New and Noteworthy---The Mary Lincoln Enigma: A Kaleidoscope for Mary Lincoln's Life

The Mary Lincoln Enigma: Historians on America's Most Controversial First Lady, Frank J. Williams and Michael Burkhimer, editors, Southern Illinois University Press, 33 illustrations, 376 pp., bibliographic notes, index, 2012, $32.95.

Fourteen historians tackle the popular misunderstandings associated with Mary Todd Lincoln. In both popular culture and academic circles, the First Lady, verifiers and sympathizers. The Mary Lincoln Enigma: Historians on America's Most Controversial First Lady offers a variety of interpretations of Abraham Lincoln's wife, who had a role in both politics and society.

Mary Lincoln as a sibling, as a child in a household with slaves, a a socialite and hostess, as a mother with sons and as as a European traveler are considered. Her depiction by novelists and graphic artistic are offered. Each of the authors have written books on the Lincolns.Each of the essays are between 20 and 40 pages.  The authors' narratives are direct and to the point, neither meandering  nor discursive.

In is not necessary for readers to have an Abraham or Mary Lincoln biography under their belt. No insider information is needed to enjoy The Mary Lincoln Enigma: Historians on America's Most Controversial First Lady. Several of the essays have appeared in other publications and some may have been portions of other chapters in other books. Overall, The Mary Lincoln Enigma functions as a kaleidoscope for Mary Lincoln's life.

News---Plantation Quest: Re-enactor Sleeps In The Beds of The Slaves

One Man's Epic Quest To Visit Every Former Slave Dwelling in the United States: Joseph McGill, A Descendant of Slaves, Has Devoted His Life To Ensuring The Preservation Of These Historic Sites, Tony Horwitz, Smithsonian Magazine, October, 2013.

At a bygone plantation in coastal Georgia, Joseph McGill Jr. creaks open a door to inspect his quarters for the night. He enters a cramped cell with an ancient fireplace and bare walls mortared with oyster shell. There is no furniture, electricity or plumbing.“I was expecting a dirt floor, so this is nice,” McGill says, lying down to sample the hard pine planks. “Might get a decent sleep tonight.”

Some travelers dream of five-star hotels, others of visiting seven continents. McGill’s mission: to sleep in every former slave dwelling still standing in the United States. Tonight’s stay, in a cabin on Georgia’s Ossabaw Island, will be his 41st such lodging. McGill is 52, with a desk job and family, and isn’t fond of sleeping rough. A descendant of slaves, he also recognizes that re-inhabiting places of bondage “seems strange and upsetting to some people.” But he embraces the discomfort, both physical and psychological, because he wants to save slave dwellings and the history they hold before it’s too late.  “Americans tend to focus on the ‘big house,’ the mansion and gardens, and neglect the buildings out back,” he says. “If we lose slave dwellings, it’s that much easier to forget the slaves themselves.”

A century ago, the whitewashed cabins of former slaves remained as ubiquitous a feature of the Southern landscape as Baptist churches or Confederate monuments. Many of these dwellings were still inhabited by the families of the four million African-Americans who had gained freedom in the Civil War. But as blacks migrated en masse from the South in the 20th century, former slave quarters—most of which were cheaply built from wood—quickly decayed or were torn down. Others were repurposed as toolsheds, garages or guest cottages. Of those that remain, many are now endangered by neglect, and by suburban and resort development in areas like the Georgia and Carolina Low Country, a lush region that once had the densest concentration of plantations and enslaved people in the South.

McGill has witnessed this transformation firsthand as a native South Carolinian who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Charleston. But it wasn’t his day job that led him to sleep in endangered slave cabins. Rather, it was his weekends as a Civil War re-enactor, wearing the uniform of the 54th Massachusetts, the black unit featured in the movie Glory. Donning a period uniform and camping out, often at antebellum sites, “made the history come alive for me,” he says. Re-enacting the 54th has also drawn public attention to the pivotal role of black soldiers in the Civil War. So in 2010, when Magnolia Plantation near Charleston sought to publicize restoration of its neglected slave cabins, McGill proposed sleeping in one of them.

“I was a little spooked,” he says of his overnight stay. “I kept getting up hearing noises. It was just the wind blowing limbs against the cabin.” His simple bedroll, laid on the hard floor, also didn’t make for a comfortable night. But the sleepover succeeded in drawing media attention to the slave cabins, which have since been opened to the public. So McGill began compiling a list of other such structures and seeking out their owners, to ask if he could sleep in them.

Source and Full Text Continued at Smithsonian Magazine, October 2013

New and Noteworthy---Connecticut Yankees At Antietam: A Fascinating and Very Humane Segment of Civil War History

Connecticut Yankees At Antietam, John Banks, History Press, 192pp., bibliographic notes, bibliography, index, profusely illustrated, $19.99.

Banks' Connecticut Yankees At Antietam offers compelling stories of over 30 Connecticut citizens who performed bravely, or merely adequately, or deserted at the Battle of Antietam. Delving into pension records, collections, manuscripts, reports, regimental histories, newspapers, Banks sets forth brief biographies of unique individuals who typify Union soldiers, nurses and undertakers.

