Re-enactors of Battery C, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, demonstrate the firing of a Civil War six-pounder light cannon. Battery C belongs to the Ohio Valley Civil War Association.

If you're interested in both military history and American history, it's hard to avoid being interested in the American Civil War, which grew directly from the country's history before 1860, and had repercussions which are still being felt today. I have a shelf-full of books about the Civil War, which can be roughly grouped into four categories: