Civil War – Page 2 – The UncommonWealth

Newspapers

Virginia’s Lost Papers

As part of an ongoing effort to give voice to nineteenth-century African Americans through digital projects like Virginia Untold and Virginia Chronicle, the Virginia Newspaper…

Kyle RogersJune 26, 2018

Archives

Collateral Damage: An Elizabeth City County Debt Case

Debt collateral usually consists of something prized by both parties. As a temporary form of payment, something of value is offered to hold or use…

Sherri BagleyJanuary 31, 2018

Archives

Complicated History: The Memorial to Robert E. Lee in Richmond

People have always been complex, making history a complicated topic. When history is distilled down to be straightforward, the reality of human failings and flaws…

Olin JohnsonJuly 27, 2017

Digital Projects Manuscripts & Special Collections

‘It’s a Southern Sun That Shines Down on This Yankee Boy’: The E. L. Molineux Collection

The Edward L. Molineux collection, 1861-1915, was scanned as part of the CW150 Legacy Project and recently added to the Library of Virginia’s Transcribe web site.…

Renee SavitsSeptember 28, 2016

Newspapers

Soldier Newspapers in the Civil War

The Virginia Newspaper Project, ever in search of timely blog entries, encourages you to read the excellent article by Ralph Canevali of the National Endowment for the…

Errol SomayMay 27, 2016

Newspapers

Alexandria in a time of war: From Mansion House to Camp Distribution

Alexandria was a lively town during the Civil War, so it’s no wonder PBS draws from the city’s history for its new drama Mercy Street. The…

Kelley EwingFebruary 26, 2016

Archives

Virginia Untold: Requisitions for Public Use

This is the third in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…

Greg CrawfordJanuary 20, 2016

Manuscripts & Special Collections

The Art of Mapping War

New ideas are sometimes birthed out of tragedies. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill passed by both houses of Congress authorizing an ambitious…

Joanne PorterNovember 18, 2015

Archives Digital Projects

Howdy!: The Letters of John R. Morris

Recently I was approving some transcriptions done by our virtual Library volunteers on the Making History: Transcribe website and came across a collection of letters written by…

Renee SavitsAugust 12, 2015

Archives Conservation

Montgomery County in the Civil War

Editor’s note: This blog post marks the close of the grant-funded Montgomery County chancery processing project (in Civil War terms, the “Last Dispatch”). Thanks to generous support by…

Scott GardnerAugust 5, 2015

Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

Jacob Yoder and Educating Virginia’s Freedpeople after the Civil War

This is the second in a series of four blog posts concerning post-Civil War Virginia and the lives of freedpeople after Emancipation. The posts precede…

Joseph M. ThompsonJune 17, 2015

Archives

A Wedding, a Death, and a Pension: Charles and Sarah Butler’s Story

Portsmouth, Virginia, occupied by the Union army, was the scene of a wedding in November 1863. The happy couple was Charles “Charley” Butler, a private…

Bill BynumJune 3, 2015

Newspapers

An Unexpected Survivor of the Day: The Daily Dispatch April 3, 1865/The Puzzle of Issue No. 77

To review, here’s a newspaper roll call of the five daily newspapers (there were also weekly papers – four of them religious) in Richmond in…

Henry MorseApril 9, 2015

Newspapers

Richmond, April 1865. The History Forecast: Fateful Lightning, Terrible and Swift.

On Monday, April 3, the city burns. The following day Lincoln walks the still smoking ruins and the capital faces occupation by the Federal Army. …

Henry MorseApril 1, 2015

Archives Digital Projects

Stafford County Chancery Goes Digital

2014 has been a special year filled with special events for Stafford County. Celebrating its 350th anniversary, the county held numerous community-based historical celebrations to mark the…

Callie FreedNovember 26, 2014