By 8 a.m., the French Quarter feels more like a French bakery, although the smells aren’t nearly so aromatic. It’s New Orleans in July, after all. Here and there, shops are baking beignets—those delectable fried doughnuty treats—but something garbagey festers in the undercurrents.

Neil Chatelain and I are here as part of the American Battlefield Trust’s annual Teacher Institute, and on this Saturday morning, we are leading a group of thirty teachers on a Civil War walking tour of the Quarter. Despite our 7 a.m. departure time, the heat is already beating us. Even bronze Andrew Jackson atop his rearing bronze horse looks like he wants to sweat.

One of my steadfast rules is to never give a tour of ground I’m unfamiliar with. While this is definitely a new landscape for me to interpret, Neil is fortunately a New Orleans native, and he has mapped out the stops.

The Mississippi offers us a view of where Admiral David Farragut anchored his fleet after forcing the surrender of the city. To see the river, we stand in Oscar Dunn Plaza, named in honor of America’s first Black lieutenant governor, elected in 1868 as part of the Republican wave that brought U. S. Grant to the White House. This had once been Washington Artillery Plaza, named in honor of the elite artillerists who came from the city.

Behind us is “the view”—the most famous in New Orleans. Andrew Jackson’s statue, erected in 1856, at the center of Jackson Square, with the magisterial St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop. Jackson’s statue proclaims, “The Federal Union, It Must and Shall Be Preserved.” Although Jackson’s words, Benjamin Butler added them to the statue’s pedestal in 1862 as he oversaw the city’s occupation. Butler wasn’t going for subtlety. Later, we pass the U.S Mint, where Butler hung resident William Munford for tearing an American flag from the building. Again, he wasn’t going for subtlety.

We stop by the apartment where William Faulkner once lived—Faulkner, who would one day write about the dreams of 14-year-old boys who put themselves on the before-edge of Pickett’s Charge and wonder what the future could hold. We later pass a home where P. G. T. Beauregard lived, later owned by author Frances Parkinson Keyes, who wrote a novel about Beauregard living in the home, Madame Castel’s Lodger. Life imitates art imitates Beauregard.

The far side of the Quarter offers another literary stop, inspired by Solomon Northrup, author of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave. Northrup was a Black man from New York who had been kidnapped into slavery, and he lived for a short time in one of the nearby houses. The area had once been New Orleans’ largest slave market, a story long forgotten and only recently resurrected because of the movie adaptation of Northrup’s book.

What other stories have we passed, unknown, untold, forgotten or misremembered?

We reach the blessed air conditioning of our bus by 9:20, a little behind schedule. More adventures await­—the day is still young, after all, despite our early start. But as much as I’ve shared on this morning’s walk, the narrow streets of the French Quarter brim with stories and secrets. I’m leaving the Quarter with more unsaid than said, hoping to one day explore more of its stories.

— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief

Brian Swartz participated in the Sunday, July 21 rededication of the Civil War monument in Union, Maine. Organized by the Corporal George S. Cobb Camp No. 68, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the rededication took place during the weekend-long celebration of Union’s sestercentennial (250 years as a town). Union originally dedicated its Civil War monument on July 4, 1888.



Some 150-plus people gathered on the Union town common to watch the rededication ceremony. Other participants included Co. B, 20th Maine Infantry Regiment; members of Corporal George S. Cobb Camp; and municipal officials. Swartz spoke about “Town of Union Soldiers at Gettysburg.” He identified 27 Union men present at Gettysburg and shared their contributions and individual fates. Descendants of several soldiers were in the audience. 

Dwight Hughes presented a paper at the North American Society of Oceanic History (NASOH) annual conference on the subject "The Soldier and The Sailor at Vicksburg: Unprecedented Joint Operations." Other than that, we are just trying to stay cool. 

Evan Portman visited some awesome historic sites on a trip to upstate New York. He visited Fort Ticonderoga (which played a role in the French & Indian War and the American Revolution), Saratoga National Historical Park (scene of the British surrender in 1777), as well as Grant's Cottage National Historic Landmark in Mount McGregor, NY.

Wayne Wolf gave a positive review to Stay and Fight It Out, the Culp’s Hill book by Kris White and Chris Mackowski, in the April 2024 issue of Civil War News. “As is the case with previous literary endeavors by [Kris and Chris], they utilize extensive research, primary source material, photography, and human-interest tidbits to craft a superb, readable account of the crucial northern flank on the second day at Gettysburg,” Wolf wrote. “This book is part of the Emerging Civil War Series, and like the other volumes in this series, deserves a place on the shelf of every historian interested in Gettysburg. The authors, and publisher Savas Beatie, deserve praise for their continuing efforts to tell the story of the Civil War factually, dispelling myths that have no basis, and painting a picture of the sacrifices of the men who fought for their values, homes and country.”

While on a recent vacation, Terry Rensel visited the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, the sites of the mortal wounding and death of President William McKinley and the grave of President Millard Fillmore. 

On June 30, Phillip Greenwalt assumed the acting program manager position for 120 days at the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, based out of Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland. The trail connects, commemorates, and interprets the sites attributed to the 1814 Chesapeake Bay Campaign in the War of 1812.  