The soldiers are members of the 8th, 11th, 14th and 16th Connecticut infantry and their stories are told by their letters, diaries, pension files, photographs and artifacts they left behind. The author includes the story of Maria Hall, a nurse at the Smoketown Hospital, who was one of the many women rejected by Dorthea Dix but found her way to serve the wounded on the battlefield. Also, Banks offers the story of William Roberts, a Connecticut undertaker, who travelled in October to the September battlefield in order to locate and disinter eight bodies and return them to their families. 

At times Connecticut Yankees At Antietam may be grim. Banks has collected instances of amputations made by manual chain saws, survivors of wounds that did not receive aid for nearly 48 hours. The instances of wounding, deaths and imprisonment of fathers and sons are many. Banks is careful not to carry the stories beyond the evidence provided by the primary documents available; there is no speculation of probable endings in the book. Terry Reimer of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Bob Zeller of the Center for Civil War Photography, Ted Alexander and Stephanie Gray of the Antietam National Military Park and many local Connecticut historians and reenactors gave Banks a hand in bringing forward the fascinating and very humane segment of Civil War history.

New--Fiction: Stonewall Goes West And, Of Course, Wins

Stonewall Goes West: A Novel Of The Civil War, R. E. Thomas, Black and Gold Media, 238 pages, 2013, $12.99.

R. E. Thomas' Stonewall Goes West offers an intriguing notion. Jackson is a corps commander at Gettysburg. The July 3 Grand Assault fails and the Federal Second Corps counter-attacks. With those conditions set, the novel opens in October 1863 and the Bristoe Station campaign becomes a Confederate victory. The Federals receive 7,000 casualties, Warren is killed, Webb is wounded and captured, Hays is killed and Sykes commits suicide. Braxton Bragg's army is sent reelling away from Chattanooga. Who can save the deteriorating situation? Stonewall Jackson goes west.

It not easy for Tom Jackson in the West. Sherman is not Meade; the Army of the Tennessee is not the Army of the Potomac. Jackson has to accommodate himself to Hardee, Cheatham and Polk. But Jackson has the Army of Tennessee and Cleburn's division to rely upon. Within sixty days Jackson has the Army of Tennessee at Nashville and Sherman never enters Georgia.

Thomas' work is not quite counter factual history; it does not examine realistic alternatives and possible outcomes. Stonewall Goes West is not quite in the same vein at Gingrich's Gettysburg and Grant Comes East; it does not stay within historic parameters. The novel is not quite like Harry Turtledove's works that puts the characters in an historic environment in which their actions seems inevitable.   R. E. Thomas' Stonewall Goes West may be enjoyed as a fanciful collision of personalities and conditions. He does have some characters who are in the rank and file and not on horses. Unfortunately there is very little suspense in the story. Stonewall and his lieutenants always win.

New and Noteworthy---Civil War Fiction: The Hunley, The Civil War's Secret Weapon

The Hunley: The Civil War's Secret Weapon, Larry C. Kerr, Melange Books, 2012, 305 pp., $15.95.

The CSS submarine H.L. Hunley plays a small part in in the Civil War but has a larger role in history. Revealing the dangers and advantages of undersea warfare, the CSS Hunley was the first to sink an enemy warship, the USS Housatonic. The current historic record is not explicit as to whether the submarine was entirely submerged during the assault. It cost 21 sailors their lives during the experimentation and assault; the ship sank three times. Constructed at Mobile, Alabama, shipped by railroad to Charleston, South Carolina, the Hunley was lost on February 17, 1864. After decades of search, the Hunley's remains were located in 1995 and recovered in 2000. It now rests in a marine labratory in Charleston.

Kerr employes quick, conversational style dialog to move the story forward from April 1861 to February 1864. The author does not provide fanicful developments to heighten the narrative or suspense. Readers who are familar with the Hunley's story will be well satified. Those who are encountering the story for the first time will be compelled to track down the original TNT Network's 1999 creative film, The Hunley. Readers seeking toto learn more about the submarine, the heroic individuals who died with it are well served by current stewards of the ship and its museum. The Friends of the Hunley offer a very fine website. The website is a fine companion to Kerr's enjoyable, fact-based novel.

News---Gardner Photo of Gettysburg Addess May Contain Lincoln, But Not The One You've Seen

I Found Real Abraham Lincoln! Armchair Historian Disputes 2007 Claim, Michael Sheridan, September 24, 2013.

Armchair historian disputes 2007 claim, says he's found the actual 16th President in famed Gettysburg Address photo. Assistant professor and animator Christopher Oakley, who is working with his students on a Virtural Lincoln Porject to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, claims his Lincoln is the correct one. He never believed the claim six years ago that focused on another person in the same Alexander Gardner photo.

They got the wrong man.
An animator and teacher at a North Carolina college says the man believed to be President Abraham Lincoln on horseback in a famed photo taken 150 years ago isn’t him. Instead, the slain 16th President is actually farther to the right. The “Where’s Waldo”-like discovery by Christopher Oakley, an assistant professor of new media at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, was revealed Tuesday. And his potentially historic find came completely by accident. “I was actually looking for William Seward,” Lincoln’s Secretary of State, the 51-year-old told the Daily News.

Oakley was studying the image as part of the university’s Virtual Lincoln Project, a computer animated, interactive 3D film that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address in November. It was during an early morning examination in March of the image captured by famed photographer Alexander Gardner that he came across the man he immediately knew to be Abraham Lincoln.  “You ever have that feeling that you’re about to fall out of bed, and your heart is racing?” he said, describing how he felt the moment he saw that stovepipe hat.


Link to Full Text: New York Daily News September 24, 2013

News----October 18 Release of 12 Years A Slave Film; the Book Has Its Own History

An Escape From Slavery, Now A Movie, Has Long Intrigued Historians, Michael Cieply, New York Times, September 22, 2013.

In the age of “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” questions about the accuracy of nonfiction films have become routine. With “12 Years a Slave,” based on a memoir published 160 years ago, the answers are anything but routine. Written by John Ridley and directed by Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave,” a leading contender for honors during the coming movie awards season, tells a story that was summarized in the 33-word title of its underlying material.

Published by Derby & Miller in 1853, the book was called Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, From a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana. The real Solomon Northup — and years of scholrly research attest to his reality — fought an unsuccessful legal battle against his abductors. But he enjoyed a lasting triumph that began with the sale of some 30,000 copies of his book when it first appeared, and continued with its republication in 1968 by the historian Sue Eakin.

Speaking on Friday, Mr. Ridley said he decided simply to “stick with the facts” in adapting Northup’s book for the film, which is set for release on Oct. 18 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Mr. Ridley said he was helped by voluminous footnotes and documentation that were included with Ms. Eakin’s edition of the book. For decades, however, scholars have been trying to untangle the literal truth of Mr. Northup’s account from the conventions of the antislavery literary genre.

The difficulties are detailed in “The Slave’s Narrative,” a compilation of essays that was published by the Oxford University Press in 1985, and edited by Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Mr. Gates is now credited as a consultant to the film, and he edited a recent edition of “Twelve Years a Slave.”) “When the abolitionists invited an ex-slave to tell his story of experience in slavery to an antislavery convention, and when they subsequently sponsored the appearance of that story in print, they had certain clear expectations, well understood by themselves and well understood by the ex-slave, too,” wrote one scholar, James Olney.

Mr. Olney was explaining pressures that created a certain uniformity of content in the popular slave narratives, with recurring themes that involved insistence on sometimes questioned personal identity, harrowing descriptions of oppression, and open advocacy for the abolitionist cause.  In his essay, called I Was Born: Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature, Mr. Olney contended that Solomon Northup’s real voice was usurped by David Wilson, the white “amanuensis” to whom he dictated his tale, and who gave the book a preface in the same florid style that informs the memoir.

“We may think it pretty fine writing and awfully literary, but the fine writer is clearly David Wilson rather than Solomon Northup,” Mr. Olney wrote.

 

Text Source and Full Text Continued at New York Times, September 22, 2013

New and Noteworthy--Marrow of Tragedy: The Civil War As a Medical Laboratory

Marrow of Tragedy: The Health Crisis of the American Civil War, Margaret Humphreys, Johns Hopkins University Press; 400 pages; $34.95

From The Publisher:  The Civil War was the greatest health disaster the United States has ever experienced, killing more than a million Americans and leaving many others invalided or grieving. Poorly prepared to care for wounded and sick soldiers as the war began, Union and Confederate governments scrambled to provide doctoring and nursing, supplies, and shelter for those felled by warfare or disease.

During the war soldiers suffered from measles, dysentery, and pneumonia and needed both preventive and curative food and medicine. Family members—especially women—and governments mounted organized support efforts, while army doctors learned to standardize medical thought and practice. Resources in the north helped return soldiers to battle, while Confederate soldiers suffered hunger and other privations and healed more slowly, when they healed at all.

In telling the stories of soldiers, families, physicians, nurses, and administrators, historian Margaret Humphreys concludes that medical science was not as limited at the beginning of the war as has been portrayed. Medicine and public health clearly advanced during the war—and continued to do so after military hostilities ceased.

The Author: Margaret Humphreys is the Josiah Charles Trent Professor in the History of Medicine, a professor of history, and a professor of medicine at Duke University. She is the author of Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War and Malaria: Poverty, Race, and Public Health in the United States, also published by Johns Hopkins
.
Blurbs: "A consistently engaging overview of Civil War medicine in its every aspect. Based on careful research and mastery of an abundant literature, Marrow of Tragedy provides a powerful depiction of a subject revealing of a dynamic and increasingly complex American society." Charles Rosenberg, Harvard University

"If there is one study that shows us the significance of sickness in the Civil War, and the attempts to define and counter it, this is it. With admirable scholarship and an eye for key turning points, Humphreys has written a compelling history of the war’s medical costs and achievements." Steven M. Stowe, Indiana University)

"Full of fresh perspectives, thoughtful insights, and judicious re-assessments, this sweeping synthesis by an outstanding historian will fundamentally change the way we think about Civil War medical history. For scholars and general readers alike, Marrow of Tragedy is a must-read book." James C. Mohr, University of Oregon

News--- Chamberlain's MOH Turns Up At Massachusetts Yard Sale

Joshua Chamberlain's Original 1893 Medal of Honor Found At Church Sale,  Seth Koenig, BDN State, September 10, 2013

One of the most prestigious medals earned by one of Maine’s most decorated sons was discovered at a church sale and turned over to a Brunswick-based organization for safe keeping, the group announced Monday.

The U.S. Army Medal of Honor was awarded to Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain — who would go on to become president of Bowdoin College and governor of Maine — in 1893 for “distinguished gallantry” in the Battle of Gettysburg 30 years earlier.The artifact was given to the Pejepscot Historical Society, which owns the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum in Brunswick, by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, the organization announced Monday afternoon. The individual who came to own the medal found it in the back of a book he had purchased “several years ago” at a sale held by First Parish Church in Duxbury, Mass., according to the society.

