Civil War

Crews used armor-plated excavators while working on the riverbed in case they came across unexploded ordnances.

Civil War Weapons Recovered From South Carolina's Congaree River

Union troops tossed Confederate munitions and supplies into the waterway after taking Columbia in February 1865

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2023 include King: A Life, The Sisterhood and The Wager.

The Ten Best History Books of 2023

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the United States ended up where it is today

Foundry workers disassembled Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee statue before melting it down.

Foundry Workers Melt Down Charlottesville's Divisive Robert E. Lee Statue

Eventually, an artist will be chosen to transform the bronze bars into a public art installation

Can every living thing be traced to a single cell?

Can Every Living Thing Be Traced to a Single Cell? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Stamped with the date—April 14, 1865—the two tickets correspond with a front-row spot in the dress circle.

What Did These Two Ticket Holders See on the Night of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination?

A rare pair of Ford's Theatre tickets—for seats across from the president's box—have sold for $262,500

“Had it not been for the testament given [to] him by Mr. Foster, which received a second bullet, I doubt if you would have ever seen him again,” wrote journalist Benjamin Perley Poore in a letter to Merrill's father.

The Bible That Stopped a Bullet

In 1863, a New Testament tucked in the pocket of Union soldier Charles W. Merrill prevented a musket ball from mortally wounding him

The four colorful panels depict Black Americans holding protest signs.

See Washington National Cathedral's New Racial Justice-Themed Stained-Glass Windows

Designed by artist Kerry James Marshall, the panels replace windows depicting Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson

Excavations near the Powder Magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia, where the four bodies were found

Four Bodies Found in Colonial Williamsburg Belonged to Confederate Soldiers

Researchers are trying to identify the men who died after the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862

Seventy-eight years after the end of World War II, hospital trains are an oft-forgotten chapter in U.S. military history.

What Happened on the Trains That Brought Wounded World War II Soldiers Home?

The logistics of moving patients across the U.S. by rail were staggeringly complex

The coins date to between 1840 and 1863.

Trove of 700 Civil War-Era Gold Coins Discovered in Kentucky

An unidentified man found the cache, which may have been buried ahead of a Confederate invasion, in a cornfield earlier this year

The memorial wall inside the new Africatown Heritage House

New Exhibition Tells the Story of the 'Clotilda,' the Last Known American Slave Ship

A display spotlighting the schooner's survivors is now open inside the new Africatown Heritage House in Mobile, Alabama

On a June morning in 1864, Meade expelled Edward Crapsey from camp, ordering his men to seat the reporter backward on a mule, with a sign around his neck that read “Libeler of the Press.”

After Winning the Battle of Gettysburg, George Meade Fought With—and Lost to—the Press

The Civil War general's reputation was shaped by partisan politics, editorial whims and his own personal failings

The crew of the USS Kearsarge, photographed shortly after battle with the CSS Alabama

Was This Civil War Hero the First Medal of Honor Recipient Born in Africa?

Recent research suggests Joachim Pease, a sailor recognized for his role in sinking a Confederate raider, was from Cape Verde

When 72-year-old Boucher gave his age as 48 to an army doctor, the man smiled and said, “And then some, like myself.”

The 72-Year-Old Who Lied About His Age to Fight in World War I

A Civil War veteran, John William Boucher was one of the oldest men on the ground during the Great War

A diver takes a rubbing of John Greer’s gravestone underwater at Dry Tortugas National Park.

Quarantine Hospital and Cemetery Found Underwater Off the Coast of Florida

Before it was submerged, a small island was home to 19th-century yellow fever patients

Descendants of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and descendants of slaves owned by Lee face Washington, DC, as they pose for a photo during a reunion at Lee's former plantation home, the Arlington House, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on April 22, 2023.

The Descendants of Robert E. Lee and the Workers He Enslaved Join Hands in Racial Reconciliation

The Confederate general's Virginia home hosted families from all across the United States.

An etching of Black families gathering the dead after the Colfax Massacre published in Harper's Weekly, May 10, 1873

The 1873 Colfax Massacre Set Back the Reconstruction Era

Occuring 150 years ago, one of the worst incidents of racial violence after the Civil War set the stage for segregation

A hand-colored 1892 print of the Battle of Fort Pillow

At Fort Pillow, Confederates Massacred Black Soldiers After They Surrendered

Targeted even when unarmed, around 70 percent of the Black Union troops who fought in the 1864 battle died as a result of the clash

Ulysses S. Grant’s 1872 brush with the law marked the first and so far only time a United States president has been arrested while in office. Pictured: Grant with his racehorse Cincinnati

When President Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage

The sitting commander in chief insisted the Black police officer who cited him not face punishment for doing his duty

How much advance warning would we have if a large comet were headed on a collision course with Earth?

How Much Warning Would We Have of an Earth-Shattering Comet? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

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