The Boys of Potomac rank the Generals
Soldiers on both sides in the Civil War spent a lot of time in camp when they weren’t actively campaigning, and when the routine work of drilling was finished, they had time for a...
Category: The Arts
Walt Whitman’s Poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Laments the Death of Abraham Lincoln
Writer, poet, and journalist Walt Whitman wrote several poems about the Civil War, which were compiled into two volumes called Drum-Taps, and Sequel to Drum-Taps, both published in 1865. He became personally involved in...
Herman Melville’s Poem Shiloh: A Requiem
The April 6-7, 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee was by far the costliest battle in terms of casualties up to that point in the year old Civil War. Each side suffered over 1700...
The Civil War Themed Episodes of the Classic Twilight Zone TV Series
The original Twilight Zone television series had several episodes that dealt with the topic of war including some set during the Civil War. Rod Serling, the show’s creator, was a World War II combat...
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Civil War Poem “A Nameless Grave”
During the Civil War, neither the U.S. or Confederate military or government issued any type of identification to their soldiers. Although official identification in the form of the now familiar metal “dog tags” were...
Before She Became a Famous Novelist, Louisa May Alcott Served as a Nurse in the Civil War
When the Civil War began in 1861, Louisa May Alcott was an aspiring writer working for the Atlantic Monthly magazine, the forerunner of today’s Atlantic. Born in Pennsylvania in 1832, her family eventually moved...
The Poem “The Craven” Ridiculed George McClellan’s Absence From the Field at the Battle of Malvern Hill
The July 1st, 1862 Battle of Malvern Hill was the final conflict in the Seven Days Battles at the end of the Peninsula Campaign. The Union Army had been driven back from near Richmond...
Herman Melville’s Poem “Chattanooga” is a Reflection on the Battle of Missionary Ridge
In 1866, writer Herman Melville published a book of poetry on the just completed Civil War called “Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War”. Melville’s Civil War poems paid tribute to the bravery of the...