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The Civil War Monitor — History
The Civil War Monitor

A new look at America’s greatest conflict.

Copyright: © 2024 The Civil War Monitor

Latest Episodes:

Ammunition Oct 02, 2025

Civil War Breakthroughs is a podcast that explores how the inventions, ideas, and innovations of the Civil War era defined a new kind of conflict. In our first season, The Technological War, we'll explore the technologies and concepts that brought the conflict into the modern age.

On this episode, we're joined by Jonathan Noyalas, professor of history and director of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University. He talks about the significance and impact of several key advances in Civil War era ammunition.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Monitor presents Civil War Breakthroughs Sep 29, 2025

A new network of wires and tracks changed the way a war was fought. On the seas, the age of sail gave way to the age of iron and steam. And on the home front, the camera transformed the way a nation saw conflict.

I’m Terry Johnston, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Civil War Monitor. The Civil War is a story of courage and conflict, but it is also the story of a nation that underwent profound and lasting change. While much has been written about the battles and leaders, we believe the pivotal innovations of the era are just as important.

Welcome to Civil War Breakthroughs, a new podcast series that explores how the inventions, ideas, and innovations of the era defined a new kind of conflict. In our first season, The Technological War, we'll explore the technologies and concepts that brought the conflict into the modern age. We’ll delve into the role of railroads as the engine of the war; the telegraph’s revolution of battlefield communication; the rise of the ironclad and submarine; the critical role played by industry; and the power of photography in shaping public opinion.

Civil War Breakthroughs premieres October 2. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I hope you'll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Postwar Drug Addiction Aug 12, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by Jonathan S. Jones, an assistant professor of history at James Madison University whose scholarship investigates the aftershocks of the Civil War in American society, culture, and medicine. His first book, Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America's First Opioid Crisis, is forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press. He discusses the causes and prevalence of postwar drug addiction among Union and Confederate veterans.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Black Confederates Aug 05, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by Kevin M. Levin, a historian and educator based in Boston. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the Civil War, including Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth (UNC Press, 2019). He discusses the nature of black men's service in the Confederate military during the Civil War.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

McClellan's Pursuit of Lee Jul 29, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by D. Scott Hartwig, former supervisory park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park and author of I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). He discusses Union general George McClellan’s slow pursuit of Robert E. Lee’s army after the Battle of Antietam.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

McClellan and Special Orders 191 Jul 22, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by D. Scott Hartwig, former supervisory park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park and author of I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). He weighs in on whether George McClellan acted swiftly enough after receiving a copy of Robert E. Lee's operational orders for the 1862 Maryland Campaign.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Forrest and Fort Pillow Jul 15, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by Court Carney is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University and the author of Reckoning with the Devil: Nathan Bedford Forrest in Myth and Memory (LSU Press, 2024). He discuss why Nathan Bedford Forrest was not held accountable for the massacre of black soldiers at the Battle of Fort Pillow.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Soldiering and Weaponry Jul 08, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by Eric Michael Burke, a U.S. Army combat infantry veteran of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and a historian of culture and warfare in Europe and the Americas. His first book, Soldiers from Experience: The Forging of Sherman's Fifteenth Army Corps, 1862–1863, was published by LSU Press in 2022. He answers questions about the lives of Civil War soldiers and the weapons they used.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Chamberlain at Gettysburg Jul 05, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined Jessie Wheedleton, a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park, a position she's held since 2018. Wheedleton answers questions about Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's performance at the Battle of Gettysburg.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Alcohol in the Armies Jun 24, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined Megan L. Bever, an associate professor of history at Missouri Southern State University and the author of At War with King Alcohol: Debating Drinking and Masculinity in the Civil War (2022). Bever discusses the prevalence of alcohol in Civil War armies and the many issues that resulted from its presence.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Turning Points Jun 17, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by Jennifer M. Murray, an assistant professor of history and director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University who is working on a biography of Union general George G. Meade. Murray joins us to discuss whether she views Antietam or Gettysburg as the more significant turning point in the U.S. Civil War.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Soldiers and Religion Jun 10, 2025

The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity. In our podcast Civil War Curious, we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict.

On this episode, we're joined by George Rable, professor emeritus at the University of Alabama and author of a number of critically acclaimed books on the Civil War era, including God's Almost Chosen Peoples A Religious History of the American Civil War (2010). Rable answers questions about the importance of religion during the Civil War, including how faith helped motivate Union and Confederate soldiers to enter—and remain in—the fight.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Monitor presents Civil War Curious May 16, 2025

Have you ever wondered what drove soldiers to find solace in faith amid the horrors of war? Or how different the course of the Maryland Campaign might have been under different leadership? And what were the long-lasting wounds that the soldiers carried home with them?

