“Where were they not on that gory field?”: The Chesapeake Artillery and the Battle of Sharpsburg

/
“Where were they not on that gory field?”: The Chesapeake Artillery and the Battle of Sharpsburg

Many accounts by Civil War veterans, both postwar and contemporary, contain errors, omissions, and outright fabrications driven by dynamics that range from simple memory lapses to protecting or enlarging reputations.  One such case involves the participation of the Chesapeake Artillery (4th Maryland Light Artillery, CSA) in the battle of Sharpsburg, called Antietam by the Federals.  Numerous postwar and even contemporary accounts, including the battery’s most oft-cited contemporary unit history as well as that of at least one modern historian, place the Chesapeake on the field during the battle of September 17, 1862.  However, a careful examination of the contemporary historical record clearly indicates that the company was miles away from the fighting that day.

Read More

"Wrap the World in Fire," Part II: Union Foreign Policy with Great Britain

/
"Wrap the World in Fire," Part II: Union Foreign Policy with Great Britain

Abraham Lincoln and Union leaders realized from the war's outset the grave threat British intervention posed.  Intervention likely meant successful Confederate independence.  No matter what form, be it mediation, recognition, or literal intervention, any attempt by the British to interfere was based upon separation of North and South.  The causes of the Union and Confederacy were mutually exclusive; either the Union remained whole or the Confederacy earned independence.  British intervention effectively destroyed the cause of preserving the Union.

Read More

Roundtable: The Civil War's Most Influential Event

/
Roundtable: The Civil War's Most Influential Event

In Civil Discourse's first ever roundtable question, we asked five of our writers a classic, yet undeniably important, question:  what event most influenced the outcome of the Civil War?  Our authors diverse answers (and non-answers!) may surprise you!

Read More

When Battlefield Killing Becomes Murder: Antietam and Fredericksburg

/
When Battlefield Killing Becomes Murder: Antietam and Fredericksburg

Marching in column after column upon the enemy’s works, only to be mowed down and driven back—again to re-form and close up their broken ranks, and once again, with steady step to face the storm of death.  And thus over and over again they repeated their noble, but alas, fruitless deeds of valor, until divisions assumed the proportions of brigades, brigades of regiments, and regiments ofttimes had but a handful of brave fellows left, with but one or two commissioned officers remaining able to lead.  And so the tide of battle ebbed and flowed until generous night covered the blood-stained field with her sable mantle.

Read More

Sesquicentennial Spotlight: The 13th Amendment Passes the House

/
Sesquicentennial Spotlight: The 13th Amendment Passes the House

The United States did not enter the Civil War with the intent to destroy slavery.  However, by the end of the war in 1865 slavery had been dealt its death blow.  Today marks the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment passing Congress, and moving on to the states for ratification.  While the Emancipation Proclamation is more famous, it was the 13th Amendment that gave emancipation meaning and solidified the end of the war as the end of slavery in America.

Read More