Civil War News October 2021

ECW Honors Gary Gallagher with Award for Service in the Field of Civil War Public History

www.emergingcivilwar.com

Emerging Civil War has selected Dr. Gary W. Gallagher as the 2021 recipient of the Emerging Civil War Award for Service in the Field of Civil War Public History.

The award 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.

“It is fair to say there would be no Emerging Civil War without Gary W. Gallagher,” said Editorin-Chief Chris Mackowski. “It’s true, there is no direct trail of bread crumbs that leads from Gary to ECW, but there is not a one of us who has not been inspired by Gary or touched by his work.”

Historian Bert Dunkerly added that Gallagher’s impact on the field has been immeasurable. “He cares about all aspects of the history field,” he said: “research, preservation, publications, and has always worked to advance the field on all fronts.”

ECW Contributor Chris Heisey explained it thus: “If George Washington aptly earned the moniker ‘indispensable,’ I think Gary Gallagher has earned that modern sobriquet in the field of Civil War studies for certain.”

Gallagher retired in June 2018 as the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War and Director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia.

A native of Los Angeles, California, he received his B.A.

from Adams State College of Colorado (1972) and his M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Texas at Austin.

An archivist at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library for ten years, he began his academic career in 1986 at Penn State University, where he taught for twelve years and headed the Department of History for five. He joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1998.

He is the author or editor of more than forty books, most recently The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis from Louisiana State University Press. He has served as editor of three book series for the University of North Carolina Press:

♦ “Civil War America,” with more than 115 titles

♦ “Military Campaigns of the Civil War,” 10 titles

♦ “The Littlefield History of the Civil War Era,” 15 titles

He appeared regularly on the Arts and Entertainment Network’s series “Civil War Journal” as well as participating in more than five dozen other television projects in the field.

Among his many awards, he is the recipient of the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship for 2010–2012, the highest teaching award conveyed by the University of Virginia, and the Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in 2013.

Active in the field of historic preservation, he was president from 1987 to mid-1994 of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, an organization with a membership of more than 12,500 representing all 50 states.

He also served as a member of the Board of the Civil War Trust and has given testimony about preservation before Congressional committees on several occasions.

Previous recipients of ECW’s Award for Service in Civil War Public History include Dave Ruth, John Coski, D. P. Newton, Dave Roth, and Ted Alexander.

ECW Honors

Nelson’s The ThreeCornered War with Book Award

Emerging Civil War has selected Megan Kate Nelson’s The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the

West (Simon & Schuster, 2000) as the recipient of this year’s Emerging Civil War Book Award. The Emerging Civil War Book Award recognizes a work of Civil War history with a public history focus published in the preceding calendar year. Recipients are chosen by ECW’s stable of published authors, making the award a peerto-peer honor given by Civil War writers to Civil War writers.

The committee also named two honorable mentions: Timothy B. Smith’s The Union Assaults on Vicksburg: Grant Attacks Pemberton, May 1722, 1863 (University Press of Kansas) and Zachary Fry’s A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the

ECW Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski with award recipient Dr. Gary Gallagher. Photo by Hank Ballone.

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By Jack Melton

To The Editor: I noticed two errors in the Sept. column by Stephanie Hagiwara. The first may be just a typo/missing letter but Grant and Sheridan met at Charlestown, W.V., not Charleston. It's Red Bud Run, not Red Bull Run, on the 3rd Winchester battlefield. Stuart McClung Hagerstown, Md.

Loyal Legion of the

H ECW Awards . .

. . . . . . . . from page 1 Potomac (University of North Carolina Press).

“Nelson’s Three-Cornered War has the elements of a great read: evocative prose, imaginative structure, and an untold story. Besides contributing to our knowledge of the Civil War in the Far West, it is fast-paced with characters we come to know intimately,” the Book Award committee said.

The committee also pointed to new light the book shed on a forgotten but vital part of Civil War history. “Nelson’s book amplifies voices from a neglected theater of the nation’s defining conflict,” the committee said in its citation. “In page-turning prose, this memorable narrative–woven around carefully-sketched protagonists–not only makes clear the significance of the far southwest in the Civil War era, but raises new questions about the character of the war and its relationship to indigenous peoples. An accessible and compulsively readable history that manages to say something new about the most written about episode in our nation’s past.”

In its citation of Smith’s book, the committee lauded his work on the western theater as definitive.

“Timothy

is everything that we’ve come to expect from him–clear prose, dramatic narrative, solid research, and deft analysis. He has established himself as the singular authority on the war’s western theater,” the committee said.

Of Fry’s book, the committee noted the important contribution it makes in ongoing understanding of the main Union army in the east. “Zack Fry’s A Republic in the Ranks is an excellent addition to the literature on the Army of the Potomac, demonstrating how politics roiled the armies no less than the homefront. A model monograph.”

ECW Honors Keeney with Stevenson Award

Emerging Civil War has selected Sarah Keeney of Savas Beatie, LLC, as the recipient of this year’s Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson Award. The Stevenson Award is presented to an individual or organization in recognition of outstanding service to ECW.

“Sarah is the person who makes sure books in the Emerging Civil War Series end up in readers’ hands,” explains Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski. “She serves as Savas Beatie’s primary contact with ECW. She works with us to develop books, create the marketing for them, and shepherd

them through production and into distribution.”

Mackowski pointed out that the past year and a half has been especially challenging because of COVID. “The pandemic hit independent publishers hard, and that was as true for Savas Beatie as it was for any other small publisher,” Mackowski said. “Covid meant we all had to take a break from publishing to weather the storm. That, in turn, created a backlog for projects, which we are just now starting to get cleared out. Sarah was instrumental in helping get all our projects back on track and out the door.”

ECW has produced six softcovers and two hardcovers since pandemic restrictions loosened, Mackowski points out. “This has kept Sarah especially busy!” he says.

Keeney lives in California and graduated from Cal Poly with a journalism degree. She has worked as the marketing director for Savas Beatie from the beginning in 2004. Since then, she’s been involved in many different day-to-day operations of the business, including shepherding more than 300 books from production to your bookshelf.

Past recipients of the Stevenson Award include Jack Melton publisher of Civil War News, C-SPAN, historian Gregory A.

Mertz, Sylvia Frank Rodrigue of Southern Illinois University Press, and publisher Ted Savas.

ECW Honors Gibbons Backus with Upton Award

Emerging Civil War has selected Paige Gibbons Backus as the recipient of this year’s Emory Upton Award. The Upton Award is presented to a member of the Emerging Civil War community in recognition of outstanding service to ECW.

several historic sites throughout Northern Virginia including Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, Sully Historic Site, and Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. She currently serves Prince William County as the Historic Site Manager at Ben Lomond Historic Site, a Civil War hospital, and the one-room African American Lucasville School’s schoolhouse.

When out of the office, Paige spends her time serving on the board of the Virginia Association of Museums, exploring, being outdoors, or researching her interests which include wom-

Paige, who has blogged with ECW since 2016, serves as ECW’s social media manager.

“As a digitally-based brand, it’s especially important for us to have a strong online presence,” says Editor In Chief Chris Mackowski. “Paige has done incredible work to not only maintain ECW’s digital footprint but expand it. That’s especially challenging considering the disconnect between traditional users of digital technology and tradition Civil War buffs. Paige navigates that space, and helps ECW navigate it, well.”

A native of Wisconsin, Paige graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation and George Mason University with a master’s degree in Applied History. She has been in the public history field for close to ten years focusing on educational programming and operations working at

en’s history, as well as the more morbid side of history such as death, disease, medicine, murder, or scandal. Her published works include Witness to Peace and Strife: The History of Ben Lomond in Manassas, Virginia, as well as well as numerous articles published for a variety of publications including Emerging Civil War, Virginia Association of Museum’s Voice Magazine, Civil War Traveler, and Prince William Living. She currently lives in Brentsville, Va., with her husband, Bill, and their two dogs, Barley and Bernard.

