Gettysburg's Grip

In a few weeks, an estimated 4 million visitors are expected to descend upon the picturesque southern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg, which has a population of less than 8,000. They’re coming by the millions to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of...
Rape & The Civil War

Rape & The Civil War

President Lincoln’s General Orders No. 100, also known as the Lieber Code of 1863, set clear rules for engaging with enemy combatants. But the code also clarified how Union soldiers should treat civilians, and in particular women. Largely forgotten today, the Lieber...

Chancellorsville

“My plans are perfect, and when I start to carry them out may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.” — Union General Joseph Hooker It had been several months since the embarrassing Mud March and the removal of Union Gen. Ambrose...

Surrender Anniversary

The national capital of the Confederate States of America, Richmond, Va., fell to the Union Army 148 years ago this month, after 10 months of bloody horror in the muddy bug-infested trenches around nearby Petersburg, Va., as the Union armies tightened their noose...