Image from Harper's Weekly depicting President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1864. The proclamation was issued on October 3, 1863, making the Thanksgiving of 1863 the first official national celebration of the holiday.

Thanksgiving: A Civil War Call For Unity

Thanksgiving: A Civil War Call For Unity As Americans prepare each year for a festive Thanksgiving dinner, it’s worth remembering how deeply the holiday’s modern identity was …

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Antietam on the day of the battle, September 17, 1862.

The Battle of Antietam: First-Hand Accounts

The Battle of Antietam: First-Hand Accounts On a foggy morning of September 17, 1862, the fields around Sharpsburg, Maryland, were transformed into the single bloodiest day…

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5 Easy Tips for Using the Research Arsenal

  To get the most out of your Research Arsenal membership, it can help to know the quickest and most effective ways to search for the information you’re looking for. To h…

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Civil War Letters: Identifying and Researching Authors

In the 160 years since the end of the Civil War, many letters written during that time have lost valuable historical context as they were passed down through generations,…

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