To see naval officers in uniform walking around New York city in 2009 is unremarkable. Yet in November 1859 a lieutenant wrote the New York Herald to address the fact “that a great number of naval officers are seen daily in the streets and public places in uniform.” While careful to note that he was not “ashamed of [his] uniform,” this officer believed such public display was wrong. “In our republican country,” as he explained, “it is not customary for offices of either “arm of national defense” to war their uniforms, save on special occasions.”

This letter is available on House Divided – while a transcript has not been posted, you can access the page image.

One of the better resources on the website for the Civil War Preservation Trust are the very interesting, informative, and entertaining animated battle maps. Rather than just show the course of a battle through static maps, these flash-based animations such as Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville show highly detailed troop movements while providing all the information necessary to explain the battles. These maps are very useful for visually understanding the course of a battle.

Other maps include Chantilly, Cedar Creek, and Bentonville. All are worth a look.

Sometime simplistic websites are just the resource needed to teach even some of the most complex and important issues. Abraham Lincoln is a clear example of a topic which contains countless resources both on and offline. The History Place is a simple, yet effective, website which covers a vast variety of topics. For example, their page on A Timeline of Lincoln contains great information and links presented in a clear and concise manner. The timeline, as well as the rest of the site, is defiantly worth browsing.

The battle of Antietam is considered to be one of the most important battles in the civil war. Many valuable resources are scattered amongst text books, in archives, and around the web. Antietam on the Web serves as a great source to bring some of these resources together in one place. Recognized by organizations such as PBS and The History Channel, the site features databases filled with information on weapons, timelines, and even a searchable participants list. The site contains great information students, as well as teacher resources. When covering this battle, I highly recommend browsing through the site.

When it comes to history, preserving it is as important as learning it.

Preserving the hallowed grounds of the Civil War is the mission of the Civil War Preservation Trust. The mission of this non-profit organization is “the preservation of our nation’s endangered Civil War battlefields” and to promote “educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the war’s history and the fundamental conflicts that sparked it.”

Not only does the Trust’s website explain the group and its mission, it also has a number of useful tools and pages. This includes an extensive collection of videos of various battlefields, an interactive library of Civil War books, and a classroom and history center. It is clearly evident that the Civil War Preservation Trust is doing great things to preserve and teach this important era in our nation’s past. �

Open Yale Courses is a great online resource that teachers should check out. This project provides free access to courses on a variety of subjects, including Professor David Blight’s HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877. This is not simply a single lecture. Instead, you can listen or watch all twenty seven classes. Transcripts of each lecture are also available.

Only two other history courses are available –  France Since 1871 and Introduction to Ancient Greek History.

A New York Historical Society exhibit that opened last month provides visitors with a variety of Lincoln-related documents and items. Entitled “Abraham Lincoln in His Own Words,” the exhibit features such items as a draft of the “House Divided” speech, an encouraging telegram to General Ulysses S. Grant, and other papers, letters, and original documents from all periods of Lincoln’s life. In addition to documents attributed to Lincoln are other period objects including photographs, testimonies, and sculptures. A full description of the exhibit can be found on the New York Historical Society’s webpage.

Also, according to a NY Times article, the Smithsonian Museum of American History has answered an age-old question regarding one Lincoln artifact; his gold pocket watch. According to the article, a secret message was engraved within the watch by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon when he repaired it in 1861. Part of the watch’s inscription reads “Jonathan Dillon April 13- 1861 Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date.”

Although this find is not a radical discovery by any means, it is another addition to Abraham Lincoln lore and can only make us wonder as to what other interesting and peculiar things can be discovered from the Civil War era, even after almost 150 years.

I want to highlight an interesting letter that James Buchanan wrote about a week after President Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration on March 4, 1861. Despite four “stormy and turbulent” years in the White House, Buchanan told New York Herald editor James Bennett that ultimately “[his] administration [had] been eminently successful in its foreign & domestic policy.” Seven southern states seceded before he left office, but Buchanan believed that the crisis was unavoidable. “No human wisdom could have prevented” the “sad events [that had] recently occurred,” as Buchanan explained. Whether the Civil War was inevitable has been the subject of debate ever since, but most historians criticize his response to the secession crisis.  (Historians who participated in CSPAN’s 2009 Presidential Leadership Survey ranked Buchanan as the worst Chief Executive).Yet perhaps the most interesting part of this letter is Buchanan’s confident stance about how “the public & posterity [would] judge” him. “I feel conscious that I have done my duty…& that I shall at last receive justice,” as Buchanan wrote.

Buchanan also defended his role during the secession crisis in Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion (1866), which you can access through Their Own Words.

The website Civil War Interactive is a rich resource for interacting with the Civil War in the 21st Century.  The site contains a variety of different pages, including a discussion board, primary source documents, articles, biographies, a cookbook, and even trivia. What I liked most is its blog page, which lists a variety of several war related blogs, and its Newswire. The Newswire has up-to-date news that relates to the Civil War, and you will be surprised in both the size and variety of the postings. Check it out and  you’ll see how easy it is to get lost in this great website.

“THE success of the Republican candidate for the Presidency in the United States will prove one of the greatest events of modern times” –   Economist, November 24, 1860.

This editorial, along with two others from 1865, were just posted in the From the archive section of the Economist’s website. This British newspaper considered the Republican victory in November 1860 as such an important moment in large part because the pro-slavery “Southern party” had finally been defeated. “The tide [had]… turned” and, as the Economist argued, it marked “the commencement of a permanent and sustained movement” against slavery in the United States.

Also be sure to read this editorial on Lincoln’s assassination. Some might be surprised at the conclusion that Lincoln’s death would affect more than just Americans – “It is not merely that a great man has passed away, but” as the Economist explained, “he has disappeared at the very time when his special greatness seemed almost essential to the world.” While the Economist has other editorials available on a variety of subjects, including President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, only subscribers can access them.