Before America sent young soldiers into police actions of the Middle East of Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and Vietnam, lives and treasure...

by Gordon Thorsby It was yesterday May 2, but in1865. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was surrendered. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee was...

by Gordon Thorsby A Confederate Coehorn Mortar LOC The canister from a Napoleon twelve-pounder smoothbore was terrifying because it could...

by Gordon Thorsby (Library of Congress)` Today, battlefield visitors might visit the High-Water Mark at Gettysburg, the top of Lookout...

by Gordon Thorsby Blacksmith Thomas Nevins , Captain Lester D. Wilson of Co. F, 75th New York Infantry Regiment, and unidentified soldie3...

by Gordon Thorsby (Library of Congress) Walker’s veteran Confederate Infantry Brigades under Stevens, Gist and Mercer hit the Federal...

by Gordon Thorsby "Skirmish Line" by William Gilbert Gaul West Point Museum “It is a terrible experience to support batteries when...

by Gordon Thorsby The Rose Farmhouse, Gettysburg (personal photo) Shortly after the 15th South Carolina Infantry pressed its advance into...

by Gordon Thorsby The "Land Merrimac" a.k.a. The "dry Land Merrimac" (Library of Congress) It is generally accepted that the first use of...

by Gordon Thorsby Courtesy of the Mariner's Museum of Norfolk The surrender of Ft. Sumter on April 14 was a disappointment for the North....

by Gordon Thorsby Five Men of the 118th PA for desertion executed Before the V Corps, 1863. From Alfred Waud (LOC) Desertion in the Civil...

by Gordon Thorsby Ezra Church, Engraving by Theodore R. Davis, published by Harpers Weekly What happened on the Northern side is that...

by Gordon Thorsby Wounded from Spotsylvania, 1864. Andress is prone and facing the camera. (photo M. Brady) Canadians didn't have to join...

by Gordon Thorsby Painting by Thure de Thulstrup The 26th Michigan Volunteer Infantry mustered-in on December 12, 1862, with 903 men. Its...

by Gordon Thorsby Current day Bridge across the Catawba River, Rock Hill SC Stoneman’s Raid of 1865 is considered the longest raid of the...

by Gordon Thorsby Sherman’s 67,000 man army crossed the Georgia line into South Carolina and encountered Confederate resistance at Aiken...

by Gordon Thorsby Front row, from left: Robinson W. Hands 20, Edwin V. Gager-47, not at Hampton Roads (HR); second row, Louis N. Stodder-...

by Gordon Thorsby Lt. Henry W. Kingsbury, (From Time Life Series, Brian Pohanka Collection) History doesn’t know much about one Henry W....

by Gordon Thorsby The Accidental Ruins of Cheraw March,1865 (History of SC Collection) In late February, 1865 and after much of Columbia...

by Gordon Thorsby (courtesy of Library of Congress) Battles of the Civil War spanned across America in towns that had little impact and...