Emerging Civil War
Emerging Civil War — October 2022
By Chris Mackowski · Originally published October 2022 · pp. 30–31
Chris Mackowski
The Emerging Civil War Award for Service in Civil War Public History www.emergingcivilwar.com
From the Editor: ECW was pleased this year to honor the American Battlefield Trust with our Award for Service in Civil War Public History. From our earliest days, ECW has enjoyed a rich working relationship with the Trust. When we were new kids on the block eleven years ago, the Trust gave us a huge confidence and credibility boost by taking us seriously and treating us like professionals, something they didn’t have to do because, let’s face it, there were a lot of blogs out there back then, and quality control was, shall we say, spotty. The Trust was one of The Big Dogs and could pick and choose who they wanted to work with. We have worked hard to be worthy of that trust, demonstrating the professionalism with which they treated us. Because the exchange proved useful for both of us, the Trust continued to give us opportunities to work together.
It was thrilling! Imagine getting to work with one of your Civil War heroes; that’s what it was like. In the decade since, ECW’s writers have contributed to Hallowed Ground, the Trust’s website, preservation appeals, video projects, tours, presentations, and so much more. Half of the Trust’s Education Department now consists of ECW folks! As an organization, we work with some Trust staff members more than others, and those professional relationships have turned into warm friendships for many of us in both organizations. Those professional relationships have also let us see over the years how hard the Trust’s staff works and how committed they are to preserving the hallowed grounds so many of us treasure. The Trust has saved more than 55,000 acres in 24 states. Just imagine what that’s done to help us better connect with our history. What a gift the Trust has given us all. If you are not a member of the American Battlefield Trust, please consider supporting their work. Visit them at battlefields. org. —Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War
Congratulations to our 2022 award winners!
Presented at the ECW Symposium on August 5, 2022. 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. The American Battlefield Trust
Honorable Mention: Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule (St. Martin’s Press)
The Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson Award
Presented to an individual or organization in recognition of outstanding service to ECW. Edward Alexander
The Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson Award Presented to an individual or organization in recognition of outstanding service to ECW. Presented to Edward Alexander.
The Emory Upton Award Dan Welch
The Ninth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge The Ninth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium will be hosted at Stevenson Ridge (Spotsylvania, Virginia) on August 4-6, 2023. We’ll be focusing on 1863 and some of the most pivotal events of that year of the American Civil War. Stay tuned this autumn for more details about our speaker line-up and other event announcements. Early Bird Registration is open through December 31, 2022: just $200/ticket (save $25). Check out the 2023 Symposium Page for more details: https://emergingcivilwar. com/2023-symposium.
The Emory Upton Award Presented to a member of the Emerging Civil War community in recognition of outstanding service to ECW. Dan Welch
The Emerging Civil War Book Award Presented to the best Civil War book published during the previous calendar year. Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command by Kent Masterson Brown (UNC Press) Honorable Mention: Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule (St. Martin’s Press)
The Emerging Civil War Book Award Presented to Kent Masterson Brown (UNC Press).
ECW Bookshelf We’re excited to have TWO books to feature on this month’s bookshelf: The Atlanta Daily Intelligencer Covers the Civil War by Stephen Davis and Bill Hendrick
Steve Davis and Bill Hendricks cover the Intelligencer’s coverage of the Civil War. According to the University of Tennessee Press: The Atlanta Daily Intelligencer Covers the Civil War investigates how Atlanta’s most important newspaper reported the Civil War in its news articles, editorial columns, and related items in its issues from April 1861 to April 1865. The authors show how The Intelligencer narrated the war’s important events … and how the paper’s editorial columns reflected on those events from an unabashedly proConfederate point of view… . Davis. Hendrick also contributed to the scholarship on Confederate newspapers, emphasizing the papers’ role as voices of Confederate patriotism, Southern nationalism, and contributors to wartime public morale.” The Atlanta JournalConstitution featured the book in a story on August 16, 2022. Read it here: https://www.ajc.com/life/ arts-culture/the-civil-war-newsnot-just-battles-also-patentdrugs-and-brothels/3L4VQ33BB BEHZDRYMIV46ZL54Y. The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, May 14, 1863 by Chris Mackowski. According to Savas Beatie: Jackson, Mississippi, played an important role in the decisive Vicksburg Campaign and was the third Confederate state capital to fall to the Union when Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured the important rail junction in May 1863. Drawing on dozens of primary sources and contextualized by the latest scholarship, Chris Mackowski’s The Battle of Jackson,
Chris Mackowski covers the oft-overlooked battle of Jackson, Mississippi.
Mississippi, May 14, 1863, offers the most comprehensive account ever published on the subject. For more information, check out the press release from St. Bonaventure University (where Chris serves on the faculty): https://www.sbu.edu/news/ news-items/2022/08/22/ mackowski-s-new-bookdetails-key-consequences-ofoverlooked-civil-war-battle.
