Emerging Civil War
Emerging Civil War — February 2024
Originally published February 2024 · pp. 32–33
Chris Mackowski
From the Editor It’s Monday morning, and I’ve got nothin’. Pat Kelly-Fischer, our new newsletter editor, is asking me for copy, but my brain is firing blanks. I’ve spent much of the weekend finishing up my grading and dealing with complaints and excuses from students who didn’t do their work but somehow still think they deserve a better grade than they earned. There’s a lot of math involved (I’m a writer; nobody told me there’d be math involved). I’m mentally exhausted. Really, I just want to be working on the book Kris White and I are writing right now. I literally want to be writing it right now. We’re both super excited about the project, and we’ve both planned on some time off at the end of the year to work on it, except for me, it never feels like work. I love to write. Aside from being with my family, it’s where I find my joy. Joy. Yes. That reminds me that it’s finally time to start thinking about Christmas, which is just a week away. I never really shift into holiday mode until my grades are in. That gives me about a week to enjoy the Christmas spirit. I have gifts to buy, cards to address, carols to sing, bells to jingle, halls to deck, and a Richard Ewell log to prep for the fire, and somewhere in there, I’d like to spend some quiet time in prayer, too. Before I can do any of that, though, I need to get my firstgrader down to the bus stop. It’s his last day of school before his holiday break begins. As we walk down to the end of the street, I notice white streaks crisscrossing the powder-blue sky, planes filled with people starting their week somewhere else. Is this the start of their breaks, too? Are they on holiday? How many of them are still trapped in routine startof-the-week travel, off to some destination for work, away from their families in this familiest time of year? When do they get to go home? When do their lives get to quiet down? When do they get to write their books and find their joy? I say I’ve got nothin’, but really, that could not be farther from the truth. I have so much. I just need to remind myself that when it feels like too much, a walk down the street with my son can do wonders to help me see past the clutter as it presses in. My life is filled with riches. And among them is you. — Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief
Tenth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge www.emergingcivilwar.com
Time is running out to take advantage of the $225 Early Bird ticket price for next summer’s Tenth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. The window for Early Bird Registration closes after December 31! After that, the regular ticket price is going up to $300. The event will be held August 2–4, 2024, at Stevenson Ridge on the Spotsylvania battlefield in Virginia. Our theme: 1864: The War in the Balance. Speakers will include Jonathan Noyalas and Brian Steel Wills, and Sunday’s battlefield tour of the Bloody Angle will be conducted by Chris Mackowski. You can find out more details or order tickets at our Symposium page.
News & Notes Sarah Kay Bierle has been traveling a lot in December for work and history: Nashville, Tenn., Gettysburg, Penn., Hampton Roads, Va., Winchester, Va., and the Huntington Library, in Calif.! Work or research…there always seems to be a historic site to see or research to do. Neil Chatelain is finalizing his semester grades and ready for a brief break from grading essays! He also spoke with the American History Gazette podcast on December 1 about the importance of the Mississippi River and the impact of the river’s geography on how the Civil War’s military and naval campaigns evolved. Bert Dunkerly is fired up about the Revolution! He is helping plan and run two upcoming 250th Anniversary events in Richmond, Va.; one commemorating the Boston Tea Party and the other commemorating Benedict
Jon-Erik Gilot is planning a symposium in the Pittsburgh area for April 2024. Arnold’s Raid on Richmond. He hasn’t totally forgotten about the Civil War, however, as he is actively promoting his and Caroline Davis’s Stones River book, Force of a Cyclone. When not basking in the glow of another Cleveland Browns victory, Jon-Erik Gilot has been burning up the roundtable circuit over the past month, speaking at the Hagerstown CWRT, Stonewall Jackson CWRT, and Western Pennsylvania CWRT in support of his recent book on John Brown’s Raid. Gilot is also thrilled to announce the return of the annual one-day Civil War symposium at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, Penn. On April 13, 2024, historians Matt Atkinson, Eric Wittenberg, Abbi Smithmyer, Phill Greenwalt, and Rob Orrison will examine the paradigms and personalities of Civil War raids. Tickets are $65.00 and include lunch, raffles, book sales, author signings, and tours of the Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit our website at ACFL&MH 2024 Civil War Symposium. Jon-Erik Gilot is one of several historians hosting the annual oneday Civil War symposium at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library &
Music Hall in Carnegie, Penn. Jon-Erik Gilot is thankful for the two dozen roundtables, historical societies, museums, and organizations who invited him to speak in 2023. It was wonderful visiting your groups, making new friends, and selling a few books. He looks forward to meeting more of you in 2024! Evan Portman wrote “A Tale of Two Monks: Saint Vincent in the Civil War,” in the 2023 issue of Conversatio: A Journal in the Tradition of Catholic, Benedictine, and Liberal Education as well as “A Question of Conscience: Benedictine Monks Go to War,” in the Fall 2023 issue of Gathered Fragments: A Publication of the Catholic Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. He also presented his master’s thesis “Deference and Disgrace: German Americans at Gettysburg” at the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s annual conference fall 2023.
