Mary Todd Lincoln is one of the most interesting characters in the Civil War. She turbocharged Abraham Lincoln's ambition, especially when his political career seemed at a low ebb. Yet her strong personality could rub people the wrong way. To better understand her, I interviewed one of the nation's premier experts on Abraham Lincoln, Michael Burlingame. He is the author of many books, including "An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd." This book is diligently researched and thus sorts fact from rumor. Burlingame is a history professor at the University of Illinois - Springfield.

One of the most interesting and important characters in America's Civil War history is Henry Clay of Kentucky. Like Thomas Jefferson, he made antislavery statements and yet enslaved many people. Clay also was instrumental in developing compromises between slave states and anti-slave states. Though the compromises eventually had to fail -- there is no compromise on freedom -- the delays made possible the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. To understand Clay, I interviewed Eric Brooks, curator at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate. The expertise of Brooks is on display here. Follow my website: civilwarsurvivor.com.

When I discovered that a female nurse, basically acting like a medic, heroically called Union troops forward at Chancellorsville for the 3rd Michigan Infantry Regiment, I realized there was an interesting tale. The story of women who fought as men in combat units in the Civil War had only been superficially examined in modern times. But DeAnne Blanton and Lauren Cook did a masterful job of getting to the bottom in their groundbreaking book, "They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War." What follows is my interview with Blaton.