Early August saw very little new on Civil War/Reconstruction social media. Maybe it was shock at the emergence of Delta. But, by the end of the month there was plenty that was worthwhile.
Blogs
Damien Shiels has upgraded his database of Irish soldiers at Andersonville Prison. You can access the Andersonville Irish project here.
Brendan Hamilton at Irish in the American Civil War takes apart a photo by Irish immigrant Timothy O’Sullivan of Union Soldiers at Manassas. I have seen this photo dozens of times, but this is the first time I have seen some of the fascinating details Hamilton points out.
Sheritta Bitikofer at Emerging Civil War has the story of African American hero Susie King Taylor at Beaufort, South Carolina.
Tim Talbott, director of education and interpretation at Pamplin Historical Park, had two interesting posts at Emerging Civil War on the Federal cavalry raid of Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson and Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz in Southside Virginia in the summer of 1864. Talbott tells the story of the raid in a unique way; through ads placed in newspapers by people who lost property in the raid. These include ads for slaves who sought freedom with the raiders. Here is Part 1. Here is Part 2.
Kyle Nappi writes about William Welsh, an Ohio schoolteacher who became an officer in the United States Colored Troops and served with them at the Battle of the Crater.
Nick Sacco has a reflection on the passing of James Loewen whose Lies My Teacher Told Me was an influential reconsideration of how history is taught in our schools. Sacco recalls; “I took a serious interest in history as a middle schooler in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and read Loewen’s book Lies My Teacher Told Me while I was still in high school. It was probably the first book I ever read that seriously questioned the way history was taught in the classroom. Loewen clearly demonstrated that difficult aspects of U.S. history were often swept under the rug in the interest of promoting a consensus version of history that promoted loyalty to the nation at the expense of historical accuracy, and that trivial facts and rote memorization of dates often replaced discussions of causes, context, and consequences in the history classroom.”
Al Mackey does regular updates on the “defenders of Confederate Heritage.” These are the folks who insist that the CONFEDERACY WAS RIGHT, in all caps. Here is his latest exploration of the Gray Netherworld.
Videos
The National Park Service has a great video on the 114th and 116th USCT. These regiments were formed at Camp Nelson in Kentucky. This is the now familiar “Ranger Talk Video” form with a twist. It does not just have one ranger presenting, instead it uses a small army of rangers from several sites to tell the stories of these two Black units. Camp Nelson National Monument collaborated with Richmond National Battlefield Park, Petersburg National Battlefield, and Appomattox Court House National Historical Park to make this informative Facebook Live.
The Battle of Franklin Trust plays an important role in preserving and interpreting sites associated with the Battle of Franklin in Tennessee. In this video, Joseph Ricci and Eric Jacobson discuss the Union forces’ escape from possible destruction at Spring Hill and the anger of Confederate commander John Bell Hood. This is a professionally produced eight minute video that military history students will love.
Meg Groeling at Emerging Civil War pointed us to this short film of instances where Walt Whitman’s words appear in films and on TV.
Podcasts
Civil War Talk Radio is back for a new season. Stephen Cushman, author of “The Generals Civil War: What Their Memoirs Can Teach Us Today,” speaks with Gerry Prokopowicz. Cushman is a Literature professor at the University of Virginia. He has worked with Civil War historian Gary Gallagher on a pair of books that look at writings by participants in the Civil War. This talk discusses why memoirs by Civil War generals were published, the memoirs of Richard Taylor, U.S. Grant, Little Mac, Sherman, Winfield S. Hancock, Joe Johnston and others. Gerry only does his show during the academic year, so a lot of us miss him in the Summer and during Christmas Break. This is a good discussion of a topic I don’t think about much.
The Argument has an argument over using Critical Race Theory to teach aspects of American history. “Jane Coaston and her guests disagree. Chris Rufo is a senior fellow and the director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute. Professor Ralph Richard Banks is a co-founder and the faculty director of the Stanford Center for Racial Justice.”
