The Civil War began as an exercise of patriotism. The new Confederacy had no army to speak of, and hence had to depend on volunteers. The Federal Army was woefully undermanned, and President Abraham Lincoln issued a request for volunteers as soon as it was determined [...]

For soldiers on the march during the Civil War, fresh food was often a delicacy that had to be obtained by less than honest means. Yet Confederate General Robert E. Lee was guaranteed one fresh egg every day, but this honor was not due to the [...]

“It’s all a damned mess! And our two armies ain’t nothing but howling mobs!”
- A captured Confederate private gave this description of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.
By 1864 it was clear that General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia were a [...]

Relieved of his command of the V Corps after the debacle at Second Bull Run, Fitz John Porter was demoted, while the disgraced General Pope was sent to Minnesota to put down the Dakota Uprising. However, Pope kept up with his powerful friends in Washington - [...]

A disgraced general. An unpopular and perhaps unqualified general. A disgruntled general. Muddled orders. An embarrassing rout on the battlefield. An eventual court-martial. All the ingredients for a military scandal. All the ingredients of the court-martial of Fitz John Porter.
The court-martial of Fitz John Porter during [...]

The irony is, on the surface, remarkable. While serving as the First Lady of the Confederacy, living in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capitol, Varina Howell Davis rescues a young African-American boy from a brutal guardian, and takes him into the Confederate household as a member of [...]

New Orleans, 1874. In the throes of Reconstruction, elections have erupted in riots throughout the city. Major general of militia and state police James Longstreet enters the fray, only to be pulled from his horse, shot - albeit with a spent bullet, then taken prisoner. The [...]

Despite the fact that he met his fate early in the war, the Union produced few officers as colorful as General Philip Kearny.
Born in 1815 of wealthy New York stock, Kearny was raised by his grandfather after his parents perished while he was still a child. His grandfather insisted [...]

War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over. William Tecumseh Sherman
The American Civil War was years in the making. It was inevitable for years before the election of Lincoln to the presidency in 1860, the election [...]

In 1861, a nine year old boy named John Clem runs away from his Ohio home to attempt to join the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He is turned away, as much for his small size as for his age. Undeterred, John Clem tries to join the 22nd [...]