Chamberlain’s last surviving descendant, granddaughter Rosamond Allen, left her estate to that church upon her death 13 years ago. “Though it seems almost too good to be true, we are confident that we are now in possession of Joshua Chamberlain’s original Medal of Honor,” said Pejepscot Historical Society Director Jennifer Blanchard in a Monday statement. “All of the experts we’ve consulted believe it to be authentic, and we are tremendously honored to return the medal to Chamberlain’s home in Brunswick. The timing couldn’t be better, since the medal was awarded for Chamberlain’s distinguished service in the Battle of Gettysburg, whose 150th anniversary we mark in 2013. Our gratitude to the donor who discovered this treasure, and knew its importance to us and to the state of Maine, knows no bounds.”

Chamberlain was a Brewer native who later attended Bowdoin College and led the Union Army’s 20th Maine Infantry Regiment in its crucial defense of the Little Round Top high-ground at Gettysburg, a stand considered by many historians to be one of the defining moments of the Civil War. Bowdoin College has in its possession a 1904 Army Medal of Honor that belonged to Chamberlain, representing an updated design of the award authorized by Congress at the time, according to the Pejepscot Historical Society.

The Legislature allowed recipients to keep their previous versions of the medal as long as they did not display both at the same time, and the 1893 artifact now in the society’s collection represents the earlier award. Blanchard worked with experts at the Maine State Museum, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the Department of the Army’s Awards and Decorations Branch to confirm the medal’s authenticity, according to the society’s Monday announcement.

“Based upon the documentation submitted and the historical documentation available to this office, we are able to confirm that [the] Pejepscot Historical Society medallion is the 1862 United States Army Medal of Honor design,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael A. Ries, assistant chief of the Awards and Decorations Branch, in a statement. “It is an honor to authenticate the Medal of Honor bestowed upon Colonel Chamberlain for his extraordinary heroism on July 2, 1863.”
Historians throughout Maine lauded the find and donation. Maine State Museum Director Bernard Fishman in a statement called it “one of the most interesting discovery and donation stories on record.”

Text And Image Source; Full Text Continued at BDN State September 10, 2013

News: Job Open At Gettysburg NMP: Superintendent

Gettysburg Battlefied Boss Announces Retirement, Mark Walters, The Evening Sun, September 5, 2013

After  40 years of service with the National Park Service, Bob Kirby, superintendent of the Gettysburg National Military Park, is retiring at the end of the year.

Kirby made his announcement at Thursday night's Gettysburg National Military Park Advisory Commission semiannual meeting. Kirby, who took over at Gettysburg in March 2010, will leave after accomplishing a litany of long-term projects including the demolition of the old Cyclorama building, selling the Electric Map and the acquisition of the Gettysburg Armory. Kirby said he would define his tenure at Gettysburg as being the guy who worked with a brilliant group of people. He simply was smart enough to get out of their way, he said. “My predecessor did a great job helping get this place built,” Kirby said of the museum and visitor center. “He got a lot of great stuff started. It was the logical step to smooth out the rough spots and keep a lot of that going.”

Kirby, a 64-year-old Freedom Township resident, said he intends to stick around an area that he loves. “This place has everything I'm looking for and I've lived all over the country,” Kirby said.
With the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg battle approaching as he took over the superintendent position, he anticipated the challenge, he said. “This is the Cadillac of cultural parks,” Kirby said. “Coming here was a combination of challenge and ego and just a love for this stuff.”

Some have considered the superintendent at Gettysburg as the pinnacle of national park ranger positions and a dream job to take as one nears retirement. Kirby said that is part of the ego aspect. You spend a career climbing a ladder and to say you ended your career at such a great place that is the premier cultural landscape park,” Kirby said. Kirby, who has worked at a plethora of other parks around the country, said that while some took longer than others, he and his staff was able to achieve the goals he established each year. The Cyclorama, Kirby said, took two years. “That's part of the process,” he said. “These are process-ladened things that take a huge amount of work.”

He said he is still hopeful the federal government can find a way to pass legislation that would bring the Lincoln Train Station on Gettysburg's Carlisle Street within the boundary of the national park by Nov. 19, the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address.
“It's hard to say what's going to happen,” Kirby said. “Congress is always distracted but it's a noncontroversial piece of legislation supported by (Pennsylvania) Congressman Scott Perry and Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey.” Katie Lawhon, spokesperson for the National Park Service, said taking on so many projects and being a part of the Civil War 150th commemoration is fantastic, but that it is especially fun with a great leader like Kirby.

Text and Image Source and Story continued at The Evening Sun, September 5, 2013.

New and Noteworthy---- Did Blundering Politicans Make The Civil War Inevitable?

