Emerging Civil War

Emerging Civil War — October 2018

Originally published October 2018 · pp. 32–33

As I-26 rolled south from Johnson City through the eastern mountains of Tennessee, I marveled at the green expanses unfolding around me. My last trip along this stretch fell during December, and while I avoided any snow or ice, autumn had stripped the trees of foliage. Even then, the drive had been beautiful if a little bleak. But now, in mid-August, with the trees flush with leaves, the drive promised to be stunning—and sure enough, nature did not disappoint. I spend a lot of time on the road, traveling to roundtables and attending conferences. I get to see a lot of cool things, visit a lot of interesting places, and meet a lot of neat people. It’s one of the best parts of the gig. I always prefer to drive so I can “control my own destiny,” so to speak, and enjoy trips at my own pace. I planned this particular trip specifically so I could enjoy these mountains. Each bend in the road, each rise I crested, revealed a stunning new panorama. Then I would wind down into the next valley, the green closing in on all sides again, only to give way as I crested the next rise and— boom!—the vista would explode open again in breathtaking fashion. At the Tennessee/North Carolina border, I stopped at a Tennessee Welcome Center. A Civil War Trails sign called attention to ”more than 250 Civil War sites throughout Tennessee,” highlighting ones in the immediate region. The Trails system has proven to be a wonderful way for me to round out my Civil War knowledge by pointing me in the direction of some lesser-known but fascinating stories (as well as good food and drink!). These are exactly the sorts of things that help make my drives more enjoyable. Although the summer Civil War season is nearly over, fall offers wonders of its own for Civil War travelers. I hope you take the time to explore off the beaten path and, even more importantly, allow yourself to be moved by the wonder the world offers. Chris Mackowski Editor-in-Chief, ECW

Symposium Success

Stephen Davis

Our August Symposium was rousing success! Keynote speaker Scott Hartwig led a fantastic line-up of speakers who all riffed on topics related to our book Turning Points of the American Civil War, part of our “Engaging the Civil War” series with Southern Illinois University Press. Thanks to everyone who attended, and thanks to coorganizers Rob Orrison and Dan Welch for their efforts in putting the event together. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the accompanying Facebook LIVE segments we did, you can catch them here: https://emergingcivilwar. com/2018/08/09/a-recap-of-ourfacebook-live-interviews-fromthe-2018-symposium. Thanks to Paige Gibbons-Backus for helping us pull those together. C-SPAN attended Friday evening and Saturday afternoon to tape segments. Those will begin airing this fall. Watch the blog for details. If you’re feeling like you missed out on this year’s fun, tickets are already available for the Sixth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. The event will be held Aug. 2-4, 2019, and the topic will be “Forgotten Battles of the Civil War.” Our keynote speaker will be A. Wilson Greene. Early-bird registration, now through December 31, is only $135. Order here: https://www. paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=464141946U058804U&useraction=commit&rm=1&mfid =1534862806045_2be9a6ac69b 4f#/checkout/guest.

10 Questions with ECW’s Steve Davis

Steve Davis is ECW’s resident Southern Gentleman. Author of two ECW books on the Atlanta Campaign, he’s also book review editor for Civil War News. You can read his full bio here: https://emergingcivilwar.com/ author-biographies/authors/ steve-davis.

