Between 2007 and 2009, Mackubin T. Owens, professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College and a fellow of the Ashbrook Center, wrote a series of articles for the Ashbrook Center giving a brief overview of the military history of the Civil War. These articles have been compiled below. Together they lay out a brief, but very clear history of the personalities and strategies behind the major military conflicts of the Civil War.
A Tale of Two Mays in Wartime: What a Difference a Year Makes
Another Tale of May: Grant's Vicksburg Campaign
From Beaver Dam Creek to Antietam: Lee's Virginia-Maryland Campaign of 1862
Lee's Invasion of Pennsylvania
From Stones River to Chattanooga
Opening the Gateway to Victory: The 1862 Campaigns in the West
From Atlanta to Durham Station and Spring Hill to Nashville
The Virginia Overland Campaign of 1864: From the Wilderness to the Gates of Petersburg