From the Editor

Most of us, I know, tend to think of summer as “campaign season” for Civil War battles. The roads finally dried up enough for the armies to move after long, restless winters hunkered down in camp life. Summer is also the time when most of us, today, are able to visit battlefields and explore the Civil War history we love so much. The weather is generally warmer and more cooperative, that’d for sure!

Conversely, November does NOT usually spring immediately to mind as prime campaign season. Yet, because of my proximity to the Mine Run battlefield, I’m always reminded of just how much activity took place in this second-to-last month of the year. The Mine Run Campaign kicked off on Thanksgiving Day in 1863 and wrapped up in bitter, bitter killing cold during the first two days of December.

Set against that depressing anticlimax in the east was Ulysses S. Grant’s splashy victory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “Grant has undoubtedly shown very superior abilities,” Army of the Potomac commander George Gordon Meade wrote on December 20, 1863, after Mine Run and Chattanooga, “and is I think justly entitled to all the honors they propose to bestow upon him.” One of those honors would be a promotion that put Grant in command of Meade.

While all of that was unfolding, James Longstreet was trying to knock his way into Knoxville, Tennessee.

Look at other Novembers during the war. In 1861, there was the battle of Belmont. In 1862, George McClellan got canned. In 1864, Sherman began his March to the Sea and John Bell Hood began his fateful march toward Spring Hill and Franklin, Tennessee. We could also call up smaller engagements and events over those first four Novembers, too. By November of 1865, of course, most soldiers on both sides were back home to enjoy Thanksgiving with their families.

All of us at Emerging Civil War wish you and your families the very best this Thanksgiving season.

— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief

Edward Alexander is now enjoying fatherhood! His wife, Alison, gave birth to Madeline Grace Alexander on October 23. “We're all figuring out a routine and enjoying our time at home together,” he says. “Looking forward to seeing which battlefield trails are stroller friendly!”

Sarah Kay Bierle made a trip to California for a family event and was also able to get back to The Huntington Library to gather unique archival research for several of her upcoming projects and books.

Sheritta Bitikofer took a trip to Andersonville National Historic Site for their Civil War Day to tour the recreated stockade and attend a presentation by Dr. Damian Shiels on Irish American POWs at the prison. She's also been reading into the interesting history behind quilts being used along the Underground Railroad and how they assisted the enslaved toward self-emancipation.

Meg Groeling will be appearing virtually at three locations in December:

·     December 8, 2021-8:30 PM ET "Civil War Talk"

·     December 9, 2021-3:30 PM ET "A House Divided" Show

·     December 16, 2021-6:30 PM ET "American Civil War Museum"

This is only the beginning of Meg’s First Fallen World Tour of 2021-22, so keep your calendars open for events near you! “If anyone makes cancer slouch hats in a Civil War theme, please let me know ASAP,” she adds. “Thanks!”

Dwight Hughes signed copies of Unlike Anything That Ever Floated at the Gettysburg Heritage Center on Saturday, Nov. 20.

From Brian Matthew Jordan:

·     I published "'What I Saw Would Make You Sick': Union Soldiers Confront the Dead of Antietam," in Charles Mitchell and Jean H. Baker, eds., The Civil War in Maryland Reconsidered (Louisiana State University Press, 2021). 

·     I submitted to the University of Georgia Press an edited collection, Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves (co-edited with Jonathan W. White, with a foreword from David Blight). The book will be published in 2022. 

·     Civil War Times published an interview with me based on my recent book, A Thousand May Fall, in its October issue. 

·     I have been busy on the speaking circuit with recent presentations to the Marblehead (Massachusetts) Museum; the Dan Sickles Civil War Round Table (White Plains, New York); the Wisconsin Veterans' Museum; the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Civil War Museum; Blinn College (Bryan, Texas); and Pasadena (California) Civil War Roundtable. 

David Powell’s book Decisions at Shiloh just went to the University of Tennessee Press for publication. “It will probably be out in the spring 2022,” Dave says.

Chris Kolakowski gave the keynote address for the Veterans Day ceremony at the Wisconsin State Capitol, in which he addressed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier's centennial and the nature of service and sacrifice. Video is at wiseye.org. 

Chris Mackowski and Kris White co-hosted a conversation with best-selling author Jeff Shaara as the keynote session to the American Battlefield Trust’s fall Virtual Teacher Institute on Thursday, November 11 (an event Kris organizes and directs). Shaara talked about his career as a writer and the importance of telling a good story.

Chris also presented a session at the Virtual Teacher Institute, “Seeing the First Draft of History: Technology, the News, and Media Ethics.” The talk looked at the way visually-based technologies can present ethical challenges to news gatherers and how educators can use examples of those instances as tools in their classrooms for talking about ethics. Examples spanned Gardner’s photos “The Dead of Antietam,” Walter Cronkite’s Vietnam coverage, live coverage of 9/11, through memes on digital media.

In December, Kris and Chris are off on a Western Theater adventure with Garry Adelman as part of the next American Battlefield Trust video swing. Stay tuned for ABT’s Facebook page for details (we’ll also re-post segments on ECW’s FB page as we’re able).

From Nathan Provost: “My book review for The Cavalry at Appomattox by Edward Longacre was put up on StrategyPage. I will be traveling to Virginia this week [Nov. 17-20] for research on my dissertation.”

Codie Eash reviewed Brian Swartz’s Passing Through the Fire for the Civil War Monitor.

Eash said, “Swartz succinctly yet thoroughly reaches beyond the Chamberlain mythology to reveal how the Civil War impacted one man so deeply.”

