Harriet Tubman: Scout, Spy, and Armed Combatant

Harriet Tubman: Scout, Spy, and Armed Combatant

Most women who actively supported the Union cause during the Civil War used the pen as their “weapon” of choice.  One notable exception to this was Harriet Tubman.  She took on the role as an armed participant in a Union raid on a site deep in Confederate territory in...
Reinventing a Moribund Army Medical Corps

Reinventing a Moribund Army Medical Corps

Were the actual facts not so ghastly and heart wrenching, LeRoy Pope Walker’s comments just prior to the start of the Civil War would be laughable: “All the blood spilled as a result of the secession could be wiped up with a handkerchief.”  Walker, an Alabama state...
Washington City Under Threat

Washington City Under Threat

Washington City, as the District of Columbia was commonly referred to in the mid-nineteenth century, was frequently under threat during the Civil War. The two Battles of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861 and August of the following year caused citizens and Union...