Person

Elizabeth R. Varon

Related Excerpts

Mirror images of General James Longstreet.

How a Die-Hard Confederate General Became a Civil Rights–Supporting Republican

James Longstreet became an apostate for supporting black civil rights during Reconstruction.
Gen. James Longstreet.

The Conquered General

The back-and-forth life of Confederate James Longstreet.
A drawing of James Longstreet, zoomed in on his eyes.

The Confederate General Whom All the Other Confederates Hated

James Longstreet became a champion of Reconstruction. Why?

The Class Politics of the Civil War

By naming a common enemy the Union Army was able to build and then steer a coalition of Americans toward the systematic destruction of slavery.
Cracked glass plate portrait of Andrew Johnson.

The Disastrous Pardons of a President

After the Civil War, Andrew Johnson issued the biggest act of presidential clemency in our history. It angered his party and led to his eventual impeachment.
Statue of Stonewall Jackson, on its side in slings and propped up by tires, in front of its graffiti-covered pedestal.

What the 1619 Project Got Wrong

It erases the fact that, for the first 70 years of its existence, the US was roiled by intense, escalating conflict over slavery – a conflict only resolved by civil war.

The History Department Bracket Is Here and It Has Tenure

There isn’t much turnover with these selections.
Henry Clay's body in his death bed, surrounded by mourners.

All That Remains of Henry Clay

Political funerals and the tour of Henry Clay's corpse.