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Civil War

Peter Strien was 21 years old when he was wounded at the battle of Fort Steadman.

Cool Finds

These Eerie Civil War Photos Changed How the U.S. Saw Veterans

Reed Bontecou’s groundbreaking photography used a new medium to bring attention to the wounds of war

The suspected Confederate blockade runner found near the mouth of the Cape Fear River

Cool Finds

Civil War Blockade Runner Found in North Carolina Waters

Sonar scan finds possible remains of a Confederate steamship used to outrun the Union Navy

A group of escaped former slaves gathered at the plantation of Confederate General Thomas Drayton. After Federal troops occupied the plantation they began to harvest and gin cotton for their own profit

Cool Finds

A Free Man’s Letter to A Former Slaveowner in 1865

When asked to return to the farm where he was held in bondage, Jourdon Anderson wrote this thoughtful reply

Document Deep Dive

The Telegram That Broke News of the Civil War

After Confederate forces seized Fort Sumter, a U.S. Army officer dashed off this message to Washington

Live near a cemetery? Better check your drinking water.

Arsenic and Old Graves: Civil War-Era Cemeteries May Be Leaking Toxins

The poisonous element, once used in embalming fluids, could be contaminating drinking water as corpses rot

Secrets of American History

That Time When Custer Stole a Horse

The theft of a prize-winning stallion gave the famous general a glimpse of a future that could have been

The title of Gardner's photograph (taken with Timothy O'Sullivan) Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg, July 1863 was added later to capitalize on the famous general's heroism.

Alexander Gardner Saw Himself as an Artist, Crafting the Image of War in All Its Brutality

The National Portrait Gallery’s new show on the Civil War photographer rediscovers the full significance of Gardner’s career

Martha McDonald performs in the 2014 work The Lost Garden at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

What Artist Martha McDonald Might Teach Us About a Nation Divided

This fall, a one-woman show staged in one of Washington, D.C.’s most historic buildings will recall the sorrow of the Civil War

A suggestion to change our vocabulary when we talk about American History

A Proposal to Change the Words We Use When Talking About the Civil War

Historian Michael Landis writes that vocabulary like “compromise” or “Union” shape how we view our past

"Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter." A soldier finds his final resting place, July 1863.

Why Can’t We Turn Our Eyes Away From the Grotesque and Macabre?

Alexander Gardner’s photographs of Civil War corpses were among the first to play to the uncomfortable attraction humans have for shocking images

Past and Presence: The Power of Photographs

The shattering nature of violence. The resilience of the human spirit. The power of photographs. A Smithsonian special project

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (top) and Chickamauga, Georgia (bottom) were the sites of two Civil War battles.

Past and Presence

A Photographic Requiem for America’s Civil War Battlefields

Walking far-flung battlefields to picture the nation’s defining tragedy in a modern light

These tags were used to identify slaves before emancipation

Trending Today

Juneteenth Didn’t Stop the Enslavement of Black People in Houston

The delayed enforcement of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation still didn’t bring freedom to many black Texans

A ward in Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. One key innovation during this period was the division of hospitals into wards based on disease.

Six Ways the Civil War Changed American Medicine

150 years ago, the historic conflict forced doctors to get creative and to reframe the way they thought about medicine

An African American soldier is shown cooking at the camp kitchen of 2nd New York Regiment during the Civil War

Cool Finds

The Civil War’s Division of North and South is Reflected in Cookbooks

Naval blockades kept the South starving for salt and other foods, a fact reflected in the recipes of the time

A rendering of the USS Nautilus, the world's first atomic submarine. The real Nautilus is now open to the public, docked in Connecticut so that visitors can walk around inside and explore the torpedoes and living quarters.

Urban Explorations

Step Inside a Famous Submarine

Where to visit historic subs this summer—or ride in a modern one

Soldiers on the Union side look solemn as they carry a large flag.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

What the Final, Major 150th Anniversary Civil War Reenactment Looked Like

What war—and surrender—looked like on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War

The top hat, with a silk mourning band for his son Willie, was worn last to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A Host of Relics from Lincoln’s Last Days All Came to Reside at the Smithsonian

The Lincoln collection at the American History Museum marks the horrific tragedy and the poignancies of a nation in mourning

"One more stain on the old banner," Booth yelled, conjuring the Confederate flag as he prepared to face his pursuers

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Final Hours of John Wilkes Booth

“I have too great a soul to die like a criminal,” Booth once wrote

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The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A look back at the fateful night 150 years ago that changed American history forever

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