The Civil War Podcast

Some idiot “historian” has been making waves on the Internet this week, claiming he uncovered a patent Lincoln made for a paper version of Facebook.  Naturally, I clicked with interest, but knew at first sight it was a hoax.  No pictures were printable in 1843, and the reference to Lincoln “sons” when only Robert was [...]

As if the Lincoln Library needs more adversity in this troubled sesquicentennial, it seems one of their centerpieces is of questionable provenance.  Such a sham(e). The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield has long proclaimed that an 1850s-era stovepipe hat in the museum’s possession belonged to Lincoln. But this month, after Dave McKinney [...]

For those who haven’t yet heard the tumultuous story of Lincoln’s corpse, here’s some macabre reading for you.  Possibly the inspiration for Weekend at Bernie’s? I’m not sure. I’m curious as to the provenance of the illustration that accompanies the article: It was a well known fact that all but one glass negative of Lincoln’s [...]

The Lincoln Museum in Springfield is deep in debt and feuding internally. A shame that this is happening during the sesquicentennial celebrations.  Here’s hoping they can get their act together and their debt paid off, and get on with being an informative and entertaining center of history. Just seven years old, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential [...]

If you’re an American reading this, your income taxes are due today.  Lincoln, of course, famously instituted the income tax into law, but did you know that your two day “tax holiday” this year is due to Abe as well?  Turns out DC shuts down for Emancipation Day, which commemorates an event most of us [...]

Today is the anniversary of Lincoln’s death, the process of which started the night before at Ford’s Theater, and ended across the street at the Petersen House. This year, both events and locations have been commemorated in a newly expanded museum housed in the building adjoining the House Where Lincoln Died. Wait a minute, you [...]

It’s the anniversary of the Lincoln Assassination. I saved this Knoxville newspaper’s article for today. Despite its poor research and even poorer writing, I thought it worth discussing. The story trumpets a letter inherited by a local man from his great-great-grandfather. There’s no indication of whether he’s connected to the writer or the addressee, but [...]

If – like me – you’re planning a visit to DC during this 1862 sesquicentennial year, be sure to add the National Portrait Gallery to your must-sees.  In addition to an exhibition of Brady’s portraits of the Union generals, there’s a collection of Adalbert Volck etchings on display. A Volck lithograph was reproduced in the [...]

I’m trying and failing to turn a pithy river course/course of his life phrase, here. Maybe this blog has a future as a kind of New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest? I wish I’d been in the audience for this presentation on Lincoln’s relationship with rivers. I’m a sucker for unusual essay themes and anecdotes of [...]

More favourite figures behaving in regrettable ways! It’s like a deeply unpleasant theme week… There’s little to glean here for anyone who knows the story already, but due to the quick cancellation of the order, the fact that Grant once tried to expel the entire Jewish population of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. In truth, the [...]