A Life Turned Tragic: Major Henry Rathbone and the Lincoln Assassination

Today we welcome back guest author Cal J. Schoonover. Cal hail’s from Janesville, WI, where he lives with his son James. Cal is a graduate of The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater; and is currently attending American Military University, where he is pursuing his Masters in Military History, with a concentration in the American Civil War. […]

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Scenes from the Crater, 150 Years Later

While I wasn’t able to get to Petersburg for the real-time program at dawn, I did get to spend some time at the Crater a little later in the morning. Here’s a quick look at the terrain, 150 years after the battle.

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“Altogether Too Absurd For Serious Consideration”: The Federal Mine at Petersburg

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch, July 21, 1864: Everything at the front was remarkably quiet. There was not even the usual amount of shelling, mortar or picket firing. All along the lines, from our extreme right to the river, for hours at a time there could only be heard an occasional explosion, and the quiet […]

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Shaping Chancellorsville Revisited

In advance of the Chancellorsville sesquicentennial, I started a series called “Shaping Chancellorsville: How Memories of the Battle Shaped the Battlefield,” which looked at the way in which the Chancellorsville battlefield park was created. I never got around to finishing that series, but the Civil War Trust recently announced that it has helped preserve more land […]

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Creamer, Please. No Sugar

I had an idea the other day, and acted on it! I sort of made a “coffee run,” if you will . . . ——- Starbucks Customer Service / PO Box 6363 / Dover, DE 19905-6363 Meg Thompson / Hollister, CA 95023 / July 12, 2014 Dear Starbucks, Please find enclosed a wonderful article about coffee during the American […]

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Question of the Week: July 28, 2014

Historians have given much attention to the decision to replace Joseph Johnston with John Bell Hood, but little attention is given to the Federal command change that happens at the same time. When Army of the Tennessee commander James McPherson is killed, several possible candidates are available as a replacement. The job ultimately goes to Oliver Otis Howard. […]

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The Lost Tower Rising

We’re pleased today to welcome guest author William B. Styple to Emerging Civil War. Styple is the author of a number of must-have Civil War books too numerous to mention here (but if you don’t have them, go visit his website ASAP!). Forty years ago, in 1974, all I wanted for my 14th birthday was a two-day […]

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Emerging Civil War Symposium-Press Release

July 25, 2014 For Immediate Release FIRST ANNUAL EMERGING CIVIL WAR SYMPOSIUM AT STEVENSON RIDGE TO EXAMINE “THE WAR IN 1864” SPOTSYLVANIA, VA—1864 proved to be the tipping point for American Civil War. Historians from the blog Emerging Civil War will examine the key events of that pivotal year at an upcoming conference to be […]

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Battle of Second Kernstown

Welcome back guest author Kyle Rothemich. After the Battle of Rutherford’s Farm on July 20th, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley was located south of Strasburg near Fisher’s Hill. With Union forces defeating Stephen D. Ramseur’s forces at Rutherford’s Farm on July 20th, Union command was convinced Early was in full retreat. This […]

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