“Emerging Civil War is an organization that I truly enjoy,” Paige says. “I love the history, I love the people, and you know what they say: “if you love what you do, it’s not work!” I love working with ECW and helping with their social media for it allows me to be a small part of helping historians share their passion for history to larger audiences.”

B. Smith’s latest tome

Paige Gibbons Backus accepting her Emory Upton Award.

Middle TN (Franklin) Civil War Show

43rd Annual Southeastern Civil War and Antique Gun Show

MARIETTA, Ga.—After a year’s break due to COVID-19 restrictions, the North Georgia Relic Hunters Association was able to hold its 43rd Annual Southeastern Civil War and Antique Gun Show. The show was held at the Cobb County Civic Center, in Marietta, Ga., just off Marietta Square.

Even though we were limited in the number of tables permitted for this year’s show we still were able to have a great show. As indicated by the gate count, people were eager to attend and the number of show visitors was at previous, pre-COVID levels. The total guest count came despite

the increase of local COVID cases that may have kept some folks away.

As folks arrived, they were greeted by a band playing Civil War Period music for the enjoyment of those at the event.

As a special tribute to those who have served our country and community, military personnel, veterans, and first responders were given free admission.

Even with restrictions imposed on table spacing, we had over 180 eight-foot tables, and a dozen 4-footers. While some dealers who had participated in past shows were not able to come this year, new dealers requested

The show hall was setup to allow social distancing to help prevent the spread of Covid.

Most Educational Award went to Robert Bohrn and Connie Brailsford for their display on the 55th Massachusetts. Their display related to the finding (by Robert) of the remains of the graves of U.S. soldiers from the 55th Massachusetts (at the time, these were referred to as U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).

Robert Bohrn and Connie Brailsford for their display “Wild’s African Brigade.”

tables so the show was a complete sell-out.

Proceeds from the show help to support the club’s yearly operation and our yearly charity donations made to organizations such as the Marietta Confederate Cemetery, Marietta Parks and Recreation, Cavalry Children’s Home, and Wreaths Across America, to name a few.

Dealers from around the country had a variety of items for sale; and while the list of all items at the show is immense, they included dug relics, guns and swords, Civil War related books, frameable prints, metal detectors, artillery items, old currency, military accessories,, images, and a host of other items. While the show is held near Kennesaw Battlefield Park, items from dozens of Civil War sites around the country were available for purchase.

Those coming to the show were informed that they could bring items for identification or to be appraised as noted appraiser John Sexton was at the show to provide free appraisals.

Although the show covered items up to and including World War II, the main focus of the show related to the American Civil War.

In talking with dealers at the show, they reported that they thought it was a great show and that they did very well with selling—and in many cases buying items. Many said they had outstanding sales. One dealer reported that he had a collector buy everything on his table—so as he noted, he had an exceptional show.

The new layout of the show was also a pleasant “surprise” for the dealers as it provided them with

more room at their tables and that they did not feel as “cramped” as in past shows.

Door prizes were also given out to folks who came to the show; these consisted of Civil War books and relics found in the vicinity of Kennesaw Mountain (found on private property with approval of the owner).

Overall, everyone (dealers and participants) reported that they felt that the show was a great success. Overall attendance was good (numbers were on par with “pre-COVID” shows, sales (as reported by dealers) were plentiful and all had a good time just spending time with fellow enthusiasts; especially with the dealers with whom we generally only see at this and other related relic shows.

The club’s 44th Annual show is in the planning stages, and right now the dates are set for August 13-14, 2022, at the Cobb County Civic Center.

More information about the North Georgia Relic Hunters Association and our annual show for 2022, can be found on the club’s website at www.ngrha. com or on the club’s Facebook site titled “North Georgia Relic Hunters Association” which is open to the public.

A show raffle was also held, and the raffle was for a framed picture by Don Troiani titled “Thunder on Little Kennesaw. “The winner of this print was Brad Shumpert of Dallas, Georgia.

Excavated Relics Award went to Stan Wills and Roy Baker for their display of Civil War artifacts (including Union and Confederate buckles, buttons, and artillery projectiles) that they have metal detected mainly in Georgia.

Stan Wills and Roy Baker’s award wining display.

Judges Award went to Scott Riddle for his outstanding display of Confederate buckles and buttons. Included in his display are buttons and buckles related to the Georgia Military Academy, once located in Marietta (less than one mile from the Cobb County Civic Center).

George and Paula Susat were two of many dealers who traveled to the show.

Right: Period music was performed at the show and included as part of the admission.

U.S. Model 1842

The U.S. Model 1842 holds an odd, but interesting, place in history. It was the last .69 caliber smoothbore musket made by Federal armories while simultaneously being the first fully parts interchangeable musket and the first with a regulation percussion lock. It was not produced in “great numbers,” as is often stated, yet the M1842 was not rare either. Total production from the Harper’s Ferry and Springfield Armories was 272,565 spread out over twelve years. As a frame of reference, the Springfield Armory itself produced nearly that number of U.S. Model 1861 rifle-muskets in eighteen months. Private contractors also produced a few thousand U.S. 1842s, including A.H. Waters and B. Flagg in Millbury, Mass. These were distinct mostly for their brass instead of polished iron barrel bands. After A.H. Waters

went out of business, Flagg entered into a partnership with William Glaze of Columbia, S.C. The machinery was relocated in 1851 to the Palmetto Armory in Columbia. Most of the Palmetto Armory’s output went to the South Carolina state militia. There were only 6,020 M1842 muskets produced on that contract; none were made there after 1853. It is currently believed that a number of the Palmetto Armory 1842s were assembled from surplus and condemned parts obtained from A.H. Waters.

The U.S. 1842 was stored in Federal Arsenals throughout the South prior to the Civil War. An article in the Richmond Enquirer dated October 11, 1861 states (in part):

“There are now on hand… and very nearly ready for delivery, perfect and well finished Minie guns together with about 1500 of the old model percussion

muskets, saved unimpaired from the Harper Ferry conflagration.”

A Mexican War veteran volunteering for the Confederacy received the same U.S. 1842 musket he carried in Mexico during the mid-1840s, recognizing it from his own calligraphy carved in the stock years earlier. The article apparently does not go into detail, but by virtue of “making the newspaper” the soldier must

have been very pleased by the reunion.

The continued use of buck and ball rounds is one reason why the so-called “obsolete” smoothbore muskets were still seeing service on both sides when Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. A good source on the extent of smoothbore musket usage during the Civil War is The Bloody Crucible of Courage by Brent Nosworthy. The author reviewed ammunition requisitions from the last years of the conflict and found that an unexpectedly large number of orders for .69 caliber buck and ball cartridges were being filled right up until the war’s end. If the armies were armed almost totally with .58 caliber rifle-muskets as has often been stated, what use would the .69 caliber buck and ball rounds have been and what purpose would the soldiers have for them? Obviously, buck and ball cartridges were being issued

because a number of smoothbore muskets were still in the ranks. What did the officers at the time think about the effectiveness of the “new” rifle-muskets in the field? Opinions seem to vary, but after approximately two years in the field studying the effectiveness of both “rifled” and “smoothbore” muskets in battle, one officer reported back:

“...(Even) with all the defects in the new (rifled) arms, caused by the great curves of their trajectories, an army can not now do without them; it would be placed in a position of inferiority to its adversary (at longer ranges). It would be equally in error to fall into the other extreme, and discard entirely smoothbore arms from our army, a result towards which we have been tending for several years past. The report concludes by saying, “Battles must be fought and won, as in times past; decisive victories

John P. Alldredge entered service May 1, 1862, into Company “A”, 48th Alabama Infantry. His father Enoch was a major in the same unit, and had three brothers who also served. His shell jacket has dark trimmed cuffs and collar. His slouch hat is pinned with a star. This 34-year-old recruit looks ready to fight. He would die just three months later of dysentery August 19, 1862. One of his brothers would also die of disease as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware though his father and two other brothers survived the war returning home to Blunt County, Ala. (Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs. Library of Congress)

cannot be gained by firing at long ranges; at short ranges the (smoothbore musket with) the buck and ball cartridge is certainly more effective. It is a grave error to adopt for an army rifled (muskets) to the entire exclusion of smoothbore arms.”

Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013). He has also published four books in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series

Right: Alldredge is decked out in this fine 1862 photograph posed with Model 1842 smoothbore musket, Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver, Sheffield bowie knife, Confederate wishbone buckle on waist belt with percussion cap box and cartridge box.

Below: U.S. Model 1842 .69 caliber smoothbore musket by Harpers Ferry. The U.S. M1842 holds the distinction of being the first percussion infantry musket adopted for general issue by the U.S. Ordnance Department and the last general issue smoothbore long arms. It was essentially a percussion redesign of the earlier U.S. Model 1835/40 flintlock musket, which was based on the French Model 1822. It was also an early attempt at achieving parts interchangeability at the U.S. armories.

During the production life, between 1844–1855, Harpers Ferry manufactured around 103,000 guns and Springfield produced around 172,000. Arston Grant collection.

In May the tour went to Jonesboro, a few miles south of Atlanta, to examine the site of the final battle before the fall of Atlanta. Bill Dodd, a Round Table member and expert on this phase of the Atlanta Campaign, led this excursion. John pointed out that Bill is “the author of a highly informative volume on Clayton County campaigns during the War of the Rebellion.”

Atlanta Round Table Resumes Field Trips

Like many retired people, John Miller is as busy, if not busier, than he was when he was working. The retired civil engineer, after careers in the Navy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says “his family and his church come first.” After that he takes care of a very large garden with his wife Jane, and also plays in two bands, “old folks bands,” John calls them. He had just come from band practice, and was toting his guitar, when we met to talk about a new duty he has assumed, organizing field trips for the Atlanta Civil War Round Table.

John has been a member of the Round Table since 2009 and was elected to a slot on the organization’s Executive Committee in 2020. Last spring Mary-Elizabeth Ellard, who was moving into the president’s chair, prevailed upon John to set up a series of tours to supplement to Round Table’s regular monthly meetings and lectures. The COVID pandemic interrupted the Round Table’s plans as it did everything else. For several months there were no meetings at all, then lectures were held via Zoom. The Round

Table will restart its dinner meetings in September. The tours John has organized have gotten Round Table members out to some of Georgia’s many Civil War sites during the pandemic and will continue after the regular programs resume.

In March a dozen or so members toured the Confederate lines protecting the northwest perimeter of Atlanta against Sherman’s invading force. This initial field trip was led by Charlie Crawford, Round Table member and president of the Georgia Battlefields Association. The works are long gone, of course, as the land has for many decades been part of the Georgia Tech campus. Undulations in the terrain that are today barely noticeable on the pavement and among campus buildings were significant battlefield features. With maps and period photographs to supplement his narration, Charlie brought the past to life.

“As we stood by the building near the Georgia Tech natatorium and looked over to where the Ponder House was, with Charlie’s explanation and the photograph, you can almost make the jump,” John said.

Jim Ogden, the National Park Service Historian at Chickamauga, led the April tour.

GEORGIA’S CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS

In Honor of a Fallen Nation

Gould B. Hagler, Jr.

This unique work contains a complete photographic record of Georgia’s memorials to the Confederacy, a full transcription of the words engraved upon them, and carefully-researched information about the monuments and the organizations which built them. These works of art and their eloquent inscriptions express a nation’s profound grief, praise the soldiers’ bravery and patriotism, and pay homage to the cause for which they fought.

www.mupress.org

866-895-1472 toll-free

“We examined a number of important monuments and markers throughout the battlefield and discussed their origins and meanings,” John said. “We saw the Fuller gun collection,” he added, “one of the largest collections of military weapons in the U.S.”

Bill also took the group to the Patrick Cleburne Cemetery in downtown Jonesboro, where hundreds of Confederate soldiers are buried. John said, “We shared a picnic lunch at the old railroad depot,” stressing that these activities are not just about the history. They are also about the fellowship with other Round Table members, who have not seen much of each other during the COVID pandemic.

June found 15 Round Table

members off the beaten track, at a place called New Manchester, about 20 miles west of Atlanta. There stand the ruins of a textile mill, destroyed by order of General Sherman in July 1864, and never rebuilt. The small town was abandoned and the area is now part of a state park. John said that the group, led by the park’s interpretative ranger, “walked to the ruins of the old textile mill while discussing its antebellum development, its role in providing materials to the Confederacy, the logistics of getting raw materials to the mill and completed work to the users, and its destruction.”

The ranger also told the story of the mill workers. Mostly women, they suffered the same fate as some 400 workers and their children from nearby Roswell. They were arrested and granted 15 minutes to pack up. Then, with their children, they were deported to the North. From New Manchester there were 43 men and 150 women and children. Two of those participating in this tour are descended from John Cicero Alexander, one of the deported men.

New Manchester is off the beaten path, but in the fall John’s plans are to visit two sites that are on well-beaten paths, Kennesaw Mountain and Chickamauga.

Michael Shaffer will guide a tour of Cheatham Hill on the Kennesaw battlefield, where the well-intrenched Confederate defenders repulsed a Federal attack on the morning of July 27, 1864. On the 50th anniversary of the battle, a monument honoring the Illinois men who fought at Kennesaw was dedicated. The monument was restored and rededicated in 2014. In July this year vandals defaced the monument.

This tour will also take in nearby Pine Mountain, where Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk was killed by Federal artillery on June 14, 1864.

John Miller (on right) at New Manchester Ruins. Photo by Carol Willey.

Once Confederate Defensive Works, now Georgia Tech. Photo by Gould Hagler.

In November there will be another trip to Chickamauga, but no one should expect any redundancy. Whatever Park Historian Jim Ogden chooses to emphasize on this tour, attendees can expect to learn something new and explore one of the myriad aspects of this great battle.

The maximum size for each tour was set at 15 because of the COVID restrictions. The tours have been mostly outdoors. Masks were not usually required and social distancing was not an issue. John says he will continue to stay abreast of the CDC guidelines and expects restrictions to loosen as more people are vaccinated.

There are many significant Civil War sites in the Atlanta vicinity, so John has no trouble finding interesting places to visit. “I polled the Executive Committee and received a number of great suggestions,” John said. “And Sarah Kelehear reached out to the Round Table to volunteer for her tour at New Manchester,” he added, “so all were very simple to set up.”

Just as important, there is no shortage of talent to lead the tours. There are plenty of local experts willing to volunteer and help further the Round Table’s mission of promoting the serious study of the Civil War. Many of these experts are also members of the Round Table, all the ones mentioned, in fact, except one.

As these events entail no expenditures by the Round Table, no fees were charged, but John has encouraged attendees, and everyone else, to contribute to worthy causes related to the tours: the Georgia Battlefields Association, Friends of Sweetwater Creek State Park, and National Park Partners —ChickamaugaChattanooga-Moccasin Bend.

John took on this job when the pandemic caused the cancellation of the Round Table’s dinner meetings. “The zoom gatherings were still being planned,” he said, “so there was talk of field trips to at least have our members active together.”

John pointed out how the tours focused on different aspects of the war. “We toured the sites of

several forts in the Confederate lines of northwest Atlanta,” he said. The Federals were unable to breach the lines, so Sherman went around. Hence the tour to Jonesboro south of the city. “By severing and holding the rail line at Jonesboro in late August 1864, Atlanta’s fall was imminent, so we chose to tour this important area.”

John said that the tour of the mill at New Manchester “provided insight into economic sustenance of the Confederacy, plus we learned of the fate of many of the mill workers and their families.” Of course, Civil War monuments have frequently been in the news of late, “so we visited the site of some of the earliest monuments, Chickamauga.”

Regarding the upcoming tour at Kennesaw, John pointed out that “Sherman learned much at Kennesaw Mountain and the death of Leonidas Polk had an impact on Confederate military leadership during the Atlanta campaign.” As for the next trip toward the northwest, “the battles for Chattanooga proved an important step in the career of U.S. Grant; Missionary Ridge was the beginning of the end for Atlanta, and ultimately for the Confederacy.”

