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Freemasons and Furniture in Newport Next Month
The Newport Historical Society has two lectures on intriguing eighteenth-century historical topics scheduled for next month. On Thursday, 11 April, at 5:30 the society will host Samuel Biagetti as he speaks on “Rupture in the Temple:...Show More Summary
Southerners and those “inner battles” over decisions
I sincerely hope that nobody reads the title of this post and comes to it thinking they’re going to find a full-blown discussion on the wide range of difficult decisions faced by Southerners in the Civil War era. Since I’ve been talking a little about Galvanized Yankees, I figured I’d offer something regarding “decisions” in [...]
An evening with “Bud” Robertson, part 1
As I mentioned in my hasty post from just over 12 hours ago, I had the opportunity last night, to listen to Dr. James I. “Bud” Robertson, Jr., at the Hagerstown CWRT. In that distinctive south-central Piedmont Virginia accent, he engaged the audience with quick glimpses of stories from his latest work, The Untold Civil War. His objectives [...]
Jefferson or Not?
I recently came across the Is This Jefferson? website, devoted to making the case that a portrait apparently painted by Nicholas Benjamin Delapierre in 1785 shows Thomas Jefferson, then ambassador to France. As this press release acknowledges, no one is on record as thinking this is a painting of Jefferson until its current owner. Show More Summary
An intermission… but a good one
I know I said that I’d have something more to say about the Galvanized Yankees from the 34th Mississippi Infantry, but I need to have a brief intermission. So, if you will please, allow me an indulgence… This evening, courtesy of my gracious host, Tim Snyder (author of Trembling in the Balance: The Chesapeake and [...]
The Future of Civil War History Is Not On the Battlefield
Tomorrow I hope to finish up an essay that I was asked to write for one of the Civil War journals over a year ago about the the influence of digital technologies on how we write and research history and how that has fueled the myth of the black Confederate soldier. At the end of [...]
Spring cleaning for Civil War historic sites
The annual Civil War Trust Park Day, begun in 1996, is scheduled for April 6 and offers an opportunity to help get battlefields, historic building and cemeteries in 25 states ready for the tourist season. Think of it as an expanded spring cleaning. Read full article >>
Should This Confederate Flag Be Allowed in School?
Once again, the courts have supported the right of school districts to ban students from wearing clothing that includes the Confederate flag. The most recent case involved a school district in South Carolina in which a student repeatedly clashed with school administrators over a number of t-shirts that likely were purchased at a local Dixie [...]
Oh Noes! Success!
From the same genre as “The Democrats should throw the 2008 presidential election and make the GOP handle the economic crisis” and “Roe v. Wade actually hurt abortion rights,” we have the New York Times opining that the political success...Show More Summary
“Making Saltpetre” Seminar in Boston, 2 April
On Tuesday, 2 April, the Massachusetts Historical Society will host a session of the Boston Area Early American History Seminar starting at 5:15. David Hsiung, professor at Juniata College, will present a paper on “Making Saltpetre for...Show More Summary
With Copperhead coming… when will there be a movie about divided Southern sentiments?
I’ve seen several previews for the upcoming movie, Copperhead. While many may be weary of another Ron Maxwell Civil War film, I think the previews are suggesting a step forward/up from Gods & Generals. I would enjoy a chance to see the movie in its entirety, prior to release. That said, however, I can’t help [...]
Southerners and the “inner battles”, over decisions
I sincerely hope that nobody reads the title of this post and comes to it thinking they’re going to find a full-blown discussion on the wide range of difficult decisions faced by Southerners in the Civil War era. Since I’ve been talking a little about Galvanized Yankees, I figured I’d offer something regarding “decisions” in [...]
Tea, Maps, and Furniture at Historic Deerfield
Historic Deerfield is featuring a new exhibit called “Tea Talk: Ritual and Refinement in Early New England Parlors” in the lobby of its Flynt Center museum. The website says:Tea and tea drinking arrived in New England by the late 17th century, a time of burgeoning trade and expansion of the British Empire. Show More Summary
Stonewall Jackson’s Black Friend
My recent essay on Confederate camp servants in The Civil War Monitor opens with a reference to an account in Edward Porter Alexander’s Fighting for the Confederacy. In it he discusses the purchase of a camp servant named Charley and a horse. Interestingly, Alexander refers to both as an “appendage”. That reference, I believe, tells [...]
New To the Civil War Memory Library, 03/26
Howard Bahr, THE BLACK FLOWER: A Novel of the Civil War, (Nautical & Aviation Publishing, 1997). Ronald S. Coddington, African American Faces of the Civil War: An Album, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). Michele Gillespie, Katharine and R. J. Reynolds: Partners of Fortune in the Making of the New South, (University of Georgia Press, 2013). [...]
More Details from Capt. Samuel Leighton’s Papers
As I looked over the document dealer Seth Kaller’s offerings from the papers of Capt. Samuel Leighton of Kittery, Maine, a few things jumped out at me. Records of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety say that a total of 91 guns were delivered to Col. Show More Summary
The 48th/150th: Heading West!
After a six weeks' stay at Newport News, Virginia, the soldiers of the 48th Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of March 25, 1863, received orders "to pack up and leave at once." Although they did not yet know it, these veteran soldiers from...Show More Summary
Interpreting USCTs in places where they were not…
Recently, there’s been a flurry of posts about USCTs (see Craig Swain’s, here; Emmanuel Dabney’s, here; Kevin Levin’s, here; and Jimmy Price’s, here), and, as I’m in the process of compiling a list of USCTs born in Shenandoah Valley counties, I find it timely. Should the interpretation of USCTs be incorporated into places in which they were not… [...]
Restore the Honor, Remove the Flaggers
Yesterday my wife and I stopped briefly at the Pelham Chapel in Richmond, which is the site of the ongoing protest by a group that styles itself, the Virginia Flaggers. As many of you know their protest is focused on the recent removal of Confederate flags from outside the chapel itself. I was hoping to [...]
Don’t ignore that which is contrary…
It’s interesting… the more I dig (historical research), the more I find examples to the contrary. “To the contrary of what?”… one might ask. Is it… the “norm”… whether that be a long-standing norm, or one that is acceptable at a particular time (trending)? There are times in which I hear arguments made, yet know [...]
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