Spring 2025, Vol. 3, Issue 1

Featured Articles

Lincoln in Richmond

On April 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited the recently abandoned Confederate capital with his son, Tad. A navy captain assigned to protect the president's party provided a detailed account of the historic event.

“The Most Sickening Sight of the War”

A pioneer in the development of ether, he volunteers his services during the Overland Campaign of 1864.

“I Accept these Terms”: Witnesses of the Surrender at Appomattox

Walter Taylor, Robert E. Lee’s aide, recounts Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. His account of the demeanor of Lee and Grant established the narrative of the surrender.

As Ulysses S. Grant faced his destiny with fate, suffering from the effects of throat cancer, he recalls the surrender through the eyes of a dying man.

Recurring Features

Eyewitness Accounts

Private Frank Wilkeson, the son of war correspondent Samuel Wilkeson, Jr., was just sixteen years old when he enlisted in a New York artillery battery. At the start of the 1864 campaign season, a veteran gunner offered the young soldier some valuable advice from his years of experience.

Quotes and Incidents

The intriguing story of the chair Grant sat in during the surrender and the peculiar tale of the "lost rag doll of Appomattox."