Wagon drivers, known as teamsters in Civil War vernacular, occupied the lowest rung of the army command ladder. Still, such men could advance, if they were driven and talented. Here's one of them—Benjamin B. Hopkins. His comrades thought he looked like a picture on a playing card.

Following his surrender of about 30,000 Confederate troops at Vicksburg, Maj. Gen. John Clifford Pemberton carried the burden of it for the rest of his days. Among his sympathetic defenders was fellow general John Brown Gordon. Here are his thoughts—and the general he blamed for the loss.

After Virginia voters ratified the ordnance of secession on May 23, 1861, Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott acted quickly to secure the borders of Washington. Scott sent thousands of troops across the Potomac River and invaded Northern Virginia. Here's the story.

By April 25, 1861, tension in Washington, D.C. had reached a fever pitch. Surrounded by secessionists in Maryland and Virginia, President Abraham Lincoln beamed with pleasure when a Union regiment made its way to the city. It was not just any regiment. Here's the story.

In battle, the slightest change in the movement of your body at any given moment could make the difference between living to fight another day—or not. At Fredericksburg, Capt. William H. Winsor turned his head just as a bullet headed straight for him. Here's what happened.

Colonel Harrison C. Hobart of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga and sent to Libby Prison. With prisoner exchanges stopped, Hobart worked with his comrades to tunnel out of Libby. Here's how it happened.

About ten years after the war, Col. Harrison C. Hobart of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry visited the home of his old friend, Brig. Gen. John Beatty. The general's family asked Hobart to tell the story of his capture at Chickamauga and imprisonment in Richmond. Here's the first part of his story, inc...

On June 8, 1863, Chaplain John Seage of the 4th Michigan Infantry set out on horseback from Fredericksburg, Va., to Washington, D.C. He carried thousands of dollars in cash, and other valuables, for families back in Michigan. Along the way he encountered Mosby's Rangers.

Four Union officers captured at the battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania were en route to a prisoner of war camp when they concocted a plan to break out of the box car in which they were held. One of the men, Capt. Delos Phillips of the 17th Michigan Infantry, told their story.

Smooth speechmaker, ardent secessionist and slaveowner, Maj. George Washington Chilton of the 3rd Texas Cavalry distinguished himself—and suffered a wound—during the Battle of Chustenahlah in Indian Territory in 1861. Here's his story.

On April 8, 1865, Surg. John H. Claiborne noted that the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia were as committed as ever to victory. But the once proud army had disintegrated, and those left were stealing horse corn to survive. Claiborne asked an army inspector if Lee knew. Here's the answer.

On May 30, 1922, President Warren G. Harding spoke with passion about the chief executive he referred to as a "matchless martyr"—Abraham Lincoln. Harding's remarks were delivered on behalf of the American people as he formally accepted the Lincoln Memorial. Here's Harding's words.

During the Atlanta Campaign, near Marietta at Pine Mountain, a reconnaissance by Confederate generals Joe Johnston, William J. Hardee, and Leonidas Polk attracted enemy artillery fire. Cannon shot landed with deadly accuracy in the midst of the generals and their staffs.

After the Civil War began, schoolteacher Francis Marion Windes joined a local militia company in Morgan County, Ala. Much to his surprise, the rank and file elected him to be their captain and commander. Thus began his experience as an officer. Here's the rest of Frank's story.

Much has been written about the death of Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Romantic and pragmatic accounts date to the battle and its immediate aftermath. This illustration, by Alfred R. Waud, supports one of these views.

Most Americans know Antietam by a single statistic—3,654, the highest number of dead in a single day in U.S. military history. Some may know the other staggering statistic—23,000 casualties. Behind each of these numbers are men and stories. Here's one of them.

18 years after the Battle of Antietam, Maj. Gen. John Gibbon returned to attend the dedication of the soldiers' monument in the cemetery. As he walked the battleground, memories of that day in 1862, including the actions of his Iron Brigade, came flooding back.

One of the most poignant personal stories of the Battle of Gettysburg is the death of Sgt. Amos Humiston of the 154th New York Infantry. Discovered on the battlefield clutching a photograph of his children, his name was lost in the fog of war. A year before he died, a poem foreshadowed the event.

The six pards pictured in this photograph served in "The Gallant 79th," or the 79th Pennsylvania Infantry, a regiment that fought in the Western Theater's largest battles, from Perryville to Atlanta to Bentonville. And yet, they have been largely forgotten by history.

During the evacuation of Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Surgeon John Herbert Claiborne paused when he realized his Scotch terrier, Jack, had gone missing. Claiborne dispatched the chief of his hospital ambulance corps to go find him. Here's what happened.

If you were a senior Confederate commander present for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, what would you tell the troops who had served alongside you for four brutal years? Major Gen. John Brown Gordon shared his message in his postwar memoirs. Here's his recollection.

When the Black soldiers in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry learned that they would receive less pay than their White counterparts, they refused to accept money until the government recognized them as equal. The protest caused morale problems and financial hardship for their families. Here's what ...

First Lt. Jeremiah Hoffman of the 142nd Pennsylvania Infantry suffered a serious wound during the first day of fighting at Gettysburg. He was transported to the Lutheran Theological Seminary for treatment. His vivid, haunting recollections tell us of life inside the building during the uncertain ...

In his memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant’s account of the 1864 Franklin-Nashville campaign reveals a clash of approaches between him and Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas about how to beat Lt. Gen. John B. Hood's Confederate army. Here's how it played out, and the aftermath.