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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The Second Battle of Corinth—a Union victory—concluded #otd in 1862. Confederate forces suffered heavy losses in their assaults on the Union defenses that ringed the city, especially Battery Robinett, where the fighting was hand-to-hand.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The first day of the Second Battle of Corinth, fought #otd in 1862, saw Earl Van Dorn's Confederates drive William Rosecrans' Federals back to the inner line of defenses surrounding the critical rail junction in MS. The fighting stopped at nightfall, to be resumed the next day.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Union general William "Bull" Nelson was shot and killed in Louisville's Galt House Hotel #otd in 1862 by fellow general Jefferson C. Davis, who was enraged after being publicly insulted by Nelson, his commanding officer. Within two weeks, Davis returned to duty unpunished.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"A Mother’s Work: Mary Bickerdyke, Civil War Era Nurse" by Megan VanGorder "will be an important addition to scholarly conversations on women’s history and the history of medicine and nursing," writes Sarah Handley-Cousins. Read more here: tinyurl.com/bdh6v49z @uncpress.bsky.social

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation #otd in 1862, declaring that if the Confederates did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The Battle of Chickamauga concluded #otd in 1863. Union commander William Rosecrans accidentally created a massive gap in his lines that was then breached by James Longstreet's Confederates, who routed and drove much of the Union army (including Rosecrans) from the field.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Union and Confederate forces fought to a standstill at the Battle of Antietam #otd in 1862. Total casualties (killed, wounded, missing) during the engagement totaled nearly 23,000, making Antietam the bloodiest single day in American history.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"More Important Than Good Generals: Junior Officers in the Army of the Tennessee" by Jonathan Engel is "a useful if uneven book," writes Andrew S. Bledsoe. Read more of his thoughts on it here : tinyurl.com/yf7r48vt

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. #otd in 1863. Using the authority granted him by Congress earlier in the year, his order allowed the Union military to detain individuals deemed disloyal (spies, prisoners, deserters, draft resisters, etc.) without immediate trial.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Through the Civil War with the 14th Ohio Infantry: Horatio Quiggle’s Memoir of Service, 1861–1865," ed. by Joanna R. Hagopian and David A. Powell, is a "fine addition to the body of Civil War soldiers’ memoirs," writes Jeremy Knoll. Read more here: tinyurl.com/msw5rf6n

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was born #otd in 1828. A professor at Bowdoin College when the war began, he led the 20th Maine at Gettysburg, his actions there earning him the Medal of Honor. He survived a severe wound at Petersburg in 1864 and ended the war a brevet major general.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Confederate cavalry general John Hunt Morgan—the "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy"—was killed in Greeneville, TN, #otd in 1864. Union cavalry had entered the town and surprised Morgan, who was shot while fleeing the house in which he had spent the night.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Union generals Phil Kearny and Isaac Stevens were killed #otd in 1862 at the Battle of Chantilly while leading their men against Confederates under "Stonewall" Jackson, who were attempting to cut off the retreating Union army after its defeat the previous day at Second Bull Run.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

James Longstreet's 25,000-man-strong corps of the Army of Northern Virginia launched the largest mass assault of the Civil War #otd in 1862, routing John Pope's Union army at the Second Battle of Manassas. Days later, Robert E. Lee's began his campaign into Maryland.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The first of seven Lincoln-Douglas debates was held #otd in 1858. Democratic U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, his Republican challenger, clashed mainly over the fate of slavery in the country. Lincoln would lose the election but gain national recognition.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The digital version of our Fall '26 issue is now live for subscribers to read at our website: tinyurl.com/yy44xptx. Not yet a subscriber? Fix that here: tinyurl.com/232zx9cd.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

In our latest photo essay, we assembled images that shed light on the presence—and activities—of sharpshooters in the Union and Confederate armies. View them here: tinyurl.com/39nppsjr

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Ulysses S. Grant was appointed to the rank of brigadier general #otd in 1861; the Senate confirmed the appointment days later. Grant, then 39, began the war as colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry and would end it as lieutenant general and commander of all Union armies.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

The Battle of Ezra Church was fought #otd in 1864 as John Bell Hood's Confederates moved to thwart William T. Sherman's efforts to reach and destroy the Macon & Western line that led into Atlanta. While successful, Hood's men suffered heavy losses in the tactical defeat.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Former commanding general of the Union army and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, 63, died #otd in 1885. He worked intensely on his memoirs in his final months in hopes of providing financial support to his family. The photo here shows Grant four days before his death.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Union troops, headed by the African-American 54th MA, attacked Fort Wagner, SC, #otd in 1863. While the assault failed, the men of the 54th were subsequently praised for their valor. Shown here: Sgt. William Carney, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Jefferson Davis replaced Joe Johnston with John Bell Hood as commander of the Army of Tennessee #otd in 1864. Frustrated by Johnston's continuous retreats toward Atlanta against William T. Sherman’s forces, Davis thought the aggressive Hood might more effectively blunt the Union advance.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Nathan Bedford Forrest launched a poorly coordinated frontal assault against pursuing Union soldiers outside Tupelo, MS, #otd in 1864. Forrest's force suffered heavy losses in the Union victory, which secured the safety of W.T. Sherman's supply lines during the Atlanta Campaign.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Convicted Lincoln assassination conspirators Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were hanged at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary #otd in 1865. The reported last words of Surratt—the first woman executed by the U.S. government—were "Please don't let me fall."

