In February 1861, U.S. Navy Lt. Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven returned to New York Harbor after a two-year assignment aboard the steamer Mohawk. He took the time to write a letter to fellow naval officers about the very real perils he saw as the country drifted towards Civil War.

Restless Harvard dropout Mason Archelaus Rea thrived on adventure, traveling widely before war redirected his energies to defending his country. Joining the 24th Massachusetts Infantry, he proved himself an able commander along the Southern coast and in Virginia. Here's his story.

In his 1898 study, "Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War," biographer George Francis Robert Henderson traced Jackson's history from West Point to Chancellorsville. At the conclusion, he offered an evaluation of the man and the soldier.

James Buchanan—one of the nation’s most controversial presidents, died only three years after the end of the Civil War—on June 1, 1868—a time when the wounds of war were still fresh and raw. Here's a sampling of newspaper reports in the early days following his demise.

On May 8, 1861, in Indianapolis, Col. Lew Wallace and his nattily attired Zouaves gathered in State House Square to received their regimental flags. Civic leaders and families gathered for the occasion, similar to other ceremonies playing out across the country during these early months of the wa...

On the afternoon of July 1, 1863, Capt. Thomas Clark of the U.S. Signal Corps stood high above Gettysburg in the steeple of the town’s prominent two-story courthouse. From this perch—one of the tallest points in the town—he had a commanding view of the surrounding countryside—and the Confederate ...

The operations around Chattanooga in October and November 1863 that ended in Union forces breaking the siege and defeating the Confederate army, are due in large part to the generalship of Ulysses S. Grant. More than two decades after the decisive victory, he shared remarks of two of the opposing...

One of the most celebrated Union commands in the Western Theater is Wilder’s Lightning Brigade, composed of mounted infantry from Indiana and Illinois, and artillery. The story of how the Brigade earned its nom de guerre is revealed by Col. and Brevet Brig. Gen. John T. Wilder.

On July 23, 1863, almost three weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, as Iron Brigade commander Solomon Meredith recovered from wounds in Washington, D.C., he paused his recuperation to write a letter to Wisconsin Gov. Edward Salomon to praise his state's citizen-soldiers. Here's the exchange betw...

Three months before the Battle of Gettysburg, the Iron Brigade and its commander, Brig. Gen. Solomon Meredith, left a strong, positive impression in a grand review of the Army of the Potomac attended by President and Mrs. Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joe Hooker, and other dignitaries. Here's a review of th...

Morris W. Morris, a man of color reportedly of English, Spanish and African ancestry, arrived in America from Jamaica about the start of the Civil War and enlisted as an officer in a Black regiment. He went on to become an actor and the grandfather of Hollywood stars. Here's his story.

In his Personal Memoirs, President Ulysses S. Grant wrote extensively about the South, sharing his observations and experiences during the Civil War. He dedicates part of one section to comparing the morale of the armies and the relative conditions in which they operated. Here's his conclusions.

Willie Sims, the son of an elite Mississippi cotton plantation family, left Yale University to join his home state's 21st Infantry. The war ruined his fortunes, costing blood and treasure that could never be replaced. His transformation from anger and resentment to a member of a bi-racial politic...

Major Eli Lilly of the 9th Indiana Cavalry and his command surrendered to Nathan Bedford Forrest at Sulphur Branch Trestle in Limestone County, Ala., in September 1864. Taken to a prison in Enterprise, Miss., Lilly had an experience involving the Free State of Jones.

Read "Free State of Jones" i...

Military Images magazine subscriber Ken Harris emailed Ron about a particular regimental history, one that he was very familiar with and had used from time to timw. In reviewing the book, Ron scrolled to a section that had previously escaped his attention—the Publisher's Preface—which provides co...

On or about December 16, 1863, Pvt. Jackson O. Bashears of the 65th Indiana Infantry fell into enemy hands at the tail end of the Knoxville Campaign in Eastern Tennessee. Carried by his captors to Richmond and held at Belle Isle, he suffered severely from exposure. Here's his story, in his own wo...

When it comes to the July 18, 1863, assault on Fort Wagner, our memory is dominated by engravings and lithographs of Col. Robert Gold Shaw leading his 54th Massachusetts Infantry on the parapet before being felled by a Confederate defender. The 1989 movie "Glory" takes viewers a but further. Here...

At the end of July 1863, from his camp in Culpeper, Va., Pvt. John C. West of the 4th Texas Infantry wrote his brother back in the Lone Star State about the Battle of Gettysburg, where "Breakfast in Virginia, whiskey in Maryland and supper in Pennsylvania" ended unexpectedly.

John C. West, who served in the ranks of Company E, 4th Texas Infantry, Hood's Brigade, participated in the long march through Virginia on the way to invading Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1863 campaign that ended at Gettysburg. Here's his vivid recollection.

Private John C. West numbered among the stalwart Texans who fought in the Devil's Den and along Little Round Top during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Less than a week after the fighting ended, during the retreat to Virginia, West described the action in two letters to his family.

One of the iconic photographs of the Civil War is this view of wounded Union soldiers at Savage’s Station in Virginia, taken on June 27, 1862, by James F. Gibson, one of the team of photographers on the staff of Mathew Brady. Here are a collection of anecdotes offering context to the visual.

Ron recently received an email from Rich Hackett, a self-described research nerd. They traded emails, which led to him sharing a gift in the form of an extremely well-researched account of his second great grandfather, John Garrigan, (life dates 1832-1909), Garrigan’s brother-in-law, Charles Kenn...

A portrait photograph of a Boston merchant found at the Civil War show in Franklin, Tenn., marked the beginning of a trip down the research rabbit hole that led to the capture of a Confederate flag at the Battle of Franklin. Here's the story.

Private Leander E. Davis of the 1st New York Light Artillery saw much of the war, serving alongside his comrades in Battery M in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, battles with the Army of the Potomac, and with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces in the campaigns from Atlanta to the Carolinas. A reg...