I had the pleasure to meet Mike Talplacido at the recent Civil War Trust meeting who told me that there were two Confederates buried in Vicksburg National Cemetery from Milliken’s Bend. One of them, he informed me, was Reuben H. more »
Memorial Day isn’t just about hot dogs, baseball, and apple pie – and a three-day weekend. Memorial Day began to honor the Civil War dead. You can read more about the origins of this holiday – and in particular, the more »
It occurred to me, when I wrote my recent post about Webster, a runaway slave, that with digitized texts, it has now become possible to develop a biographical sketch of an individual slave simply by performing a keyword search of more »
Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War is a small but powerful and revealing book. It takes place in the brief window of time when South Carolina and a few other Southern states had more »
It’s impossible to estimate the number of runaway slaves that set out for a new life of freedom in Northeastern Louisiana in 1863. At the start of the year, it was minimal, though still significant. With the coming of spring, more »