Emerging Civil War May 2020 Newsletter
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Emerging Civil War celebrated an important milestone this month: we published our 5,000th post.
When Kris White, Jake Struhelka, and I sat on the front porch of the caretakers cottage at the Stonewall Jackson death site in August 2011,
brainstorming the creation of what would become ECW
, we had hopes and plans for our little blog. But here we are, eight and three-quarters years later, going stronger than ever.
As I said in our 5,000th post—which you can read here—I've been especially proud of the great talent ECW has nurtured over the years, the platform we've provided for "emerging" voices, and the many other projects that have sprung from the blog. I also think of the enduring friendships I have developed within ECW and in the wider Civil War community because of Emerging Civil War, for which I'm deeply grateful.
I was delighted when, at our second symposium, keynote speaker Dana Shoaf, editor of Civil War Times, offered some kind words for ECW, which was just then four years old. “Emerging Civil War is a fantastic organization,” he said. “It is giving people the chance to get started, to get themselves published on the blog, and giving new voices a place to express themselves—and I think that is really, really important, to see new historians coming up and new material being explored.”
Historian Will Greene, then still at Pamplin Park, also lauded us at one of his symposia. “[T]here is a very vital and vibrant publishing movement going on right now called the Emerging Civil War. . .” he told his attendees. “And I think our hope for the kind of traditional history that we have come to consume at historical sites rests in that particular movement . . . young scholars who are rolling up their sleeves and taking up work that the fellas and gals from my generation now are giving up. So I do think there is some hope there.”
That sleeve-rolling continues. It requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work to keep the blog populated with a wide variety of quality content. Most of that’s handled these days by our managing editor, Sarah Kay Bierle. Kevin Pawlak, as the new chair of our editorial board, helps maintain the quality control.
Such phenomena tend to obscure the stalwart, steady readership we get at the site every day, though. Posts like Ashley Webb’s “
Reactions to Lincoln’s Death
” (April 15, 2015) and Steward Henderson’s “
African-Americans in the Civil War (part one)
” (November 17, 2011) remain our most-read posts because they continue to get dozens of views per week. “War Chicken” does, too. We have so many fantastic pieces in our archives. I urge you to take some time one day and just explore them at your leisure.
I appreciate the work of the many talented historians who’ve gotten ECW this far. I also appreciate you, Faithful Reader, for reading along. After all, that’s why we do this—to help people like you stay connected with America’s defining event. Thank YOU for getting us this far.
Here’s to the many more stories that lie ahead for all of us.
— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War
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The Seventh Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium
at Stevenson Ridge
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The million-dollar question remains, “Is there still going to be a Symposium this year?”
At Press Time: We are still good to go for the upcoming ECW Symposium, August 7-9, 2020, at Stevenson Ridge in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Our theme is “Fallen Leaders,” with a keynote address by Gordon Rhea and a line-up of nine other speakers, plus a Sunday tour that traces the wounding of James Longstreet in the Wilderness.
As is the case elsewhere, the pandemic situation remains fluid, but as of this moment, Governor Northam still expects Virginia to be in Phase Three of the state’s re-opening plan. That would allow us to hold the Symposium as scheduled.
Tickets are $155 and are still available (click the link!)
.
Of course, the situation could change quickly, so keep an eye on our blog, emergingcivilwar.com, for the latest updates.
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10 Questions...
with Kris White
Kristopher D. White is a co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He struck the deal with Savas Beatie that started the Emerging Civil War book series. He co-founded ECW’s Engaging the Civil War Series at Southern Illinois University Press, and he’s written a small library’s worth of books and magazine articles. By day, he’s the education manager at the American Battlefield Trust. We first profiled him in
the January 2017 newsletter
, and he has
a full ECW bio here.
Our editor-in-chief, Chris Mackowski, posed this month’s questions.
CM:
I always look at May as “battlefield season” because of the anniversaries of Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, where we both cut our teeth as young historians. What is it about those battlefields you love so much?
KW:
First and foremost, it’s the memories associated with those sites. I visited all of the battlefields above for the first time with my parents back in the mid-90’s. We visited the Fredericksburg area sites for a week. We drove through Poplar Run on the Jackson Flank March Trail in a clean car, and my dad drove us to a car wash immediately thereafter (he loves his cars and they have to be clean). We got lost on the Gordon Flank Attack Trail and found Lake of the Woods for the first time. I interacted with Greg Kurtz at the Stonewall Jackson Shrine—someone that we worked with years later. And the whole time I was covered in poison ivy, which was a normal summer-time occurrence for me.