The Republic in Crisis, 1848-1861, John Ashworth, Cambridge University Press, 2012. 217 pp. $75.00 (cloth), $22.99 (paper) and  A Political Nation: New Directions in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Political History, Gary W. Gallagher, Rachel A. Shelden, eds., University of Virginia Press, 2012. 272 pp. $40.00 (cloth),

 

Reviewed by Matthew E. Mason (Brigham Young University)
Published on H-CivWar (August, 2013)

"Reading these two books together with an eye to Civil War scholarship is in a way an exercise in déjà vu. For these volumes offer versions, if attenuated and nuanced ones, of the old historiographical debate between those who held that the Civil War was an "irrepressible conflict" and those who argued that it was a "blundering generation"--not underlying sectional differences or grand forces--that caused the war. But besides the persistence of this debate, there is no way in which reading these two volumes feels like being caught in a time warp. For all their appreciation for traditional political history, both books, especially Gary W. Gallagher and Rachel A. Shelden's edited collection, draw productively on and model the latest developments in American political history." 

 

"Though very different in origins, purpose, and nature, these two books will in their own way provide current and future scholars of the politics of the Civil War era with plenty to consider and discuss."

 

This combined review of these two books is continued at H-Net Civ War.

 

New And Noteworthy: Slavery, Secession, Surrender and the Second American Political Party System

A Political Nation: New Directions in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Political History, Gary Gallagher and Rachel Sheldon, editors, University of Virginia Press, 272 pages, $40.00.

Publisher's Description:  This impressive collection joins the recent outpouring of exciting new work on American politics and political actors in the mid-nineteenth century. For several generations, much of the scholarship on the political history of the period from 1840 to 1877 has carried a theme of failure; after all, politicians in the antebellum years failed to prevent war, and those of the Civil War and Reconstruction failed to take advantage of opportunities to remake the nation. Moving beyond these older debates, the essays in this volume ask new questions about mid-nineteenth-century American politics and politicians.

In A Political Nation, the contributors address the dynamics of political parties and factions, illuminate the presence of consensus and conflict in American political life, and analyze elections, voters, and issues. In addition to examining the structures of the United States Congress, state and local governments, and other political organizations, this collection emphasizes political leaders—those who made policy, ran for office, influenced elections, and helped to shape American life from the early years of the Second Party System to the turbulent period of Reconstruction.

The book moves chronologically, beginning with an antebellum focus on how political actors behaved within their cultural surroundings. The authors then use the critical role of language, rhetoric, and ideology in mid-nineteenth-century political culture as a lens through which to reevaluate the secession crisis. The collection closes with an examination of cultural and institutional influences on politicians in the Civil War and Reconstruction years. Stressing the role of federalism in understanding American political behavior, A Political Nation underscores the vitality of scholarship on mid-nineteenth-century American politics.

Contributors:
Erik B. Alexander, University of Tennessee, Knoxville · Jean Harvey Baker, Goucher College · William J. Cooper, Louisiana State University · Daniel W. Crofts, The College of New Jersey · William W. Freehling, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities · Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia · Sean Nalty, University of Virginia · Mark E. Neely Jr., Pennsylvania State University · Rachel A. Shelden, Georgia College and State University · Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University · J. Mills Thornton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Blurbs:
"Separately and together, these essays make a persuasive argument for a return to traditional political history. Each contributor in the collection draws on the best of the extant literature in his or her field/bailiwick, synthesizes it, and suggests either new avenues for exploration or ways to think about and bring coherence to a field (political history) that has become fragmented if not diffuse. Incredibly well written and accessible," Michael A. Morrison, Purdue University.

"Leading interpreters of America's mid-nineteenth-century political crisis join with several younger historians in this collection of insightful and provocative essays. Introducing new issues and topics as well as reexamining some of the more enduring ones, A Political Nation will be of great interest to all those who, quite understandably, find the Civil War era intriguing," Michael Perman, author of Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South  

The Authors: Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor of Hisgtory at the University of Virginia and most recently the author of The Union War.   Rachel A. Shelden is Assistant Professor of American History at Georgia State College and State University.

 

 

 

New and Noteworthy---Gettysburg's July 1 No Man's Land: The Emanual Harmon Farm On Willoughby's Run

Beyond The Run: The Emanuel Harmon Farm At Gettysburg, Andrew I. Dalton, Ten Roads Publishing, 126 pages, 14 maps, 97 illustrations, 3 appendices, end notes, index, bibliography, $11.95.

The Emanuel Harman Farm property, located on Gettysburg's July 1 battlefield, is now protected as part of Gettysburg National Military Park. The Gettysburg Country Club and Golf Course went bankrupt a few years ago and the Adams County Conservancy purchased it.Situated between the Chambersburg Pike and the Fairfield Road, and bordered on the east by Willoughby's Run, the farm today is bisected by the Old Mill Road. It became the Confederate assault path for the brigades of Archer, Brockenbrough, Pettigrew, Scales, Lane, and Perrin as they engaged Gamble's, Stone's Meredith's and Biddle's brigades.

Andrew I. Dalton in Beyond The Run: The Emanuel Harmon Farm At Gettysburg relies upon the Gettysburg National Military Park's library holdings, in particular the Harman Farm reports of Kathleen G. Harrison, Donald R. Heiges, Jacob M. Sheads and many letter collections.  He has consulted the manuscript collections of the Adams County Historical Society, 16 assorted newspaper archives, and dozens of books and articles. The farm's history is told in well organized segments: the 1790-1863 farm, the July 1863 battle and destruction of the farm, the 1865-1947 Katalysine Springs Bottled Water and Hotel industry, and the 1947-2011 Country Club of which President Eisenhower was a member.

