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NEWS ABOUT: Civil War

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Lost-and-Found Letter Shows Lincoln's Terse Side

Embattled prez had more to deal with than Civil War

(Newser) - A handwritten note dated just a few days before Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has finally made its way back to the National Archives, the Washington Post reports. The terse communication from the president to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase addressed corruption charges against a Lincoln appointee. "Even though this... More »

Woman Won 'Male Rights' Fighting in Civil War

Soldier remained in her disguise for better jobs, voting rights

(Newser) - A veteran of 40 Civil War skirmishes and battles kept one secret under wraps: her breasts. Union Army soldier Albert Cashier was really Jennie Hodgers, one of hundreds of women who fought in the war. "The country needed men, and I wanted excitement," Hodgers said. She also benefited... More »

Time to Stop Fighting the Civil War in History Class

Obama means 'honest' discourse on race

(Newser) - Ask a Northerner what caused the Civil War and he'll say slavery, while Southerners are likely to say states’ rights, or economic differences. That self-justifying shorthand is reflected in what's taught in schools, too. But with the election of Barack Obama, historians say new ground has been broken in the... More »

Book Missing Since Civil War Returned to Virginia School

(Newser) - A Virginia college has a missing library book back—145 years after a Union soldier stole it during the Civil War. An Illinois man who inherited the book from friends tracked down the original owner and returned it to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, reports the Washington Post. The... More »

Lincoln's Watch Yields Hidden Message

(Newser) - A legend about a DC watchmaker who etched a secret message inside Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch is true, the Washington Post reports. Smithsonian officials opened the watch today and found it amid the tiny gears: "Jonathan Dillon April 13, 1861. Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels on... More »

Lincoln's Gettysburg 'Poetry' Resonates

(Newser) - If anyone has a right to be tired of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, it's writer and producer David Grubin. As a sixth-grader, he had to write it out 100 times or so—his teacher's favorite form of punishment. The actual words meant little to him as a 12-year-old, but their... More »

Anti-Abe Views Resonate in Dixie

(Newser) - The bicentennial of Lincoln's birth will be celebrated Feb. 12, so expect endless tributes to the president beloved by ordinary citizens and historians alike. Unless, of course, you're south of the Mason-Dixon line, where anti-Lincoln views "aren't particularly radical," writes Alex Beam of the Boston Globe. Lincoln is... More »

The Civil War Ended Last Night; Time for Reconstruction

Already a historic prez, Obama can be great

(Newser) - The American Civil War finally ended last night, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. The struggle that began at Bull Run was brought to a close when white America elected a black American president—the ‘Bradley effect” trumped by the “Buffett effect” of rich whites secretly... More »

Ike Uncovers Mystery Shipwreck

Wooden wreck on Alabama beach could be remains of Confederate schooner

(Newser) - The waves of Hurricane Ike uncovered a wooden shipwreck on an Alabama beach that experts think could be a Civil War schooner, the Mobile Press-Register reports. The wreck's length matches that of the Monticello, which ran aground in the area in 1862 while trying to sneak past the US Navy... More »

Lincoln Letter Sells for $3.4M

Letter contains Lincoln's reply to kids' plea to free slave children

(Newser) - An 1864 letter from Abraham Lincoln to Massachusetts schoolchildren fetched a record $3.4 million at auction yesterday, a record for an American manuscript, CNN reports. In the letter, Lincoln responded to a petition from 195 youngsters asking him to "free all the little slave children of this country"... More »

Don't Know Much About History...

US teens have big holes in history, lit education: study

(Newser) - US teens know little history and less literature, says a study out today. Only 52% of 17-year-olds could name the theme of George Orwell's 1984, and 43% knew when the Civil War was fought. Students faired far better on topics that schools cover, however, such as Pearl Harbor and Martin... More »

Wait a Second! Sub Watch Raises More Questions

Confederate ticker no clear clue to sinking

(Newser) - Scientists had hoped that the watch belonging to the commander of the HL Hunley would give them some clues as to why the Confederate submarine sank in 1864. But they've been left only with more questions, AP reports. The watch stopped quickly rather than winding down—possibly because of an... More »

Football Rivals Still Fighting the Civil War

Kansas, Missouri Hold Grudges 150 Years Later

(Newser) - Kansas and Missouri play a huge football game today, one that could decide the national champion, and fans on both sides will be fighting a battle that goes back to the Civil War. Look no further than Kansas' nickname, the Jayhawks, which comes from abolitionist guerrillas who killed and raped... More »

Study Traces Europe's Bets on Civil War

This re-enactment uses Confederate bonds, not weapons

(Newser) - Studying sales of Confederacy bonds in Amsterdam during the US Civil War, two economists say they're able to judge how European traders saw the South's chances of victory, the Wall Street Journal reports. Investors pegged the rebels' odds at 42% early on, but their 1863 defeat at Gettysburg sank bond... More »

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