Emerging Civil War
Emerging Civil War — October 2021
Originally published October 2021 · pp. 34–35
From the Editor
“Not too bad for three idiots sitting on a porch.” That was the judgement passed down by the wife of co-founder Kris White when Emerging Civil War turned five. This August, we turned ten. We’re just as amazed now at how things turned out than when we turned five. There are days I still scratch my head and go, “Jeez!” “Beginning the whole thing on a front porch between friends was a dream!” co-founder Jake Struhelka told me this week. In fact, the whole thing has felt like a dream and, on a rare occasion, like a nightmare(!). Honestly, the best part is that it’s been a shared dream, shared by a lot of wonderful contributors and loyal readers over the year. A lot of people have helped make this dream come true. We’ve had a lot happening on the blog in the last month to celebrate our first decade’s existence, so I hope you’ve been following along and sharing in the fun. This is as much a celebration of your support and loyalty as anything else. Thank you! – Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief
The Ninth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium a Stevenson Ridge What if we could all get together and do some good old-fashioned armchair generalling for the weekend? What if we could refight some of the most famous battles and rethink some of the most infamous decisions? What if we could second-guess some of the war’s best leaders and notorious scoundrels? Join us next year for the ninth annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, August 5-7, 2022, where we will explore “The Great What Ifs of the Civil War.” Early-bird tickets are $200 now through December 31. They’ll then be available at a regular price of $225 from January 1 until we’re sold out; we’ve been selling out year after year, so get your tickets earlier rather than later if you can so you don’t miss out. To register or get more information, visit www.emergingcivilwar.com/symposium.
News & Notes Our thanks to the American Battlefield Trust, which featured Emerging Civil War in its Summer 2021 issue of Hallowed Ground. To celebrate ECW’s 10th anniversary, the magazine highlighted us in its “Profiles in Preservation” section with a beautiful two-page spread. We’re proud to be partners with the Trust in promoting their efforts for battlefield preservation! ECW and ERW members played a big role in the American Battlefield Trust’s summer Twilight Tour Series. The brainchild of ECW co-founder Kris White, the tours welcomed more than 500 Trust members to battlefields across seven states. Dan Davis, Kevin Pawlak, Billy Griffith, Chris Mackowski, and Kris White were among the tour guides. A number of ECW authors converged on Gettysburg in mid-August for the first-ever Savas Beatie Authors Meet-Up. Authors Sarah Kay Bierle, Brad Gottfried, Dwight Hughes, Derek Maxfield, and Brian Swartz, along with behind-the-scenes helpers Eric Cole, Leon Reed, and ECW alum Eric Wittenberg, all made appearances, signed books, gave talks, chatted with visitors, and then Chris Mackowski parachuted in for a last-minute, early morning pinch-hit talk.
Paige Gibbons Backus and Rob Orrison both have pieces in the summer 2021 issue of Hallowed
Ground. Rob wrote an article titled “The Return of Blood and Carnage: The Battle of Second Manassas Revisited.” Paige wrote a companion piece titled “A Fight for Life or Death: The Carnage Found in the Medical Field during the Civil War.” Paige’s article was based on a talk she did last year for the first ECW Virtual Symposium, which you can view on C-SPAN here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?474620-11/ disease-death-civil-war-medicine. Mark Bielski’s A Mortal Blow to the Confederacy: The Fall of New Orleans, 1862, part of the Emerging Civil War Series, received a positive review in the September 2021 issue of Civil War News. Reviewer Gould Hagler said general audiences “can appreciate Bielski’s account, learn from it, and develop an appetite to learn more.” Sarah Kay Bierle is looking forward to getting back to her research, writing, and hiking after a busy few weeks related to the ECW Symposium. She says her “to read list” is almost as tall as Phil Sheridan. David Dixon’s Radical Warrior was one of the ten bestselling titles from University of Tennessee Press for their recently concluded fiscal year. Diana Dretske’s “Engaging the Civil War” book, The Bonds of War, earned well-deserved praise from reviewer Ryan Keating in LSU’s Civil War Book Review. Keating cited the book as “an excellent example of the successful execution of what are … two of the most difficult types of studies to bring to fruition: the microhistory and the regimental history.” Dwight Hughes showed off his model of the USS Monitor at the ECW Symposium, August 6-7, sold a few copies of his new ECW Series book Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862, and got a picture with Ted Savas. The next weekend, August 14, Dwight gave the folks attending the ECW Gettysburg gathering a change of pace with a talk on Monitor at the Gettysburg Heritage Center. From Brian Swartz: “Almost 30 Civil War reenactors turned out today [July 31] to attack and defend the Sandy River Railroad, a narrow-gauge line that still operates at Phillips in the northwestern Maine mountains. The event was successful, bringing many first-time visitors to ride the railroad and watch Yanks and Rebs alternately capture the train from each other. I made some Co. A, 3rd Maine Infantry contacts and sold two JLC books, [Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the Civil War] plus got photos and an interview or two for Maine at War. Attached is a photo of me and Capt. Matt Bray, Co. A, 3rd Maine. Turns out he and other members read my blog, and one re-enactor pounced immediately for a JLC book upon hearing my name!” Kris White was recently promoted to Deputy Director of Education at the American Battlefield Trust. From Cecily Nelson Zander: “I graduated on August 14! That’s my good news.” We can now call her “Dr. Zander.” Congratulations, Cecily!