More Information on Female Spies

The August column told the stories of three famous women, Antonia Ford Willard, Pauline Cushman, and Loreta Velazquez. Regarding Miss Major Cushman, I mentioned the reports of her visit with Abraham Lincoln at which she demanded her back pay. I received an email from William Christen, author of Pauline Cushman, Spy of the Cumberland. In my column I stated that I was relaying press

accounts and would not attempt to separate fact from fiction. I didn’t, but Mr. Christen did. He advised me that in a very thorough search of sources, including accounts of Lincoln’s daily schedules, he found no evidence Cushman ever met Lincoln.

Gould Hagler is a retired lobbyist living in Dunwoody, Ga. He is a past president of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table and the author of Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation, published by Mercer University Press in 2014. Hagler speaks frequently on this topic and others related to different

aspects of the Civil War and has been a regular contributor to CWN since 2016. He can be reached at gould.hagler@gmail.com.

Ruins of the Mill at New Manchester.

Photo by John Miller.

Patrick Cleburne Cemetery in Jonesboro. Photo by Gould Hagler.

Atlanta Round Table at the monument to the 1st Ohio Infantry at Chickamauga. Photo by John Miller.

The Trust Brings Education Efforts to the Forefront

Despite amid ongoing turbulence in the time of Covid, the American Battlefield Trust succeeded in delivering its largest educator event yet, the 2021 Virtual Teacher Institute, held July 12-16. Following the smash hit that was last year’s first-ever Virtual Teacher Institute, this year’s iteration dared to push the envelope: A whopping 38 sessions were held over five days, welcoming 537 virtual participants from three continents.

Trust President David Duncan noted that “The Virtual Teacher Institute has quickly become a staple, as it built a bridge for educators to connect with our worldclass tools, brilliant experts and speakers, and their fellow colleagues.”

The 2021 online event featured a diverse mix of workshops and lectures that left attendees considering America’s formative struggles from a wide range of perspectives. Sessions included: “Using Trust Resources in the Classroom,” “A Behind the Scenes Look at the History Channel,” and “A Civil War Photo Extravaganza.”

Moving forward, the organization will pursue a dual-track program with in-person and online options; both will remain free and provide an opportunity to procure Continuing Education Units. Next year’s in-person Teacher Institute will bring participants to the port city of Mobile, Ala.

As the new school year takes shape, the Trust’s education programs do as well, with plans to connect students to hands-on history education by way of its traveling trunk, field trip fund, and Great Task programs. For more information on these eye-opening resources, visit www.battlefields. org/learn/educators.

These classroom programs, plus on-site and digital battlefield interpretation and online resources, are vital ways to bring the past alive. They do not happen in a vacuum and require passionate supporters and financial

backing. Thanks to the generosity of the HTR Foundation and the first-time availability of the federal interpretation and restoration matching funds, the Trust’s latest education fundraising campaign will allow each donation to be matched dollar-for-dollar.

To learn more about this opportunity, visit www.battlefields.org/ supporteducation.

Expanding Preservation Efforts at Harpers Ferry

While the Trust is constantly seeking new locations to add

a gas station or mini-mart, but the Trust and its devoted partners stymied development in its tracks. Along with 3.28 adjacent acres, the property was acquired in 2013 through a partnership between the Trust, the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Park Service, and the Bank of Charles Town. All of them recognized its unforgettable role in the American story. Sitting along the Harpers Ferry–Charles Town Turnpike on Bolivar Heights, the property was in the center of the Union’s defensive position and a

target of Confederate artillery on September 15, 1862. Ultimately, a Union surrender was rendered. Only three years earlier, the land witnessed a monumental moment on the hard-fought journey to expand civil rights when, in 1859, abolitionist John Brown raided the town’s federal armory.

The Trust will continue to prioritize its work with the nation’s parks to transform its inholding land into special, public spaces that all Americans can access and enjoy.

Looking Out West: Help Save 407 Acres at Four Western Battlefields!

Students of the Civil War readily recognize battles fought in the Western Theater as “game-changers,” shifting the war’s progress. Today, the Trust seeks to protect a total of 407 acres at four battlefields that shaped the course of history: the Second Battle of Corinth and the Battle of Champion Hill in Mississippi, the Siege and Battle at Port Hudson,

Louisiana, and the Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Faced with a total transaction value of $2,850,600, the Trust sought out a variety of private, state, and federal grants to complete these projects, reducing the private fundraising need to just $307,450, — less than 11% of the total value and cost. Thus, every dollar donated will be multiplied by $9.27.

At Champion Hill, the largest battle of the Vicksburg Campaign, we are building off past successes, including a significant effort earlier this year. Similarly, we’ve recently come across a number of exciting opportunities at Chattanooga, where a series of battles ultimately created Union dominance of a vast transportation network.

At Corinth, Confederates nearly succeeded in recapturing the important transportation center on October 3-4, 1862. After desperate hand-to-hand fighting, Federal defenders counterattacked and pushed the Confederates just over the Tennessee line, then defeated them at Hatchie’s Bridge to maintain control of the region’s infrastructure. While we’ve already saved nearly 800 acres there, it’s been more than three years since a new chance arose.

Our target tract at Port Hudson was within the Confederate defenses during the 48-day siege from May 21-July 9, 1863. After the Confederates surrendered, the Union took significant steps to fortify and garrison the site, including the acreage the Trust seeks. Additionally, it served as the headquarters for the “Corps d’Afrique” under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, before this group became incorporated into the United States Colored Troops. One of the Trust’s predecessor organizations first protected land at Port Hudson in 1993, but it has been nearly three decades since we had an opportunity for further work.

to its roster of successes, some sites are so significant they merit returning to time and again over the years and decades. One such place is Harpers Ferry, where we’ve succeeded in saving 542 acres of hallowed ground over 29 years, most of which has been incorporated into Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. As the dynamic preservation story continues at the West Virginia site, the Trust has transferred the last of four tracts, totaling almost 17 acres that were saved in 2013–2014. All told, the Trust is now responsible for 342 acres joining the national park.

One particular 0.61-acre tract was once the proposed site for

Bolivar Heights witnessed more battle action than any other location at Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

Photo by Noel Kline.

Port Hudson Battlefield.

Photo by Gerard Plauche.

Please help us expand the protection of these four critical sites today at www.battlefields. org/4west.

Celebrating New Recreational Access to the Historic Rappahannock River

The Trust is thrilled that our partners at the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) have completed installing a boat launch on Trust-protected property at the Rappahannock Station Battlefield, giving residents a new public access point to the state-designated scenic river. A timber-framed, concrete staircase with a wooden slide for hand launching non-motorized vessels, the boat launch was built over five days in late July by representatives of the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Fauquier County Parks and Recreation,

The Piedmont Environmental Council, and resident volunteers. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Saturday, August 14.

The Rappahannock River runs for approximately 55 miles, serving as a boundary between Fauquier, Rappahannock, and Culpeper counties. Until now, the only water access point with a boat launch along that entire distance was at Kelly’s Ford in Culpeper County. Now, with the opening of the Remington boat launch adjacent to the future Rappahannock Station Park, paddlers can put in at Remington and take out at Kelly’s Ford after a five-mile float.

The new boat launch is part of a broader goal to create an upper Rappahannock River water trail system, opening up public access to the Rappahannock River in Fauquier, Culpeper, and Rappahannock counties.

Book

The new boat launch when it was under construction by Fauquier County Parks and Recreation.

Photo by Maggi Blomstrom, PEC.

Savas Beatie Authors/Readers Gather at Gettysburg

by Leon Reed GETTYSBURG, Penn.—The

leading trade publisher of Civil War and other military history books, Savas Beatie, sponsored their 3rd Gettysburg Meetup from August 12-15. The meetup gave a chance for approximately 200 Civil War enthusiasts to meet at least 20 Savas Beatie authors in a series of informal sessions, scheduled either in advance or as events unfolded. These included a get together Thursday night at O’Rorke’s pub, a picnic lunch in 100o heat at the local recreation park, and an after-hours opportunity to restore hydration at the Gettysburg headquarters for many Civil War aficionados, the Reliance Mine Saloon.

