Videos

Historian Timothy Smith discussed the Vicksburg Campaign, which ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. Union control of the Mississippi River split the Confederacy in half and…

Historian Neil Chatelain discussed the Siege of Charleston Harbor in 1863, a combined naval and land assault, which he claims was a test of military and naval cooperation and an experiment w…

Historians discussed Civil War battles of 1863. The Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge in Spotsylvania, Virginia, hosted this event.

Historian Cecily Zander discussed Confederate General Braxton Bragg, who achieved the most significant southern victory in the Western Theater at the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga but was later…

Matt Atkinson has worked as a ranger at both the Gettysburg and Vicksburg national military parks. He compared those two 1863 campaigns as turning points in the Civil War and explored why Ge…

Drew Gruber talked about the 1862 Battle of Williamsburg in Virginia - and why it was overshadowed that year by larger and bloodier battles. He also explained why Williamsburg’s colonial his…

Located in Charleston harbor, Fort Sumter was still held by Union forces in April 1861, despite South Carolina’s secession in 1860. National Park Service historian Mark Maloy described the e…

Civil War historians Doug Crenshaw and Robert Dunkerly talked about Confederate General Joseph Johnston. He served with honors in the United States military during the Mexican-American War, …

Scott Hartwig, the former supervisory historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, talked about the lead up to the September 1862 Battle of Antietam and Abraham Lincoln’s announcing the p…

Sarah Kay Bierle, managing editor of the “Emerging Civil War” blog, talked about Confederate artillery officer John Pelham and the Battle of Kelly’s Ford in Virginia. John Pelham died shortl…

Civil War historian Dan Welch talked about Union General John Pope and his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862.

Gettysburg Park Ranger Matt Atkinson discussed Confederate General Earl Van Dorn’s largely unsuccessful military career and his death. In May 1863, while at his Tennessee headquarters, he wa…

Civil War author and historian Gordon Rhea talked about Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart’s mortal wounding in May 1864 at Yellow Tavern, part of a skirmish on the outskirts of Richmond, Vir…

Civil War author Kevin Pawlak recounted the career of Union General Fitz John Porter. General Porter was court-martialed after the Battle of Second Manassas, fought August 29-30, 1862, but t…

Civil War author David Powell described the life and military career of Confederate General Leonidas Polk. Gen. Polk was killed by a cannonball during the June 14, 1864, Battle of Marietta. …

Chris Mackowski, editor in chief of the “Emerging Civil War” blog, talked about Union General Thomas Stevenson, who was was killed in action during the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in M…

Civil War author Sean Chick talked about Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard at the annual “Emerging Civil War” blog symposium. He described General Beauregard’s relationship with Confeder…

John Rankin joined the Union Army at age 18 and served three years in the Indiana 27th Infantry. After the Civil War, he published memoirs and newspaper columns recounting his experiences, w…

Chris Mackowski is the author of Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. He talked about his book, which recounts Grant’s life post-presidency, includ…

Author Sarah Kay Bierle discussed the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaigns and Civil War medical care at that time. She noted both the Union and Confederacy had developed improved systems by tha…