What is your Civil War origin? How did you get interested in the war? I laid out my recollections in the Foreword of meum opus pingue (“my fat work”), What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta. Sometime around 1957, when I was in the fourth grade, I got the bug. Maybe my parents took me to the Cyclorama (then at L.P. Gant park). Maybe to Kennesaw Mountain battlefield? Or was it another showing of Gone With the Wind at Loews Grand Theatre downtown? I’ve come to conclude, though, that what turned me into a lifelong Civil Warrior was the thirty-minute TV show aired by CBS during 1957-58: The Grey Ghost—with Tod Andrews as Major Mosby! You’ve had the opportunity in your day to work with and befriend some of the great historians of the Western Theater (ie, Bell Wiley, Wiley Sword, etc.). Do you feel like you’re carrying on a kind of tradition? “Carrying on a kind of tradition”? Hmmmmm…not deliberately. But with my monthly “Critic’s Corner” column for Jack Melton’s Civil War News, I do happen to feel that when I write about old classics of Civil War literature, I’m reminding today’s young generation of readers that some really great books were published way back when. For instance, my very first “Critic’s” article (CWN, April 2016) featured John Esten Cooke’s The Wearing of the Gray (1867). But you’re right: my association with the great Bell Wiley provided me with some of the finest memories I have as a student of the war. For example, I still remember, in his Civil War lecture class I took in 1968, that he informed us that Cooke’s middle name was pronounced EE-stin. His source was the great Richard Barksdale Harwell, who learned it from Cooke’s descendants. It’s funny what sticks with you after all those years. You wear a bow tie and write with a fountain pen. That is pretty classic and classy! Is that part of an old-school “Southern sensibility”? Late in life—I turn seventy this fall—I’ve become very comfortable in the lifestyle I’ve not so much chosen as settled into. You’re right, though; I’m very mindful of the proper manners to be displayed by a Southern gentleman. In this, of course, my role model is General Lee. One of my favorite stories comes from J. William Jones’ Personal Reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee (1874), during Lee’s years as president of Washington College. To the father of a misbehaving student Lee once wrote a letter of reprimand. It was couched in language so polite, however, that a professor reading it suggested that the lad’s father would completely miss the point of the letter. “The old hero looked very perplexed,” Jones explains, “but presently replied, ‘Well, sir, I cannot help it; if a gentleman can’t understand the language of a gentleman, he must remain in ignorance, for a gentleman cannot write in any other way.’” How did you fall in with the “emerging” voices at ECW? Ted Savas and I have been friends for decades. He and David Woodbury printed my article on Hood’s Atlanta battles in their Campaign for Atlanta essay series back in 1998. Since then, I’ve watched his work (the Augusta Powder Works, Brady’s Civil War Journal), just as I suspect he’s watched mine. So when the ECW Series began looking for writers who could handle the Western Theater, I guess my name came up. I’m really glad it did. Some of your friends call you “Dr. Edge.” Where does that moniker come from? A couple of decades ago a friend of mine started calling me “Dr. Edge” for my, well, edgy conversation. In this I take my cue from another idol of mine, Bob Dylan. I remember from D.A. Pennebaker’s great film, Don’t Look Back, about Bob’s British tour of 1965, how a reporter asked him, as a hero for the young generation, what words of advice he’d offer. Bob answered, “Keep a cool head and carry a light bulb.” Lightning-Round (short answers): Most overrated person of the Civil War? Sherman. Favorite Trans-Mississippi site? (Well, almost TransMississippi) New Orleans’ Metairie Cemetery (Beauregard! Hood! Sidney Johnston’s statue!) Favorite Regiment? Fifth Texas Infantry What one Civil War book do you consider to be essential? Frank Vandiver’s Their Tattered Flags (1970) What’s one question no one has ever asked you that you wish they would? (Actually, Vaughn Kilpatrick asked me this in 1982:) “Why don’t you use contractions?”

ECW News & Notes Chris Kolakowski will be speaking on “The Two Georges” in October. An interesting study of both Patton and Marshall, you can find out more here: h t t p s : / / w w w. m a r s h a l l f o u n dation.org/newsroom/events/ marshall-and-patton. Chris Mackowski provided the keynote address for the second annual Congress of Civil War Roundtables, held August 17-18 at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Penn. During the rest of the conference, he blogged about a number of the sessions, sharing some takeaways presented in the workshops: https://emergingcivilwar.com/ tag/civil-war-roundtable-congress. The Congress is looking for more roundtables to get involved, so keep an eye out at ECW for details. Julie Mujic is starting a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Denison University this month in their Global Commerce department. She is also serving as Program Director for a WWI program for the Columbus Historical Society this fall. It is called “We Shall Remember Them: How Columbus Remembered The Great War.” Four exhibits opened on August 30, and there will be four events open to the public. The program’s focus is construction of memory related to WWI in Columbus, Ohio, and considers the 100 years since the armistice. Details can be found at www.columbushistory.org/wwi. Finally, Julie visited The Hermitage in Nashville for the first time in late July. They included information about how the Civil War affected the homestead in their exhibit and tour. “Definitely a worthwhile stop for insightful background on the era prior to the war,” she said, “and also in thinking about the evolution of a museum of that kind in the postwar era.” Kevin Pawlak and Dan Welch are both working for Essential Civil War Curriculum. Kevin has just signed on to publish an article on George McClellan and Dan’s article on the battle of Cedar Mountain has been completed and will be released in the coming weeks. A number of ECW historians have contributed to the Essential Civil War Curriculum, a project sponsored by Virginia Tech University. You can read more about it at https://emergingcivilwar.com/2016/10/12/essentialreading-for-civil-war-buffs.

