10 Questions...
with Steward Henderson
1) During the Sesquicentennial, you were exceptionally busy doing living history events and talks related to your favorite regiment, the 23rd USCT. You said you were going to slow down once the 150th wrapped up. But it seems like you've still been plenty busy! What have you been up to?
I had been working as a park ranger at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (FSNMP). After many of the seasonal rangers across the country were laid off in 2018 due to a paperwork change, I started to volunteer at the park again. I especially liked leading tours and talks and working at the battlefields. Additionally, I had been working on a Civil War medical and surgical project for the park and completed the first portion of that project. I continue to work with Chief Historian John Hennessy on tours and projects. I also continue to work at the park’s bookstores, where I am purchasing and reading the newest Civil War books, as well as reading some of the books that I do not own. This lets me continue to be at the park several days per week.
2) Why has it been hard to slow down?
It’s been hard to slow down because I have continued to be a living historian and reenactor for the 23rd USCT and the 54th Massachusetts Co. B. We are still being asked to participate in many programs. I have not been able to do as many as I want, but I still do quite a few. I have tried to help out friends by participating at various Civil War battlefields, and I have participated in a few New Market Heights programs (for instance, I did the voiceover for the American Battlefield Trust’s Richmond Battlefield App for New Market Heights). I participated in the Appomattox Court House Lantern Tour. I was going to do the Cold Harbor Lantern Tour, but it was cancelled by inclement weather for the past two years. Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield had a living history audience-immersion event, in which the visitors got to follow the reenactors on Upton’s Charge of May 10th and the Battle of the Mule Shoe. A couple of us from the 23rd USCT escorted the Confederate prisoners to the rear.
I fulfilled one of my bucket list items: I participated in the 155th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf at Fort Pocahontas, in Charles City County, Virginia. This was the battle that I talked about at the 2017 Emerging Civil War Symposium.
Speaking to various groups ensures that I am keep entrenched in the history of the Civil War. I constantly reinforce my themes and seek more information to add to my presentations.
I have given lectures and speeches to the various organizations. At the University of Mary Washington Elder Study program, I gave a two-hour lecture, “Fighting for Their Freedom: The United States Colored Troops.” I gave a portion of the same lecture to the Powhatan Civil War Roundtable. At St. George’s Episcopal Church, I gave a lecture titled, “War Comes to the Church.” For the Hampton Roads Civil War Roundtable and two Senior Citizen organizations, I gave lectures on “The Importance of the Fredericksburg Area in the Civil War.” Plus, I gave several talks on the 23rd USCT at various churches, Juneteenth programs, Veterans Day programs, and Black History Month programs.
I have acted in two of the skits in the first two annual “Fredericksburg Untold Stories” programs. Both skits were about the 23rd USCT. Those skits have made our friend and Supervisory Historian, FRSPNMP, Greg Mertz a star actor!
Another treat has been working with my fellow Emerging Civil War friends, Chris Mackowski, Kris White, Dan Davis, Phil Greenwalt, Ed Alexander, and Doug Crenshaw, participating in American Battlefield Trust Facebook Lives for Chancellorsville and the Overland Campaign. I cannot forget Garry Adelman and all of the energy he brings to the events. But the real star is Connor Townsend, behind the camera, who had to keep us crazy Civil War guys in line—and she did a fantastic job!
Finally, I had been asked to get involved in several committees in the Fredericksburg area: the St. George’s 300th Anniversary History Committee, and a Fredericksburg committee to decide what to do with the slave auction block. Just in the last month, I have been asked to serve on the City of Fredericksburg Memorials Commission and the African American History Committee.
3) Aside from the 23rd USCT, what are some of the other Civil War interests you've been pursuing these days?
I am researching and writing a book on the United States Colored Troops. I had long planned to do this, but I was happy just writing for Emerging Civil War. Then my wife, Malanna, several of my former bank colleagues, and some who know me as a Civil War living historian kept pushing me to write my book on the USCT. So, I am finally in the process of writing it.
The 23rd USCT and 54th Massachusetts Company B (I belong to this regiment as well) have been asked for this year and next to participate in the 200th Anniversary of Israel Metropolitan CME Church (formerly Israel Bethel). One of the church’s founding members was Reverend Henry McNeal Turner, Chaplain of the 1st USCT and the first African American Chaplain selected by President Abraham Lincoln. We also hope to be a presence in the 155th Anniversary of the battle and surrender at Appomattox Court House next year.
4) You've pioneered something new at the Spotsylvania battlefield: instead of dressing in your park service uniform, you've been dressing in your Union uniform and interacting with visitors that way, appearing more as a living historian instead of just as a park ranger. What have those interactions been like for you?
FSNMP recently had a three-day planning workshop I was able to attend. One suggestion for the future was for a living historian to appear on the battlefields to interact with visitors. Since I was working the Spotsylvania Battlefield on that following Sunday for the park, I volunteered to experiment with this suggestion. That day was very enlightening. More visitors approached me in my Civil War uniform, as a percentage, than when I was dressed in my park ranger’s or park volunteer’s uniforms. I gave four 20-minute programs of the battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the role that the USCT played. I had several conversations of why I was there in my Civil War uniform. Next time I try it, I would do some first-person scenarios.
I thought that it was good to pioneer this program because there were visitors who did not know that the USCT played a role in the battle. Plus I could talk about the 23rd USCT becoming the first African American regiment fighting against the Army of Northern Virginia.
5) You've been doing some work with Fredericksburg Tours lately. Tell us about that.
Working for Fredericksburg Tours, leading private Civil War battlefield tours of the Fredericksburg-area battlefields, lets me keep doing what I love to do. People contact us, and I ride with them in their personal vehicle and give them a private battlefield tour in greater detail than I can give working as a ranger. The tours range from two to eight hours on a battlefield. Most tours I have led have been for more than one of our battlefields, usually lasting a day and a half to two days. Next year, we are going to add the Bristoe Station, Mine Run, North Anna, and Rappahannock Station battlefields. One day, I hope for a tour of Fort Harrison and New Market Heights in the Richmond battlefield!
I am creating a new tour for Fredericksburg Tours, “From Enslaved to Soldier.” This tour will be an African American History tour about slavery in the Fredericksburg area, the escape of 10,000 slaves during the first Union occupation of Fredericksburg, and the ones who return in the 4th Division of the IX Corps. The first tour is planned for February 22, 2020. It also is helpful that the City of Fredericksburg wants to encourage more African American history of the city and surrounding counties.
Lightning Round (short answers with a one-sentence explanation)
Favorite primary source?
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.
I also like to read letters and diaries of soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
Favorite Civil War-related monument?
The African American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, DC. It is dedicated to all of the African Americans who played a part in the Union war effort and pays tributes to the soldiers and sailors. The museum across from the monument is the home of all of the USCT living history regiments.
Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era?
Frederick Douglass. He was the most important African American of the 19th century. He was an orator, author, abolitionist, and USCT recruiter.
What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited?
I would like to visit Fort Monroe to honor the XXV Corps, the contrabands, and Major General Benjamin Butler’s dedication to the United States Colored Troops.
Favorite ECWS book?
I still think the first one is my favorite,
Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg
, because I think it made Emerging Civil War more identifiable and well known to the public. Look what has followed since it was written!