The event also allowed the guests to attend a series of battlefield talks, hear author presentations and panel discussions, and buy massive amounts of books.

Interestingly, four of the seven battlefield talks related to events

of the relatively neglected battle’s first day. On Friday, visitors braved intense heat to listen to Rick Schaus on General George Meade’s activities on July 3, the final day of the battle; Mike Harris on Confederate Brig. Gen. John Archer’s brigade, the start of the battle, and the capture of Archer by Union forces; and Brad Gottfried on the action at the unfinished railroad cut just west of Seminary Ridge. Presentations Saturday, in slightly more moderate weather, included Emerging Civil War editor Chris Mackowski on events at day’s end, July 1; “What if Stonewall Jackson had been at Gettysburg?”; John Horn on the controversy involving Confederate brigade commander Brig. Gen. William Mahone and the perception that he failed to support another attacking Confederate brigade; and Eric Wittenberg on actions of cavalry commander Brig. Gen. John Buford on July 1.

Mackowski was pinch-hitting for Dave Powell, who was kept in Chicago by car troubles and the aftermath of weather miseries. Mackowski noted that speculation about Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg probably dates back as far as the day after the battle. “Unfortunately,” he said, “when people ask that question, they really just want to drop him onto the battlefield on July 1, 1863, and then let him have at it.” Mackowski reviewed the tactical situation that existed at the end July 1 as well as the assumptions people make when they ask that question. He concluded that is hard to conjure a situation where Jackson makes it off the Chancellorsville battlefield in one piece, let alone one where he gets all the way to Oak Hill on the afternoon of July 1! But he concluded that such “what if?” questions are legitimate inquiries that allow a student to dig deeper into the actual events that did happen.

The conference concluded Sunday morning with a presentation at the High Water Mark by Chris Brenneman on the Cyclorama. The meeting started out right at the painter’s viewpoint, across Hancock Ave. and directly back from the 71st PA monument. Brenneman was part of the team that researched this and other cycloramas during the restoration process and had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of information. He pointed out numerous “real people,” including members of the painting team, were incorporated into the painting. The Cyclorama was created by a 12 painter crew; they all specialized: one did just trees, another sky, and so forth. “So you would have one person who painted a horse, a second did the general sitting on the horse, and a third did his face.”

The Gettysburg Heritage Center served as the headquarters for the event and hosted author presentations and panel discussions on

Friday and Saturday. Speakers included Charlie Knight, author of a book on Robert E. Lee’s activities day by day; Brian Swartz, who discussed his new book on Joshua Chamberlain; Dwight Hughes, who discussed the Monitor and the Virginia, the first battle between ironclad warships; and Scott Mingus, who discussed his book on Lee’s invasion in York County.

The authors made many interesting observations. For example, Knight pointed out that at one house during the Overland Campaign, Lee came close to being killed by a shell and also probably came down with a case of food poisoning which had serious consequences for the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee was very fond of buttermilk and had a glass, shortly after the shell passed through and almost immediately became very ill. It affected Lee for several weeks, a loss that the Army of Northern Virginia particularly couldn’t afford at that time with a severely thinned out senior officer corps.

Hughes commented that the Union got “Monitor fever” after the first battle, even though the ship was of limited utility. It was not seagoing and was not effective against land fortifications. Its main visible innovation was the rotating turret, but everything about its design and production was innovative. The ship was

designed and built in 100 days, entirely in civilian yards using an extensive network of suppliers. This represented a new process of shipbuilding.

The two author panels provided an interesting contrast. Ted Savas moderated both panels and introduced both by saying “here’s your chance to find out what you’ve always wanted to know,” and basically guided an hour long Q&A. The discussion on Friday, with panelists Jan Croon, Brad Gottfried, Jim Hessler, Dwight Hughes, Leon Reed, Ken Rutherford, Rick Schaus, and Eric Wittenberg, became a detailed tactical discussion of the Battle of Gettysburg, with a particular emphasis on cavalry operations. Questions were raised about topics such as command and control, who was responsible for units that were reassigned to a different battlefield sector, whether Howard’s criticism of Doubleday and Meade taking First Corps away from him, was fair, whether Meade pursued Lee aggressively enough, and similar questions.

On Saturday, basically the same audience experienced an hourlong seminar on the writing and publishing business, with questions about working with editors, responding to criticism, selecting what materials to use, collaborating with co-authors, etc. The panel this time was Michael Harris,

Sarah Closson of Savas Beatie and Gettysburg Heritage Center’s Tammy Myers.

Chris Mackowski and Ted Savas going over the details of one field trip. Photos by Leon Reed unless otherwise noted.

Eric Wittenberg leads a tour of the first day’s Battle of Gettysburg at the Gen. John Buford monument. Rick Schaus’s tour of Meade’s Headquarters.

Authors and Panelists

John Horn, Charles Knight, Derek Maxfield, Scott Mingus, John Michel Priest, Alexander Rossino, Brian Swartz, and Eric Wittenberg. All the authors said they owed their success to early advice and mentoring and that comments from editors consistently improved their work. Eric Wittenberg observed that he has

written plenty of books and now is making a priority of working with his friends. He said they have all been good collaborations; some took time to come together and some were smooth from the first day. He mentioned that in some cases, notably the books he co-wrote with Scott Mingus and J. David Petruzzi, “I would defy

anyone to identify which chapters which of us wrote. It was truly seamless work.”

Many writers mentioned their gratitude that an established writer had encouraged them. Al Ovies, author of the best-selling Boy Generals, mentioned that he had self-published a book about 15 years ago and noticed that

Eric Wittenberg had left a critical Amazon review. He wrote Eric and said that he would try to do better in the future and Eric so appreciated his constructive reaction that he worked with him and they have since become good friends.

An interesting generation gap showed up with the answer to

one question: what book ignited your interest in the Civil War? Many panelists nodded when Bruce Catton and the American Heritage Illustrated Civil War were mentioned but others mentioned the Ken Burns series and Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels After both evening panel discussions, there were mass

John Horn.

Jan Croon.

Bradley Gottfried.

Dwight Hughes.

John Michael Priest.

Brian Swartz.

Charlie Knight. Al Ovies.

Eric Wittenberg and Al Ovies.

Eric Wittenberg (left) and Scott Mingus (seated).

Panel members: (Left to right) Dwight Hughes, Alexander Rossino, and Michael Harris.

autograph sessions with 15-20 authors and a very active trade. The authors were certainly happy to sell books but there were animated discussions throughout the book signing area. The relationship between Civil War authors and their readers is especially close. All the authors started out as, and still are, Civil War enthusiasts; most are not full-time writers and many of their fans are deep students of the War. The interchanges often are more peer to peer than “expert to fan.”

Publisher Ted Savas said he was well pleased with the event. “It went off better than we expected. The turnout was great, and I think people really enjoyed it and we’re grateful for their participation.”

Rich Keehner, who attended the conference from Ohio, agreed with Ted’s assessment. “This event was, simply put, one of the best Civil War events that I have attended. The on field talks were both informative and enjoyable; then there were the indoor lectures by authors, followed each day by round table style discussions prompted by audience questions.

Everyone was polite and respectful regardless of the knowledge of the person asking the question. All the authors present were friendly and approachable. Ted Savas and Sarah from his staff treated all of us like we were old friends. In my opinion it was truly a five star event!”

The attendees were eagerly engaged during one of the panels.

Rich Keehner and author Leon Reed. Photo by Sarah Closson.

Mike Harris at a North Carolina monument on one of the tour stops.

Chris Brenneman giving a visual description of the Gettysburg Cyclorama’s concept to painting.

Bradley Gottfried at the Rail Road cut. The McPherson Farm barn is in the background.

Photo by Joel Manuel.

John Horn speaking at Mahone’s position. Photo by Joel Manuel.

PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHAEOLOGY

This is a new Civil War News column. It is intended to be both informative and enjoyable, but challenge readers to look beyond their first impression of an image. Many Civil War photographs were taken shortly after fighting ended and before the battlefield was cleared of bodies, useable materiel, and other detritus. For viewers 150 years later, any photograph can be seen as an artifact; those that show a landscape can be almost be seen as an archaeological site. The challenge is to recognize what is present beyond the featured element(s).

For this column, we will present a blown up image for your

examination. What is in this view beyond the specific photographer’s topic? The next issue will contain a key showing what our staff have found in the photograph. How well did we do, compared with your own analysis?

The key element to bring to bear is your own interests and knowledge but beware, as Thomas Pynchon wrote in Gravity’s Rainbow (1987, Penguin Books, New York, p 251), one of his parables for paranoids is, “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” The photographic archaeologist needs to look at an image with an open mind to

bring out things the photographer himself may not have seen. The flip side, of course, is found in Arthur C. Clarke’s First Law, “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong” “Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination,” in Profiles of the Future (1962). That’s why the Civil War News won’t tell you what is in the photograph first.

So, here is the October photographic archaeological site:

Title reads: “Charleston, South Carolina. Photographer [Samuel Cooley] on parapet of Fort Sumter photographing soldier.” Original Library of Congress photo can be found online at: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/2018670981/.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

“News was brought in that there was a small camp without pickets.

And it seemed to me precisely one of those pieces of carelessness on the part of the enemy that ought to be taken advantage of.”

– U.S. Col. Charles P. Stone

After the July 21, 1861, Battle of First Manassas, Va., U.S. Gen. Irvin McDowell was replaced by Gen. George B. McClellan.

McClellan boosted the morale of his expanding army with endless drills as the bands played. To the public, the army appeared ready to fight. As the months passed, McClellan resisted the growing pressure to do so.

Both sides created outposts on the Potomac. The lines were separated about 30 miles apart.

Leesburg, Va., the western most Southern outpost, was important militarily due to its junction of roads and river crossings. C.S. Col. Nathan “Shanks” Evans and his 7th Brigade, some 2,800 men, were ordered to watch the enemy and “to make a desperate stand, falling back only in the face of an overwhelming enemy.”

West Point graduate Evans

was known as “very argumentative,” both a hard fighter and drinker. On October 16, minor skirmishing near Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., convinced Evans that the Federal’s superior force was coming to overwhelm his troops and pulled back eight miles to Carter’s Mill. Days later, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, his superior officer, ordered Evans to return at least one regiment to Leesburg. Evans moved the entire brigade back to his original defensive line.

In the meantime, Evans’s departure was reported to U.S. Gen. Charles P. Stone, then passed on to McClellan. McClellan speculated that Evans’s withdrawal was due to other Federal movements and action from the east might force Evans to abandon Leesburg. McClellan ordered Gen. George McCall to reconnoiter towards Dranesville, Va., map the area, and then return to Langley, Va., the next day. McCall requested and received additional time to finish the mapping. He also ordered Stone to make a “slight demonstration” along the Potomac. McClellan mentioned McCall’s reconnaissance to Stone but not the mapping delay.

Stone occupied the area around Poolesville, Md. The scouting party crossed the Potomac

at a narrow point near Harrison Island, two miles long, half a mile wide, piece of flat land 500 yards from the Maryland shore and 150 yards from the Virginia side where “The point of landing was a bluff, fully one hundred feet high and too steep to climb up straight, covered with trees, rocks, and bushes. A narrow sheep-path wound around to the top. Up this little path all of the men had to go in single file, and the rifled gun when brought over later had to be dismounted and dragged up by hand.”

After flushing out some rebel pickets during his “slight demonstration,” Stone ordered Harvard educated lawyer Col. Charles Devins, 15th Mass. Inf., to investigate for further signs of Confederate activity. Devins selected Capt. Chase Philbrick, a 38-year-old stonecutter, to lead the night mission. Three quarters of a mile from the river, the group of about 20 men spotted a row of maple trees. Light from the moon shining through the trees, gave the illusion of tents. Philbrick believed he was seeing a deserted Confederate camp but did not investigate the lack of men or campfires.

The October 21, 1861, Battle of Ball’s Bluff was conceived as a raiding party. Stone ordered five companies of Col. Charles Devens to attack the enemy camp at first light. Two companies of Col. William Lee’s 20th Mass. with two 12-pdr. mountain howitzers would go to the Maryland side of the Potomac opposite Ball’s Bluff to aid if needed. To divert attention, a feint was ordered at Edwards’s Ferry, using the 3rd NY Cavalry and two companies of the 1st Minn. Col. Edward D. Baker, who was also serving as the seated U.S. Senator from Oregon, was ordered to march to Conrad’s a.k.a. White’s Ferry.

Using three boats, it took about four hours for Devens’s men to cross the rain swollen Potomac. He soon discovered that the reported tents were trees. His scouts reported that all was quiet in nearby Leesburg. Devens sent word to Stone that he would

General Nathan Evans, C.S.A. Colorization © 2018 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn. Library of Congress.

Major General William Francis Bartlett. Colorization © 2021 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn. Library of Congress.

remain in position until reinforced. As he waited, the Union feint was activated; when Capt. William Duff’s 18th Miss. company skirmished with the 15th Mass., both sides were alerted to the other’s presence. Baker went to see Stone, who briefed him on the situation and the availability of boats. He was not to advance unless the enemy’s force was inferior to his own. In writing, Stone put him in overall command of what he thought was a reconnaissance mission and gave Baker the discretion to cross more troops or to withdraw those already there.

By the time Baker arrived at Harrison Island, the 20th Mass. with their howitzers were on the bluff. Instead of going into the field to evaluate the situation, Baker spent the next three or four hours expediting the men crossing the river with the few boats. He didn’t reach the skirmishing until after 2 p.m.

West Pointer Col. Milton Cogswell, 42nd NY, was appalled by the chaos that greeted him when he reached the Potomac. Worse, the Federals were positioned in an open field with heavy woods on both sides, facing hills with their backs to a steep bluff above a bottlenecked river crossing. Cogswell informed Baker that his line was defective and could easily be overrun by the enemy. Baker ignored Cogswell’s suggestions and ordered him to “take charge of the artillery,” squandering the opportunity to drive forward.

During the argument, C.S. Col.

Eppa Hunton, 8th Va., repositioned his line. In the process, one quarter of the 8th Virginia under Lt. Col. Tebbs’s fell all the back way to Leesburg. Evans previously told a messenger, “Tell Hunton to hold his ground till every d___ man falls.” Now Evans sent in the 18th and 17th Miss.

“… The bullets flew about very thick, and I saw many of my men fall all about me... Col. Baker came down near me and cheered on the men ... he was shot. He got up again and then fell, struck by eight balls,” recounted Capt. Caspar Crowninshield, 20th Mass.

Without a designated a replacement, the Federal force fell in disarray. Under fire, Capt. William F. Bartlett, 20th Mass. led his men down the bluff. “The water was full of human beings, struggling with each other and the water, the surface of which looked like a pond when it rains, from the withering volleys that the enemy were pouring down from the top of the bank.”

Bartlett encouraged those who could swim to do so. The others he led upriver where they found a skiff that could hold five men. Using a rotation system, he was able to save eighty men and three officers from being taken prisoners.

The battle cost the Federals 223 soldiers’ lives, 226 wounded, and another 553 taken prisoner. The northern public’s outcry resulted in a Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War that would cause

conflict between the politicians and generals.

After a good night’s sleep, Bartlett woke to discover he was the highest-ranking officer in camp. Taking a page from McClellan’s playbook, the future general “… thought it best to have a dress parade as usual, both to let the men see that everything was not broken up, and to cheer them with the music. It had a very good effect.”

