Gentle Warrior: Charles Russell Lowell, Jr.
by Thomas Parson

No one who was there would ever forget the sight. Two brigades of Union cavalry, nine regiments, stretched out in columns of fours, riding from right to left across the length of the Federal line. There was a lull in the fighting at Cedar Creek allowing the troopers to ride the entire front, unchallenged by the attacking Confederates....

Anesthetics in Field and General Hospitals Of the Confederate States of America
by Michael Koznarsky

Anesthetics, chiefly chloroform, ether and opium/opium derivatives, were widely used during surgery and for pain relief during the American Civil War. Standard medical practices of both the United States and Confederate States called for the use of these anesthetics.

Gilmor's Ride Around Baltimore
by Gary Baker

On June 9, 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early defeated an ad-hoc Union army under the command of General Lew Wallace at Monocacy Junction, east of Frederick, Maryland. After his victory, Early moved against Washington, D.C., and ever since historians have focused on Early's demonstration in front of Washington's defenses.

The Committee on the Conduct of the War: Investigators or Villains?
by Patricia Caldwell

When we think about the political aspects of the Civil War what most quickly comes to mind are situations such as the secession crisis, the 1860 election, Lincoln's administration and Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government.

Felix Zollicoffer and the "Zollie Tree"
by Richard B. Lewis

One of the early martyrs of the Confederacy was Felix Kirk Zollicoffer. Zollicoffer's military career was short and relatively obscure - and one wonders if he would earn more than a passing glance from historians were it not for his bizarre surname (and if that was not enough, his wife's middle name was Pocahontas).

Rough Ride On Red River
by Laurie Chambliss

No doubt it seemed like a good idea at the time. Vicksburg had been taken last summer. "The Father of the Waters flows unvexed to the sea," Lincoln has said. This was better as poetry than as military analysis, however, as there were still active Confederate forces on both sides of the lower Mississippi in this spring of 1864.

Brotherhood in Battle: Masons in the Civil War
by Jimmy Stevens

The Alabama artillery lieutenant frowned and twisted his broad shoulders as he sagged against the muddy wooden wheel of a caisson. He rested the back of his head between two of the spokes, closed his hazel eyes and blew out a long hard sigh. He was dog tired.

Double Bridges
by Dean Lambert

During the Civil War, the most noted Union offensive into Louisiana was the Red River Campaign of 1864. This Union invasion into central and northwest Louisiana brought fame to several small settlements that were located on or near the Red River.

The 11th Corps at Gettysburg
National Tribune (1869)

The writer of this little article does not claim for it absolute correctness in the minutest details, it being penned mostly from memory, but endeavors to bring before all comrades of the Army of the Potomac, especially the First Corps, a comprehensive sketch of the fighting of the two divisions of the Eleventh Corps ...

August Willich in the Civil War: Heart of a Communist/Mind of a Prussian
by Mike Quigley

He was also referred to as "The Reddest of the Red" and at a meeting at a Cincinnati German Workers Union Hall in the uproar on the execution of John Brown, August Willich exclaimed to his listeners, " Whet your sabers and nerve your arms for the day of retribution when Slavery and Democracy will be crushed in a common grave."

Robert Small and "The Planter"
by Laurie Chambliss

Actually, this story, like many we tell, starts with a group of naked men. It was Monday, May 13th, 1862, on one of the many little islands which both fill and make up Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. What is called the Coosaw River runs more salt than fresh, but on a hot Carolina spring afternoon, it looked extremely appealing to members of the 8th Michigan Infantry.

Jane Claudia Johnson: Heroine of the 1st Maryland Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A.
by Gary Baker

The end of America's Ante-bellum era came with a resounding crash on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter. For many Americans, Northerners and Southerners alike, whose loyalties were torn between their state and their country, economics and morality, family ties and political beliefs, the bombardment brought an abrupt end to their indecision.

Hunterstown: North Cavalry Field of Gettysburg
By Troy Harmon, National Park Ranger and Historian

Hunterstown Cavalry Battlefield, also known as North Cavalry Field, is a National Shrine waiting to be fully appreciated and brought into the fold of sacred places visited regularly by patrons of Gettysburg National Military Park. Fields and barns to either side of the Hunterstown road...

Pittsburgh's Bloodiest Day
By Lawrence J. Spinnenweber Jr.