2018-2019 Speaker Bureau Now Available If you’re looking for speakers to come to your roundtable, historical society, library, or other event, look no further than the Emerging Civil War Speakers Bureau. The Speakers Bureau offers twenty-two ECW historians available for programs: The brochure lists the talks each historian has available, along with a short description of each talk. The brochure also offers biographical information on each speaker. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Edward Alexander Todd Arrington Sarah Kay Bierle Daniel T. Davis Stephen Davis Robert “Bert” Dunkerly Phillip Greenwalt Meg Groeling Steward Henderson Dwight Hughes Christopher L. Kolakowski Chris Mackowski Derek Maxfield Julie Mujic Rob Orrison Kevin Pawlak Dave Powell Ryan Quint Dan Welch Kristopher D. White William Lee White Eric Wittenberg

To request a speaker, simply go to the ECW website under “Speakers” and “Request a Speaker”: https:// e m e rg i n g c i v i l w a r. c o m / upcoming-presentations/ speakers-bureau. D.P. Newton Honored With Emerging Civil War’s Award For Service In Civil War Public History Emerging Civil War (ECW) has chosen D.P. Newton of the White Oak Civil War Museum in Stafford County, Va., as recipient of its 2018 Award for Service in Civil War Public History. Emerging Civil War’s Award for Service in Civil War Public History recognizes the work of an individual or organization that has made a significant impact on the field of public history in a way that better helps the general public connect with America’s defining event. “We have a strong public history mission at ECW, and we want to recognize—and offer our gratitude to—the work of others who share that same mission,” explained ECW Editorin-Chief Chris Mackowski. Newton is the owner and operator of the White Oak Civil War Museum. “DP Newton is not a name that is very well known beyond central Virginia,” said ECW Chief Historian Chris Kolakowski. “Yet through his decades of tireless research and field work on Army of the Potomac’s campsites in Stafford County, we have an incredibly detailed understanding of that army and its Valley Forge winter of 1862–63.” That winter, said the late historian Al Conner, was the war’s single most important non-combat military turning point. Conner laid out his argument in Seizing Destiny: The Army of the Potomac’s Valley Forge and the Winter that Saved the Union, co-written with Mackowski. “Much of our modern understanding of that winter can be traced back to D.P.’s work,” Mackowski said. Newton established the museum in 1998 in a former schoolhouse that both he and his mother attended. Six rooms feature tens of thousands of artifacts on display. Outside, a reconstructed set of winter huts offer visitors a glimpse of camp life. Kolakowski pointed out that the White Oak Museum is one of the only places one can study Civil War winter quarters. “Soldiers spent the majority of their time in quarters, punctuated by a few brief but intense episodes of battle,” Kolakowski explained. “As a result, the key to understanding life in the army is to understanding life in the camps.” According to Kolakowski, Newton devoted his life to studying the camp sites and founded the museum to share his findings and knowledge. “D.P. has been selfless in sharing his knowledge,” he said, adding that the museum’s collection is “priceless.” Newton’s wife, Bonny, said the value of the collection isn’t monetary. “The value is that D.P. was the first person to touch items that some 16 or 20-year-old Yankee soldier last touched,” she added. “He knows many of those soldiers were far away from home and some took their last breath in Stafford, Spotsylvania or Fredericksburg. He treasures every bullet or button those soldiers carried on their person. He believes he’s simply the caretaker of those boys’ relics they left behind.” Bonny called her husband an “unassuming country fellow” with “a gift for organizing and building the right case for the set of objects it contains, all of which tells a piece of a very important story in our country’s history.” Newton was also instrumental in the establishment of the Stafford Civil War Park, which preserves part of the 1862–63