I'm Terry Johnston, publisher and editor in chief of The Civil War Monitor. The American Civil War remains one of the most pivotal and complex periods in our history. While much has been written, countless fascinating questions still spark our curiosity—from understanding the key decisions that shape the conflict to pondering the compelling “what ifs” that could have changed everything.

Welcome to Civil War Curious, our new podcast series where we enlist expert historians to answer your lingering questions about the conflict. No subject is off limits, no issue too big or small. In our first season, we’ll delve into topics like soldiers’ religious faith, George McClellan’s controversial leadership during the 1862 Maryland Campaign, the tragic massacre at Fort Pillow, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s pivotal role at Gettysburg, and the often-overlooked issue of postwar drug addiction among veterans.

Civil War Curious premieres soon. I hope you'll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Freedom Seekers Jan 16, 2025

THE FREEDOM SEEKERS

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.

On this episode, we're joined by Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and author most recently of Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps (2018). We talked about the experiences of those who escaped slavery during the Civil War, the role the Union army played in the process, and the establishment of "contraband" camps.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Prisoner Experience Jan 03, 2025

THE PRISONER EXPERIENCE

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.

On this episode, we're joined by Evan Kutzler, associate professor of history at Western Michigan University and author of Living by Inches: The Smells, Sounds, Tastes, and Feeling of Captivity in Civil War Prisons (2019). We talked about the state of Civil War prisons in 1864, from the POW experience to how the breakdown of the formal prisoner exchange system affected conditions.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Meade, Grant, and the Army of the Potomac Dec 19, 2024

MEADE, GRANT, AND THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.

On this episode, we're joined by Jennifer M. Murray, an American military historian at Oklahoma State University. She is the author of On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013 (2014) and is working on a book tentatively titled Meade at War: The Military Life of George Gordon Meade. We talked about how the relationship between George Meade and Ulysses S. Grant operated during the Army of the Potomac's pivotal 1864 campaigns against Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Women's War Dec 05, 2024

THE WOMEN'S WAR

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.

On this episode, we're joined by Stephanie M. McCurry, professor of history at Columbia University. She is the author of a number of books on the Civil War era, including Masters of Small Worlds (1997) and, most recently, Women's War: Fighting and Surviving the American Civil War (2019). We talked about the great diversity in women’s experiences—northern and southern, white and black—during the conflict.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Western War Nov 21, 2024

THE WESTERN WAR

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.

On this episode, we're joined by Steven E. Woodworth, professor of history at Texas Christian University and author of a number of books about the Civil War, including Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns and Manifest Destinies: Westward Expansion and the Civil War. We talked about the war’s oft-overlooked western theater in 1864, with a focus on how the decisions made by Union and Confederate leadership affected outcomes on the battlefield.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

Grant vs. Lee Nov 07, 2024

GRANT VS. LEE

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.
On this episode, we're joined by Cecily Zander, assistant professor of history at Texas Women's University and author of the recently published book, The Army Under Fire: The Politics of Anti-Militarism in the Civil War Era (Louisiana State University Press, 2024). We talked about the challenges Robert E. Lee and his vaunted Army of Northern Virginia encountered when facing a new opponent in Ulysses S. Grant during the summer of 1864.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2024 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The 1864 Presidential Election Oct 22, 2024

THE 1864 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The 1864 Project is a limited series about the consequential decisions and events that shaped outcomes and affected lives during a pivotal year in the American Civil War.
On this episode, we're joined by Harold Holzer, one of the country’s leading voices on Abraham Lincoln and Civil War-era political culture. Holzer is the chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and his latest book is titled Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. We talked about the 1864 presidential election, and how Union military progress and his administration’s emancipation policy affected Lincoln’s quest for a second term.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Monitor presents The 1864 Project Sep 30, 2024

This is Terry Johnston, founder and editor-in-chief of The Civil War Monitor, a quarterly magazine that presents a fresh look at America’s greatest conflict. Since 2011, we've been dedicated to sharing the rich and complex story of the Civil War. Now, we're excited to bring that history to you in a new way: through podcasting.
Our first series, The 1864 Project, is a podcast about one consequential year in the American Civil War. 1864 is the year that Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee faced off in Virginia, that President Abraham Lincoln ran for reelection, that women’s roles dramatically shifted on the homefront, and that African Americans seized freedom in rapidly increasing numbers. In this limited series, we’ll talk to leading historians about the year 1864 and why it was so important—and transformative. They’ll help us put the events of that year in perspective, and even link them to our current day culture and politics.
Welcome to The 1864 Project. We hope you’ll join us.

©2025 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.

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