https://civilwarnewsmagazine.com Battlefield preservation, historic sites, artifacts and collecting, arms and equipment, and book reviews from Civil War News — published since 1974 by Historical Publications LLC. en-us Copyright Historical Publications LLC Sun, 26 Jul 2026 19:15:34 GMT 720 https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Juanita Leisch Jensen Most “Vision and Valor” articles focus on women’s lives and roles during the Civil War. However, the lives of Civil War women did not begin with the firing on Fort Sumter, and they did not end with Appomattox. This article explores sources… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/this-that/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/this-that/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Gould Hagler n the two previous issues, I wrote about three men who played various roles in the tense standoff in Charleston Harbor between Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the following April, when the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter and forced its… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/the-unfinished-fight/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/the-unfinished-fight/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Craig L. Barry The vulcanized rubber ground cloth, or “gum blanket”, was a straightforward and utilitarian piece of equipment that was greatly prized by soldiers on both sides. It was a thin sheet of canvas coated with heatand pressure-treated gum rubber… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/the-graphic-war/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/the-graphic-war/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Salvatore Cilella During the Victorian period in America, a woman’s place was in the home. The Civil War changed all that. With the man of the house off to war, much of the work, particularly in rural areas, which was most of the country, women were thrust… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/steve-davis-requiescat-in-pace/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/steve-davis-requiescat-in-pace/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Salvatore Cilella first met Steve Davis in 1982. He was the Director of – Gould Hagler Education at the Medical Association of Georgia; I was a new hire, on board as a lobbyist. On my first day he welcomed me to the team and invited me to lunch. I noticed… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/spared-shared-a-time-for-memory-and-for-tears/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/spared-shared-a-time-for-memory-and-for-tears/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns William Griffing This well-composed letter written before Petersburg in July 1864—just days before the Battle of the Crater— was composed by Robert Nelson Traver (1841–1904) who was well known during the war as “Old Po’keepsie.” Robert was the seventh of… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/soldier-pickups-part-i-old-abe/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/soldier-pickups-part-i-old-abe/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders On June 10, 1990, the Lions Club and citizens of Jim Falls, Wisconsin, held a dedication ceremony for the unveiling of a statue they had erected. The statue was of Old Abe, the bald eagle mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/ohio-civil-war-show/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/ohio-civil-war-show/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features wo hundred fifty years of American independence mark one of the most important milestones in our nation’s history, and that spirit was on full display at the Richland County Fairgrounds in Mansfield, Ohio. Now in its 48th year, the Annual… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/houston-cwrt-frank-e-vandiver-award/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/houston-cwrt-frank-e-vandiver-award/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns On July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of cartridges to each man and filling their stomachs. Captain Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, C.S. Gen. John Bell James E. Smith, 4th New York Independent Battery, hauled Hood did something he had… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/general-james-henry-lane/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/general-james-henry-lane/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders My dear Father, I barely have time to write to you to tell you that we have been in several terrible engagements with the enemy, first in the Wilderness & then at this place…Day before yesterday we were subjected to a heavy enfilade… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/civil-war-book-reviews/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/civil-war-book-reviews/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews Detailed Account of Thirty-Nine Days of the Atlanta Campaign The Atlanta Campaign: Volume 2: From the Etowah River to Kennesaw Mountain, May 20 – June 27, 1864. By David A. Powell. Maps, photographs, bibliography, footnotes, index, 608… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation Tim Talbott During the Chancellorsville Campaign, the 53rd Georgia Infantry’s Pvt. William Stilwell took a few minutes to pen some lines to his wife Molly. Writing on May 2, 1863, Stilwell explained that, “I write to let you know that I think of you… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/cwrtny-75th-anniversary/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/cwrtny-75th-anniversary/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features On May 16, the Civil War Round Table of New York celebrated its 75th anniversary, making it one of the oldest round tables dedicated to the study of the American Civil War. Among its founders were Ulysses S. Grant III, John Pemberton III,… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/blue-gray-education-society-the-guns-at-raymond/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/blue-gray-education-society-the-guns-at-raymond/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Founded in 1994, Blue and Gray Education (BGES), was the vision of retired Air Force Major Leonard (Len) Riedel, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute and a 25-year veteran of our armed forces. Len wanted to provide access to the… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/award-in-publication-excellence-presented-to-terry-l-futrell/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/award-in-publication-excellence-presented-to-terry-l-futrell/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT News & Notes The East Tennessee Historical Society presented an Award in Publication Excellence to Terry L. Futrell on May 5 for his 2-part series on Burnside’s invasion of East Tennessee, published in Civil War News in 2025. The Awards of