ECW Multimedia On the Emerging Civil War Podcast… After a busy November on the ECW Podcast, we quieted down a little in December. Joining host Chris Mackowski on the Emerging Civil War Podcast, we had: Historian, author, and Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Jim Hessler (co-host of his own podcast, the Battle of Gettysburg Podcast) Timothy B. Smith discussing his new biography The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West. You can listen for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or at https://emergingcivilwar.com/ the-emerging-civil-war-podcast. Emerging Civil War member and Cleveland Browns fan Jon-Erik Gilot. On Emerging Civil War’s YouTube Channel… We had video versions of these podcasts on our ECW YouTube page, plus Sean Michael Chick and Joe Ricci discussing the genius of Union General John Schofield.
Shrouded Veterans Here’s the latest project from Frank Jastrzembski’s Shrouded Veterans project: A headstone was placed for Colonel David Bayles. During the Mexican War, Bayles enlisted as a sergeant in the St. Louis Legion, which sailed to New Orleans, La., and took another ship to Texas, joining Brigadier General Zachary Taylor’s army on the Rio Grande. He was mustered out with his company on August 25, 1846, and returned to St. Louis. Bayles’ wife, Ellen, died on April 16, 1859, two months after giving birth to her sixth child, leaving him a widower with three children. Three of their six children had died between 1850 and 1852. When the Civil War broke out, Bayles was one of the first to join to put down the rebellion. On May 11, 1861, he was appointed captain of the 1st Rifle Battalion, Missouri Infantry, and took command of the unit. Bayles and his unit supported Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon’s army when it marched on Springfield, culminating in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. On August 6, Bayles raised the 11th Missouri Infantry and was appointed colonel. Private Duncan McCall complained that “He was very severe on us. We had to drill eight hours a day, and there was a great deal of fatigue duty to do.” Major General John C. Frémont wasn’t aware Bayles had been appointed colonel of the 11th, so he ordered Captain Joseph B. Plummer to take command of the regiment. On September 21, Plummer superseded Bayles. Dr. Thomas S. Hawley, a surgeon with the regiment, favored the change in command, stating, “Col. Plummer is a thorough military man of the regular army and our former Col had not the knowledge, experience or judgment that the present one has.” Bayles appealed the order and was reinstated in May 1862, but he wasn’t able to rejoin the regiment due to dropsy and general debility. The Daily Missouri Republican stated “the disease soon assured a dropsical form, and baffled the best medical skill and assiduity.” In January 1863, a special order revoked Bayles’ reinstatement “he being unfit for duty on account of disability.” Bayles died of cirrhosis of the liver in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 18, 1862, before he received word of the order. The Daily Missouri Republican reported: “The death scene was one of deep interest. A fond sister, and three tender, motherless children, with a small circle of friends, occupied the chamber where the brave man met death. Though the mind remained unimpaired, approaching dissolution displayed no horror to one who, doubtless, had contemplated it often in a more rugged form. Resigning loved ones to sympathizing friends, and the superintending providence of a merciful Heavenly Father, he serenely passed away to the spirit land—the land where those is no rebellion, and where the alarms of war are unknown.” Bayles was buried at Sappington Cemetery in Crestwood, Missouri. His veteran’s headstone rests near the marker for his three sons, John (one year), Hester (10 months), and Thomas (one month), who preceded him in death.
Upcoming Presentations Feb. 11: Chris Mackowski, “The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi,” Cape Fear Civil War Roundtable, Wilmington, NC Feb. 13: Dwight Hughes, “Rebel Odyssey: The Cruise of the CSS Shenandoah,” Civil War Round Table of Atlanta, Griffin, GA Feb 15: Chris Mackowski, “Grant’s Next Chapter: Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the Rise of Grant,” Houston (TX) Civil War Roundtable.