American Civil War
The Best Offense
A buried Civil War battery in a Kentucky suburb tells of valiant men standing at the ready... and waiting... and waiting....
September 2005 |
By Andrew Berg
Preservation or Development at Morris Island?
On this site where the nation's legendary African-American fighting force proved its valor in the Civil War, a housing development ignited a debate over the uses of history
July 2005 |
By Fergus M. Bordewich
![As many as 150,000 slaves may have gained freedom (as depicted in 1863). "We will probably never know [the total]," says historian James O. Horton. "Part of the reason is that the underground was so successful: it kept its secrets well."](http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/200*345/free_main.jpg)
Free at Last
A new museum celebrates the Underground Railroad, the secret network of people who bravely led slaves to liberty before the Civil War
December 2004 |
By Fergus M. Bordewich
The Law that Ripped America in Two
One hundred fifty years ago, the Kansas-Nebraska Act set the stage for America's civil war
May 2004 |
By Ross Drake
Making Sense of Robert E. Lee
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
— Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg.
July 2003 |
By Roy Blount, Jr.
Pieces of History
Raised from the deep, the Monitor's turret reveals a bounty of new details about the ship's violent end
November 2002 |
By Wendy Mitman Clarke
Covert Force
Hundreds of women fought in the civil war disguised as men
October 2002 |
By Robert F. Howe
John Brown's Picture
A long-lost daguerrotype, made by a black artist in 1847, has lately come to rest at the Smithsonian
August 1997 |
By Edwards Park
The Object at Hand
A young war-horse helped Phil Sheridan win the day in the Shenandoah Valley and, made famous by a poem, helped Abraham Lincoln win re-election
November 1996 |
By John Fleischman
