Sixty degrees is cold to some people, warm to others. My wife, born in the South, considers a 60-degree day chilly. When I lived in Maine, I remember many a spring day when 60 degrees felt downright balmy.

Sixty degrees in Charleston, SC, in February makes for a cool day but not intolerable—until you get on the ferry to Fort Sumter. It’s always cooler on the water. That breeze across Charleston Harbor makes those sixty degrees feel subzero. In the summer, that breeze could not be more welcome as a knife to cut the South Carolina humidity. The ferry ride is one of the most pleasant Civil War-related experiences one can have, complete with harbor dolphins gamboling at the bow.

I made that trip on a recent 60-degree February day. It was gusty in town, and so even windier on the water. A number of folks making that ferry ride weren’t dressed for the weather, and I felt bad that they had to shiver their way through the voyage.

The fort offers plenty to explore, and I had the chance to see it with renewed eyes thanks to the virtual field trip I filmed with the American Battlefield Trust last year. Ranger Gary showed me many new facets of the fort that I had never noticed on previous visits.

Fort Sumter stands in our history as the place where 1860s war of words erupted into a hot war. It remains a Civil War icon. 

Almost exactly four years after the fort’s surrender, former commanding officer Robert Anderson returned to raise the American flag over the fort once more. President Lincoln had been invited to the ceremony and, no doubt, would have offered some remarkable piece of rhetoric. But events in Virginia were spiraling ahead at a dizzying pace, with Robert E. Lee in flight from Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln didn’t feel he should be away from the capital at a time of such flux, and indeed, Lee surrendered on April 9. It was too late for the president to get to Charleston, and his workload in the moment must have been monumental in any event.

And so instead of being at Fort Sumter, he was at Ford’s Theater, which could arguably be called the site of the last shot of the Civil War (although more Confederate surrenders were still to follow).

It remains one of American history’s most tragic “might have beens,” and to stand there, on the scene, and contemplate that great what-if chills me far more than Fort Sumter’s breeze.

— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief

Tonya McQuade hosted a Zoom Book Launch on February 1 for her new book, A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri, now available on Amazon. Between 50-60 people attended, and she told the story of how her book came to be, read excerpts from the book and some of the letters, shared photographs from her book and her travels in Missouri, and answered questions. She would like to thank those from ECW who attended. She also launched her new website, tonyagrahammcquade.com, where you can read more about her various writing projects, find links to her blog posts, and see some of her photography.

Evan Portman was featured on the podcast All Good in the Brotherhood to talk about his research on Catholic Benedictine Monks in the Civil War. You can watch his interview here!

Terry Rensel is on a history vacation that has included stops at Reconstruction Era National Historic Park, the Olustee Battlefield, and Andersonville as part of stops at 10 NPS sites and 2 state parks.

The final layout for Ryan Quint’s book about the battle of Dranesville has been submitted to the printers. Turnaround is about 8-10 weeks, so the book should be in and ready for purchase sometime around April-May.

February has been a month of learning for Tim Talbott. He attended the Longwood University/Appomattox seminar in Farmville, which focused on “Lesser Known Engagements and Some Civil War Photo Sleuthing." He also attended a Great Lives lecture at the University of Mary Washington featuring Kristen Green speaking about "Mary Lumpkin: Enslaved Woman, Liberator." Lastly, he was present for the American Civil War's Symposium, "The Impending Crisis." In between, Tim has been staying busy lining up some talks and tours for this spring and summer, reading, and writing book reviews and articles for Black History Month.

Cecily Zander is set to be on Civil War Talk Radio for the Wednesday, February 28 show if folks want to tune in. She taped a lecture from her American Frontiers class at TWU for CSPAN, it is currently set to air (though this is subject to change) on March 4. She was interviewed by Time magazine, and was consulted by Politifact for stories on ballots and the border.

ECW Bookshelf

Col. Ed Lowe (Ret.) is out with his first book, A Fine Opportunity Lost: James Longstreet’s East Tennessee Campaign, November 1863-April 1864, the newest addition to the Emerging Civil War Series!

Civil War enthusiasts of course follow Longstreet’s actions at the battle of Gettysburg. Yet, to some, he shows up for the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, almost a year has lapsed, unsure of his whereabouts for that period between. They may be familiar with his operations at the September 1863 battle of Chickamauga; however, little has been written on Longstreet’s journey through East Tennessee, which this book addresses. The struggles of command relationships with his commanders, battling the weather and short supplies were a nagging daily issue for James Longstreet.

Dan Welch and Kevin Pawlak also have a new book coming out as part of the Emerging Civil War series, Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-August 30, 1862.