News & Notes Neil Chatelain was ecstatic at presenting his research into European ironclad construction during the Civil War at the 2022 Emerging Civil War Symposium. It was great to meet and have a chance to chat with all of the attendees. Steve Davis has an article in the Summer 2022 issue of Crossfire, the magazine of the American Civil War Roundtable (UK). Steve’s article, “Tossing History on Its Head: The ‘C.”’ Telegram,” focuses on a mysterious document from “the middle of the Confederate government’s torment over whether to relieve General Joseph E. Johnston of command of the Army of Tennessee.” “I’m very proud to have been a ‘Yank’ invited to address the UK CWRT back in 2014,” says Steve, a proud Southerner, “though I cautioned my hosts against too liberal use of that word.” On August 13 outside the historic Hale-Byrnes House, Phillip S. Greenwalt spoke about the Emerging Revolutionary War Series book he co-authored with Rob Orrison, Bloody Autumn, The Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Beginning of the American Revolution, April 19, 1775. The Hales-Byrnes House was the site of a council of war held by General George Washington on September
6, 1777, following the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, the only American Revolutionary War engagement fought in Delaware. For more information on the site and their calendar of events, go to www.halebyrnes.org. Meg Groeling is enjoying the weather, reading like a mad woman (or a grad student), and trying to get Sut Lovingood into understandable English. She adds: “Lots of late summer roses, a new kitten, and pretty reliable health. Looking forward to a Zoom interview with Paula Tarnapole Whitaker and thinking about vending at a Labor Day reenactment. On to some wonderful stuff concerning the holidays a la 1862-ish. Sarah Bierle and I will plan your Civil War Christmas Dinner—or at least your Civil War Cocktail Party. No wine & cheese pairings, but maybe a ‘temperance cocktail’ or two.” Dwight Hughes will record a two-part podcast this fall for the Tell Me Another series of the Naval Academy History Department billed as “fascinating stories from the past—stories of genius and folly, compassion and cruelty.” The talk and discussion will be based on his ECW Series book Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862. Dwight’s presentation on the same subject at the Brass Cannon Brewing Company in Williamsburg, Va., turned out their record crowd for a weekday afternoon, almost 40. He spoke the same evening at the Williamsburg James City Cavalry Camp of the SCV. From Frank Jastrzembski and his work with Shrouded Veterans: “A veteran headstone was placed at Colonel George W. Cartwright’s grave at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark, N.J. Cartwright was wounded in the left shoulder and the lungs at the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864 and suffered from inflammation and consumption as a result. He moved to South Carolina after the war to seek relief and died there on March 20, 1868. “Also, a custom headstone was added to Reverend Eleazer Cady Thomas’s grave at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, Calif. On April 11, 1873, Thomas was killed alongside Major General Edward R. S. Canby at the Lava Beds during the Modoc War. A relative of General Canby kindly offered to cover the expense of placing a headstone on Thomas’s unmarked grave after seeing our article in the October 2021 issue of Wild West Magazine.” From Brian Matthew Jordan:
“After a stimulating weekend at the Emerging Civil War symposium, I spoke to the Kent, Ohio, Civil War Society on August 9. In between, I managed to squeeze in a bit of archival work at Kent State University. I continue to make progress on my new book, Crucible of the Republic: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Civil War and am wrapping up a short narrative of the Lincoln assassination for the ECW series. As the new semester looms, I am also looking forward to my third visit with the fine folks at the Augusta, Ga., Civil War Roundtable.” From Patrick Kelly-Fischer: “Last month’s New York trip got derailed by a bout of COVID (recovered now, thankfully). Later this month I’ll be heading down to Mace’s Hole, supposedly the camp of Colorado’s only organized Confederate troops.” Cecily Nelson Zander took part in the Civil War Monitor’s Fall 2022 issue survey on George G. Meade.
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ECW Multimedia On the Emerging Civil War Podcast in August: • For the anniversary of Cedar Mountain, ECW author Mike Block talked about his recent book about the battle, The Carnage was Fearful, part of the Emerging Civil War Series. • Chris Mackowski spoke with Kent Masterson Brown, recipient of this year’s ECW Book Award for Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command Check out the Emerging Civil War podcast on places like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe to our podcast through Patreon (https://www. patreon.com/emergingcivilwar), where we are now also offering exclusive bonus content for subscribers. That’s just $3.99/ month, and proceeds go toward defraying the production costs of the podcast. In August, we offered a full-color map of Malvern Hill by Edward Alexander and a musical performance by Jackson Mackowski of “General Stevenson’s Quick Step,” a Civil War-era composition. On the ECW YouTube page, August offered us: • a trip to Mobile, Alabama, for a series of videos included the battle of Mobile Bay, Fort Blakely, the surrender at Citronelle, and more a series of videos to complement our blog series and Symposium theme, “What If,” featuring historians Greg Biggs, Curt Fields, Eric Jacobson, Thomas Jesses, Chris Mackowski, Dave Powell, Joe Ricci, Ted Savas, and Timothy B. Smith a visit to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Ga. a bonus chat with Chris Kolakowski about his WWII-era book Nations in the Balance about the Burma campaign
The ECW YouTube page also featured video versions of our recent interviews with Mike Block and Kent Masterson Brown. Please don’t forget to like and subscribe! You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
If you are still looking for September plans, check out Emerging Revolutionary War as tickets are still available for the 2022 Symposium held in conjunction with Historic Alexandria on September 24. Head over to www. emergingrevolutionarywar.org to secure your spot. Check out the 2022 Bus Tour link as well: limited tickets remain for the November tour to Valley Forge and Monmouth. As always continue to follow us on Facebook and YouTube, where our popular “Rev War Revelry” series continues every other Sunday at 7 p.m. EDT.
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