The Archive
All Articles
Every article indexed from the pages of Civil War News — 438 of them across90 issues, 2016 to 2026. Each one opens the full text on civilwarnews.com.
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust “Dressing Wounds & Sending Back the Disabled”
The sheer size of the contending forces virtually ensured that the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House would…
Behind the Lines
An Event for All Ages One of the show’s greatest strengths is its ability to connect generations. Young families, seasoned collectors, and educators roamed the fa…
Behind the Lines
My interest in history originated when I got interested in genealogy at a very early age, about 10 or 11. Knowing that I had ancestors who landed at Jamestown in…
Anesthesia
Anesthesia was a relatively new innovation and science at the time of the Civil War. However, the search for a way to conquer pain is as old as humanity itself. E…
America Battlefield Trust
Trust Launches Historic $125 Million Battlefield Preservation Campaign In recognition of the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday, the Trust has launched the most amb…
A Regiment Doomed from the Start Spared & Shared
Some regiments in the Civil War achieved glory, while others found only heartbreak. Few regiments suffered the enormous pain and sorrow that fell upon the boys of…
This & That Forty Year’s Worth of Artifacts
hen he was twelve, John Dietrichs bought a Confederate cannonball. That first acquisition is now on display in the house where John and his wife Carol reside in D…
The Unfinished Fight Charles Derudio
Aquestion arose about whether past indiscretions might prevent someone otherwise qualified from serving in the U.S. military during the Civil War. An individual w…
The Graphic War Imagining Emancipation
Historian Richard Hofstadter labeled the legalese in the Emancipation Proclamation as “all of the grandeur of a bill of lading.” Immediately upon proclaiming free…
The Columbus Belmont Battlefield Through the Lens
On March 3, 1865, U.S. Gen. William T. Sherman’s Around 2:30 p.m., the 21st Mich. Infantry could see the Army of the Tennessee entered North Carolina Confederates…
The Columbus Belmont Battlefield
On September 3, 1861, Confederate army units under the command of General Leonidas Polk invaded Kentucky, and occupied bluffs above the Mississippi River at Colum…
Spared & Shared
By William Griffing We are thrilled to welcome William J. Griffing to Civil War News with his new column, Shared & Spared. Known for his dedication to preserving…
Interview with Harold Holzer
Interview with Harold Holzer Interviewed by Jonathan W. White Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at H…
In Memoriam – Mort Künstler
Mort Künstler once said in an interview that he would prefer to be remembered as a great athlete, but he had to settle for being hailed as America’s most prominen…
Fighting for the Forts The War Before The War
Fort Sumter is frequently viewed as the “beginning of the Civil War.” But in reality, a small war had been underway for four months before the first shots were fi…
Emerging Civil War Civil War to Civil Rights in Montgomery, Ala.
The telegram that began the Civil War: that’s a mighty big claim. But that’s what the Alabama state historical marker at the foot of Dexter Street says, or close…
Critic’s Corner The Civil War: A Narrative Volume Three
e was to go for Lee and I was to go for Joe Johnston. That was his plan.” Shelby Foote opens his third volume of The Civil War with these words from Sherman in Ma…
Civil War Book Reviews
Demonstrates the Benefits of Comparative History The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism. By Niels Eichhorn & Duncan A. Campbell. Notes, index, 344 pp., 2024. Lou…
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust Drawn to War: Sketch Artists in the Civil War
ooking back on the hardships and risks of his chosen profession providing the public with an accurate picture of the conflict, Civil War sketch artist Theodore R.…
Behind the Lines
If Winston Churchill really originated all the famous quotations attributed to him, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations would be called Churchill’s. One expression oft…
America Battlefield Trust Preserve. Educate. Inspire.
The 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment originally entered service near the beginning of the American Civil War on April 26, 1861, as a three-month unit…
A view from Columbus Park across the Mississippi River at the Belmont Battlefield.
On November 7, 1861, Grant loaded the 22nd Illinois, 27th Illinois, 30th Illinois, 31st Illinois and 7th Iowa onto six steamboats, and escorted by the gunboats US…
“Behold A Pale Horse” Captain Winston J.T. Stephens and the St. Johns
think if any Yankees sleep to night on the west side of Cedar Creek, it will be in their last sleep,” Confederate Captain Winston J.T. Stephens confidentially wro…
Vision and Valor: The War Through Women’s eyes
When considering the roles of women in the Civil War that met important needs of soldiers, one image that should spring to mind is that of an army marching into b…