Showing results for "Appomattox"
“Here I am . . . a Prisoner:” The Capture of Walt Whitman’s Brother
Siblings sometimes produce interesting relationships. In many cases, the younger moves through childhood and into the teen years aspiring to be like the elder. I know that, personally, although my older brother and I fought like cats and dogs growing up, a large part of the conflict was due to my petty jealousy of his […]
Read more...Fighting in Slippers: Longstreet at Antietam
In September 1862, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River and into Maryland for the first time. It was an effort to capitalize on a summer of stunning Confederate successes in the Eastern Theater, spanning from the Shenandoah Valley to the James River Peninsula to northern Virginia. […]
Read more...Home Libraries (Revisited): Building a Library From Scratch
During the height of the Covid pandemic when historians were sequestered indoors, a series hit the blog that shared the Home Libraries of the ECW team, full of pictures and stories of massive or humble book collections. For a recap of that series, visit HERE. Well, I wasn’t part of the team at the time, […]
Read more...Reflections from the Mule Shoe
I had the privilege of speaking at the 2022 Emerging Civil War Symposium. It was a great experience to share my research with the larger community of both historians and the group’s supporters and fans. I made the trek from Texas to Virginia on Thursday, reaching the Fredericksburg area the afternoon before the symposium began. […]
Read more...The Origin of Joshua Chamberlain’s Mustache
ECW welcomes back guest author Evan Portman Every Civil War buff, young and old, recognizes the iconic mustache of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. It has become almost as legendary as the man himself. Chamberlain’s key role in The Killer Angels and portrayal by Jeff Daniels in the subsequent film Gettysburg have ingrained the mustached Chamberlain in […]
Read more...Civil War Summer Reading — A Texas Tall Tale
Down here in Dallas, Texas we have forgotten what double digits temperatures feel like. Owing to the fact that the forecast has been and will continue to be in excess of 100 degrees for the foreseeable future, my border collie Moe and I have been spending our time indoors — watching golf, playing Zelda, and […]
Read more...Book Review: Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War’s Final Campaign in North Carolina
On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered what remained of the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. But Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee—a much larger rebel force—remained in the field in North Carolina. Johnston would not capitulate until April 26, when he met his nemesis William Tecumseh […]
Read more...Unpublished: What’s Not in the O.R.s?
As Walt Whitman famously said, “The real war will never get in the books.” When I think if “unpublished sources,” I start wondering broadly about what never made it into print. As this series has demonstrated, there’s a ton of unpublished gold available to researchers who take the time to dig for it. But as […]
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