Emerging Civil War

Emerging Civil War — December 2020

Originally published December 2020 · pp. 38–39

From the Editor “No period of American history makes greater demands on the historian than that of the Civil War,” historian C. Vann Woodward wrote in his introduction to James McPherson’s The Battle Cry of Freedom. I recently came across Woodward’s quote while looking at McPherson’s 2000 Jefferson lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities, a lecture worth reading, here, if you haven’t already: https://www.neh.gov/ about/awards/jefferson-lecture/ james-mcpherson-biography. As I often do with quotes I find interesting, I posted Woodward’s comment as my Facebook status. As if in agreement with Woodward’s sentiment, one friend quoted Tony Horwitz quoting Gertrude Stein: “There never will be anything more interesting in America than that Civil War, never.”

Gertrude Stein’s famous quote about the Civil War remains true: the war remains a constant, and complicated, source of fascination. Library of Congress.

“As a writer on Reconstruction, Woodward must have known that was not entirely true,” replied one friend, himself a writer on Reconstruction. I wondered if perhaps Woodward thought it was true even when compared against the complexities of Reconstruction. Another friend said future historians will point to 2020 as the period that made great demands on historians. The Age of COVID, a contentious presidential race, social justice protests and civil unrest, cataclysmic wildfires, all in a post-truth context, will certainly challenge any historians who try to sift through events. We’re all students of the Civil War, and so we understand its multi-faceted complexities, even if many of us focus on, say, just the military aspects or just a single battle (Gettysburg fans, I’m looking at you!). So, knowing how steeped we are, I ask: Do you agree with Woodward? If not, what period do you think would qualify as the period of American history that places the greatest demands on historians? —Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief

ECW News & Notes The annual book issue of Civil War News (November 2020) featured the top-ten lists of more than thirty historians who discussed their favorite books. Among those who included their lists were ECW’s Sarah Kay Bierle, Meg Groeling, Chris Kolakowski, and Chris Mackowski. Sarah Kay Bierle wrote a piece for the November 2020 Civil War News about Pelham’s Corner and Latimer’s Knoll, two “Artillery Positions to Visit, Stories to Tell” on the Fredericksburg battlefield. Zack Fry, a member of ECW’s “Engaging the Civil War” editorial board, received a positive review in the October 2020 issue of Civil War Times for his recent book A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac. The book, said reviewer Rick Beard, “is a welcome reminder that Union victory during the Civil War was won on more than one battlefield.” The November 2020 issue of Civil War News also reviewed the book. “Zachery Fry is to be commended for this thoughtful and deeply researched book,” wrote reviewer Paul Taylor. H.R. Gordon’s interview with Tony Horwitz, which appeared in Entertaining History: The Civil War in Literature, Film, and Song, has been excerpted for the current issue of America’s Civil War magazine. Gordon and Horwitz talk about the legacy of Confederates in the Attic. The magazine also includes a brief introduction by the book’s editor, Chris Mackowski. Meanwhile, Entertaining History received a great review in the October 2020 issue of Civil War Times. Reviewer Ethan Rafuse lauded “the many positive aspects of this study, which offers plenty to not just inform, but also entertain, its readers.” WWI historian and author Mitchell Yockelson is working with Meg Groeling on the final edit of Meg’s Elmer Ellsworth bio, First Fallen. “He reminded me that Hemingway said there were no great writers, only great re-writers,” she says, “so onward we go!” Meg is also getting ready to begin a regular series at ECW, “Your Weekly Walt Whitman.” Why? “We all need a little Walt Whitman in our lives, especially during the time of Covid-19,” Meg explains. In the November 2020 issue of Civil War News, Meg reviewed Stephen Ash’s Rebel Richmond: Life and Death in the Confederate Capital. Finally, Meg concludes, “The wildfires in California are almost out, so all’s quiet along the Pacific Ocean tonight.” Chris Kolakowski spoke on October 15 as part of the Battle of the Bulge Association’s Virtual Conference. You can see that talk here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7691151. He also spoke on October 16 at the Pritzker Library in Chicago on “Nations and Empires in the Balance: WWII in Southeast Asia.” You can see that talk on the library’s FB page: https://www.facebook. com/PritzkerMilitaryLibrary/videos/346836559756631/?epa=SEARCH_BOX). Derek Maxfield’s book Hellmira: The Union’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp – Elmira, NY, part of the Emerging Civil War Series, received a positive review in the Fall 2020 Journal of America’s Military Past. “The book’s only shortcoming is its inexplicable lack of an index,” said reviewer Steven C. Haack, who was apparently unaware that no ECWS books have indexes. Gather American Eatery in Lewiston, N.Y., hosted Derek on Oct. 13 for a book talk and signing for Hellmira. “Guests also enjoyed great bourbon from Rabbit Hole Distilling during a special tasting event,” Derek adds.