Kris White and Steve Stanley recently completed the next volume of the "Maps of the American Battlefield Trust" book series. Volume 3, The Maps of the Revolutionary War, is set to hit bookshelves in March of 2022. And the new editions of Vols. 1 & 2 will hit bookshelves by the end of the year. 

Kris will be at the Hershey CWRT in February (on Zoom) talking about the Bliss Farm at Gettysburg.

10 Questions . . .

with Jon-Erik Gilot

Jon-Erik Gilot serves as the secretary on ECW’s Board of Directors and is co-coordinator (with Sarah Kay Bierle) of the ECW Symposium. He was first profiled in the February 2019 ECW newsletter. You can read his full ECW bio here.

What are you working on these days? 

Too much! Magazine and website articles, essays for various ECW 10th Anniversary books, and trying to keep up with my regular ECW obligations. I'd like to take a step back in the new year and refocus my efforts on my next project. Stay tuned. 

You just wrapped up work on a manuscript with Kevin Pawlak about John Brown’s raid. Can you tell us a little about that project? 

Harpers Ferry is my favorite place on this earth, so much so that I proposed to my wife on Maryland Heights. I find myself back there several times each year for work or pleasure, and while Harpers Ferry has many stories to tell, it's most synonymous with John Brown's Raid. Brown is a fascinating, often misunderstood or misrepresented character. The goal wasn't to change any hearts or minds with this book, but rather to offer an accessible introduction to John Brown, what brought him to Harpers Ferry, and what happened there that would ultimately catapult our country towards civil war.  

Aside from Harpers Ferry, obviously, are there still places to see associated with Brown’s raid? 

Even as suburban sprawl continues to creep into the eastern panhandle, there are still many sites in the greater Harpers Ferry area associated with the raid. Our book includes two appendices - a walking tour of sites in the lower town, and a driving tour of outlying sites, from the the Kennedy Farmhouse where Brown secreted his army in the months leading up to the raid, to Charles Town, where Brown was jailed, convicted, and executed, and many stops in-between.

You are instrumental in planning for the ECW Symposium. What did you learn from last year’s event that you’re applying to the 2022 event that’ll make it even better? 

You have to give people what they want. Our attendees are generous (and frank) in offering feedback for us to build on. So when they asked us to bring back the popular Friday evening panel, we took it a step further and added an additional panel on Saturday. More time for questions? You got it! Longer breaks between speakers? Done! The banter and interaction between our attendees (and even our speakers) makes our annual symposium so much fun. I can't wait to see everyone back at Stevenson Ridge next August! 

As a West Virginian, what’s your favorite Civil War site in West Virginia? 

I'll add a "besides Harpers Ferry" caveat here since we've established that as my favorite. There's something special about Middleway, West Virginia, in Jefferson County. Walking down Queen Street is like stepping back into the 19th or even 18th centuries, void of almost any modern intrusions. Fighting swirled through town in August 1864, and even today you can line up James E. Taylor's 1864 sketches as perfectly as the day he drew them. 

Lightning Round (short answers with a one-sentence explanation) 

Favorite primary source? 

Though long out of print, the aforementioned With Sheridan Up the Shenandoah Valley—Leaves from a Special Artist, Sketchbook and Diary by James E. Taylor is a nearly-impossible-to-find gem. A publisher should really look at getting that reprinted and into more people’s libraries (Hint, Hint: Ted Savas)

Favorite Civil War-related monument? 

The U.S. Grant monument at Union Square in Washington, D.C., not so much for Grant himself, but the scenes around him with the cavalry charge and flying caisson are simply stunning. 

Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era? 

William Woods Averell, one of the many casualties of Little Phil Sheridan. 

What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited? 

While I visited Key West a few years ago, I did not make it out to Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas. I need to see that place. 

Favorite ECWS book? 

Ryan Quint's Determined to Stand and Fight does justice to the rag-tag group assembled at Monocacy to confront some of the best fighting units of the Army of Northern Virginia. A great book on an interesting little battle. 

Emerging Revolutionary War News

On November 12-14, Emerging Revolutionary War held its first annual bus tour. Led by historians Mark Maloy and Billy Griffith, attendees toured the sites connected with the “Ten Crucial Days,” the Battles and Campaigns of Trenton and Princeton. There was even a sighting of George Washington along the banks of the Delaware River! 

Plans are already in place for next year's bus tour, “The Rise of the American Army: Valley Forge and the Battle of Monmouth.” Head on over to Emerging Revolutionary War's Facebook or blog for more information and how to secure your ticket. 

Make sure you follow the blog, emergingrevolutionarywar.org.

Right: Mark Maloy and Billy Griffith in action at the Thomas Neely House. 

Below: Mark Maloy in classic tour guide point at Washington Crossing State Park (PA). 

Bottom: The ERW tour group at Washington's Crossing with George Washington. 

December

12th: Dwight Hughes, “Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor, The Virginia, and the Battle of Hampton Roads,” Dan Sickles Civil War Round Table, New York (Virtual Presentation)

15th: Kevin Pawlak, “We labor under many disadvantages”: The Confederate Medical Corps in the Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable, Leesburg, VA

January

13th: Dwight Hughes, “Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor, the Virginia, and the Battle of Hampton Roads,” Chickamauga & Chattanooga Civil War Round Table, Chattanooga, TN

21st: Dwight Hughes, “The Sailor and The Soldier at Vicksburg: Porter, Grant, and Unprecedented Joint Operations,” Falls Church Military History Forum, Falls Church, VA