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Home About BLOG Mission Advertise Contact Username: Password: Register | Lost Password Sidebar Browse Soldiers Letters Articles Letters Be a Contributor New Letters Search Text Search Letter's Subjects Educators Blog Write for us! War Calendar WebQuest: Civil War Soldiers WebQuest: Civil War Map WebQuest: Civil War Combat Get Update Notifications Subscribe here life of a soldier series » The Blue and the Gray in Black and White: Assessing the Scholarship on Civil War Soldiers » Can Soldiers Tell Us Anything about Lincoln? » �With a Trembling Hand and an Aching Heart" Letters of Notification of Death and Condolence See LIFE OF A SOLDIER Table of Contents news & features 06/29/2016 07:07 PM Just Retribution: the Federal Burning of Prentiss, Mississippi, September 1862 Summer of 1862 Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis’s Army of the Southwest reached Helena, Arkansas, on July 12, after a grueling and toilsome march. Though Curtis wanted to secure the state for the Union, he was forced to move away from the capital towards the Mississippi River in order to procure a consistent line of communication and supply. The move to Helena secured the town for the remainder of the... 06/27/2016 10:17 PM Book Review: EXTREME CIVIL WAR: Guerrilla Warfare, Environment, and Race on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier [Extreme Civil War: Guerrilla Warfare, Environment, and Race on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier by Matthew M. Stith (Louisiana State University Press, 2016). Hardcover, map, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages: 230. ISBN:978-0-8071-6314-6. $42.50] The Civil War as total war has been a topic of discussion on this blog and on many others; not to mention for a long time in publications and among historians. Though Mark Grimsley’s study The Hard Hand War, for... 06/27/2016 06:29 PM The Free State of Jones Movie Strikes Controversy The Civil War era as a topic for Hollywood films has resulted in at best mixed results. Recent films like Lincoln and Glory were enjoyable and their presentation of history admirable. Remember, they are movies and will not ever be historically accurate enough for people. The Free State of Jones is based mostly on a book by Victoria E. Bynum. The movie tells the true story of Newton Knight who... 05/15/2014 02:13 PM General Joseph Hooker & Hookers? There is a map (held by the Library of Congress) that surfaced online recently that depicts Washington, D.C., and in particular the White House. It was noted that at one time, within sight of the White House there were 50 saloons and 108 ‘bawdy-houses’ (brothels) in the infamous Murder Bay neighborhood. It is taken from a newspaper clipping from the 1890s and can be found at Slate. According to the... 04/19/2014 03:46 PM I was interviewed by Jane Johansson for her The Trans-Mississippian Blog Dr. Jane Johansson is a professor of history at Rogers State University and operates The Trans-Mississippian Blog. She was kind enough to read my The 11th Wisconsin in the Civil War book and afterwards asked if I’d do an interview about the book and my experiences. It was honor to be asked and I was happy to do so. Here’s a sample: Several months ago, Chris Wehner contacted me and... 04/16/2014 10:22 AM Should the Civil War Death Toll be Reconsidered? Our understanding and interpretation of the American Civil War relies partially on the death toll. Indeed, with regard to most conflicts the death toll is usually one of the first facts (data) that is discussed. The true death toll of the Civil War has been the subject of debate throughout the years; as well as on numerous blogs and websites including on here. Recent studies have determined that we probably have... 04/14/2014 09:31 PM North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal & My “The Confederate Attack on Washington, N.C.” Article Finally received my copies of the February 2014 North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal which published my article “The Confederate Attack on Washington, N.C.” In it I explore the nature of urban combat as the sacking of Washington, N.C. was one of the earliest known examples of fighting that involved citizens within a city who not only were victims, but took an active role in the engagement in some instances. The... Database Statistics Correspondences: 1,471 Soldier Profiles: 424 Soldier of the Moment: Street, John Kennedy Full Name: Street, John Kennedy Home State: Texas Allegiance: Confederate Unit/Service Branch: 9th Infantry Bio: Obituary: J.K. Street aged 77 years last April, a ... Read more about Street, John Kennedy Featured Soldier Resource: Soldiers on both sides spent much of their time in camp. Some military campaigns followed seasonal changes-battle in the spring and summer, camp in the fall and winter. Daily life in camp included drills and other military duties. Although soldiers complained of endless work and boredom, camp life also provided an opportunity to form friendships, reflect on loved ones at home, enjoy moments of recreation, and engage in spiritual renewal. Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience Featured e-Books: PERSONAL NARRATIVES George W. Huntington Diary of 1864 (Private Collection Donation) Reminiscences of a Rebel (PDF, 8 megs, 148 pages) - Wayland Fuller Dunaway of the 40th Virginia Infantry Regiment. The story of a common soldier of army life in the civil war, 1861-1865 (1920) (PDF, 24 megs, 312 pages) - by Leander Stillwell, a soldier in the 61st Illinois Infantry Regiment. Echoes of the civil war as I hear them (PDF, 19 megs, 297 pages) - by Michael Hendrick Fitch, of the 21st Wisconsin Regiment www.soldierstudies.org...