John Burns of Gettysburg by Bret Harte
As U.S. forces rushed through Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1st, 1863 to meet the approaching Confederates on the northwest edge of town, they were joined by 69 year old John L. Burns, a War...
Category: The Arts
Classic Civil War Films: The Raid (1954)
On October 19th, 1864, approximately 20 Confederates who had quietly crossed the border from Canada, robbed three banks in St. Albans, Vermont, and attempted to burn the town before escaping back to Canada. You...
Herman Melville’s Poem “The Fall of Richmond”
Herman Melville (1819-1891) is best known for writing novels, like Moby Dick, and short stories, like Bartleby, the Scrivener, but he also wrote poetry, including poems about the Civil War. In 1866, he published...
Walt Whitman’s Poem “The Wound Dresser” Vividly Describes the Grim Scenes in Civil War Hospitals
One of the most famous poets of the 19th century, Walt Whitman was an established poet, writer, and journalist at the beginning of the Civil War. Whitman took a great deal of interest in...
“Sheridan’s Ride” by Thomas Buchanon Read Was One of the Most Famous Poems of the Civil War
Thomas Buchanon Read (1822-1872) was a relatively minor artist and poet of the nineteenth century, but he did have one very enduring success during the Civil War. Read’s 1864 poem “Sheridan’s Ride” , which...
Civil War Film “The Free State of Jones” Will Be Released June 24, 2016
The Free State of Jones is a Civil War move based on the true story of Newt Knight, a Mississippi farmer and Confederate soldier who walked away from the fighting after the Siege of...
PBS Civil War Drama “Mercy Street” Premiers January 17th, 2016
“Mercy Street”, a six part drama set in Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War, hits the airwaves with its premier episode on January 17th. The series focuses on a hospital in the Union occupied...
Song: Marching Through Georgia
Songwriter Henry Clay Work (1832-1884) was a Connecticut native and staunch supporter of the Union cause. Work was born into an abolitionist family whose home was a stop on the Underground Railroad and who...