On August 3, Rob Orrison will speak on his new book, co-authored with Mark Wilcox, "All That Can Be Expected" on the Battle of Camden in August 1780. The talk is hosted by Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways Foundation. More information can be found here.

Remember to tune in every other Sunday evening for the "Rev War Revelry" historian happy hour chat. More details can be found on the blog, www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org."

In early July, Emerging Revolutionary War historians Mark Maloy, Daniel Davis, Rob Orrison, and Phillip Greenwalt assisted the American Battlefield Trust with their annual Teacher Institute in New Orleans.

ECW Bookshelf

The latest Emerging Civil War book--The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Spring, July 17-18, 1864 by Johnathan Noyalas--is now available!

Decades after the Civil War’s end, Confederate veteran John Alexander Stikeleather reflected on his experiences as a soldier in the 4th North Carolina Infantry. Among all of the engagements in which Stikeleather had been involved during his four years of service, there was one he believed should “never be forgotten”: Cool Spring.

While largely overlooked or treated as a footnote to Gen. Jubal A. Early’s raid on Washington in the summer of 1864, the fight at Cool Spring—characterized by one soldier as “a sharp and obstinate affair”—proved critical to Washington’s immediate safety. It became a transformative moment for those who fought along the banks of the Shenandoah River in what ultimately became the war’s largest and bloodiest engagement in Clarke County, Virginia.

The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah examines Gen. Horatio Wright’s pursuit of Early into the Shenandoah and the clash on July 17-18, 1864. It analyzes the decisions of leaders on both sides, explores the environment’s impact on the battle, and investigates how the combat impacted the soldiers and their families—in its immediate aftermath and for decades thereafter.

Years of archival research—including an investigation into the backgrounds of all Union and Confederate soldiers who perished during the battle—coupled with intimate knowledge of the battlefield, will preserve the memory of the fight that should “never be forgotten.”

Author Jonathan Noyalas’s study offers not only a history of an overlooked engagement in the oft-contested Shenandoah Valley, but—as Pulitzer Prize finalist Brian Matthew Jordan notes in the book’s foreword, “a keen reminder that Civil War battles are rich laboratories in which to observe the human experience in all its complexity.”

The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Spring, July 17-18, 1864 is now available for purchase from Savas Beatie.

Shrouded Veterans

After undergoing a second amputation of his leg due to a wound received at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, First Lieutenant Robert Allen, Jr. died on July 27, 1862. His father, Brevet Major General Robert Allen, faced the Herculean task of providing transportation and supplies for General Grant’s operations in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, as well as General Sherman’s March to the Sea, and various troops in the Southwest. Headstones for both were installed side by side at Western Cemetery in Portland, Maine, uniting father and son in death. To learn more about the Allens, visit the link below:

https://emergingcivilwar.com/2024/07/07/shrouded-veterans-father-and-son-united-in-death/

August

8: Bert Dunkerly, “1774: Year of Resolve,” Belmont Community Center, Richmond, VA

8: Doug Crenshaw, “The Battle of Bull Run,” Civil War Round Table, Fort Harrison

13: Jon-Erik Gilot, “John Brown’s Raid,” Rostraver Township Historical Society, Rostraver, PA

18: Bert Dunkerly, “Battle of Moores Creek,” Emerging Revolutionary War (Zoom)

19: Bert Dunkerly, “Civil War Railroads,” Inland Empire CWRT (Zoom)

24: Kevin Pawlak, “Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas,” Manassas Museum, Manassas, VA

September

5: Tim Talbott, “We Fight For Our Rights, Liberty, Justice and Union: The Battle of New Market Heights, September 29, 1864,” Libbie Mill Library, Richmond, VA

9: Dave Powell, “The Atlanta Campaign,” Ann Arbor Civil War Round Table, Ann Arbor MI 

9: Dwight Hughes, “Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor and the Battle of Hampton Roads,” Rock Valley Civil War Roundtable, Rockford, IL

9: Phillip Greenwalt, “A Confederate Southwest Empire: The New Mexico Campaign of 1862,” Atlanta CWRT

10: Chris Mackowski, “A Tempest of Iron and Lead: Spostylvania Court House,” First Defenders Civil War Roundtable, Reading, PA

10: Kevin Pawlak, “John Brown’s Raid,” Southern Maryland CWRT, La Plata, MD

13: Chris Mackowski, “Missed Opportunities of the North Anna,” Louisville (KY) Civil War Roundtable

19: Jon-Erik Gilot, “Dangerfield Newby’s Fight for Freedom,” Southeastern Ohio CWRT, Cambridge, OH

25: Chris Mackowski, Buffalo (NY) Civil War Roundtable

27-28: Dave Powell, Savas Beatie Author Meet-up, Fredericksburg, VA

28: Phillip Greenwalt, “Regional Impacts of the Civil War,” Civil War Symposium, Caroll County Community College, MD

28-29: Tim Talbott, “The Battle of New Market Heights: A Walking Tour,” Four Mile Creek Park, Varina, VA