Yankee Correspondence: Civil War Letters Between New England Soldiers and the Home Front. University of Virginia Press, 1996. 169 pages. Nina Silber, Mary Beth Sievens These letters by New England soldiers and their families, many published for the first time, speak of the hardships of the war, especially frustrations with the army, homefront suffering, and government policies. They are grouped by six major themes: the military experience, the meaning of…

[Originally Posted on November 16, 2008 at my old site blog4history.com which I sold a couple years ago! I am preparing some research on the Topic “Urban Combat in the Civil War,” maybe find enough for a nice length feature article or who knows, maybe more! I do know that there has been an article published, “The United States Army and Urban Combat in the Nineteenth Century,” War in History,…

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.”…

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 American Civil War was the last conflict where both sides predominately used single-shot muzzle loading rifles, yet the technology of the rifle was such improved that historians have largely assumed that the rifles used in the war revolutionized the nature of the conflict. However, as historian Earl J. Hess (and a few others such as Paddy Griffith and Brent Nosworthy) has discovered, though the rifle used during the American…

On April 9, 1865, just hours after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and for all practical purposes ended the Civil War, the Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment charged across a hellish field of abatis, snarled debris, and ravines loaded with landmines. Their target was Fort Blakely, Alabama. A needless assault (20,000 against less than 2,000) that took only minutes to complete, cost the Eleventh Wisconsin 61 casualties,…

Charles J.C. Hutson was with the South Carolina 1st Infantry serving with Major General William Pender of Hill’s Corps, and as they entered Pennsylvania, they traveled on the Turnpike towards Harrisburg. Listening to Hutson describe the march, one would think the Confederates were doing an early version of Sherman’s March: We entered Penn. with as fine an army as was ever enlisted, lived for some time upon the bounty of…

Christmas was often a time of reflection for Civil War soldiers as their hearts and minds fixated on past and more joyous times. In spirit of the Holiday we here at Soldier Studies wanted to share with you some touching letters dealing with Christmas. Samuel J. Bradlee took pen in hand on Christmas Day (1864) and wrote home to his beloved wife, “Just four short years ago tonight you and…