10 Questions … with David T. Dixon David T. Dixon is one of Emerging Civil War’s newest members. His new book is Radical Warrior: August Willich’s Journey from German Revolutionary to Union General. He is also the author of The Lost Gettysburg Address. You can read his full ECW bio here: https://emergingcivilwar.com/ author-biographies/authors/ david-t-dixon. You have an interest in what you call B-list history. What attracts you to those Civil War figures? Unfortunately, “great white man military history” still dominates the field of Civil War biography. Leaders like Grant, Lee, Sherman, and other top tier figures are important, but so much emphasis on them distorts our view of the Civil War as an event that subsumed every aspect of American society for four years. Second and third tier characters, including free blacks, enslaved people, women, children, state politicians, businesspeople, and so many other groups lived and endured this terrible event in ways that we need to understand and appreciate. You spend a lot of time with a person when you write a biography about him or her. What’s that like? Well, it is like having a third person in your marriage, spicy and disruptive at the same time. Successful biographers, like stage actors, know how to immerse themselves in a character, trying to think as they thought, while regularly pulling off the costume to examine their subject from a detached point-ofview. Combining intimacy and distance is very challenging, so it helps to have colleagues and readers who are involved in the process along the way to help rein you in if you begin to lose objectivity. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. That is as true in marriage as it is in biography with some important caveats. You must never fall in love with your subject and, unlike a marriage; you should always be forthright and vocal about your subject’s faults and idiosyncrasies. I’ve been married for 36 years and only doing biography for a fraction of that time, but I try to keep our dead houseguests confined to my office as much as possible. Of all the people you could have chosen for your latest book, why Willich? I picked Willich for two reasons. First, he meets my criteria of a second-tier character who lacks a book length biography, but has a dramatic life story and a compelling connection to important people and events. Second, the man himself sacrificed so much to advance what he called “a solution to the social question.” He renounced his noble status, alienated himself from his family, abandoned a 17-year military officer career, and was exiled from his homeland for his efforts to advance the global causes of human rights and democratic government. His consistency and his dedication were remarkable. With the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address coming up, tell us a little bit about your previous book, which ties into that. I was very fortunate to stumble upon Charles Anderson, the man who gave the third address on what is now known as Dedication Day on Nov. 19, 1863. The speech manuscript was never published and only recently discovered at a ranch in Wyoming. A newsy article morphed into a full-length biography when I investigated Anderson’s unusually dramatic and eventful life. How did an 1861 Texas slave owner end up following Lincoln in 1863 and become governor of Ohio in 1865? It is a crazy but true story that really opened a lot of doors for me into the tight-knit Civil War community of scholars and enthusiasts. Who needs a biography that hasn’t had one yet or had one recently (or had a good one)? Why? An obvious candidate is Charles Anderson’s brother Robert, who surrendered Fort Sumter in 1861. He is a fascinating figure and his Mexican War service is much overlooked. David Silkenat is considering that project as we speak, he tells me.

Lightning Round (short answers with a one-sentence explanation) Favorite primary source? Records of the Southern Claims Commission: one of the few places you can find intimate, first hand testimony from thousands of Unionists, women, and blacks on the Confederate home front. Favorite Civil War-related monument? It is iconoclasm and sacrilege, I know, but I have never liked battlefield monuments as I think they detract from the experience of envisioning the battlefield as it was during the war. I prefer unobtrusive educational signage. Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era? I’m going to go with Civil War nurse Mary “Mother” Bickerdyke in particular and women in the field and on the home front in general. The role of women in supporting combat soldiers has been underappreciated throughout world history. What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited? I have not yet been to the Clara Barton National Historic Site, so I am anxious to visit that museum. Favorite ECWS book that’s not one of your own? I really enjoyed Meg Groeling’s The Aftermath of Battle. I would love to see more books in the ECW series that focus on aspects of the Civil War other than battles.

Living historian David T. Wright portrays “Wild Bill” Hickok on the cover of the newest Engaging the Civil War Series release. Chris Mackowski.

ECW Bookshelf The latest book in our Engaging the Civil War Series is now out: Imagining Wild Bill: James Butler Hickok in War, Media, and Memory by Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill, published by Southern Illinois University Press.

The ECW YouTube page featured a great line-up of October programming. Chris Mackowski. “American culture often embraces myths that later become accepted as popular history,” the authors explain. By investigating the allure and power of Hickok’s myth, Ashdown and Caudill explain how American journalism and popular culture have shaped the way Civil War– era figures are remembered and reveal how Americans have embraced violence as entertainment. Copies are available from SIU Press here: http://www.siupress. com/books/978-0-8093-3788-0.

ECW Multimedia Have you been following the ECW YouTube page? You can check it out by going to YouTube and search “Emerging Civil War.” This past month: • Phill Greenwalt recounted his explorations of Western Theater battlefields, including individual videos from Shiloh, Natural Bridge, and Richard Taylor’s surrender site. • Chris Mackowski visited the grave of Confederate memoirist Sam Watkins. • David Dixon talked about his Augustus Willich bio, Radical Warrior. • Jonathan Noyalas, Jay Richardson, and Nikki Roland of Shenandoah University discussed their research into Union veterans in the Shenandoah Valley. • Ben Kemp shared news about Grant Cottage being on track to become a National Historic Landmark. Plus, we have all sorts of other cool stuff going on there. Be sure to subscribe to the Emerging Civil War YouTube channel to get all the latest. We also make a number of our interviews available as free podcasts on our Patreon page: https://w w w.patreon.com/ emergingcivilwar. By Phill Greenwalt October saw four pivotal actions. The two that get all the attention was the final action at Saratoga, N.Y., in 1777, that solidified French involvement for the American cause in the American Revolutionary War, and the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. A significant action on the outskirts of Philadelphia on Oct. 4, 1777, also weighed heavily in French considerations. That battle, Germantown, was the focus of a “Rev War Revelry” Zoom chat and a recent publication by our friends at Savas Beatie, LLC, authored by Michael C. Harris. To check that video, head over to Emerging Revolutionary War’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook. com/emergingrevwar/. The fourth action happened in 1780 in northwest South Carolina, at Kings Mountain, where American militia, the “Overmountain Men,” destroyed a Loyalist contingent led by Major Patrick Ferguson. This action was also covered in a “Rev

War Revelry.” In early November, ERW historians will be heading to Virginia for some research and site exploration. We’ll bring these sites, virtually, to you. Continue to check the blog (www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org) and