“And retaliation will be our practice now . . .”
After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the U.S. Army began recruiting black men in earnest. The Confederate government...
“behind the enemies lines”
By 1864 the ranks of the Confederate Army were thinning as a result of disease and combat. This report from a Union scout highlights another drain on Confederate...
“For God’s sake send some Ice to these suffering men.”
When faced with disease accompanied by a fever, Civil War doctors could do little but make patients as comfortable as possible. Ice helped hold down fever and quench...
“My dear Wife”
Behind Union lines, under a “flag of truce,” Confederate surgeon Robert J. Bell wrote to his wife of the death of her brother Sylvester at the Battle of Helena...
“reward for the arrest and delivery to me”
This clipping offers a $30 reward for each Confederate deserter listed and described. The South was especially hurt by deserters. Confederate Army desertion rates for...
“The National flag was publicly disgraced . . .”
In this special order the local Union commander describes the insult that anti-Union members recently inflicted on the U.S. flag displayed behind the pulpit of a...
A formidable challenge
This 1863 map of Morris Island, South Carolina, shows why taking Fort Wagner was so difficult. It is located three-quarters of the way up the island when approached...