TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

As you’ve probably heard, Harriet Tubman is slated to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. This has led to a sort-of debate. I say sort-of, since the issue was decided by the Washington bureaucrats and not the people, whom no one thought to ask. Liberals have hailed the inclusion of a black woman, while […]

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Trading with the Enemy The Covert Economy During the American Civil War Philip Leigh Westholme Publishing 2014 248 pages 6 x 9 hardback 20 b/w illus., map $26.00 My post on “Bagdad, Back Door to the Confederacy” garnered a comment from author Philip Leigh about other trading arrangements, especially those between the United States and […]

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Caught part of this last night but it will be broadcast again tonite at 10pm EST.  Shelden talks about the political culture of the time and some of the unlikely friendships formed such as that between Abe Lincoln and (future Confederate VP) Alexander Stephens; and Jeff Davis and William Seward. It’s a half hour and […]

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Normally I prefer to write about the military aspects of the war. But it is the 150th birthday of the State of West Virginia and, after reading some comments on how West Virginia came to be, there is one aspect that seems to me generally overlooked. After the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the confederates, […]

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I follow discussions at other blogs and on online civil war forums and again and again I have seen debate about the choices Lincoln made in picking generals.  I believe that the usual view of why some so-called ‘political’ generals were chosen is incomplete or misguided. While there was a political element to all the […]

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Editor’s Note: This article is a guest post by Greg Quinion.  Greg has submitted several other articles for TOCWOC in the past, including a series on General Phil Kearny.  Greg’s piece on this Election Day focuses appropriately enough on Civil War soldiers who went on to become presidential candidates, and for more than a few, […]

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Take Your Choice By Jack McGuire   When I think of Assassin’s the name John Wilkes Booth heads the list.  A first rate actor according to all accounts of his life, someone who characteristically often played the villain.   Booth was arrested and taken before a Provost Marshal in 1862 for saying “So help me holy […]

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