The conundrums of counter-insurgency from the Civil War to the present
Military & Maritime
The Monitor’s Demise
On New Year’s Eve 1862, sixteen men–and maybe a cat–went under with the Monitor
Sixth Maine Infantry on parade after the Battle of Fredericksburg. (Photo: NYPL Digital Collections)
The Battle of Fredericksburg and Its Many Interpretations
Fredericksburg reminds us of the Civil War’s enormous costs and that the war’s outcome was by no means inevitable.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Hell-Roaring Mike
From Macon, Georgia to the waters off Alaska. Mike Healy was the Coast Guard’s first black captain.
Richard Jordan Gatling and His Gun
The Gatling Gun was perhaps the most under-utilized weapon in the Union’s arsenal.
America’s Lasting Love for General Lafayette
On July 11 and 12th, the French frigate Hermione will sail into Boston Harbor, just as it did 235 years ago.
Remembering Our First Female Soldiers on Memorial Day
There is a group of soldiers that often gets forgotten when we remember our troops on Memorial Day: the WACs, the more than 150,000 women who served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
“So Nearly White”: The Fight to Commission a Black Officer
Was it possible to commission an African-American soldier as an officer in the Union Army and in the same act not commission an African-American soldier as an officer in the Union Army?
Five Civil War Generals Who Went on to Fight in the Indian Wars
William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan, and more…
Following Johnny Reb’s March Home
Lawrence Taliaferro’s civil war should have ended on very familiar ground when he crossed the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg shortly after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Instead Taliaferro was struck by the drastic changes to the landscape.