Beyond The Run: The Emanuel Harmon Farm At Gettysburg's strengths include its reliance on Amelia Harman's recollections of watching the battle, being ordered from the house as it burns, and her reliance upon Confederate charity during July 2-4.  Confederate soldier's recollections of their assaults through the farm and across Willoughby's Run are frequently offered. Dalton offers an insightful description of post-battle and post-war Gettysburg whose residents quickly embraced visitors to the historic fields. Overall, Dalton's work is a fine example of local history done well.

Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia: The Jaws of Defeat and Victory

The Battle of Cedar Creek: Victory From The Jaws of Defeat; Jonathan A. Noyalas, History Press, 125 pp., 32 illustrations, 3 maps, bibliographic notes, index, $19.99.

Fought October 19, 1864, Cedar Creek was the culminating battle of Confederate general Early's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. During the summer of 1864, the Army of Northern Virginia was being besieged at Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley had been invaded in May.  Lee sent the army's Second Corps under the command of Jubal Early to force the Federals from the valley and invade Maryland again for the third time.

Early drove the Federals out of the valley and advanced into Maryland during the first days of July.  Grant sent troops to Washington D.C. to turn back the threat and then a month later sent additional troops under the command of Philip Sheridan to again invade the Shenandoah Valley and thoroughly route Confederate forces there. After a defeat at Fisher's Hill during September, Early's army appeared to be routed.

The North Fork of the Shenandoah River, the 2,900 feet peak of Massanutten Mountain and the environs of Strasburg were shields to hide a dawn attack by Early's troops on October 19. During the dawn to noon fighting, seven Union infantry divisions were forced from their camps and retreat several miles.  Numerous prisoners and cannons were captured. The assault began to deteriorate after the capture of the camps and before the assault enter Middletown.

John Noylas' The Battle of Cedar Creek: Victory From The Jaws of Defeat is a fine, though brief, introduction to the battle. Those who are quite familiar with the engagement will note the minimal descriptions of Gordon's night march over the north side of Massanutten Mountain and of the construction of the Federal earthworks. Strengths of the book include the last two chapters. Chapter 5 describes the differences between the actual and culturally enhanced story of Sheridan's Ride. Chapter 6 describes the post-war gatherings on the battlefield of the veterans who had fought there. Two of the three maps are by Blake Magner and are clear and uncluttered. Noteworthy is Noyalas' reliance of soldiers' accounts of the fighting.

New and Noteworthy---A Nation Saved, A Cause Lost At Gettysburg

Confrontation At Gettysburg: A Nation Saved, A Cause Lost, John David Hoptak, History Press, 285 pp., chapter notes, 80 illustrations, 17 maps, order of battle, selected bibliography, index, $16.99.

Written for a broad market of those with American Civil War interests, Confrontation At Gettysburg: A Nation Saved, A Cause Lost is a clear and concise telling of the campaign and battle. It does not offer just July 1, 2,3 but the entire campaign from mid-May to mid-July. One of the strengths of Confrontation At Gettysburg: A Nation Saved, A Cause Lost is that it is thorough within its page limit. Recently, Allen Guelzo covered the campaign in 800 pages. Hoptak has written a well paced and colorful account that provides the essential facts and the compelling details of the campaign.

The illustrations include photographic portraits, pen and ink sketches, black and white newspaper illustrations and renditions of paintings,. Maps by Hal Jespersen and Mannie Gentile are distinguished by precision and clarity. Hoptak moves the story forward with both familiar and unique quotations by the participants. He has crafted a narrative that is similar to a well led tour of the battlefield. Confrontation At Gettysburg: A Nation Saved, A Cause Lost will likely stand the test of time and be in print for years after the sesquicentennial.

Off Topic Fiction---Rogue Island, Rhode Island and Relationships Between Lawyers and News Writers

Rouge Island: A Novel, Bruce DeSilva, Forge/Tom Doherty Associates Publishing, 2010,  302 pp., $24.99 hardcover, $14.99 trade paper cover.

 

From The Publisher: Liam Mulligan is as old school as a newspaper man gets. His beat is Providence, Rhode Island, and he knows every street and alley. He knows the priests and prostitutes, the cops and street thugs. He knows the mobsters and politicians--who are pretty much one and the same. Someone is systematically burning down the neighborhood Mulligan grew up in, people he knows and loves are perishing in the flames, and the public is on the verge of panic. With the police looking for answers in all the wrong places, and with the whole city of Providence on his back, Mulligan must find the hand that strikes the match.

From Publisher's Weekly:  DeSilva's lengthy career as a reporter for the Providence (R.I.) Journal has provided him with the writing skill and the in-depth knowledge of city room and cityscape so well displayed in this strong debut crime novel. It's also allowed him to create a totally believable protagonist in Liam Mulligan, a beleaguered journalist seeing his old neighborhood being destroyed by arson and his newspaper by reader disaffection. Mulligan's first-person narration is filled with emotion, not the least of which is his love-hate relationship with his city and state. And there are suspenseful moments of high tension.