Excellence… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/a-healers-hat-and-manual-fannie-palmer-artist/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/july-august/a-healers-hat-and-manual-fannie-palmer-artist/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Museums & Historic Sites Objects relating to hospital stewards who served either Army during the Civil War are incredibly rare, so the National Museum of Civil War Medicine was pleased when a patron recently arranged a long-term loan of a U.S. Model 1858 Dress Hat… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Juanita Leisch Jensen This article describes the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) and women’s roles associated with it. These roles involved many thousands of women, including socially and economically prominent women whose activities were widely… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/two-artists-one-forgotten-battle/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/two-artists-one-forgotten-battle/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, ordered his commanders to move from their earthworks and to cross the Potomac River from Maryland to (West) Virginia the night of July 13, 1863. Lieut. Gen. Richard Ewell’s… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/through-the-lens-it-fairly-made-the-earth-shake/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/through-the-lens-it-fairly-made-the-earth-shake/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features By April 1863, Confederate forces had successfully along the engines for protection, while hay and cotton bales repulsed six separate Federal attempts to seize were stacked to shield the machinery. At 8:45 p.m., Porter control of the… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/this-that-the-accomplishment-of-this-one-object/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/this-that-the-accomplishment-of-this-one-object/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Gould Hagler n the last issue, I wrote about Robert Anderson, the commander at Fort Sumter, and Samuel Cooper, the U.S. Army’s adjutant general when the crisis at Sumter began and the adjutant general of the Confederate Army when the crisis ended. This… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-unfinished-fight-photo-analysis/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-unfinished-fight-photo-analysis/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Craig L. Barry This is an unusual gold-tinted tin-type of a Union Civil War soldier identified as Horace H. Smith of the 16th Wisconsin Company G. Smith enlisted on November 11, 1861, and was discharged on March 14, 1863, due to an unspecified… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-graphic-war-the-connecticut-plan/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-graphic-war-the-connecticut-plan/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Salvatore Cilella The lithographic firm of Currier and Ives was not known for its political cartoons. Rather, it chose to document the battles and leaders of the Civil War with an occasional, on-the-spot reporting of a major fire or marine disaster.… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-31st-annual-chickamauga-civil-war-show/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/the-31st-annual-chickamauga-civil-war-show/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Artifacts & Collecting The 31st Annual Chickamauga Civil War Show while encouraging others to participate and share their own returned to the Dalton Convention Center in Dalton, collections. This year’s award winners were as follows: Georgia, on January 7–8,… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/spared-shared/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/spared-shared/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features William Griffing At one time I thought I would give up and be taken prisoner. Then I thought I might get hit before I could get out of the woods on their side so I risked the getting out on our side. The balls was cutting up the dirt about me and men… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/critics-corner/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/critics-corner/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Stephen Davis Bull’s narrative of his service in the campaign and in the Federal occupation of Atlanta, May 13-November 15, runs about 30% of his entire memoir. This alone makes Soldiering one of the most reliable and informative sources for those of us… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/civil-war-book-reviews/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/civil-war-book-reviews/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews In-depth account of the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters Thunderbolt to the Rebels: The United States Sharpshooters in the Civil War. By Darin Wipperman. Maps, tables, notes, appendix, bibliography, index. 362 pp., 2025. Hard cover. $34.95.… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/chicora-cemetery-honors/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/chicora-cemetery-honors/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Chicora Cemetery on the Averasboro battlefield site is, like all battleground burial grounds, a place of sadness and remembrance, where the fallen are honored for their sacrifice. The Battle of Averasboro took place on the Smith Plantation… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation Tom Van Winkle The Civil War’s impact endures both in physical sites and collective memory. Once battlefields, these now peaceful places remind us of division’s cost and unity’s importance, making them essential for understanding American history. “A… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/cavalry-hill-cemetery-rediscovering-the-lost-graves/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/cavalry-hill-cemetery-rediscovering-the-lost-graves/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation am so excited,” exclaimed retired eye surgeon, relic hunter, and preservationist, Dr. William “Bill” Blackman of Dalton, Ga., as a small task force descended upon a little hill on a warm, early-spring-like day in February 2024. “I first… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/an-officer-and-his-sketchbook/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/may-june/an-officer-and-his-sketchbook/ Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Growing up in Scotland in the 1820s, young Jimmy could never have imagined that he would one day cross the Atlantic and play a meaningful role in suppressing a rebellion during America’s Civil War. The idea that he would become a Union… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/william-loring/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/william-loring/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Major General William Wing Loring had a notable military career that spanned several significant conflicts, including the Texas Revolution at the age of 14, the Mexican War, the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, and the Egyptian-Ethiopian War.… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/through-the-lens-more-serious-than-expected/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/through-the-lens-more-serious-than-expected/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Towards the end of June 1864, C.S. Gen. Jubal Early, Army of the Valley, had left the Shenandoah Valley, Va., to “threaten Washington and if I find the opportunity—to take it.” Believing Early was in Petersburg, Va., U.S. General-in-Chief… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/this-that-2025-middle-tennessee/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/this-that-2025-middle-tennessee/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Gould Hagler n my last column, I wrote about events at Fort Sumter between South Carolina’s secession and April 12, 1861, when the shooting started. In this issue and the next I will take a closer look at some of the men who played a role in these… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-unfinished-fight-god-bless-the-russians-october-2-1863/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-unfinished-fight-god-bless-the-russians-october-2-1863/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Craig L. Barry Harpers Weekly, October 17, 1863, noted that it was “for a goodwill gesture to show the world that Russia was lending support to the liberal government of the United States.” Or perhaps to dock their fleet in a secure harbor that was not… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-long-journey-home-finding-the-owner-of-a-stolen-rifle/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-long-journey-home-finding-the-owner-of-a-stolen-rifle/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Arms & Equipment Richard H. Holloway Afew years ago, I was in my office at work when a man walked in the front door. After I approached the front counter, he introduced himself as FBI Special Agent Randy Deaton. He said that he had heard there was a historian here who could… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-graphic-war/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-graphic-war/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Salvatore Cilella It all began with the Greeks. He was Heracles, the greatest Greek hero and son of Zeus and half-brother of Perseus. Somewhere in the mists of time, the Romans adopted him and changed his name slightly to Hercules. Roman emperors continued… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-fight-for-manassas-battlefield/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/the-fight-for-manassas-battlefield/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns The 2025 Middle Tennessee Civil War Show, held on December 6th and 7th in Franklin, Tennessee, closed out another successful year of events, leaving dealers and attendees alike hungry for more as they now await the upcoming 2026 shows.… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/spared-shared/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/spared-shared/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders William Griffing to circulate but one of the best accounts comes in a letter he wrote describing the reception General Grant received on March 8, 1864, when Grant met Lincoln face to face for the first time and then was ushered into the East Room of the… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/hercules-and-the-serpent-vision-and-valor/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/hercules-and-the-serpent-vision-and-valor/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Juanita Leisch Jensen his article addresses an often-overlooked role of women during and after the Civil War: that of teaching in schools devoted to the education of former slaves. While this is generally considered a strictly civilian activity, initial efforts… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/emerging-civil-war/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/emerging-civil-war/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Apopular meme floating around Facebook for the past year or so features Ulysses S. Grant—President Grant, specifically, late in his second term. Perhaps you’ve seen it. He looks stern and a little beefy, and he warns, “If we are to have… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/critics-corner-worthy-of-the-cause-for-which-they-fight/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/critics-corner-worthy-of-the-cause-for-which-they-fight/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Stephen Davis How many Northern or Southern general officers kept diaries? Not too many. And of these, we can assume that most have long since been published. That’s why Robert Patrick Bender, ed., Worthy of the Cause For Which They Fight: The Civil War… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/civil-war-book-reviews/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/civil-war-book-reviews/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews Extensive Book on Identification of Relics Relics: A Guide to Identification. By William Plummer. Author’s note, forward, acknowledgments, introduction, appendices, index, photographs, 434 pp, 2025, Greybird Publishers, americandigger.com,… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/central-virginia-battlefields-trust/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation Tim Talbott noticed “three or four graves—one of a federal captain ‘died May 24, 1864.’” They quickly came to the spot where Gen. Charles Griffin’s V Corps division had advanced before falling back after a Confederate counterattack. Then they arrived… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/behind-the-lines/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/march-april/behind-the-lines/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features William C. Davis Iam often asked why Americans are so fascinated by the Civil War, and yet relatively few have any substantial interest in or knowledge of the American Revolution. After all, it created the nation. Certainly, the imminent 250th, or… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/what-makes-a-good-battle-book/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/what-makes-a-good-battle-book/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews Alexander B. Rossino It is safe to say that, aside from President Abraham Lincoln, no other figure from the Civil War era has been the subject of more books and articles than General Robert E. Lee. A quick search of his name on Amazon.com yields over 1,000… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Arms & Equipment Juanita Leisch Jensen This article focuses on the women who ministered to sick and wounded soldiers in the Civil War. From the moment war became a reality, women sought roles supporting the military. Some tasks (like sewing uniforms and knitting socks) could be… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/uscc-massacre/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/uscc-massacre/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Charles H. Bogart In 1864, the 5th United States Colored Cavalry (5th USCC) under Colonel James Brisbin was formed at Camp Nelson, Ky. The Regiment, some 1,000 strong, was made up of freemen, escaped slaves, and slaves released by their owners. Even before… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/through-the-lens-a-good-thrashing/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/through-the-lens-a-good-thrashing/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Soldiers & Leaders Stephanie Hagiwara n the evening of January 7, 1863, U.S. Gen. Egbert B. Brown, Cmdr., Southwest Division, received word that an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 men of C.S. Gen. John S. Marmaduke’s First Corps, Fourth Division, TransMississippi Army, had left… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/this-that-crisis-in-charleston/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/this-that-crisis-in-charleston/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Arms & Equipment Gould Hagler imminent attack. Protecting the women and children made perfect sense to everyone, the officers, the men, and the Charlestonians. The move aroused no suspicion. Anderson also ordered Captain Foster to make sure the artillery at Sumter… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/the-unfinished-fight-the-great-atlantic-and-pacific-tea-company/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/the-unfinished-fight-the-great-atlantic-and-pacific-tea-company/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Features Craig L. Barry Many American grocers in the mid-19th century began their business in the tea trade. The Antebellum United States was predominantly rural and agrarian. If food prices rose too high, farmers would plant and grow their crops or do without.… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/the-graphic-war-preserve-educate-inspire/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/the-graphic-war-preserve-educate-inspire/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation Salvatore Cilella Americans tend to forget that politics in America has always been a blood sport. They also forget that America once held a presidential election in the midst of a bloody and tragic rebellion that claimed more than 700,000 lives. The… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/spared-shared-battle-of-roanoke-island-letter/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/spared-shared-battle-of-roanoke-island-letter/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns William Griffing The next morning we did not move but the small boats were in advance to lookout the ground. Friday morning the 7th, orders were to move on and so we did—the gunboats in the advance. At about 10 a. m., we saw smoke several miles up the… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/n-ssa-celebrates-its-75th-anniversary-with-history-competition/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/n-ssa-celebrates-its-75th-anniversary-with-history-competition/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Bruce W. Miller The North-South Skirmish Association (N-SSA) held its 152nd National Competition October 3-5, 2025 at Fort Shenandoah near Winchester, Va. Member units compete in live-fire matches with original or authentic reproduction Civil War period… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/fort-mcallister-southern-sentinel-on-georgias-ogeechee-river/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/fort-mcallister-southern-sentinel-on-georgias-ogeechee-river/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Arms & Equipment Bob Ruegsegger Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia, was an invincible Confederate stronghold during most of the American Civil War. The bastion’s sturdy earthen bulwarks and heavy artillery proved to be a challenging coastal… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/emerging-civil-war-the-book-of-general-stevenson/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/emerging-civil-war-the-book-of-general-stevenson/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Icracked the book open carefully, conscious of its old spine. I didn’t know what shape its pages might be in, either. The book, an edition of Dennis Hart Mahan’s Treatise on Field Fortification that dated back to 1860, had some years on… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/critics-corner/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/critics-corner/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Stephen Davis The best battle books describe the fighting with enough I call the difference between the practical and the sublime. detail to be definitive without sinking to excessive militrivia. Everyone gets it. This Hennessy does admirably. He has… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/civil-war-book-reviews/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/civil-war-book-reviews/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Book Reviews Letters that Deepen Our Understanding of Lincoln and His Era Rescued from Obscurity A Great and Good Man: Rare, First-Hand Accounts and Observations of Abraham Lincoln. Edited by Jonathan W. White and William J. Griffing. Photos, notes,… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/central-virginia-battlefields-trust-the-2025-annual-conference/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2026/january-february/central-virginia-battlefields-trust-the-2025-annual-conference/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Preservation William Murrell, A History of American Graphic Humor, NY, Whitney Museum of Art, 1933, Vol. I, 11. Library of Congress, object description. Many of the descriptions here are taken from the Library of Congress’s catalogue entries for these… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2025/november-december/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2025/november-december/vision-and-valor-the-war-through-womens-eyes/ Sat, 01 Nov 2025 12:00:00 GMT Features Juanita Leisch Jensen his article highlights female doctors in the Civil War, describing fewer women than the roles typically discussed in “Vision and Valor.” One reason for the small numbers is that at the time of the Civil War, there were relatively few… https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2025/november-december/through-the-lens-does-the-general-expect-us-to-fly/ https://civilwarnews.com/issues/2025/november-december/through-the-lens-does-the-general-expect-us-to-fly/ Sat, 01 Nov 2025 12:00:00 GMT Battles & Campaigns Lloyd W. Klein In retrospect, Gen. Robert E. Lee had no definite tactical plan for his Pennsylvania campaign. Thinking he was facing Gen. Joseph Hooker, Lee likely thought that the right time and place would be apparent and that he would outfox Hooker…