On the morning of September 19, 1862, the New York Tribune printed the first report of the battle that had been fought two days earlier along Maryland's Antietam Creek. Within hours every Northern city buzzed with talk of the war's bloodiest day. Every city, that is, except Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Mother of the Union Army: The Story of Mary Ann Bickerdyke
by Laurie Chambliss

Going to church can occasionally be a life-changing experience. Sunday, May 26, 1861 was one such church-going experience, for Mary Ann Bickerdyke of Galesburg, Illinois. It changed her life utterly for the next four years--and saved the lives of more Union and Confederate soldiers than will ever be known.

The Jekyll and Hyde Myth Of Nathan Bedford Forrest
By R.L. Richardson

A few miles near Tuscumbia, Alabama, the Confederate Army marched along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Private Phillip D. Stephenson, loader of piece No. 4, 5th Washington Artillery, Army of Tennessee, had fallen behind.

From Aldie to Winchester: Touring Route 50
By Joe Pickett

West bound on Route 50 from Washington, D.C. to Winchester, Va., the rising sun warms the Shenandoah Valley, where little has changed since the days when the War Between the States tore this vital region, and a nation, asunder.

"States' Rights: Do We have It All Wrong?"
 A Guest Editorial by Eric Longley

Under the conventional narratives of the Civil War, the Southern states seceded from the United States on account of "states' rights." Contemporary political debate over the war takes this "fact" as a starting premise.

The Confederacy’s “Other” Army: The Army of Tennessee
By Michael Brasher 

A General Without His Due: John Curtis Caldwell, Brevet Major General USV
By Patricia Caldwell

All too often Civil War history is known only by the Grants, the Lees, the Jacksons and the Shermans. The real history is instead a composite of the division and brigade commanders, the regimental colonels and the private soldiers. These can arguably be called the real heroes of the Civil War.

“I’se So ‘Fraid God's Killed Too”: The Children Of Vicksburg
By Patricia Caldwell

All too often we think of the Civil War as a contest between two opposing armies. In fact, many battles were fought in virtually unoccupied areas. However, there were indeed those conflicts whose resolutions would only come about after the upheaval and destruction of civilian lives.

First Blood In The Streets of Baltimore
 By Gary Baker

Since the earliest days of the American colonies there had been significant political, religious, social and economic differences between the northern and southern regions of the United States. Throughout the early 1800's these differences had grown greater and greater causing a schism to develop between these two regions.

General John D. Imboden and the Confederate Retreat from Gettysburg
 By Heather K. Peake

It was the evening of July 3, 1863, and General Robert E. Lee faced a serious problem. The Battle of Gettysburg was over; his massive assault on the Union center had failed; his troops were spent; it was time to depart the field.

“…from whence no traveler returns…”: Robert Rodes and the Men Who Served Him
By Jason Amico

Casualties on the opening day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 1863) were quite high for Major General Robert E. Rodes’ Division of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell’s Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.

“Good Logistics is Combat Power”: Sherman, Atlanta, and the Sinews of War
By Michael Brasher

While discussing the part he played in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Lieutenant General William G. Pagonis noted that his logistical organization’s vision was captured in the slogan “Good Logistics is Combat Power.”

"New Market Echoes"
By Richard Lewis

Like so many places in the South, the Civil War left its indelible mark on the Virginia Military Institute. The cadet barracks building still bears the scars of its 1864 destruction. The VMI post is littered with monuments and memorials that remind modern-day cadets and visitors of VMI's outstanding combat record during the 1860s.

The Right Arm of Custer: Colonel James H. Kidd, 6th Michigan Cavalry
Dan Waumbaugh

As the last of the apple blossoms were swept away by the groundskeepers, and the slight chill that had been in the Michigan air for over 6 months was finally gone, hundreds of young men scrambled this way and that, desperately trying to make it to their final exams.

My Worst Fears Have Been More Than Realized" : Yellow Fever Hits The Union
By Robert Macomber

By late summer in 1864, the fighting between the Union and Confederate navies included the well publicized battles of Mobile and Cherbourg, where Farragut and Winslow scored their decisive victories and earned ever lasting fame.

"Southern Women Record the Civil War": The Civil War As Seen Through The Eyes Of The Women Who Lived Through It
 Rochelle Ramga

The American Civil War is often described as the first modern war, a war not only between armed men in battle, but total war waged upon the ability of the enemy nation to make war. Total war rains destruction upon the unarmed civilians in their homes, factories and fields.