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy #250thBirthday America! The illustrated newspaper Harper's Weekly marked the Fourth of July in 1865—and the recent end of the Civil War—by publishing this depiction of triumphant Union soldiers heading home to reunite with loved ones and resume civilian life in peace.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Confederate infantry advanced upon the center of the Union line at Gettysburg #otd in 1863. Known to history as Pickett’s Charge, the Rebel attack proceeded over nearly a mile of open ground before reaching its objective—and being repulsed.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

The Battle of Gaines' Mill—the third of the so-called Seven Days Battles—was fought #otd in 1862. The Confederate victory convinced George McClellan to abandon his campaign to take Richmond and pull his Army of the Potomac back to the James River.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Abner Doubleday was born #otd in 1819. The West Point grad was among the defenders of Fort Sumter when it was bombarded in 1861 and rose to the rank of major general by war's end. The claim that he invented the game of baseball—made years after his death—has been debunked.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

George Armstrong Custer was killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana Territory #otd in 1876. The Ohio native, who had made his reputation as the bold and dashing “Boy General” during the Civil War, was 36.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Today is "Juneteenth," the anniversary of the day, in 1865, that enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom from Union soldiers, 900 days after the Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Winfield Scott—the influential army commander known as "Old Fuss and Feathers"—was born in Virginia #otd in 1786. As general-in-chief of the U.S. Army in 1861, he formulated the Anaconda Plan, which called for a blockade of southern ports and control of the Mississippi River.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Union cavalry under Philip Sheridan—looking to distract the enemy from U.S. Grant's planned crossing of the James River after Cold Harbor—clashed with Confederate horsemen at Trevilian Station #otd in 1864. The 2-day engagement was the bloodiest all-cavalry battle of the war.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

William Quantrill, an Ohio-born schoolteacher who led the notorious pro-Confederate partisan ranger outfit responsible for the Lawrence Massacre, died #otd in 1865 of wounds he received on May 10 in a fight with Union troops in Kentucky, one of the war's final clashes. He was 27.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

"The Lynches of South Carolina: From Reconstruction to Redemption," edited by Robert Emmett Curran, "provide[s] a snapshot of a Catholic family seeking to make its way in the postbellum United States," writes Evan C. Rothera in our latest book review. Read it here: tinyurl.com/yuz7snbk

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

The Summer '26 issue of the Monitor goes on sale today. You can learn more about it—or order a copy—at our website.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

The first day of the Battle of Seven Pines was fought #otd in 1862. Tactically inconclusive, the fight saw the wounding of Confederate general Joe Johnston—and his replacement by Robert E. Lee. Shown here: A depiction of Rebels wounded at the battle in the streets of Richmond.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Wishing you all a safe and peaceful Memorial Day, a holiday with its roots in honoring those who died during the Civil War. Shown here is a Harper's Weekly illustration from 1864 depicting Union officers toasting their fallen comrades.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, 24, was the first Union officer killed during the Civil War #otd in 1861 when he was shot by the proprietor of the Marshall House in Alexandria, VA, after removing the Confederate flag that had flown from the establishment's roof.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Ambrose E. Burnside was born on this day in 1824. A West Point grad and creator (in 1855) of a breech-loading carbine that bears his name, he began the Civil War as commander of the 1st Rhode Island Infantry and ended it as a major general.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

#otd 170 years ago, Representative Preston Brooks, a proslavery Democrat from SC, used a walking cane to beat Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from MA, nearly to death in the U.S. Senate chamber, an incident that laid bare the country's deepening sectional rift.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

The digital version of our Summer '26 issue is now live for subscribers to read at our website: tinyurl.com/maaw88s5. Not yet a subscriber? Fix that here: tinyurl.com/232zx9cd.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

The Battle of Resaca, GA, concluded #otd in 1864. Though inconclusive, the engagement resulted in William T. Sherman's Union force pushing Joe Johnston's Confederates farther back toward Atlanta, Sherman's ultimate goal.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died #otd in 1863 from pneumonia, eight days after he was accidentally shot by Confederate soldiers at the Battle of Chancellorsville, a wound that resulted in the amputation of his left arm. He was 39.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House began #otd in 1864 when Union troops tried but failed to dislodge Confederates blocking their path to the vital crossroads. By the time the battle ended on May 21, the opposing armies had suffered over 30,000 combined casualties.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Joseph Hooker finished concentrating his Army of the Potomac at the hamlet of Chancellorsville, VA, #otd in 1863, part of his plan to defeat Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. "May God have mercy on General Lee for I will have none," a bold Hooker said at the outset.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House #otd 161 years ago. Lee, dressed in his ceremonial uniform, stood in contrast to Grant, whose government-issued sack coat, trousers, and boots were splattered with mud.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Shown here: Rev. P.P. Cooney is depicted conducting divine services on Easter Sunday, 1864, for men of the Union Army of the Cumberland. #civilwarhistory #americancivilwar #HappyEasterHolliday

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Happy #AprilFoolsDay! Shown here: A Union naval officer is depicted messing with a comrade in this Thomas Nast illustration marking April Fool's Day in 1864.

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

"The 14th New York State Militia in the Civil War, Volume 1: 'Baptized by Fire'" by James L. McLean Jr. offers an "exemplar of how regimental histories can benefit those whose interests extend beyond a particular unit," writes Jonathan Noyalas. Read more: tinyurl.com/48pswrw2

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The Civil War Monitor @cwmonitor.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

The Spring '26 issue of the Monitor goes on sale today. You can learn more about it—or order a copy—at our website: www.civilwarmonitor.com/issue/spring-2026/

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