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Civil War

Workers remove the Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson monument in Wyman Park early Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017.

Baltimore Quietly Removes Four Confederate Monuments

Mayor Catherine Pugh said the statues “needed to come down”

A print from Harper’s showing Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863

The Wealthy Activist Who Helped Turn “Bleeding Kansas” Free

Newly minted abolitionist Amos Adams Lawrence funneled much of his fortune into a battle he thought America couldn’t afford to lose

Cloth Smuggled Out of Syrian Prison Bears Witness to Atrocities Wrought by the Civil War

The U.S. Holocaust Museum has received the cloth scraps, which bears the names of 82 inmates written in chicken bones, rust, and blood

Alcatraz Island as it looks today.

Alcatraz Wasn’t Always ‘Uncle Sam’s Devil’s Island’

Though it was a prison for more than a century, it didn’t become the famous maximum-security penitentiary until 1934

William Maples holds a bone fragment during a presentation about the Romanov Investigations, circa 1992.

William R. Maples Popularized Forensic Anthropology Long Before CSI

Maples worked on a number of high-profile cases that helped to bring the field of forensic anthropology to prominence

Logs discovered under 168th Avenue in Grand Haven Township, Michigan

“Corduroy Road” From Civil War Era Found in Michigan

Used to stabilize swampy pathways, corduroy roads are among the earliest types of manufactured thoroughfares

While presidents have the power to pardon, their decision to use it isn't always popular. Just look at this anti-Ford button made in response to his pardoning of Richard Nixon.

History of Now

A Brief History of Presidential Pardons

The power bestowed upon the chief executive to excuse past misdeeds has involved a number of famous Americans

A member of the 9th Cavalry circa 1890.

Three Things to Know About the Buffalo Soldiers

These segregated regiments offered black soldiers a chance to fight for their rights

A later copy of the Bixby Letter

New Research

Was This Famous Lincoln Letter Written by His Secretary?

After a century of rumors, textual analysis suggests the Bixby letter sent to a grieving mother was penned by John Hay

This 1861 cartoon of the Bull Run battlefield includes a portrayal of watching House members and "ladies as spectators."

Was the First Battle of Bull Run Really ‘The Picnic Battle’?

Yep. But it was anything but frivolous

The 1759 cannonball

Cool Finds

Found: 200-Year-Old Cannonball From French and Indian War

Potentially still live, the incendiary device has been moved to a safe location to be neutralized

The hilt of Robert Gould Shaw's sword

Cool Finds

Civil War Hero’s Long-Lost Sword Was Hiding in an Attic

Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw led the legendary 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first official black military units in the United States

Charleston, South Carolina, was founded in 1670 and is the state's oldest city. The drawing depicts it in 1860.

What Did Independence Day Mean to Southerners About to Secede?

As secession loomed, the Fourth of July took on new significance

The proposal would have seen a racetrack and casino built three miles away from the now-grassy slopes of Gettysburg National Military Park.

Someone Was Actually Trying to Build a Casino Three Miles From the Gettysburg Battle Site

A local businessman said the casino would bring jobs and money to the historic region–but other locals said gaming would irrevocably change Gettysburg

The only way Robert Smalls could ensure that his family would stay together was to escape.

The Thrilling Tale of How Robert Smalls Seized a Confederate Ship and Sailed it to Freedom

He risked his life to liberate his family and became a legend in the process

Howard in 1893 at Governor's Island

The Namesake of Howard University Spent Years Kicking Native Americans Off of Their Land

Oliver Otis Howard was a revered Civil War general—but his career had a dark postscript

An infantry unit with bayonets marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in May 1865. They are followed by three ambulances.

See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer

Mathew Brady and the photographers he hired were the first to photograph a war zone

Monument Avenue In Richmond, Virginia

What Richmond Has Gotten Right About Interpreting Its Confederate History

And why it hasn’t faced the same controversy as New Orleans or Charlottesville

Savannah, Georgia during the Civil War. The southern landscape is often a key element of southern gothic fiction.

Why People Love Southern Gothic

From the 19th century to S-Town, it’s a compelling genre that’s as flawed as its most grotesque characters

Belle Boyd in an image taken between 1855 and 1865.

Belle Boyd, Civil War Spy

The so-called “Siren of Shenandoah” stole weapons and carried letters in service to the Confederacy

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