Fast forward to 2005 when I became an intern at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. I met many of the people who are still in my life today and help to form me as a historian, and we created many new memories from the parties and cigars at Quarters 2 to meeting my wives (Sarah and Chris Mackowski). You and I witnessed the Hindenburg crash into the Titanic as it hit the iceberg in Saunders Field. That park also led to the creation of ECW.
But overall, I love most of the stories and sites associated with those battlefields. The story of Phennie Tapp and Longstreet’s counterattack in the Wilderness are two great examples of stories that I find entertaining and compelling. Of course there is the overlooked Second Battle of Fredericksburg. And there’s the overlooked wounding of James Longstreet—which is fascinating when compared to Jackson’s wounding just a few miles down the road. The fascination of Longstreet’s wounding is more tied into the memory aspect of things, from the fact that Jackson had a visitor center built near his wounding site, a visitor center movie largely based around Jackson, a walking tour called “The Wounding of Stonewall Jackson Tour,” and then the Stonewall Jackson Death Site. Then you head to Longstreet’s wounding site and it has a few signs, only one of which deals with his wounding, and a sign that doesn’t allow you to park for longer than 30 minutes. It shows the power of the cult of Jackson, and the postwar memory battle fought inside and outside of the former Confederate ranks.
The memorialization—or should I say, non-memorialization—of the battlefields, which are not littered with monuments and visitors, allows you to take in the landscape in a more focused fashion, and walk a lot of the ground as it looked in 1863-1864. You don’t need 1,400 monuments to illustrate the importance of the battle; you need good interpretation on the ground. The battlefield is the #1 resource. While Chancellorsville only has nine monuments on the battlefield proper, and two have nothing to do with the battle, people still come to Chancellorsville because they know the Jackson wounding story, or some form of the story. It’s the story of Jackson’s wounding and the want or need to interact with the place that brought these visitors through the visitor center door.
And while many historians like to over complicate or over-think these characters and events of the past to make a name for themselves, at the end of the day, history really is about telling an and accurate and compelling story, and hoping that you can take a visitor’s understanding to a new level in the finite amount of time that you have to interact with them and their family. It’s much easier said than done when you are dealing with vacationers. But at these places, many of the visitors are there because they sought these sites out specifically to interact with in their free time. As many of us noticed, most of the visitors who drove farther from I-95 were the ones who really were into the subject. And I had some of the best, most fulfilling, and entertaining interactions with visitors in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania.
My favorite memory of Spotsylvania came in 2008 when a visitor came whipping into the parking lot with his car, and he jumped out ask me if he was at Cold Harbor. I told him that he wasn’t, and it was about 45 miles away. He said, “Shit! Don’t tell my wife. We have been looking for Cold Harbor for hours, and I am just going to tell her that this it so that I don’t look like an idiot.” I did mention that all of our signs said Spotsylvania Court House, and he replied, “Luckily she don’t read the signs.” Welcome to life as a public historian!
CM:
You also cut your teeth at Gettysburg, where you first fell in love with the Civil War. What keeps drawing you back there?
KW:
Well, what drew me there in the first place was my dad’s love of cars. We stayed in Gettysburg so that he could go to the car shows in nearby Carlisle. Back in the day, it was cheaper and quieter to stay in Gettysburg. And because of staying in the town, we started to explore the town, battlefield and the history of the area.
Today, I am drawn back there by my boss, Garry Adelman. He has a form of Civil War Tourette Syndrome. You say “battlefield,” he says “GETTYSBURG!” You say “Civil War,” he says “GETTYSBURG!” You say “Gettysburg,” he says “AWESOME!” So, you might say that our department at the American Battlefield Trust spends a little bit of time at Gettysburg.
But Gettysburg is the starting point for many buffs’ understanding of or engagement with the Civil War, and that draws me back as an historian. For some, the CW is only those three days in July. Thus, it is important as a historian to be engaged with the granddaddy of all Civil War battles. If an American is asked to name one Civil War battle, many can come up with Gettysburg. So, from a storytelling starting point, you can work forward or backwards using the battle to tell the story of the Civil War. Engaging with students and teachers, Gettysburg is the #1 destination for our Field Trip Fund funding. Again, this is a great catalyst for instilling a passion for the past. And then of course, for me, it’s the memories of being there with friends and family, and the stories from the battlefield.
