While a woman’s place was certainly considered to be the home during the Victorian era, many women defied this tradition during the American Civil War, leaving their homes and sometimes even their hometowns to do what they could for the war effort. One of the most common roles that women took on during the Civil [...]

Monuments to fallen Civil War soldiers began appearing almost as soon as the first casualties fell. Throughout the country, north and south, states, towns, and even families began constructing monuments to their fallen soldiers, individuals and entire regiments. Whether on the town square or in a local cemetery, these monuments allowed grieving members of the [...]

Antiques from the Civil War era are among the most valuable on the American antique market. If you think you have an item in your home that belongs to the Civil War era, then get thee to Antiques Roadshow and fast- you’ve probably got a small fortune in your attic! The market for Civil War [...]

A strange sort of nostalgia for the Civil War sprang up almost as soon as the war was over. Traveling circuses and other attractions began displaying artifacts associated with the war almost immediately; however, these public displays were only a part of the nation’s desire to memorialize the war. The Victorian tendency towards sentimentality and [...]

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain Statistics are notoriously unreliable, and in no instance are statistics more unreliable than those that exist about the Civil War. Historians often quibble about statistics that exist regarding the Civil War, and it’s no wonder – while records were kept during the [...]

The American Civil War changed almost every aspect of life for both soldiers and civilians. Both Union and Confederate states experienced inflation and shortages of goods. The way that people paid for items changed, as well. One of the first effects of the war that civilians both North and South felt was the absence of [...]

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 [...]

The battle of Gettysburg began not on July 1, 1863, but in May of 1863. Gettysburg was the culmination of General Robert E. Lee’s campaign to take Pennsylvania, a crushing blow to the Union, but it was a campaign that not only failed, but also nearly destroyed Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Confederate [...]

Poetry flourished as one of the arts during the 19th century, particularly during the sentimental Victorian era. Newspapers and magazines dedicated hundreds of inches of space – sometimes in one issue – to poetry. While some of these poems were written by authors who are still well known today, such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver [...]