The Experiment Podcast looks at the new book Forget the Alamo, an irreverent look at the myths of Texas history. One of the book’s authors, Bryan Burrough, is interviewed in this funny look at slavery, the Alamo, and race relations in 19th Century Texas.
Book Reviews
Damian Shiels, a well-known scholar of immigrants in the Civil War, has a review of The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit De Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry by Diana L. Dretske on the Civil War Monitor blog. Damian writes that “The Bonds of War is a fine book with broad appeal. For those interested in immigrant soldiers, the British nativity of four of the men makes it a particularly important volume. The relative paucity of work on Scottish, English and Welsh immigrants during the Civil War has caused some scholars to refer to these men as the “invisible ethnics.” Diana L. Dretske’s innovative approach has demonstrated just how visible they can become.”
At the same blog Robert Glaze reviews No Place for Glory: Major General Robert E. Rodes and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg by Robert J. Wynstra. According to the review; “No Place for Glory is a superb narrative with impeccable contextualization. The book is accessible for both specialists and Gettysburg Campaign novices.”
David Zonderman reviews Grand Army of Labor: Workers, Veterans, and the Meaning of the Civil War by Matthew E. Stanley, According to Zonderman “The memory and meaning of the Civil War exerted a profound and expansive influence on American workers for decades after the conflict concluded. Matthew Stanley’s Grand Army of Labor is a wide-ranging and deeply researched study that explores how the war’s echoes both strengthened and constrained the labor movement as it wrestled with the growing power of industrial capitalism.”
The First Reconstruction by Van Gosse also gets a good review at the Civil War Monitor. Lucien Holness writes “The First Reconstruction provides a new account of northern party politics during the early republic that places Black men’s participation in electoral politics at the center of the narrative. For historian Van Gosse, African Americans’ political activism as voters and party activists was part of a “first Reconstruction” that lasted between the Revolutionary Era and the eve of the Civil War. The politics of race and race relations were central issues that defined party politics and had important implications for Black citizenship.”
The Emerging Civil War’s first naval history book also got a good review at, appropriately, The Monitor! Unlike Anything that Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8–9, 1862 is, according to reviewer J. Ross Dancy, a great, short read. He says that “readers looking for an introduction to the Battle of Hampton Roads should look no further than this sprite and entertaining book.”
The Most Hated Man in Kentucky: The Lost Cause and the Legacy of Union General Stephen Burbridge
by Brad Asher is reviewed favorably at Emerging Civil War. According to the review:
A slaveholder before the war, Burbridge can be credited with playing a leading role in the ending of slavery in Kentucky. He would oversee the enlistment of African Americans who, once mustered, became legally free. Fearful of leaving their families to suffer revenge for their enlistment, many enlistees instead brought their families with them to camps at Louisville and Camp Nelson, further depleting the state’s slave population. It was perhaps as much Burbridge’s role as liberator that earned him condemnation in the Bluegrass State as it was the hard hand he took against irregular and guerrilla troops.
Civil War Books and Authors has a long-form review of Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command by Kent Masterson Brown. This book has been one of the most reviewed Civil War military history books of the Summer. From the review: Centered on exhaustive description and analysis based on intensive primary source research, the picture that emerges in Meade at Gettysburg is of an army commander highly skilled in both the operational art of war (the primary sphere of the army commander) and tactical-level battlefield management. Immediately thrust into army command during the middle of a major campaign, Meade, by instinct and training, calmly sifted through intelligence reports and confidently managed his new command’s marching orders while also displaying remarkable powers of adaptation when his initial plan of operations was ruined by events at Gettysburg outside his control.
Military Prisons of the Civil War: A Comparative Study by David L. Keller is also reviewed at Civil War Books and Authors. According to the review, the book identifies five factors that contributed to needless suffering at the camps: (1) “Lack of a strategic plan for handling prisoners,” (2) “Inadequate plans for long-term incarceration,” (3) “Poor selection and training of camp command,” (4) “Lack of training of guards,” and finally (5) “Failure to provide soldiers with information on how to behave as a prisoner.”
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