July 1862. General Robert E. Lee, now in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, had driven back the massive Federal Army of the Potomac from the very gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was safe—at least for the moment. But soon, new threats emerged against Lee’s army and the Confederate war effort in Virginia. Rumors swirled that a Federal command headed towards Fredericksburg, and a new Federal army, the Army of Virginia, under Maj. Gen. John Pope, was shifting operations towards Confederate communications and supply points. He brought with him a harder philosophy of war, one that would put pressure not just on Lee’s army but on the population of Virginia itself. Not only alarmed but also offended by “such a miscreant as Pope,” Lee began moving his own forces. He intended to not just counter the new threat but to “suppress” it. "We are honored to be able to bring this incredible moment in the history of the war into print," author Dan Welch writes, "it has been relegated to the backwater of campaign and battle histories for the Eastern theater for far too long."

The Army Under Fire by Cecily Zander is a pathbreaking study of the fierce political debates over the size and use of military forces during the American Civil War Era.

It examines how leading political figures interacted with the professional army—and how those same leaders misunderstood the value of the nation’s regular soldiers while waging a civil war and attempting to reunify the nation in its aftermath.

Chris Mackowski has a new publication coming out, co-authored with Garry Adelman, chief historian for the American Battlefield Trust and vice president of the Center for Civil War Photograph—and it’s only available to people who make a contribution in support of a current Trust appeal to save battlefields in Spotsylvania, Champion Hill, and Corinth. Learn more here.

The Cost of War: A Visual Summary of Civil War Devastation features 1860s-era photographs that illustrate the Civil War’s impact on cities and landscapes, prisoners of war, and wounded and killed soldiers. A final section focuses on burials and cemeteries. Short essays and captions contextualize those costs, which included more than 640,000 soldier deaths.

Shrouded Veterans

Here’s the latest project from Frank Jastrzembski’s Shrouded Veterans project:

A headstone was placed at Captain Hale Kingsley’s unmarked grave. 

Kingsley was active in the Albany Burgesses Corps, a New York state militia unit founded in 1833, for a time serving as commandant. In 1858, he acted as an aide-de-camp on Governor John A. King’s staff. 

In October 1860, while in command of the unit, Kingsley escorted 18-year-old Prince of Wales to his handsomely furnished car destined for Boston. In 1861, the Albany Burgesses Corps also acted as President Abraham Lincoln’s and Governor Edwin D. Morgan’s escort. 

That same year, 84 men under Kingsley’s command left for war in response to Lincoln’s call for volunteers. On May 4, 1861, he was mustered in as a captain of the 25th New York State Militia. The unit was stationed in Washington, D.C., and mustered out three months later. 

On May 31, 1862, Kingsley was appointed captain of the 25th New York National Guard, and sailed by steamer to Suffolk, Virginia. In July, he declined an appointment as colonel of the 163rd New York Infantry and resigned. 

On October 22, 1881, Kingsley, the oldest active member of the Albany Burgesses Corps and deputy county clerk, died at the age of 57. The unit escorted his remains to Rural Cemetery, where they were interred. The Cleveland Grays sent a floral arrangement described by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “a handsome pillow of immortelles. In the center and exquisitely wrought in flowers of a bright red is the word ‘Finis,’ signifying the end. On one corner of the pillow, in blue flowers, are the letter ‘C.G.’”

March 2024

11: Chris Mackowski, “Grant’s Last Battle,” Ann Arbor (MI) Civil War Roundtable (virtual)

14: Derek Maxfield, “Man of Fire,” Chickamauga/Chattanooga CWRT, Chattanooga, GA

14: Kristopher White, “Fire in the Streets: The Street Fighting at Fredericksburg,” Chesapeake Civil War Roundtable

15: Dwight Hughes, “Rebels Down Under: A Surprise Confederate Visitor Makes Mayhem in Melbourne” and “Rebels and Aliens: Confederates on the Far Side of the World,” Falls Church Military History Forum, Falls Church, VA

19: Neil P. Chatelain, “The Panama Route in the US Civil War”, 2024 Lone Star College North Harris Economics Conference

20: Jim Morgan, “Battle of Secessionville,” New Orleans CWRT

20: Jon-Erik Gilot, “Dangerfield Newby’s Fight for Freedom,” Phil Kearny CWRT (virtual)

20: Evan Portman, “Chaos and Confusion in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg,” Western Pennsylvania Civil War Round Table, Sewickley, PA 

21: Jim Morgan, “Battle of Secessionville,” Austin CWRT

23: Chris Mackowski, “The Rise of Stonewall Jackson,” Prince William County History Symposium