As one of if not the most important event in American history, the Civil War has inspired its share of art and literature; from paintings to songs, the Civil War has been captured in every artistic form.
Novels about the Civil War have proven to be some of the most popular in American fiction. A [...]

During the Civil War, awarding medals to soldiers who had distinguished themselves in service to their country was a practice of both the U.S. government and the Confederate government.
The Congressional Medal of Honor was established during the Civil War by order of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed into law on July 12, 1862 a measure [...]

It was a thinly veiled deception during the winter of secession in 1861 that the Southern states who were leaving the Union were leaving to protect states’ rights. The truth, which everyone knew, was that slavery was the reason – the South was determined to protect the institution at all costs.
While the election of [...]

While the political history of a country during wartime is often told in textbooks, the cultural climate of a country at war is often recorded in the art of the time; the poetry that told the story of World War I, the novels and nonfiction that were inspired by the Spanish Civil War, these give [...]

During the Victorian Era, which coincided with the Civil War era, it was understood that a woman’s place was in the home. A well-bred, educated woman, a “lady” as it were, was supposed to confine her efforts to making her family comfortable and her home hospitable. To do otherwise, to work outside the [...]

Gen. Edward O.C. Ord, wife and child at the residence of Jefferson Davis
The soldiers that served during the Civil War era may have been attired in an array of uniforms, but it’s a safe bet that their uniforms, however improvised, stylized or compromised, were nowhere near as painstaking or involved as ladies’ fashion of the [...]

It is inevitable that an event as crucial to American history as the Civil War would inspire works of art. Drawings, paintings, songs, photographs, poetry, and books have all treated the subject of the Civil War, but perhaps the most lingering fictional images of the Civil War come from those that have been seen [...]

If the American Civil War wreaked havoc upon the very fabric of American life, both North and South, at the same time, it inspired many, both directly involved in the war and affected from the civilian perspective, to contemplation of the war and what it meant for everyone in the country.
Below are some [...]

Although it is impossible to know the age of the Federal soldier in the picture at right, it is safe to assume that he is quite young, probably a teenager or maybe a little older. A teenager is certainly of a tender age, but was an old-timer compared to some of the soldiers who [...]

If there is one thing that the uniforms worn by both Federal and Confederate troops have in common, it’s that neither consistently showed any consistency.
Both the Federal and Confederate troops were mustered, at least initially, from volunteer corps. Often, these volunteer brigades chose their own style of uniform, giving the troops who rallied for [...]