LEESBURG, VIRGINIA — The U.S. Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history. From 1861 to 1865, at least 620,000 soldiers died in the fighting. The war was fought between the states of the North – the Union, and the South – the Confederacy, which were divided over states’ rights, including slavery. Now 150 years later, the soldiers who died are being memorialized through a tree planting project that…

Why is a Civil War soldier’s letter describing a bloody battle and his vision of free blacks potentially worth thousands of dollars when it goes up for auction later this month? The letter by the son of John Carter, an African-American grocery store owner in Madison who helped move slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, has long been in the hands of private collectors. It will be included in…

The Valiant Soldier: The Civil War & Frontier Diary of W. Henry Oettiker Soldier Studies Voices, Vol. 1 Paperback includes photos, maps, illustrations 6×9, 132 pages ed. Christopher C. Wehner Soldier Studies is pleased to announce what will hopefully be the first in a series of books dealing with unique Civil War soldier diaries and letters. SoldierStudies.org founder, curator, and historian Chris Wehner edited the Civil War and frontier diary…

Anyone have a spare million? Own a fairly nice piece of history!

With all this nonsensical talk from various parts of the country regarding secession in mind, I came across the following article (editorial) at Slate.com, “If Every U.S. State Declared War Against the Others, Which Would Win?” Apparently the article was from an original question that appeared on Quora under its “hypothetical battles.” The simulation (or answer) was provided by a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, Jon Davis, a veteran…

Dr. Brooks D. Simpson, a historian (published author) who teaches at Arizona State University and is a respected Civil War blogger, added to an ongoing discussion concerning “content” and “controversy” blogs. Blogs sometimes blur the lines between being a “content specific” blog and a editorial/political blog. It’s an interesting question to pose as we are all political creatures to a certain extent and that tends to show up in our…

The Wisconsin Historical society has one of the best online digital archives available: Wisconsin in the Civil War. I am always impressed whenever I need to look something up on a Wisconsin regiment. Via their website (and a new version coming soon) anyone can look up not just demographic info, but also search through letters, diaries, newspaper clippings and memoirs. I know I have written about their excellent collections before,…

Civil War historian Eric Wittenberg over at his Rantings of a Civil War Historian blog described a treasure trove of documents he gathered up at the Ohio Historical Society back on the 23rd while doing research on another book. His find sounds amazing and I am very jealous, but pleased that yet more Civil War primary documents are coming to light. Among the items Wittenberg unearthed was a previously unknown…

Steven Spielberg’s $50 million dollar production, LINCOLN, tackles an epic and historical figure by keenly focusing the entire production on probably the most important political achievement of Lincoln’s presidency: the 13th Amendment. By focusing on those final four months or so of the life of the 16th President of the United States, Spielberg presents a narrative that should be wonderfully intriguing to the modern viewer so long as that person…