Letters from the Sheridan Field Hospital
A gloomy and tragic scene—one with which the inhabitants of the oft-contested city of Winchester, Va., were unfortunately all too familiar—unfolded throughout the night of September 19, 1864, as thousands…
During the Vietnam War, These Colorful Posters Aimed to Win Hearts and Minds
The word “propaganda” evokes many images, few of them positive. We often think of propaganda as sinister attempts to brainwash a population into embracing authoritarian political systems, with posters typically…
This Excelsior Brigade Soldier Became an Accidental Journalist
When 21-year-old Arthur McKinstry left Chautauqua County, N.Y., in early June 1861 to join the Excelsior Brigade being raised by then-Colonel Daniel Sickles, he was better prepared to write than…
Gettysburg Had a Lasting Impact on Its Least Known Participants — Its Civilians
Although only minor National Park Service signage alerts you to the boundaries of the vast Gettysburg battlefield at its outer edges bleeding into neighboring counties, it’s almost impossible not to…
During the War Years, Posters From the American Homefront Told You What to Do — And What Not to Do
“The First World War saw the first widespread use of propaganda to stir patriotic fervour,” note Gill Saunders and Margaret Timmers in The Poster: A Visual History. “The need to…