Over time, my understanding and interpretation of the battle has changed. I like to think they have improved. And nothing beats being on the battlefield in the late fall or winter when you have the place to yourself.
CM:
Since you began working at the American Battlefield Trust, you’ve pretty much had the entire country as your Civil War playground because of all the travel you’ve been able to do for your job. What’s a place you finally got to visit that you’d always wanted to but hadn’t been able to? What did you think?
KW:
Unlike the Alamo, Alcatraz has a basement! Back in 2018, we traveled through California on an extended filming trip. The trip was an amazing experience from start to finish. Steve Johnson, who is part of Friends of Civil War Alcatraz, rolled out the red carpet for us. He spent days with the crew taking us all around San Francisco. While Fort Point was the best preserved third-system fort I have ever visited, the true gem was spending time with Steve at Alcatraz. He took us to places that are off limits to normal visitors, including the underside of the prison that was part of the original fort. I felt like Nicholas Cage! Then he took us to the old gunner tunnel that cut across the island, and where they filmed parts of
The Rock
and
Escape from Alcatraz
. Being a movie nut, this was cool beyond belief. Alcatraz played an important role in US history well before Clint Eastwood broke out and Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery broke in. There is a Civil War section of the museum, which is small but well done, and an old howitzer at the entrance to the fort, but of course, the average person is there to experience the prison. Thus, that timeframe is the primary interpretation period. Oh, we also saw the largest NPS ranger hat ever, and Steve let us open and close the cell doors—that was cool, too.
On top of that, the Huntington Library opened their collection for us, and I was able to hold the knife that Lewis Powell attacked William Seward with on the night of April 14, 1865. I went through the original memories and sketchbook of Joseph Revere. And I held an original copy of an Emancipation Proclamation book created specifically for distribution in New Orleans in 1863. And of course, they filmed many TV and movies at the library and their gardens. Check that one off of my Hollywood filming locations.
But my favorite memory of the trip—outside of the bat-crap crazy hotel in San Francisco next to the all-male XXX review—was when we visited the San Pasqual Battlefield outside of San Diego. When we got out of the car, there were rattlesnake warning signs everywhere. And I told one of our crew members, Connor Townsend, that if we saw a rattlesnake, she was on her own. I will do a lot of things for the Trust, and I respect Connor, but it was every person for themselves when it came to rattlesnakes.
CM:
Your job at the Trust keeps you pretty jam-packed, but is there any project you’re working on in what little spare time you have?
KW:
Spare time? You know what my daily schedule looks like. After a 10-12 hour work day, you would think that history is the last thing on my mind. Luckily, I have a job that I love, and that allows me to do what I love, so I get much of my Rev War, 1812, and CW fix at work. I do come home and work on a few projects—the last two titles in our Gettysburg run for the ECW series, and some other side projects.
When I am not working on those titles, I live (in my mind) in Europe. I have been working to collect materials for a WWII book that only two people know about at this point, and I have immersed my self in European history from my working vacations abroad, to my Audible account that has more European history titles than the Cleveland Browns have Lombardi Trophies. To be fair, I guess any number is larger than zero.
I think that if you are working on any sort of history book, context of the time period and geographic location is key. Thus, immersing myself in what happened before, during, and after the event that I am writing about allows me to view the event(s) from many, many different angles. If you have ever been on a tour with me, you will find that I am full of seemingly useless information from the time period, but this allows me to weave the story that I am telling on the field to their times, and into ours using cultural references—this makes the history more relevant to the public.
Most of my other spare time is used up by researching history and my next NFL fantasy draft. Five times I have come in second in the ECW league. I feel like your Buffalo Bills. I spend time with my wife planning our next adventure abroad and hanging out with my research assistant, Mosby the greyhound. And I watch a and quote crapload of movies. “Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.” Van Wilder.
Lightning Round
Favorite primary source?
Generals in Bronze
. It’s a book by William Styple that consists of the interviews and notes of artist and sculptor James Kelly.
Favorite Civil War-related monument?
What did I ever do to you to ask me that kind of lightning rod question?
Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era?
