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Vindicating Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th
With the 150th anniversary of the burning of Darien, GA approaching one local historian hopes to vindicate Col. Robert Gould Shaw of any responsibility. We all know the scene in Glory when Shaw orders his men to torch the town only after the threat of court-martial by Col. James Montgomery of the 2nd South Carolina [...]
“Near this site was buried a British soldier”
Yesterday’s posting included a recent photograph of the monument marking the grave of two British soldiers who died in the skirmish at the North Bridge in Concord. That tablet, with lines by the poet James Russell Lowell, has been on the site for decades.In recent years, as D. Show More Summary
“They came three thousand miles and died”
So how many British soldiers died at the North Bridge in Concord? How many were buried nearby? Those questions have answers, but not definite ones. As I quoted earlier in the week, one of the British officers there, Lt. William Sutherland, described leaving two men “dead on the Spot.” But Capt. Show More Summary
Volume, Confusion, and Rage: On Commuting
Knocker-up in action Commuting has been part of the human experience since the Industrial Revolution. Ever since the workplace and the home got firmly disentangled, people have been waking up and resignedly making their way to their place of employment. Show More Summary
“Very barbarously broke his scull and let out his brains”
As I quoted two days ago, in the spring of 1775 five British soldiers testified to seeing one of their comrades with “the Skin over his Eye’s Cut and also the Top part of His Ears cut off” near the North Bridge in Concord. On 19 April, army officers were already interpreting that as a scalping. Show More Summary
Another Gettysburg Book? What Will the Buffs Say?
My copy of Allen Guelzo’s new book, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion will arrive later this afternoon. I will likely dive right in. I’ve read all of Guelzo’s books and have learned a great deal. Yesterday the Civil War Monitor published a review of the book by Will Greene. At first I stayed away not wanting [...]
NPS’s Ed Bearss going strong into his ninth decade
Just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday, the seemingly indestructible Edwin “Ed” Bearss is still wowing his audiences with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Civil War and unique delivery. The Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service spoke recently to the Front Royal, Va. Show More Summary
No, That’s Not H.K. in the Background
I apologize for not being able to offer a more appropriate post title, but I am not sure what this is. Perhaps you can tell me.
Burying the Bodies at the North Bridge
At the end of 19 Apr 1775, the people of Concord faced a big problem. Massachusetts was, of course, now in armed rebellion against the royal authorities holding the province’s capital. There were dead and dying royal soldiers in town. Show More Summary
Disunion Now Available in Stores
The book of essays pulled from the New York Times’s Disunion column has been out for a couple of weeks now. It’s a pretty hefty volume that includes over 100 essays on the period between 1861 and the beginning of 1863. My only complaint is that the table of contents does not list individual essays, [...]
Thomas Fleming Plays Civil War Historian
What happens when you bring a radio talk show host, who hasn’t thought about the Civil War since High School and a historian, who has been studying it for five years? What is truly miraculous is that in the process Thomas Fleming was able to produce “A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil [...]
Don Troiani’s Black Confederate Soldier
I do enjoy perusing the Confederate Heritage Facebook pages. The topic of black Confederates is a favorite among these folks. Many of the images and other references are new to me, but more importantly their handling of this “evidence” serves as a reminder of just how incapable some people are in applying even the most [...]
British Corpses at the North Bridge
I’m returning to the Battle of Lexington and Concord for another series of essays. Later this week I’ll post some work by another researcher that I’ve been hoping to share for years. But first I want to lay the groundwork for that.In...Show More Summary
An Important Work of Civil War Memory
Caroline Janney’s new book, Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation (University of North Carolina Press, 2013) arrived this past Saturday. You should be able to pick it up in a few weeks. I usually wait until I have four or five new books before listing them, but given the focus of [...]
In the Name of Confederate Heritage
Barring any major development I think it’s time to move beyond this story involving the Virginia Flaggers and their unsubstantiated account of monument vandalism. Some of you are no doubt pleased to hear this. On the face of it this story has about as much value as a soap opera and accomplishes little more than [...]
He Would Certainly Have Killed Me (Sherlock Holmes and Sookie Stackhouse Edition)
Charlaine Harris is the author of a massively successful series of novels with a southern heroine, Sookie Stackhouse. There have been 13 books, and a (ahem, so NSFW) HBO series. But now Harris is looking to be done with Stackhouse and the current novel is intended to be the last one: But after more than a decade, Ms. Show More Summary
Susan Hathaway, Rob Walker Jr. and the Virginia Flaggers Have Some Explaining To Do
Brooks Simpson has learned from the Richmond Police Department that there is no report related to a supposed vandalism incident that took place on Thursday at the Jefferson Davis Monument in Richmond. According to the police: ““We can find no record of such an incident ever occurring.” According to the report, Mr. Walker called the [...]
Dinosaurs, Leprechans, Gargoyles and Stonewall Jackson
A new fiberglass statue to Stonewall Jackson has recently been added to the to Lexington, Virginia’s commemorative landscape. The sculpture by local artist, Mark Cline, is situated on private property just north of Lexington on Rt. 11. Cline is best known for his fiberglass sculptures of fantasy creatures and dinosaurs that adorn parks across the [...]
Learning about the Jacob Whittemore House, 18 & 23 May
Minute Man National Historical Park contains eleven buildings that stood during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The only one within the bounds of Lexington (just barely tucked in) is the Jacob Whittemore House, built around 1717,...Show More Summary
Rob Walker, Susan Hathaway and the Virginia Flaggers Remain Silent
There are still no updates to the story of a VCU student who supposedly prevented two white males from vandalizing the Jefferson Davis monument in Richmond on Thursday evening. The Richmond-Times Dispatch has been contacted and is looking into this story as has the Richmond Police for further information. The story was made public by [...]
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