ECW Bookshelf New editions of the American Battlefield Trust’s Vols. 1 & 2 of their “battles maps” book series are on the way. And don’t miss Vol. 3, which covers the battle maps of the Revolutionary War. That volume drops this winter. Outstanding cartographer Steven Stanley provides the maps and ECW co-founder Kris White provides the text. All proceeds from the book support battlefield preservation.
10 Questions … with Sheritta Bitikofer ECW was pleased earlier this summer to welcome a new writer into the fold: Sheritta Bitikofer. Based on the Florida panhandle, she’s been bringing all sorts of fascinating Civil War stories to the blog from a hitherto underappreciated corner of the war. You can read her full ECW bio here: https://emergingcivilwar. com/author-biographies/authors/ sheritta-bitikofer/ How did you initially get interested in the Civil War? My earliest recollection of that first spark of interest in the Civil War was in my 7th grade history class. We were at that point of the year where it was time to discuss the Civil War, and my teacher brought in the book The Unknown Civil War by Webb Garrison. He spent the entire class reading story after story, and I remember thinking each one was so fascinating, much more than how the textbook had presented the various topics. I came up to my teacher after class and asked if I could borrow the book and he eagerly agreed, saying he noticed my interest during class and was really encouraged by it. My interest in the Civil War was put on the back burner over the years, but was rekindled when I set to writing one of my historical fiction books that took place during the war. I jumped into the research and haven’t come up for air since! You’ve mentioned how hard it was for you for a while to find a Civil War community for yourself, and how hard it has been at times for you to feel like you “fit in” in the Civil War world. What was that like, and what have you done about it? It was difficult and a little disheartening at first. I am a young woman, and it seemed every battlefield, every museum, every lecture or presentation I visited, I faced a sea of old, white-haired men; I mean no offense to old, white-haired men because they’re awesome to talk to! If there were any women or younger people, they were often dragged there by their parents or husbands and did not engage. As a new face, I became a magnet, and I felt embarrassed when people asked, “Are you a grad student?” and “Are you working on a paper or something?” I was mostly embarrassed because I didn’t have an answer I could take pride in. I was just there because I wanted to learn for the joy of learning. At times, it felt as if I were the only one walking into the room with an open mind and the intellectual conversations were stagnant. Other times, I felt way out of my league, surrounded by brilliant minds and hard-working historians and I wondered, “What is little ol’ me doing here?” But this was just the beginning of my journey; I’ve since connected with a lot of great people online and in person. I’ve found more women in the historian community and realized there is definitely still young blood in the field. Realizing I wasn’t alone was that moment of relief that made me feel a lot better about my journey. You live in an area most people wouldn’t think of as a Civil War hotspot, but you’ve managed to find quite a bit of Civil War history to explore. What lesson do you think that offers for other people? I was honestly surprised by a lot of what I found out about my civilwarnavy.com
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hometown area. I thought it was just a tourist trap and devoid of any historical significance. It took getting my feet on the ground and really looking to discover the history underneath the horrendous traffic and outlet malls. I think it plays to that old adage of “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Every place has a past, whether Civil War or not, and it just takes a little digging to find those gold nuggets. What inspired you to submit your first piece to ECW? A good deal of nudging from my husband and friends who believed I had a story worth telling. I knew it, too, but I tend to overthink things, so I sat on my Delity Powell article for well over a year before finally submitting it to ECW. I knew Delity’s story; her connection to Pensacola was virtually unknown, so I had a good, authentic piece of new research I’m still building on with recently dug-up information about her experiences. She displayed a lot of courage for a young girl, and I thought her story deserved more notice. (You can read that article here: https://emergingcivilwar. com/2020/10/23/delity-powellkelly-a-child-in-a-confederatecamp/). What