When the U.S. Army of the Potomac opened its spring 1864 campaign against the C.S. Army of Northern Virginia, Gen. Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary fresh from the war's Western Theater: Ulysses S. Grant. One of Lee's subordinates, Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law recalled how little his fellow senior...

ne of the central figures in Pickett’s Charge was the colonel responsible for the massive artillery bombardment intended to soften up the Union position prior to the assault: Edward Porter Alexander. In 1877, he shared his experience on July 3, 1863, including his communications with Gen. James L...

Major General William T. Sherman's forces entered Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, on Feb. 17, 1865. As Sherman rode through the conquered city he met numerous individuals, including escaped Union prisoners of war. One of these bedraggled men handed him a note. Sherman stuffed it into his...

During the lead up to the election of 1860, Ulysses S. Grant lived in Galena, Ill., where he worked in the family business. Though not able to vote because he had not lived in the state long enough to qualify, he had a preferred candidate—Abraham Lincoln—and he helped drill the Wide-Awakes, a you...

This image of an unidentified soldier showing us his knapsack, stenciled with the name of his organization, and his Sharps rifle kicked off a trip down the research rabbit trail to learn more about his company and regiment. Here's the story.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain possessed many natural gifts honed during his life's journey as a professor, general, and governor of Maine. His abilities as a writer shone light on his beloved 20th Maine Infantry and his own leadership at Little Round Top. Here's a lesser known writing about a night...

During the Army of the Potomac’s 1864 advance across the Rapidan River and deep into enemy territory in Virginia, Union and Confederate forces clashed in The Wilderness—by all accounts some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Here's an eyewitness account by artilleryman Charles B. Brockway.

During the winter of 1860-1861, as the secession crisis unfolded and the country teetered on the brink of war, private citizen Ulysses S. Grant traveled the upper Midwest, chatting up locals in towns about the future of America. Here's his reflections.

History remembers John Clifford Pemberton as the Northern-born Confederate general who surrendered his forces garrisoning the Mississippi River fortress city of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Following his death in Philadelphia in 1881, a local newspaper remembered "the doom of a beaten man was on hi...

If you search military service records for Cullen Bullard Aubrey, you will not find his name and deeds mentioned. Nonetheless, the teenaged runaway saw as much of the war as most enlisted men when he attached himself to the Iron Brigade and became known as the "Newsboy of the Army of the Potomac....

What do Southern citizen accounts say about being occupied? Here's one, an early war account from the diary of Sarah Fowler Morgan, whose family was divided by secession and the hostilities that followed.

Sarah Fowler Morgan, a resident of Baton Rouge and New Orleans during the war years, remained loyal to the Confederacy through its trials and tribulations. In April 1865, she shared her feelings about the surrender by Gen. Robert E. Lee of his army and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Captain Allen L. Fahnestock of the 86th Illinois Infantry posed with his Henry Repeating Rifle, which, according to his account, was one of the first two of these firearms to arrive in Union-occupied Nashville. Here's the story about this most desirable—and deadly—weapon.

Sudents of the Civil War know that technical innovations developed or advanced during the conflict played an important role in history: ironclad warships, use of railroads and the telegraph, repeating rifles, medical and surgical practice, to name a few. Here's another one: the portable photograp...

Dreams were as important to the Civil War generation as during any time in human history. The Currier & Ives lithograph pictured here popularized soldier dreams of home, and Abraham Lincoln's dreams were believed to be symbolic and prophetic. Here are revelatory dreams had by soldiers before battle.

The death of Capt. André Cailloux, commanding Company E of the 1st Louisiana Native Guards, at Port Hudson spread shock waves through New Orleans—and one of the largest funeral processions in the city's history. It also prompted larger questions about race and identity.

After the initial burst of patriotism, the quintessential citizen-soldier in an infantry regiment is left to ponder existential questions that haunt almost every soldier who makes it onto a battlefield for the first time: How will I perform in combat? Willie Rexford answered these questions in 18...

William Crawford Smith is remembered in architectural history for his designs of buildings on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Yet he also served in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. Here's his story.

The memoirs of Lt. Gen. and President Ulysses S. Grant are filled with subtle—and not so subtle—commentaries. Here's one, which appears at the end of his second volume, and it speaks to American power and the future.

On a January day in 1864, Confederate Capt. Nathaniel Sturdivant and his patrol arrived at Cherry Grove, a landing along Virginia’s James River, to seek out the enemy. He and his men soon found them in the town of Smithfield. Here's what happened next.

James Wheaton Converse Jr., an 18-year-old sergeant in the 24th Massachusetts Infantry, distinguished himself in combat along the North Carolina coast in early 1862. Recognized by his superiors for gallantry, he went on to prove himself again in Louisiana. Here's the story.

He signed his name as "X" in his dispatches to the Richmond Enquirer, and filled newspaper columns with hope and steadied nerves that supported the citizens of the capital and elsewhere across the South as they fought for independence. He is Edward A. Pollard, and here's an example of his narrative.

It is easy to overlook the Civil War service of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States. In 1862, when his home state of Indiana struggled to meet its quota of volunteers called to arms by President Abraham Lincoln, Harrison stepped up. Here's what happened.

News of the Union victory at the Battle of Franklin made its way across the North, with early reports filed by correspondents. One of these writers, 1st Lt. Daniel Royse, who started the war in the 40th Indiana Infantry and served as an aide to Brig. Gen. George D. Wagner, detailed the action in ...