost always arduous if not impossible. The…

In The Civil War in the West: Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi Earl J. Hess answers in his conclusion a much debated question, Which theater of operations was more important in the outcome of the Civil War: Western or Eastern? Dr. Hess declares that “The Union won and the Confederacy lost the Civil War largely due to what each did, or failed to do, in West.”…

The Missouri Digital Heritiage Civil War Resources is so vast and so massive that it would take more time than I have to go through it all. It is one of the largest online FREE archives that I know of and contains 500,000 digitized Civil War records! It is organized into specific collections of family and individual letters and holdings, as well as specific newspapers and other documents. Specific topics…

An auction house has a Civil War letter (at the appalling cost of $3,500) written by Frederick M. Crandal (1831-1911), a Union colonel who was in command of the 48th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops during the Battle of Fort Blakely (April 9, 1865). Partial Transcript” “I recd your letter as this craft was sailing from Mobile. I was glad to hear that you still survive & that the ‘Bloody…

In northern Dakota Territory in 1864 Company I, 30th Wisconsin Infantry began publishing a weekly newspaper, the Frontier Scout at Fort Union deep in Indian country on July 7, 1864. The 30th Wisconsin was taking part in General Alfred Sully’s campaigns against the Sioux. Garrisoned at Fort Union and then Fort Rice, the unit protect supply lines and peaceful Indians that gathered near the forts. The newspaper’s run was not…