American Civil War

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Artifacts like Booth’s bullet reveal lesser-known side of Lincoln's murder courier-journal.com :: 2010-01-23
It is the size of a thumbnail, its once-round form now oblong with misshapen edges. This object is the handmade ball of britannia that John Wilkes Booth fired out of his Philadelphia Derringer on April 14, 1865, into the head of President Abraham Lincoln. The bullet that killed the 16th president is among a number of items linked with his murder and autopsy in an exhibition called "Abraham Lincoln: The Final Casualty of the War." The exhibit is running indefinitely, as part of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, at the National Museum of Health & Medicine on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. [John Wilkes Booth - Lincoln Assassination]

"Blue and Gray Diplomacy" traces Europe's lack of role in American Civil War tuscaloosanews.com :: 2010-01-23
The true lost cause of the American Civil War might have been any effort by Confederate diplomats to secure sovereign recognition by European powers, writes history professor Howard Jones in "Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations". The American Civil War so puzzled Europeans that they - in the end -stayed out of it, letting the Americans kill one another in what many on the old continent considered a senseless war. The Confederate States of America's failure to win recognition did not determine the outcome of the war by itself, but it surely contributed to its defeat. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [Why South lost Civil War - Confederacy Myths]

Guerrillas and other curiosities by Samuel Anderson Pence (book review) washingtontimes.com :: 2010-01-23
Most Civil War enthusiasts remember the Missouri "bushwhackers" as bloodthirsty Rebel brigands who fought under the "black flag" and left their mark on such places as Lawrence, Kan., and Centralia, Mo. Although the well-publicized feats of Willian T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson, Frank and Jesse James, William Quantrell and Cole Younger made them infamous, many of their lesser-known compatriots had remarkable adventures as well. Samuel Anderson Pence was born in 1885, and while growing up he knew Frank James and a number of other former guerrillas. Fascinated by their stories of gun battles, amazing escapes and thrilling raids, Pence later wrote bushwhacker history. [Battles and Battlefields - American Civil War]

AHEC unveils digitized collection of Civil War photographs cumberlink.com :: 2009-12-02
American Civil war Generals and ordinary soldiers now dwell online for the world to see. When these photos were first shot, it was with primitive technology. Camera speeds were too slow to capture Civil War combat on film, but good enough for camp scenes, portraits and the aftermath of battle. Recently the Army Heritage and Education Center unveiled a digitized collection of 23,000 vintage photos from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States from the Massachusetts Commandery. This collection is considered by historians the single best Civil War photograph collection in the world. [Photographs, Pictures of Civil War]

Belle Reynolds: The only woman who was commissioned as an officer during the civil war washingtontimes.com :: 2009-12-02
When the Civil War broke out, many women wanted to serve too, although the Army only accepted male soldiers. Some women became nurses at the battlefields and an unknown number disguised themselves as men and served in the Army. Then there was Union Maj. Belle Reynolds, the only woman who was commissioned as an officer during the war. She was born Arabella Macomber in 1843 in Shelburne Falls, Mass. She faced her greatest trial at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862. The Army had gone into camp, not expecting a Confederate attack - but that's what happened. The unprepared Union Army was pushed back, almost into the Tennessee River. [Women during Civil War]

Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union by Roger Pickenpaugh washingtontimes.com :: 2009-12-02
Not many writers on Civil War topics can garner an endorsement from a former American president, but Jimmy Carter calls Roger Pickenpaugh's Captives in Gray "a vivid description of conditions and events rarely described." Even though 8 volumes of the Official Records, War of the Rebellion are about Civil War POWs, it was not until 1930 that professor William Hesseltine wrote a scholarly monograph. Over 60 years would then pass before historians began to focus on conditions at individual camps in the North and the South. Pickenpaugh has gathered reminiscences from letters, diaries and memoirs to separate the wheat of truth from the biased argument surrounding this subject. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [PoW & Prisoner of War Camps - American Civil War]

U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth by Joan Waugh (book review) washingtonpost.com :: 2009-12-02
"Why did Grant's star shine so brightly for Americans of his own day, and why has it been eclipsed so completely for Americans since at least the mid-twentieth century?" Though there can be no definitive answer, but history professor Joan Waugh explores some good reasons. Grant was widely recognized during the war by his troops and residents of the Union, and after Appomattox by many Southerners, who were thankful for his generosity toward Southern soldiers and officers at the surrender and for his attempts as president to reconcile the former enemies and reunite the nation. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [General Ulysses S. Grant]

The American Civil War: A Military History by John Keegan (book review) nytimes.com :: 2009-11-04
John Keegan is the military historian's military historian. A senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, he is the author of 20 very comprehensive military history books. "The American Civil War" is filled with data that will send a thrill down any history buff's spine: details about tactics, geography, economics, ideology, generals, psychology, demographics, and weaponry. Keegan, who is British, takes the long view - a European view - of the American Civil War, placing it into broad historical context. Because the South had few if any large cities to attack its army "presented itself as the only target at which to strike." But that army could be elusive. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [Civil War Books]

Tennessee wants captured Confederate flags returned tennessean.com :: 2009-10-12
In 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, two Confederate battle flags from Tennessee made their way to Cincinnati with the Cincinnati soldiers and sailors who seized them as trophies of war and displayed them so that the whole town could celebrate the local boys' victory. Today, Tennessee would like to have them back. But what happened to the battle flags is a mystery. "Maybe they no longer exist, or maybe they are sitting in somebody's attic somewhere in Cincinnati," said historian Greg Briggs, who is writing a book on the battle flags carried by Tennessee troops in the Civil War. [Civil War Flags: Confederate, Rebel & Battle]

The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta by Marc Wortman [book review] huntingtonnews.net :: 2009-10-12
Civil War buffs whose knowledge of the burning of Atlanta in 1864 has been limited to the "Gone With the Wind" will be happy with Marc Wortman's "The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta." He gives a very readable and comprehensive look at the 44-day siege of the vital rail and manufacturing center by the forces of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, providing also a history of the city that in less than two decades had become second only to Richmond as a war production city. Wortman claims Atlanta is the only American city to be besieged and destroyed, although many would include Richmond in that category. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [Civil War Books]

American history 1861-1865: U.S. Civil War was a conflict between the Abraham Lincoln led Union and 11 southern states that formed CSA - the Confederate States of America, led by Jefferson Davis. In the first year the Union got control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides raised large armies. In 1862 the bloody battles began. Robert E. Lee get a series of Confederate victories, but his best general, Stonewall Jackson, was killed at the Chancellorsville in May 1863. Lee's invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. In July 1863 Ulysses Grant seized control of Mississippi by capturing Vicksburg, thus splitting the Confederacy. The war ended after the Confederacy collapsed following General Robert E. Lee's surrender at the Battle of Appomattox.

Also called: 'War of the Rebellion', 'War of Southern Independence', 'War of Northern Aggression' and 'War Between the States'.

American Civil War in the News is a edited review of American Civil War related news and articles, providing collection of hand-picked 1861-1865 era history.