winter encampment site of the Union Eleventh Corps. “When we received Cockpit Point from a developer to be preserved as a historic park, we began to research the Potomac Blockade,” said Rob Orrison, historic sites supervisor for Prince William County, Va. “The first place we went and the first person we contacted was D.P. Newton. D.P. knew the 1861–62 places and stories along the Potomac River. His knowledge and vast collection of items related to the blockade were a window into the past that gave us a great starting point in exploring this much-overlooked part of history.” In 2017, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust honored Newton with its Dr. Mike Stevens Preservation Award. Newton’s museum has also been featured in The New York Times. The White Oak Civil War Museum is located at 985 White Oak Road, Falmouth, Virginia. Gordon Rhea’s On To Petersburg Honored With Emerging Civil War’s Book Award Emerging Civil War (ECW) has selected On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864 (LSU Press, 2017) by Gordon Rhea as the recipient of its book award for this year. “On to Petersburg represents the worthy culmination of twenty years of outstandingly thorough research by the expert on the 1864 Overland Campaign,” said ECW Editor in Chief Chris Mackowski. The Emerging Civil War Book Award recognizes a work of Civil War history with a public history focus. Recipients are chosen by ECW’sf published authors, making the award the only peerto-peer award given by Civil War writers. This year’s award was given to a book published in 2017. Along with the winning selection, ECW also announced two finalists: Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths in the Civil War by Brian Steel Wills, published by the University Press of Kansas, and The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition, edited by John F. Marszalek, published by Harvard University Press. According to the publisher, Louisiana State University Press, “On to Petersburg follows the Union Army’s movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign.” Edward Alexander, an ECW historian who has worked at both Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg and Richmond National Battlefield, said Gordon Rhea’s On To Petersburg sheds light on an entirely overlooked phase of Ulysses S. Grant’s operations in 1864. “The Cold Harbor period from June 4-12 was basically untouched by modern historians,” Alexander explained. “Gordon connects that new story with the Union army’s movement to Petersburg, which marked the turning point of Union strategy in Virginia and the Civil War at large. His writing meshes big-picture strategy with detailed troop movements while fleshing out the common soldier’s experience. ” Bert Dunkerly, an ECW historian who works in Richmond, said Rhea’s analysis of officers on both sides is of particular importance. “Rather than simply judge the decisions of commanders, Rhea conveys the great challenges faced by Lee and Grant as the campaign unfolded. This analysis of decision making reveals the level of uncertainty that accompanies these crucial decisions. Such analysis gives us insights into the capabilities and limitations of these armies, as well as a level of sympathy for those who commanded them.” Greg Mertz Honored With Emerging Civil War’s Stevenson Award Emerging Civil War (ECW) has chosen historian Gregory A. Mertz as the recipient of this year’s Thomas Greeley Stevenson Award. ECW presents the Thomas Greeley Stevenson Award to a person or organization that has made a significant contribution to Emerging Civil War’s success. Mertz has worked for the National Park Service for more than 37 years, holding positions at Gettysburg National Military Park, Eisenhower National Historic Site, and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. As the supervisory historian for more than two decades at Fredericksburg, he trained hundreds of seasonal employees, interns, and volunteers in informal interpretation and conducting interpretive programs. “Of those of us who originally founded Emerging Civil War, Greg profoundly impacted and shaped nearly all of us,” said ECW Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski, himself a beneficiary of Mertz’s training. “The hundreds of historians he has trained have, in turn, influenced millions of battlefield visitors. In that way, he has had a monumental impact on the Civil War community and most people don’t even realize it.” ECW historian Edward Alexander, who went on to work at Pamplin Historical Park and Richmond National Battlefield, said, “Mertz has made the single largest impact on the organization of anyone outside ECW. I learned more about historical interpretation from Greg’s intensive training program than I did in four years of college and eight years of experience afterward.” Mertz is a native of what is now Wildwood, Mo. He is an Eagle Scout who belonged to Boy Scout Troop 782, which visited Shiloh National Military Park to hike and camp each spring. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Park Administration and from Shippensburg University with a master’s degree in Public Administration. Mertz was the charter president of the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table and was vice president of the Brandy Station Foundation preservation group. He has written four feature articles for Blue and Gray Magazine on the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. During the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, he gave anniversary tours at numerous eastern theater battlefields. “Greg Mertz,” said ECW’s Chief Historian, Christopher Kolakowski, “is an outstanding interpreter of the American Civil War.” Emerging Civil War’s Thomas Greeley Stevenson Award is named after Brig. Gen. Thomas Greeley Stevenson, a Union IX Corps division commander killed at Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864. ECW holds its annual Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. Emerging Civil War is the collaborative effort of more than two-dozen historians committed to sharing the story of the Civil War. Founded in 2011 by Kris White and Chris Mackowski, ECW features public and academic historians of diverse backgrounds and interests, while also providing a platform for emerging voices in the field. Initiatives include the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series of books published by Savas Beatie, LLC; the “Engaging the Civil War” Series published by Southern Illinois University Press; an annual symposium; a speakers bureau; and a daily blog: www.emergingcivilwar.com.