Nathan Kimball. He beat Jackson and Lee. How do you like them apples? If we are talking the Marvel Cinematic Universe Civil War era, I’m all-in for Nick Fury.
What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited?
I’m glad that you didn’t specify which Civil War I could choose from. I’d flip a coin between Corfe Castle and Banqueting House. I also need to get to the Leipzig/Halle Airport. This is where they filmed the epic fight scene in
Captain America: Civil War
. Bucket list priorities.
Favorite ECWS book that’s not one of your own?
Any ECW book that I didn’t have to write or coauthor. Researching is awesome. Writing sucks.
What’s something I haven’t asked you that I should have?
I legit don't have anything on this front. And it's not like I have been giving serious answers to most of the other questions, anyway. :)
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Zack Fry
's new book
A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac
(University of North Carolina Press) examines the role political debate played in the Union ranks. His analysis, drawn from largely untapped newspaper opinion pieces and voting totals, shows how important junior and field-grade officers were to the process of political mobilization in the Union Army. The book analyzes how this contentious field army went from worshipping George McClellan in 1862 to voting overwhelmingly against him for president in 1864, in the process highlighting the dramatic story of the army's stand against Copperhead Democrats and widespread support for Lincoln's policies.
A Republic in the Ranks
received the Edward M. Coffman Prize from the Society for Military History.
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Brian Matthew Jordan
and
Evan Rothera
have co-edited a volume of essays now available from Louisiana University Press,
The War Went On: Reconsidering the Lives of Civil War Veterans
.
“Essays in this collection approach Civil War veterans from oblique angles, including theater, political, and disability history, as well as borderlands and memory studies,” LSU Press says. Jordan and Rothera also contribute essays to the collection, which features work by fifteen historians (including Zack Fry, ECW alum Kelly Mezurek, and ECW's friend Jonathan Noyalas).
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Edward Alexander
says, “I’m looking forward to some map projects hitting the shelves soon, but the publication timelines might be pushed back, so I don't wanna throw out some titles that might see delays. I’m beginning new map work for Fort Donelson, Harpers Ferry, and Rev War Camden.”
Sarah Kay Bierle
has been reading a lot these days. She's currently working through
The Mosby Myth: A Confederate Hero in Life and Legend
, which is a fascinating look at ways to separate and address myths and trace their origins when writing biography.
From
Bert Dunkerly
: “I work at Richmond National Battlefield Park, and all of the summer programs I had prepared are cancelled. I've shifted gears and dug out old research that I had begun in the past but put aside. So right now I'm digging into such varied things as the Army of the Potomac's 1865 march through Richmond on its way to the Grand Review in Washington, the organization of Local Defense Troops in Richmond during the war, the Cold Harbor truce, colorbearers on the battlefields, the 1690 Malvern House, and the Louisiana Tigers at Gaines' Mill. Plenty of variety to keep me going.”
Jon-Erik Gilot
published an essay to the Spring 2020 issue of the Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review examining Civil War Sanitary Fairs, with an emphasis on the 1864 Wheeling Sanitary Fair.
Meg Groeling
has been enjoying the presentations of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. They are available
at this website
. “Jake Wynn is doing a stellar job,” Meg says. Here's
a great one on coffee
“My office is clean,” Meg says— “finally.” She gave away over 100 books, lots of magazines, and her Civil War Nurse Barbie. “What's left is still fairly massive,” she admits. She adds, “I took a risk and made plane reservations for Virginia in August, so hopefully I will see some of you then. Covid-19 has kept us home, but I have been sheltering in place most of my life anyway.”
Dwight Hughes
conducted his first ever virtual presentation for the Civil War Roundtable of North Florida in Gainesville on the subject of the USS
Monitor.
“Not as good as being there in person, but still a fun exchange with a great group,” he says.
Dwight also received a pingback on a post he wrote in April 2017 on Confederate ironclads at the Battle of New Orleans. Curious. “Turns out the post was referenced in a footnote with link in an article on
L’inferno sul Mississippi
in a polished Italian online magazine called
Ignotus
,” he says, “which, I discovered, is also an English word meaning ‘unknown, foreign, alien, strange, odd, weird.’ Couldn’t read article, but it looked interesting. The home page had another article titled
La Guerra Civile Americana
. Anecdotal evidence that ECW gets around.”