From Book List: *Starred Review* Born and raised in the Mount Hope section of Providence, Rhode Island, journalist Liam Mulligan won’t simply report on the rash of arsons killing lifelong friends and loved ones in his old neighborhood. He wants to know more and launches an investigation, discovering a heavy-handed plot to own Mount Hope in order to redevelop it. Along the way, he’s threatened, beaten, arrested on suspicion of arson and murder, suspended from his newspaper, and targeted with a Mob contract on his life. Mulligan must turn to some unlikely allies to save his tired old neighborhood and secure justice. Rogue Island has everything a crime fan could want: a stubborn, street-smart hero with a snarky sense of humor; more than a baker’s dozen of engaging characters; a fast-paced plot; a noirish style; a realistic postmillennium newspaper setting; mean, pot-holed streets; and, best of all, a knowing portrait of a small city and a tiny state famous for inept government, jiggery-pokery, and corruption. Debut novelist DeSilva began a four-decade career in journalism as a reporter for the Providence Journal, and his take on the city and state is harsh but also affectionate, as when he describes graft as Rhode Island’s “leading service industry,” noting that “it comes in two varieties, good and bad, just like cholesterol.” This tremendously entertaining crime novel is definitely one of the best of the year. --Thomas Gaughan 
 

CWL:  DeSilva's writing style is short, quick and to the point, with lots of dialog and very few descriptive paragraphs.  The author develops characters in their conversations. The settings are a newspaper's offices, bars, grocery stores, fire engine houses, cars, police interrogation rooms and bedrooms.  Rogue Island accurately describes the slow demise of a metropolitan newspaper and a mill town. The main characters are interesting and somewhat unique.  Rogue Island is detective fiction in which the detection is performed by a print news writer.  Overall, a second novel with the same characters would be welcomed.

Off Topic ---Company D, 2nd Ranger Battalion In Its Own Words, In Europe, In WW2

Dog Company: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, The Rangers Who Accomplished D-Day's toughest Mission and Led The Way Across Europe, Patrick K. O'Donnell, DaCapo Press, 320 pp., 2012, $26.99.

Patrick O'Donnell's Dog Company: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, The Rangers Who Accomplished D-Day's toughest Mission and Led The Way Across Europe is a very dramatic account of the U.S. Army Rangers 1944 to 1945 combat history.  He has collected the Ranger's oral accounts of Pointe du Hoc, the Normandy breakout, and Hill 400 in Hurtgen Forest and has woven them into a vivid, well paced, suspenseful work of history.  Bravery nearly beyond belief and courage that nearly beyond endurance is a constant in these episodes.

The words of the soldiers of Company D, Second Ranger Battalion were transcribed by O'Donnell, himself a combat veteran.  He understands combat from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. Creeping artillery barrages, death by friendly fire, and deaths from sharpshooters are not unique single occurrences but regularly occur throughout the book. O'Donnell is also a masterful interviewer who is able to elicit candid remarks from the veterans. There are frank recollections of the insubordination of enlisted men toward commissioned offices; the one and two syllable responses of enlisted men to officers is not rare.

O'Donnell sets the strategic and tactical information forth in a concise manner.  The veterans voices are heard more often than the authors.  There is an occasion when O'Donnell enters the story. The ferocity of the combat in the Hertgen Forrest during late November and early December should have warned the generals that the U.S. Army had advanced into a situation that was indicative of something larger to come. O'Donnell is clear in his own interpretation that the  Hertgen Forest was a trip wire for the Ardennes Forrest, which was to explode the last weeks of December.

Patrick K. O'Donnell is a military historian and the award-winning author of seven books, including the bestselling  Beyond Valor, Give Me Tomorrow, and We Were One, the remarkable and highly acclaimed account of the Battle of Fallujah. He was an historical consulting for DreamWorks'  the miniseries Band of Brothers and for documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Fox News.

Off Topic----Walker Percy, Classic American and Southern Literary Voice For the Modern and Post-Modern Age

Walker Percy [1916-1990], is recognized as a unique American literary voice from Louisiana.  Writing from a a sensibility he shared with Flannery O'Connor, Shelby Foote and Truman Capote. Deeply Roman Catholic and deeply questioning, Percy's life dramatically unfolded throughout the 20th century.  He was 13 when his father committed suicide; his mother died in a one car accident two years later, an event that Percy viewed as a suicide. Walker and his two younger brothers, Roy and Phin, moved to Mississippi where their cousin, a bachelor lawyer and poet, became their guardian.  Percy's parents had raised him to be an agnostic; William, his guardian,
 was  a member of a liberal Protestant church. William Percy introduced Walker and his brothers to the regional writers and poets his own age. Shelby Foote became a lasting friend. Later, Walker  and his wife would both join the Roman Catholic Church and they were confirmed with their children.

Many years of writing and rewriting,in 1961 Percy published The Moviegoer, his first novel; it won the National Book Award of that year. He described it as a story of "a young man who had all the advantages of a cultivated old-line southern family including an appreciation the arts and sciences but feels himself quite alienated from both worlds, the old South and the post World War Two America.
Time magazine included it among the best English language written between 1923 to 2005".  Other list compilers agreed. The Moviegoer contains elements of both existentialism and poetry.

In The Moviegoer  Binx Bolling, a young stock-broker in post- Korean War  lives in New Orleans and vaguely understands that the traditions of the Old South are in decline. Included in these traditions are established families and social relationships. Bolling continually day dreams, has troubling establishing deep friendships and is quite content to view life and relationships explained through film.  Spiritually he is depressed and unengaged.  During Mardi Gras begins a journey to find for himself something other than big screen stories. Bolling wanders through parades, the French Quarter and then travels to Chicago and back to the Gulf Coast. Family members and occasionally friends superficially intrude into his thoughts and observations. In several ways, he travels the same philosophic and religious path that Jack Kerouac treads in On The Road.  Percy's The Moviegoer is more sedate, less adventurous than Kerouac's On The Road. Percy's The Moviegoer shares with Kerouac's On The Road a narrative in which the main character is much more compelling than the country through they pass and the journey which they take.

