Monthly Archives: January 2026

Robert E. Lee vs Ulysses S. Grant: Unexpected Views on Slavery

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Ron Franklin

Lee vs. Grant on Slavery The year 1856 was significant for both Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in regard to their attitudes toward slavery. Within a few years, these men would both be generals-in-chief on opposing sides in … Continue reading →

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Siege of Vicksburg: The Newspaper Printed on Wallpaper

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Ron Franklin

In the spring and summer of 1863, Union General Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the 47 days of the siege, the city was bombarded every day, and civilians and the rebel soldiers … Continue reading →

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Why the Confederacy Was Doomed Even if It Won the Civil War

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Ron Franklin

If the South Had Won In 1961, Pulitzer Prize-winning author MacKinlay Kantor published a book called If the South Had Won the Civil War. Kantor imagined that the slave-holding Confederate States of America (CSA) had defeated the Union and firmly … Continue reading →

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How African Americans Lost Their Gettysburg Address

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Ron Franklin

How Gettysburg’s African American Community Fared at the Hands of Robert E. Lee’s Army As spring slipped into summer in the year 1863, the peaceful little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was home to a well-established African-American community. Indeed, blacks had … Continue reading →

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How Whites Used “Negro Balls” To Prevent Slave Revolts Before the Civil War

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Ron Franklin

On Monday, January 28, 1861, the city of New Orleans was in a festive mood. Two separate (though definitely not equal) celebrations were being held in the city that night. Both were supposedly joyous occasions, but each had a far … Continue reading →

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Mary Elizabeth Bowser: Union Spy in the Confederate White House

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Ron Franklin

A Hall of Fame Spy To Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the servant girl she may have known as Ellen Bond was a typical slave woman: slow, dim-witted, illiterate. But she did such a good job as … Continue reading →

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Why Confederates Believed Blacks Loved Being Enslaved

Posted on January 9, 2026 by Ron Franklin

White Southerners Had to Believe Blacks Didn’t Object to Being Enslaved Before and during the American Civil War, most whites in the slave-holding Southern states professed an unwavering conviction that their slaves were happy and content in their bondage, and … Continue reading →

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