The Civil War Books and Authors
blog posted a review of
Constance Hall Jones
’s
The Spirits of Bad Men Made Perfect,
a title in the Engaging the Civil War Series published through Southern Illinois University Press. The reviewer said, “In expanding her study's purview beyond a brief Civil War diary to encompass its writer's personal, family, and professional connections with Richmond commerce, culture, and society over many decades, Constance Hall Jones has created a work of significant historiographical value on multiple levels. The Spirits of Bad Men Made Perfect is highly recommended.” You can
read the full review here
.
Chris Kolakowski
has been helping the Wisconsin Veterans Museum put together digital outreach content, including a video on the museum's history and a program for a virtual/at-home Memorial Day observance. For more information, please visit www.vistvetsmuseum.com.
Rudely Stamp'd, a historical theatrical group featuring
Derek Maxfield
, Tracy Ford, and Jess Scheuerman, scored a full-page story in the May issue of
Civil War News
about the early March performance of their three act play,
Now We Stand by Each Other Always
, at the Brunswick Civil War Roundtable in North Carolina. The play features a series of conversations at pivotal points in the Civil War between Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman.
Kris White
is finishing off his part of the third book in the ECW Gettysburg series,
Stay and Fight it Out
, which will focus on the July 2 fighting at Culp’s Hill. He and
Chris Mackowski
have co-authored a piece on the fascinating story of James Wadsworth and Patrick McCracken, slated for an upcoming issue of
America’s Civil War.
He has a talk on the bombardment and street fighting at Fredericksburg as part of “Lunch With Books with the Wheeling Library” on May 26, and he’s doing “The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson” for the Carnegie Library Second Saturday Series on June 13. Both are virtual events available on Facebook.
“And I have been to my kitchen a lot,” adds, who’s been working from home. “How's that?”
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News from Our Partners
at the Civil War Roundtable Congress
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The CWRT Congress has been holding a continuous lecture series with 5-Star speakers since early April. We are encouraging CWRT members around the country (and world, for that matter) to join in the discussions. They are held on zoom.us and involve a lecture and the ever-popular Q&A session. Some sessions are actually longer than the lecture, which is phenomenal. Speakers include Eric Wittenberg, John Scales, John V. Quarstein, and Scott Mingus among many more. We are planning to release all of the lectures for even wider distribution in July—so, stand by!
In addition, we know that CWRTs will be facing a variety of challenges as the quarantines are lifted. One of the most pressing is their regular meeting venues closing or open with very restricted hours. We will be holding some open forum zoom meetings to discuss the concerns and fears that CWRT leaders are facing and to develop ways to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their organizations.
Finally, if your CWRT does not have the CWRT Congress on its website, please do so. We have a variety of resources there just for you and your members. Speakers, vendors, and proven practices have been developed with you in mind. That’s
www.cwrtcongress.org
And, if you are interested in a more dynamic way to engage, we are on Facebook, too:
www.facebook.com/cwrtcongress
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Emerging Revolutionary War News
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History is full of coincidences, both large and small, and the month of May in the American Revolution saw such. On May 10, 1775, forces under Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allan captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British. This victory ensured months later the use of the armament there by an enterprising young office named Henry Knox to spirit these guns away to Boston to force the British evacuation. In addition, both Allan and Arnold made an early name for themselves for the American cause.
Three years later on the same date, May 10, 1778, American and Oneida forces held off and successfully retreated from British General William Howe's forces at the Battle of Barren Hill outside Philadelphia. Led by the Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette, the steadfastness and demeanor under fire by the soldiers of his command, especially during the successful retreat, showed that the training during the winter encampment at Valley Forge by Baron von Steuben had begun to pay off. The Continental army would march out of Valley Forge the following month as a better trained military force than the one that had trekked into that winter cantonment six months earlier.
As most of us face stay-at-home orders and other temporary safe measures during this pandemic, the historians at
Emerging Revolutionary War
have been busy writing content, working on the next publications for the
Emerging Revolutionary War Series,
and developing a series of Zoom/Facebook Live "Rev War Revelry" chats. Join us on Sunday evenings for "Rev War Roundtable with ERW"—a panel of ERW and guest historians discuss various aspects of the Revolutionary era of America in a virtual “happy hour” setting. Check out our blog,
www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org
to keep up with content. On Thursdays, we announce the topic of that week's "Rev War Revelry," so make sure you click on over on that day at least!
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