civil war

A photograph of Harriet Tubman taken by Harvey B. Lindsley in the 1870s.

The Underground Railroad conductor honed her wilderness skills around the cabin her father built in the 1840s.

James Garfield sometime between 1855 and 1865.

James Garfield kept detailed diaries from his teen years right up until the day before his assassination.

States are changing their vote-by-mail rules for this year’s general election. Here's what you need to know.

An 1864 illustration by William Waud of Union soldiers voting in Pennsylvania.

Abraham Lincoln was up for reelection in 1864, and Republicans thought soldiers’ absentee ballots could help.

The 1851 Christiana Riot put the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 on trial.

On September 11, 1851, a small farming in Pennsylvania united against slavery and fought what many consider the first battle of the Civil War.

About half of the 40,000 documents in the Library of Congress's Lincoln Papers Collection are now available to search and read digitally online.

An illustration depicting fugitives along the Underground Railroad in Maryland, taken from William Still's 1872 book The Underground Railroad.

You already know Harriet Tubman—here are nine other heroes who smuggled fugitives to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

"What I want to see before I die is a monument representing the negro, not couchant on his knees like a four-footed animal, but erect on his feet like a man," Frederick Douglass wrote in response to this memorial in 1876.

A monument in Washington D.C. depicts Abraham Lincoln standing tall beside a crouching Black man—here’s what Frederick Douglass had to say about it.

Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison devoted his life to opposing slavery.

The letters shed light on how leading abolitionists were protesting slavery during the Civil War era.

Next month, the city council will vote on the removal of this Confederate statue in Pensacola, Florida.

Here’s some history to help explain why so many Confederate statues are being taken down (or toppled).

That red ribbon is the literal "red tape" that we now use as an idiom to describe bureaucratic processes.

The items from Woodrow Wilson’s century-old time capsule are on virtual display just in time for Memorial Day.

A stretch of Old Dixie Highway in Homestead, Florida.

"Dixie"—a word associated with the Confederate States of America and slavery—will no longer be on Miami-Dade County’s road signs.

An illustration of Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address from 1905.

Much longer than four score and seven years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered the most famous two-minute speech in history.

Cannons used in the Civil War are on display at Fort Sumter.

The 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter sparked the American Civil War. From the garrison's 19th-century beginnings to its current use as a National Historical Park, here are 10 fascinating facts about Fort Sumter.

The old bottle filled with rusted nails looks like trash, but it was actually used by a Union soldier to ward off evil spirits during the Civil War.

Dolly Parton performs on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1991.

Tennessee native Dolly Parton is a universally beloved country music legend. Nathan Bedford Forrest is not.

Hurricane Dorian uncovered two Civil War cannonballs on South Carolina's Folly Beach—and it's not the first time cannonballs have washed up there.

Bidding starts at $1 million for the newly renovated mansion, used for Ashley Wilkes’s family home in 'Gone With the Wind.'

Support for Flag Day, a sometimes-overlooked holiday, was ignited during the Civil War. But there was a commercial purpose behind it.

Mathew Brady, National Archives and Records Administration // Public Domain

To call Clara Barton just a nurse insults her legacy, despite what your history teacher might have taught you.

Chemung County Historical Society, Elmira, NY

He saved lives on the Underground Railroad—then cared for the Confederate dead.

The Confederate Army general's death stumped his doctors—but now we might have a clue about what happened.

After the Civil War, popular prints and doctored photographs played on the idea that Confederate president Jefferson Davis had been arrested wearing women’s clothes.

Crossing this Civil War "deadline" could get you shot.

Archaeologists Have Located the Site of Harriet Tubman’s Family Home in Maryland

The Library of Congress Needs Your Help Transcribing James Garfield’s Diaries

Absentee Ballot vs. Mail-In Ballot: What’s the Difference?

The Civil War Beginnings of America’s Absentee Ballots

The 1851 Christiana Resistance: The Forgotten First Shots of the Civil War

You Can Now Read Thousands of Abraham Lincoln's Personal Letters Online

9 Unsung Heroes of the Underground Railroad

Newly Discovered Letter From Frederick Douglass Discusses the Need for Better Monuments

The Boston Public Library Needs Help Transcribing Anti-Slavery Letters

Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Across the Country—And Historians Aren’t Surprised

The Arlington National Cemetery Just Opened Its Time Capsule from 1915—See What’s Inside

Miami’s Dixie Highway Will Become Harriet Tubman Highway

8 Momentous Facts About Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

10 Facts About Fort Sumter

Civil War-Era ‘Witch Bottle’ Used to Keep Evil Spirits at Bay Discovered in Virginia

Tennessee Politician Wants to Replace State Capitol Statue of Confederate General With Dolly Parton

Civil War Cannonballs Found on South Carolina Beach in Aftermath of Hurricane Dorian

Ashley Wilkes’s Mansion From Gone With the Wind Is For Sale

The Reason We Celebrate Flag Day

14 Surprising Facts About Clara Barton

John W. Jones: The Runaway Slave Who Buried Nearly 3000 Confederate Soldiers

The Key to Robert E. Lee's Puzzling Death Might Be Hidden in a Photo of His Earlobe

Photograph of Jefferson Davis in Women’s Clothing

The Dangerous History Behind the Word 'Deadline'