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The way in which the battle of Wilson's Creek helped to keep a critical border state out of the confederacy is presented. Wilson's Creek has witnessed one 'mighty mean-fowt fight' in the words of a Rebel officer.

Nathaniel Lyon, a U.S. Army captain was responsible for getting the Kansas and Missouri under the Union, during the American Civil War. He encountered an explosive situation from the Confederates and the Missouri people, when he was ordered to safeguard the threatened St. Louis arsenal in 1861.

On a chilly February 14, 1862, Valentine's Day, at the Mystic, Connecticut, shipyard of Maxson, Fish & Co., a sleek-looking ironclad splashed into the water. USS Galena's launch was eagerly [...]

With his small family and their belongings in tow, former U.S. Congressman James H. Lane slipped quietly into Kansas Territory in April 1855--leaving behind the shattered remnants of a once-promising [...]

The first and second United States Sharpshooter regiments were the most famous and conspicuous among Civil War sharpshooter units. Trees offered an elevated field of vision and concealment for the sharpshooters, serving as a camouflage for the green-uniformed men with a desire to kill.

DESPITE THE AVAILABLE technology of railroads and steamships, Civil War armies were supplied much like the Roman armies had been. North and South still relied on the simple strength of [...]

ERIC ETHIER is the assistant editor of Civil War Times. FOR STUDENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR, the words 'West Point' are synonymous with names like Grant, Lee, Jackson, and Custer--graduates [...]

The army men had to contend with profiteers, who were an ugly byproduct of the war. Greedy merchants, government contractors and sutlers forced low quality, overpriced products on the soldiers, who were enraged by the inflation and exploitation by the extortionists.

Soldiers of the North and South fighting the civil war, who counted on the army rations for sustenance, found that learning a culinary trick or two was a necessity, when the rations became nearly as formidable as their battlefield foes. Imaginative soldiers learned to cook with an eye on variety, by making best use of the bricklike, baked flour-and-water concoction called 'hardtack', which was the main item of the food they received as ration.

The Lexington's Masonic College and the Oliver Anderson homestead is the property on which the Battle of Lexington state was fought. The present day Lexington is described, where the visitors can stand among remains of union trenches, walk the ground where Price's man used hemp bales as rolling shield and pay respect at the gravesite of five federal solders

Trench Warfare Under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign, by Earl J. Hess, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2007, 336 pages, $39.95. Civil War battle [...]

'I AM WILLING TO DO ALL that I can do,' Confederate railroad man EW. Sims wrote in February 1864, 'but to improve transportation without men and materials is the requisition [...]

IT WAS EARLY APRIL 1862, and a partially filled yellowish balloon was drifting just above the treetops outside Yorktown on the Virginia Peninsula. Leaning out of the basket dangling below [...]

FROM SOMERSET, KENTUCKY, ON JULY 22, 1862, Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan telegraphed Union Brigadier General J.T. Boyle at Louisville: Good morning, Jerry! This telegraph is a great institution. [...]

Civil War soldiers had to deal with a less lethal but irritating enemy in the form of an insect, 'grayback'. The Civil War ended, armies dispersed, legions of lice remained unvanquished, however, by then experienced soldiers had come to terms with their opponents' unlimited numbers and changed their tactics in their common fight against the insects from attempted eradication to containment.

Civil War soldiers had to deal with simple matters of survival such as fear, hunger, loneliness and concern for loved ones back home and yet keep on fighting. The young troops found that sending and receiving mail steadied their morale and helped them stand their duty until next letter arrived, thus letter served as lifeline.

Starved union soldiers camped outside New Iberia, Louisiana, midway through the Civil War gathered a fair harvest, augmenting their own and their animals' rations. For campaigning armies, living off the land ranged in scope from scraping up provisions from locals to baring the land of everything of military value and food was a powerful motivator, sometimes keeping whole units out in the countryside even after dark.

Picket duty offered infantrymen a change in routine, a day of relative independence and a chance to enjoy some peace and quiet. While there were occasional good moments, picket duty was often the loneliest and riskiest task assigned to Civil War soldiers.

The final test of the Civil War recruiting soldiers was on their performance in the battle as it completes his transformation from civilian to fighting man. Overcoming the fear of death and facing the enemy are the biggest problems faced by the inexperienced soldier.

Confederates were trained to carry their weapons on the proper shoulder and to march in step, but only experience and guile would help infantrymen survive one forced march after another. For foot soldiers, marching meant exposure to driving rain, icy wind and scorching heat that dropped many soldiers in their track.

Soldiers during the Civil War were fighting against stress, lack of food, hideous weather, illness and fear of loosing on the battlefield and hence coffee served as a stimulating beverage for road-weary troops, who drank hot pints of coffee throughout the day, brewing the invigorating drink on every pause in the march. Coffee kept men warm, awake and reasonably happy and reminded soldiers of memories that spurred motivation for staying alive.

Wilson Creek's National Battlefield that has been converted into a park no longer resembles a battlefield due to overgrown foliage and requires restoration to return the landscape to its original state. The park features a 4.9 mile driving tour, walking trails and one of the eight homes present at the battlefield site that has now been restored and there are plans for a new library and a Museum of Civil War History that may be taken over by the National Park Service

Mark Twain's Civil War, edited by David Rachels, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 2007, 232 pages, $30. During 1877, in his first public remarks about his Civil War career, Mark [...]

The Horrid Pit: The Battle of the Crater, the Civil War's Cruelest Mission, by Alan Axelrod, Carroll & Graf, 2007, 284 pages, $26.95. In a war marked by exceptional suffering [...]

War's Relentless Hand: Twelve Tales of Civil War Soldiers, by Mark H. Dunkelman, Louisiana State University Press, 2006, 288 pages, $34.95. Some 40 years ago Mark Dunkelman set out to [...]