American Civil War
To Catch a Thief
How a Civil War buff's chance discovery led to a sting, a raid and a victory against traffickers in stolen historical documents
April 2008 |
By Steve Twomey
Catching Up With "Old Slow Trot"
Stubborn and deliberate, General George Henry Thomas was one of the Union's most brilliant strategists. So why was he cheated by history?
March 2007 |
By Ernest B. Furgurson
The Forgotten General
Historians' perspectives on George H. Thomas
March 2007 |
By Ernest B. Furgurson
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
