The Civil War Podcast

Gregory Coco, author of A Strange and Blighted Land, speaks on this C-Span archive video about the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg. The book is not an easy read – it’s along the lines of Mary Roach’s Stiff – deeply disturbing if you’re a sensitive person, but fascinating if you’re at all intrigued by […]

It’s the anniversary of Fredericksburg, that horrific and senseless battle in which Burnside sacrificed 10% of his army for nothing. I’ve read a little about the battle, but with the exception of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s recollections in the Ken Burns series, had never read a firsthand account of the fighting. Here’s one from a member […]

More good news! I had to check that I hadn’t already posted this, but we’re getting a year’s worth of preservation in one week! Petersburg battlefield’s protected territory is expanding significantly. Here’s hoping I get to visit the newly massive-r park in 2017! No property immediately will be added to the park, but the provision […]

Are any of my readers from the Big Apple? If so, I wish to live vicariously through you this week, when John Marszalek is visiting and presenting at two separate events. Marszalek is the author of the wonderful Sherman biography, as well as books on Halleck, Grant and Lincoln. I’ve heard him speak at iTunes […]

My mind went to wandering today, wondering which regiment suffered the most during the war. This website handily presented a list of the top 15. Looking at #2, that kerfuffle over artwork in Minnesota takes on a sad new relevance. Regiment Battle Casualties Percent 1.) 1st Texas, CSA Antietam 226 82.3% 2.) 1st Minnesota, US […]

Well, well, what have we here? I have stumbled upon a very generous online magazine experience! Back issues of the Civil War Monitor are available for free via the online reader. Great resource for anyone to get some reading in! Experience millions of the world’s best magazines and catalogs, all for free, in issuu’s beautifully […]

I noticed a little something that now has me obsessed. A passing mention in the New York Times from 1888 that mentions a party at which William Tecumseh Sherman related some of his war memories to Thomas Edison, specifically, into Edison’s recording gramophone. No mention anywhere on the web of this recording being recovered or […]

Algonquin Round Table wit James Thurber wrote this silly little reimagining of Appomattox: If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox. I wasn’t won over at first but it nails the landing! “The generals of the Confederacy will be here any minute now,” said the Corporal. “You really ought to be up, sir.” Grant stretched his […]

Kudos to Andrea Simakis for providing this very extensive recounting of a recent talk by two unusual Lincoln biographers: The Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner, and the hipster historian Sarah Vowell, author of the hilarious and weird, Assassination Vacation. I’m hoping to find some video from this event, but if that fails at least I have […]

From the “What goes around, comes around” files, this reminder that the morass of fake news in which we currently swim is not a new phenomenon. Abraham Lincoln was more than just a foe of slavery. He was also a mixed-race eugenicist, believing that the intermarriage of blacks and whites would yield an American super-race. […]