The Resting Place of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Just about a year ago, long time friend Ken generously agreed to post an photo essay about scenes from the Civil War, then and now. This has deservedly become one of the most popular posts on You’re History, and if you missed it, you can find it here. This summer, Ken and Eileen made [...]

Historical Fiction: Savannah, by James Reasoner

Damn Yankees
As a lifelong student of America’s Civil War, I turned to Reasoner’s fictional series with interest because of its Confederate perspective. The ninth volume, Savannah, covers the months during which Sherman took the fight to Georgia and began the systematic shattering of the rebel army. My hope was that this book would be [...]

Watch This: Gore Vidal’s Lincoln

Author Gore Vidal’s work of “factual fiction”, Lincoln, is a monumental novel focusing upon the five years of the most dramatic of presidencies. Distilling nearly 700 pages of biographical detail into a three hour miniseries must have been daunting, but writer Ernest Kinoy was up to the task. It’s hard to judge direction in a [...]

Bad Girls: Mary Surratt

Mary Surratt was the first woman ever executed by the governement of the United States. What did she do to gain this distinction? Historical opinion is divided.
Mary Jenkins was born in May or June of 1823 in Waterloo, Maryland. She attended a private Catholic girls’ academy and married young,  at age 17, to John Surratt, [...]

A Birthday Tribute To Abraham Lincoln : NPR

Click on the link and listen to this presentation by Scott Simon. Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln.
A Birthday Tribute To Abraham Lincoln : NPR.

It’s a Mystery: Faded Coat of Blue, by Owen Parry

A different sort of mystery
Abel Jones is a bit of a prig, but you have to admire him for living by his principles. When none other than George McClellan asks him to investigate the death of a prominent abolitionist, Capt. Jones, despite his war injuries, willingly accepts the challenge. Faded Coat of Blue [...]

Civil War News: Lee Surrender Document

By DAN ROBRISH, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 2.

PHILADELPHIA – Officials at a small Civil War museum made an intriguing discovery while sifting through storage: A document long treated as a photo reproduction of the terms of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender appears, upon closer inspection, to contain actual signatures and date to [...]

It’s a Mystery: Dead March, by Ann MacMillan

Dead March is a mystery, set in Civil War Richmond, and based upon the practice of “resurrecting” buried corpses for teaching anatomy to medical students. In this version, the protagonist, young widow Narcissa, looks into the disturbing possibility that slaves are being murdered to serve this purpose. Link to full review:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2BYHPUV7V1IGZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Civil War Sites Then and Now

We have a good friend, Ken F., who has two big-time interests, sports and the Civil War. Ken and my husband talk for hours about sports, and Ken and I enjoy sharing CW books and discussions. Ken and his equally interesting wife, Eileen, recently made another trek to two of the most iconic CW battlefields [...]

Reading History: Lost Triumph – Lee’s Real Plan at Gettysburg

by Tom Carhart
Lee revisited
How could a great general – arguably the greatest in American history – have failed so dismally with Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg? This question has been debated since the day after it happened. Historian Tom Carhart does not believe the [...]