Learn Civil War History

The soldiers of the Civil War often had their own unique way of saying things. The words, slang, and phrases of Billy Yank (a Union soldier), a Johnny Reb (a Confederate soldier), and the civilians of the 19th century are different from our modern-day language. The language of Civil War soldiers was rich and colorful.

This podcast is a listing and explanation of some Civil War terms or vocabulary which are not often heard or u...

Civil War Speech and Jargon

The soldiers of the Civil War had their own way of saying things. The words, slang, and phrases of Billy Yank (a Union soldier), Johnny Reb (a Confederate soldier), and the civilians of the 19th century are unique and strange to our modern-day ears. The language of Civil War soldiers was rich and colorful, it reflected their lives and times.

It is natural for language to change and develop over...

John Burns - The Old Hero of Gettysburg

Robert E. Lee and his invading Army of Northern Virginia brought the Civil War to the quiet and pastoral town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in early July 1863. A gutsy Gettysburg civilian named John Lawrence Burns who was a cobbler, a town constable, and an old man, took part in the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Civilian Burns is known as, “the old hero of Gettysburg.”

There is tr...

Immediately after the battle, the Dunker Church served as a makeshift hospital for the wounded. It was not used as a proper hospital because it was too small, and it had no supply of water or food. The Dunker Church was used as a place where the wounded could be brought to and evaluated, like modern-day triage.

The Dunker Church continued as a reference point after the battle. It was a common and easy-to-find location to meet ...

The Battle of Antietam or the Battle of Sharpsburg as the South called it, was fought on September 17, 1862. This one-day battle left a terrible carnage on the beautiful and pastoral countryside of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Antietam is the battle in United States history where the most casualties occurred in one day. At Antietam, there were more American dead than at Pearl Harbor, D-Day, or at 911. Over 3,600 were killed and over 19,00...

Elizabeth Van Lew – A Union Spymaster in Richmond

When the Southern states began seceding from the Union after Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in November 1860, young Elizabeth Van Lew thought secession was a bad policy. Elizabeth supported the Union, the Republican Party, and the abolition of slavery. She thought the opposite of what most all Southerners thought.

When the Civil War began, Elizabeth had the mean...

Isabella Maria Boyd ran her father’s hotel in Front Royal, Virginia. Front Royal is at the northern end of the Civil War-strategic Shenandoah Valley. Belle Boyd was a Confederate spy. Most often she was called Belle, but she had other names too. She was called; the “Siren of the Shenandoah,” the “La Belle Rebelle,” the “Rebel Joan of Arc,” the “Amazon of Secessia,” and the “Cleopatra of the Secession.”

Belle was described as, ...

Jourdon Anderson was born a Tennessee slave around 1825. When he was only seven or eight-years-old he was sold by his first owner to General Paulding Anderson of Wilson County, Tennessee. General Anderson then gave Jourdon to his son Patrick Henry to be his servant and playmate. Patrick and his slave Jourdon were about the same age.

Jourdan was Colonel P. H. Anderson’s slave until Yankee soldiers camping on the Anderson planta...

Mules are sturdy, strong, and durable animals and in the Civil War they provided a lot of brute strength to get tough, backbreaking work done for both the North and the South.

In the 19th century mules were commonly used on farms. They are so strong they can perform hard work under severe conditions that might injure or kill a horse. Mules can survive on the poorest of food. Before America become mechanized, the mule was a muc...

The Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee made a fateful charge from Seminary Ridge attacking the Union lines on Cemetery Hill on July 3, 1863. This was Pickett’s Charge. If the Johnny Rebs overtook the Billy Yanks then they would win the Battle of Gettysburg, and possibly the Civil War.

There was a moment before Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg when victory or defeat for the Johnny Rebs hung in the bal...

Slaves were not treated as human beings in the slave-holding South. They were treated as animals, nothing more than beasts of burden to their owners. The lives of the slaves were like hell on Earth. The exploitation of the slaves’ sweat and toil caring for and harvesting crops like tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and cotton brought high profits and riches to their owners. Slavery was called the “Peculiar Institution,” but more truthful ...

Powhatan Beaty was born into slavery on October 8, 1837, in Richmond, Virginia. Beaty’s African-American parents were free, but baby Powhatan was a slave because freedom was not granted to children of freed slaves in the South. Beaty became a freeman when he was twelve years old sometime in 1849 after his family took him to Cincinnati, Ohio. He went to school and gained a good education.

Powhatan Beaty joined the Union Army for a t...

"Andy ain't a drunkard."

- Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural on March 4, 1865 was held on a miserable, windy, rainy, and muddy day in Washington, D.C. The inaugural ceremonies were planned to be held outside, but were moved inside to the Senate chamber because the weather was so bad. The Senate chamber was muggy and sticky, and it was a very uncomfortable place to be.  

Andrew Johnson, President Abra...