In June 1862, Union troops marched into Memphis, Tennessee, after Union ironclad gunboats captured the city from the Mississippi River. It would be occupied by federal troops for the duration…
On June 8, 1862, General Stonewall Jackson scored a victory for the Confederates in the Battle of Cross Keys. The fertile farmland of the Shenandoah Valley was vital to the…
On May 12, 1862, a gentleman named Robert Smalls was aboard a Confederate transport ship pretending to be doing his normal duties. In reality, he was preparing to take a risk that could cost him his life.
Smalls was a pilot for the Confede…
On June 2, 1865, the final Confederate armies officially surrendered, effectively ending the Civil War, which had begun four years earlier on April 12, 1861, when Confederate General Pierre G.T….
It always struck me as odd when I read history books as a kid: cannons are pretty much giant shotguns — why didn’t they ever make double-barreled cannon pieces? Well, I wasn’t the only genius with the idea.
A Southerner from Athen…
On May 21, 1863, a 48-day siege began as the Union Army cut off Port Hudson, Louisiana during the Civil War. The Union’s “Anaconda Plan” was a strict blockade of…
The New Orleans Mint is a historic structure not only because it is the oldest structure that was once a U.S. Mint that is in shape after all these years, but also because…
The uniform distinctions between the Union and Confederate soldiers were many, but the colors of their uniforms became the iconic identifier in Civil War lore. Simply saying “blue” and “gray”…
Henry Wirz and Samuel “Champ” Ferguson could not have less in common. They both served the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War, but they have different origin stories, different lives,…
The United States Constitution defines treason as “levying war against them [the U.S. government], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” Under this definition, every Confederate…