“Matronly persons . . . will always have preference”
In 1861, shortly after the Battle of Bull Run, U.S. Surgeon General William Hammond appointed Dorothea Dix as Superintendent of U.S. Army Nurses. This circular lays...
Missing in action
This list includes all the enlisted men of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment missing—and presumed dead—after the assault on Fort Wagner. The total loss was...
National Cemetery in Yorktown, Virginia
Adjacent to the battlefield where the American Revolution ended in 1781 and surrounded by Civil War battlefields, Yorktown National Cemetery was established in 1866....
New lyrics for an old song
The original lyrics of “The Battle Cry of Freedom” were written by George Root and supported the Union. Composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted...
No guns for black men
G. P. Miller, a black physician from Michigan, wrote this letter to U.S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron in October 1861. He proposed to raise a regiment of “sharp...
Not Exactly a Landslide
The Presidential election of 1860 was a four-way race among Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrats Stephen A. Douglas and John Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union...
Not so fast
On May 9, 1862, Gen. David Hunter declared all slaves in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida “forever free” and authorized them to serve in the U.S. Army....