American Civil War

Pride and Prejudice in the American Civil War

The image of the American Civil War as a ‘white man’s fight’ became the national norm almost as soon as the last shot was fired. Susan-Mary Grant looks at the experience and legacy of the conflict for black Americans.

Combat Trauma in the American Civil War

Shell-shocked - a phrase redolent of the Western Front and the Great War. But was it also a reality fifty years earlier on the killing fields of Virginia? John Talbott investigates.

First Blood to the South: Bull Run, 1861

The rebel yell that dispelled hopes of a quick Union victory – Brian Holden Reid looks at the battle that set the scene for the American Civil War's protracted and bloody conflict.

Liverpool and the American Civil War

Sentiment, profit and commercial laissez-faire bound the merchants of England's busiest port ever closer to the rebel confederacy across the Atlantic after 1861. John D. Pelzer explains how and why.

Black Families in the American Civil War

The newly-found voices of the slaves caught up in the American Civil War, and heard through letters to their families, are a testimony to their tenacity and unity in the struggle for emancipation.