Sources:

✤ Morgan III, James A. A Little Short of Boats: The Battles of Ball’s Bluff & Edwards Ferry, October 21–22, 1861: Savas Beatie, 2011

✤ Gottfried, Bradley M. Maps of First Bull Run: An Atlas of the First Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign, including the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, June – October 1861: Savas Beatie, 2009

✤ Francis William Palfrey. Memoir of William Francis Bartlett: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1878

✤ Bruce, George Anson. The twentieth regiment of Massachusetts volunteer infantry, 1861–1865: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1906

Stephanie Hagiwara is the editor for Civil War in Color.com and Civil War in 3D.com. She also writes a weekly column for History in Full Color.com that covers stories of photographs of historical interest from the 1850’s to the present. Her articles can be found on Facebook and Pinterest.

The American Civil War was the rst war in which both sides widely used entrenchments, repeating ri es, ironclad warships, and telegraphed communications. It was also the rst American War to be extensively photographed. Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan are famous for having made iconic photographs in the Civil War’s eastern theater. George N. Barnard deserves to be ranked in this top tier for his photographic work in the war’s western theater. A civilian photographer hired by Gen. William T. Sherman’s chief engineer to take pictures of forti cations around Atlanta, Barnard took several hundred of them in and around the city in the fall of 1864. His most famous is the site of Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s death in the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. Thus far, no comprehensive, de nitive listing has been made of the photographer’s work. For this book we have chosen a hundred images we deem “signi cant.”

CHARLESTON IN THE WAR

“The best little book on Barnard”

Civil War Digital

During the early days of the sesquicentennial, Chet Hearn and Mike Marino started the Civil War Digital website: https:// www.civilwardigital.com/index. html. Since its inception, they have amassed many period documents, digitized them, and offered various collections for purchase online. Please take a look at the many different records they have available!

For this review, an exploration of documents available for free – Civil War diaries – will serve as the focus. Begin your search at https://www.civilwardigital. com/html/civil_war_diaries. html. The managers of this

collection provide the following tips on searching through the various diaries. They suggest:

“To Keyword search the diaries, do one of the following: – Click on Browse Diaries…and open the file in the web browser. Use the Find function to search. [Or] Right Click on Browse Diaries… and download the file. Open in Acrobat Reader and use the Find function to search.” Each method works equally well; this example describes the web browser method. Upon clicking ‘Browse diaries offline,’ a .PDF file opens within your web browser. See the screenshot below. This writer uses the Safari browser on a Mac, but the various web browsers operate similarly.

A keyword search of ‘Petersburg,’ via the browser’s search function, yields 46 results. Please allow the search a little time to complete. When finished, researchers will see a page like the one shown. Selecting the ‘Adam K. Brown’ link displays images of the actual handwritten diary. See screenshot from the diary. Diaries offer modern historians a glimpse into the action of the moment, so spend some time investigating this source and continued good luck in researching the American Civil War!

Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, and instructor, who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians,

Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@ gmail.com or request speaking

engagements via his website www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www.facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @michaelkshaffer.

Civil War Digital homepage.

Browse diaries screenshot.

Petersburg results sample.

Brown diary page.

COLLECTION

From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs. (Library of Congress).

His cap appears to be a combination of a stocking cap and a fez. The large tassel is golden in color with a blue band. The bow tie may be a prop clipped onto the collar. The closure band replaces buttons on the jacket that is meant to be open, On an adult, there might have been a decorated vest over the shirt, but it is not on this youngster.

The red pantaloons are held up by buttoned flaps on both the outside and inside seam lines to create the expanded look. The lower spatter-dashes have a heavier, darker color to better wear and show less staining. The spats are outlined by the low cut of the shoes. They are highly polished or patent leather with a somewhat round toe.

Unidentified boy wearing Zouave style uniform, holding a drum, and wearing a red white and blue bow tie. This young man might not be a drummer. His uniform is not fancy enough for a musician and most drummers held their drum sticks for a photograph. Note the pair of slit pockets on the jacket, and a handkerchief in the right side chest pocket. The lack of a belt or suspender lines indicates that the pantaloons are held at the waist by a tie or buckle mounted on the rear waistband, or connecting the two band ends above a gore.

Medium: half-plate ambrotype, hand-colored; 15.6 x 12.5 cm (case)

Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-34499.

Spiller & Burr Revolvers – The Confederate Brass Framed Whitney

One of the best illustrations of the Confederacy’s lack of manufacturing capacity when compared to that of the Union is the small number of revolvers produced in the South during the American Civil War. At least eleven Southern companies were established for the purpose of manufacturing revolving handguns during the War, but the total output of all these companies by the most generous of estimates was slightly less than 9,500 pieces. By comparison, Colt manufactured and delivered some 58,955 M1860 Army revolvers during 1863 alone, and delivered a total of 127,157 of his handguns between 1861 and 1863.

The most successful Confederate handgun manufacturer, Griswold & Gunnison, delivered an estimated 3,700 revolvers circa 1862–1864, about 6% of Colt’s output during 1863 alone! Nearly 70% of all Confederate handguns were manufactured by three manufacturers; Griswold & Gunnison (approximately 3,700), Leech & Rigdon (approximately 1,500) and Spiller & Burr (approximately 1,450). Only one other maker, Rigdon & Ansley is believed to have reached the production output of 1,000 pistols. The other makers delivered no more than about 500 pieces with many delivering only a handful of revolvers. Interestingly, the four most productive companies were located in Georgia at some point during the war, with both Leech & Rigdon and Spiller & Burr relocating there from Mississippi

and Virginia, respectively. The firm of Spiller & Burr was initially established in Richmond, Va., at the beginning of the war for the express purpose of producing revolving pistols for the Confederacy. The company was a partnership between former Baltimore businessman Edward Spiller and Richmond steam engine manufacturer David Burr. The key to the potential success of the firm lay in a third partner, Lt. Colonel James Burton of the Confederate Ordnance Department. Burton was literally a world-famous machinist, firearms manufacturer, and designer with a resume in large scale military arms production that was unequalled during the period. Burton started his work in the world of small arms in 1844 when, at the age of 21 he went to work at Harpers Ferry as a machinist in the Rifle Works that had been established some two decades earlier by John Hall. Hall’s facility was a state-of-the-art manufacturing center based upon the concept of interchangeable parts and assembly line production. During his decade long tenure at Harpers Ferry, Burton was greatly influenced by Hall’s work and would eventually rise to become the Acting Master Armorer.

He would also be responsible for the United States adopting conical, expanding base ammunition. Known generically as the Minié Ball, due to its introduction by French inventor Claude Minié, it was actually Burton’s modified version of the projectile that was adopted by the US Ordnance Department in 1855, ushering in the era of smaller caliber rifled longarms for use by all US troops. Interestingly, with his career skyrocketing during his short time at Harpers Ferry, Burton accepted a new job in 1854 with the Ames Manufacturing Company, which not only produced small arms, but also the machines to manufacture them.

The following year, Burton took on the daunting task of becoming the Chief Engineer of the newly established British Royal Small Arms Manufactory

at Enfield Lock, known as RSAF Enfield. His initial project involved installation of the new manufacturing machinery and establishing the assembly line at Enfield. Burton remained in this position through 1860, when he was hired by the firm of J.R. Anderson & Company to oversee installation of equipment to produce small arms in the old Virginia Manufactory facility in Richmond. The following year Burton was made the armory’s superintendent. In that role he subsequently supervised the installation of machinery the state of Virginia had captured when it took over the Harpers Ferry Armory in April 1861. In an ironic turn of events, Burton set up the very equipment that he had formerly overseen as Master Armorer at Harpers Ferry in a facility dedicated to arming the forces opposing the will of the United States of America to preserve the Union.

With Burton’s wealth of experience, and with his direct line of communication to the Confederate Ordnance Department, Spiller & Burr were undoubtedly confident that they would be able to establish their factory and secure a large contract to produce handguns for the Confederacy. To that end a contract to manufacture 15,000 .36 revolvers “on the pattern of Colt’s pistols” was granted to Spiller & Burr on November 20, 1861. The only delay in beginning the manufacture of the guns was obtaining the necessary machinery, which Burton was to supervise the installation of, while at the same time attending to his duties at the Richmond Arsenal. The plan went somewhat awry the following May, when Burton was transferred to Macon, Ga., to establish an armory there. Spiller & Burr followed Burton and established their factory in Atlanta, about 80 miles north of Macon. By the end of 1862, the firm had managed to produce only a small number of sample revolvers, estimated at less than fifteen. These guns were subsequently shipped to Richmond for inspection by Major Downer, the newest superintendent of the Richmond Armory. While Downer’s assessment of the pistols was essentially positive, he suggested a few minor changes that would be significant improvements to the guns.