At it's core, The Moviegoer presents an individual numb from war, allowing Hollywood movies explain life, roles and relationships to him. He is satisfied with that explanation bcause it protects him from disappoints and risks in relationships and his own self-awareness.

Percy's works include The Last Gentleman [1966], Love In The Ruins [1971], The Second Coming [1980] and The Thanatos Syndrome [1987]. He also published non-fiction works on the philosophy of existentialism, symbolism and communication theory. He taught at Loyola University in New Orleans, helped found the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and received the University of Notre Dames' Laetare Medal in recognition for his contribution to the arts and science, the ideals of the Catholic Church and humanity. The National Endowment for the Humanities chose him as the Thomas Jefferson lecturer of 1989; his lecture was entitled 'The Fateful Rift: The San Andreas Fault in the Modern Mind."

New and Noteworthy---Yankee News Writers Amazing Escape From The Confederacy

Junius and Albert's Adventures in The Confederacy: A Civil War Odyssey, Peter Carlson, Public Affairs Publishing, 288 pp., one map, $26.99.

From the Publisher: The thrilling true story of a pair of reporters swept up in the Civil War, captured, and thrown into jail, and their attempt to escape and return home to file their own extraordinary story.  Albert Richardson and Junius Browne, two correspondents for the New York Tribune, were captured at the Battle of Vicksburg and spent twenty months in horrific prisons before escaping and making their way to Union territory.
 
Their amazing, long-forgotten odyssey is one of the great escape stories in American history, packed with drama, courage, horrors and heroics, plus many moments of antic comedy. They must endure the Confederacy's most notorious prison; rely on forged passes and the secret signals of a covert pro-Union organization in North Carolina; trust a legendary guerilla leader; and ultimately depend on a mysterious, anonymous woman on a white horse to guide them to safety. They traveled for 340 miles, most of it on foot, much of it through snow, in twenty-six days. This is a marvelous, surreal voyage through the cold mountains, dark prisons, and mysterious bands of misfits living in the shadows of the Civil War.

Peter Carlson is the author of K Blows Top, which has been optioned into a feature film. For many years, he was a reporter and columnist for the Washington Post. He has also written for Smithsonian magazine, American History magazine, and the Huffington Post. He lives in Rockville, MD.

Blurbs: “This absorbing story of two Northern war reporters who were captured by the Confederates at Vicksburg, imprisoned for nineteen months, and escaped two hundred miles to Union lines demonstrates that for the Civil War, truth is indeed more thrilling than fiction. The accounts of the essential help the escapees received from slaves and Southern white Unionists provides key insights on Southern society.” James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom
 

“Unspools like a buddy flick…Carlson’s story has so many twists, right up to the last page….But the exquisite plot is only one of the joys of reading this book….If there’s a flaw in this fine book, it’s that Carlson tells his story almost too well….[This is] a rollicking read.” Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising, and Confederates In The Attic.

 

CWL first read the story of Richardson's and Brown's news reporting trek, capture and escape odyssey in George Cooper's 1994 Lost Love: A True Story of Passion, Murder, And Justice In Old New York.  It is truely an amazing story in the same vein as the escape saga of several of the Andrews Raiders after their capture during the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862. Richardson continued career in journalism and subsequent murder is describe in Cooper's compellingly written true crime story.

New and Noteworthy: The Hidden History of Civil War Tennessee

Hidden History of Civil War Tennessee, James B. Jones, History Press, paperback, 128 pages • $19.99, publication date, July 18, 2013.

From the Publisher: Tennessee’s Civil War history is an oft-told narrative of famous battles, cunning campaigns and renowned figures. Beneath this well-documented history lie countless stories that have been forgotten and displaced over time. Discover how Vigilance Committees sought to govern cities such as Memphis, where law was believed to be dead. See how Nashville and Memphis became important medical centers, addressing the rapid spread of “private diseases” among soldiers, and marvel at Colonel John M. Hughes, whose men engaged in guerrilla warfare throughout the state. Join author James B. Jones Jr. on an exciting journey through the unknown and hidden history of Civil War Tennessee.

James B. Jones Jr. is a public historian on the staff of the Tennessee Historical Commission/State Historic Preservation Office in Nashville. He has published many books and articles on many topics about Tennessee history, including but not limited to the Civil War. He serves also as the editor of the THC newsletter, the Courier. He earned a doctor of arts degree in history and historic preservation from Middle Tennessee State University in 1983. He resides with his spouse in Murfreesboro.

CWL: The Civil War's sesquicentennial has been well served by History Press, based in Charleston, South Carolina.  One of its several areas of focus is state and regional histories.  History Press' offerings are well illustrated with period photographs and have narrative text and captions that is clear and concise. Fine examples of recent  History Press' work include Civil War Pittsburgh: Forge of the Union, The Battle of Antietam, Civil War Winchester, Virginia and Civil War Frederick, Maryland. History Press' reliance upon local talent is exemplary. James B. Jones Jr. is a fine example of History Press locating the right author for the right topic; the publisher does not contract out ideas for books to non-specialist freelance writers who find most of their sources in encyclopedias and on the Internet.