Historical Fiction? or not?

I've been working on a short story for a while now, and I want to get it published in a literary magazine. But to do that I'd like to figure out what genre it is, so I know what kind of magazine I should send it to. It's set around a historical period, and in the story an old man tells a story about the Civil War (because he was in it), but he doesn't mention a specific historical event, he just tells about a random battle. Does anybody know what genre it should be?

And what magazine do you think I should send it to?

I'd categorise it as Historical Fiction. I'm not sure what magazines you could send it too, but I think that instead of making it a "random battle", maybe you could use an actual battle in the Civil war?

Hi!

Sounds like historical fiction to me. Agreed with Jay. If you really want the period to come to life, i.e., the Civil War, it's highly suggested to research a specific battle, the general(s); his command, dialects (Southern or Northern) regimental units/battalions, uniform of the unit your character enlisted in, etc...

Yes, it will be more work involved because now you will have to totally resign yourself to researching but let me ask you this: Do you really want to sell your readers short of a sub par story when you could do so much more with it?

It's worth to consider. I just finished a novella that focused on Valley Forge.

Good luck with publishing!