are your primary areas of interest? I’m most fascinated by antebellum society, the personal lives and stories of the average civilian and soldier, the experiences of prisoners of war, and military medicine. Most recently, I’ve been neck-deep in studying the untold stories of the enslaved, especially in Louisiana and Mobile. Lightning Round (short answers with a one-sentence explanation) Favorite primary source? The personal diary of Jacques Alfred Charbonnet of the 15th Confederate Cavalry, whose transcript is at the Tulane Special Archives in New Orleans. The immense feeling and passion he poured into his diary when he talked about missing his family and his daily troubles within the army made for an amazing read. Favorite Civil War-related monument? I always liked the Confederate monument at Shiloh because of its symbolism of the reversal on the second day. Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era? All the nurses from both sides whose names may never be known to history, but whose impact on the lives of the soldiers they treated were felt for over a lifetime. What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited? I would love to visit the prison site of Elmira in New York. It would be the farthest north I’ve ever traveled, for Civil War purposes or not, and it ties with my interest in the prisoner-of-war experiences. Favorite ECWS book? That’s impossible to choose, but I enjoyed The Aftermath of Battle by Meg Groeling. Meg is an awesome writer, and the subject itself is fascinating.
ECW Multimedia On the ECW YouTube page in August: We kicked off a multi-part visit to Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg with historian Tim Talbott. We visited the dedication of a new headstone for a Civil War vet buried in England, thanks to some great man-on-the-scene reporting by Daz of American Civil War and U.K. History. We danced to the “Gen. Stevenson Quickstep,” a warera dance inspired by a IX Corps division commander from Boston, performed by Jackson Mackowski. We presented an award to Gary Gallagher, who offered a gracious acceptance speech. We talked with historian Jim Woodrick about the July 1863 siege of Jackson, Mississippi. We talked with ECW’s Sean Michael Chick about his newest book Grant’s Left Hook: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, one of the latest releases in the Emerging Civil War Series We also make a number of our interviews available as free podcasts on the ECW Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/ emergingcivilwar. Be sure to subscribe to the Emerging Civil War YouTube channel to get all the latest. While you’re at it, don’t forget to follow ECW on Facebook and Instagram (@Emergingcwblog). Please share and like our pages!
By Rob Orrison Plans are in the works for our Third Annual Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium on September 24, 2022, at The Lyceum in historic Alexandria, Va. Next year’s theme is “The World Turned Upside Down: The American Revolution’s Impact on a Global Scale.” Stay tuned for topics and speaker information as well as registration information. The event will include a happy hour at historic Gadsby’s Tavern Museum and a walking tour of historic Alexandria. Registrations are going really well for our first ERW Bus Tour. This year we are covering the Battles of Trenton and Princeton in our “Victory or Death” bus tour on November 12-14. Registration is only $150 and includes the tour, bus transportation, and lunch on Saturday. To register, visit our website at www.emergingrevolutionarywar. org and click on the “2021 Bus Tour” tab. Finally, be sure to check out not just blog at emergingrevolutionarywar.org, but also our Facebook page for our “Rev War Revelry” on every other Sunday night at 7 p.m. via Zoom on Facebook Live. We cover a wide array of topics, including author interviews on newly released books. From the Southern Theater: The virtual destruction of the Southern Continental Army occurred outside Camden, S.C., on August 16, 1781. The overly confident hero of Saratoga, General Horatio Gates, ran into Charles, the Lord Cornwallis, in a night meeting engagement that saw British regulars rout American militia even as The Continentals were beating up Loyalist Provincial troops. The most important result was the General Nathaniel Greene was sent South and, without winning any battles of his own, drove the British to their coastal enclaves in Savannah and Charleston. Please Help Support Emerging Civil War Emerging Civil War is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. If you’re interested in supporting “emerging voices” by making a tax-deductible donation, you can do so by visiting our website: emergingcivilwar.com.