Although the contract specifically called for production based “on the pattern of Colt’s pistols,” the product delivered by Spiller & Burr was in fact a near identical copy of the Whitney “Navy” revolver, with the significant difference that the frame, grip strap,

and back strap were all cast as a single piece from brass, rather than being made of steel as were the Whitney guns. It is generally believed that the change was made because Spiller & Burr acquired the plans and some machinery to make the pistols from the S.C. Robinson Company of Richmond. The firm had intended to produce the handgun, but decided instead to concentrate on manufacturing a Sharps pattern, breechloading carbine.

Like the Whitney, the Spiller & Burr was a six-shot, single action percussion revolver with twopiece wood grips. The gun had an octagonal barrel and a toggle link loading lever. Similar to the Whitney, the linked loading lever included a cylinder arbor pin secured by a rotating wingnut that allowed a curved keyway cut into a screw to be aligned. The Spiller & Burr was such a close copy that it included the space between the front of the cylinder and the frame as on the Whitney revolver where only the threaded end of the barrel came in close contact with the cylinder; the loading lever was retained by the early Whitney style ball detent system. Downer’s commentary noted several minor defects that he felt should be corrected and one major defect that he felt was essential to be remedied. His comments were as follows:

“I have examined the pistols made by Messrs. Spiller and Burr and Co. and find no defect which will but remedy themselves as the machines and tools become adapted to the work required, except as are incidental to the model. I think the style of the catch of the ramrod is faulty and I would recommend a spring and catch like that of the Colt’s pistol. I would also recommend a slot cut in the base of the cylinder between the nipples in which the face of the hammer will fit. The caliber of this pistol is somewhat smaller than the Colt’s. I think rounding of the muzzle of the pistol is an improvement. I would beg to suggest however that I think a plain brass mounting is superior to plated.”

Author William Gary in his work Confederate Revolvers noted that one of the “First Model” Spiller & Burr revolvers survives today (#13) and has a plated frame, a ball catch lever, no safety slots on the rear of the cylinder, exposed barrel threads, a thinner brass frame with a gap at the front, and a bore slightly smaller than .36 caliber. All of Downer’s recommendations, as well as some later ones from James Burton were eventually

Obverse overall view of 2nd Model Spiller & Burr revolver #517. All photos by Tim Prince.

Reverse overall of #517.

Left: Close up of the frame and triggerguard showing the subtle variation in brass coloration with the composition of the triggerguard slightly different from that of the frame. Also note the simple toggle style rammer and the serial number on the cylinder.

Inside the frame of #517. Note the rough finishing of the interior and the cryptic “M” mark on the lower right rear of the frame.

Above: Close up of the interior of the triggerguard showing casting flaws and rough finishing on areas of the revolver that were of no importance to the gun’s functionality.

Butt of #517 showing the serial number. Lt. Colonel James Burton.

taken to heart by Spiller & Burr. The “Second Model” Spiller & Burr revolvers were subsequently produced with thicker brass frames and top straps that were not plated, with no gap forward of the cylinder, but with safety slots on the cylinder rear, a Colt style loading lever catch, and a consistent .36 caliber bore.

The next batch of Spiller & Burr revolvers delivered to the Macon Arsenal in the spring of 1863 for inspection is believed to be “First Model” as well. Of these forty revolvers, thirty-three (about 83%) were rejected by Burton for, to quote Gary, “such serious and fatal defects that they could not be repaired.” Gary noted that the newly re-designed Second Models started the serial numbering system over again at 1, thus the first fifty to sixty revolvers of the Second Model series share numbers with earlier, First Model guns. He further noted that only two “First Models,” #13 and #23, were known to Gary when his Confederate Revolvers was published.” It appears that the issues involved in modifying and strengthening the guns so disillusioned Spiller & Burr that in June

1863 they asked the Confederate government to buy out their operation and take over production. When the Confederacy declined, Spiller & Burr continued producing the revolvers at a snail’s pace, eventually delivering some 840 pistols by January 1864. That same month, the Confederacy acquiesced to the firm’s request and took over, then moved the operation to Macon. Once relocated, some additional 400 to 600 revolvers were completed. It is generally believed that most later guns were assembled and finished from completed parts on hand at the time of the takeover. As Sherman’s Bummers approached Macon during the end of 1864, the Macon machinery was packed up for transport further south but was never reassembled, ending production of the Spiller & Burr revolver, with a grand total of between 1,250 and 1,450 being produced over a slightly less than two-year period.

Like most Confederate made revolvers, the Spiller & Burr handguns show a combination of crudeness in fit and finish with a level of workman-like quality in the areas that truly mattered. The

cast brass frames often show minor flaws, and nearly always show the tool and file marks of their hand finishing. The frames vary in coloration based upon the exact composition of the brass used to cast them, with some showing a decidedly redder color than others due to high copper content. While tool marks might be present on the interior, the exterior is usually well-polished, and the fit of metal parts is fairly good.

The octagonal barrels were blued, and while they usually vary between 6-inches and 7-inches in length, the seven-groove gaintwist rifling is typically well cut and consistent. Like so many Confederate-made arms, the Spiller & Burr often shows cryptic letter markings on concealed surfaces, with the letters M, J, G, and E often found on the frame under the grips. The guns are typically serial numbered on all the major components, with the cylinders only numbered on about half the surviving examples. The barrels of approximately 20% of the production are marked SPILLER & BURR on the top flat, near the frame, but the majority of production was unmarked. Roughly

WHERE DID SOUTH CAROLINA GET

The Confederate secretary of war, Judah P. Benjamin, said, “Laws cannot suddenly convert farmers into gunsmiths.” So where did all those weapons come from? Most were imported. But some were made right here in South Carolina. We’ve opened a new exhibit showing how this agrarian state armed itself: “Plowshares to Swords: Arming 19th Century South Carolina.”

The Civil War. The War Between the States. The Recent Unpleasantness. Whatever you call it, it happened right here, and no one tells the story better than we do.

half the extant examples are stamped C.S. on the lower front of the frame, with the mark found on both the right and left sides. It is not clear if this represents an inspection/acceptance mark or not. The only thing that appears to be consistent about Spiller & Burr markings is that they are not consistent, and even the serial numbers that are the most consistent of the markings, are not always present everywhere they are expected to be and are sometimes present in places where they are not expected.

The Spiller & Burr revolver pictured in this article is a very nice condition gun in terms of Confederate firearms which often show heavy wear and use. The gun is numbered 517 and a great example of a “Second Model” revolver. Like so many Spiller & Burrs, the gun is unmarked with the exception of serial numbers and a single cryptic mark, the letter “M” on the frame under the left grip. The barrel of this example measures 6-inches from the muzzle to the front of the frame and 6-15/16-inches to the face of the cylinder. The latter measurement is the most standard way

of measuring a revolver’s barrel length.

The gun is well documented as it is listed by serial number on page 74 of the seminal 1963 book Confederate Handguns, written by William Albaugh III, Hugh Benet Jr., and Edward Simmons. The gun has a nice collection provenance back to the Howard Mansard collection in the 1950s and was subsequently owned by R.A. Pritchard Jr, Don Tharpe, and a private foundation that loaned this gun to the Frazier History Museum in Louisville for roughly two decades.

Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in fine and collectible military arms from the Colonial Period through WWII. He operates College Hill Arsenal, a web-based antique arms retail site. A long time collector and researcher. Tim has been a contributing author to two major book projects about Civil War era arms including The English Connection and a book on southern retailer marked and Confederate used shotguns. Tim is also a featured Arms & Militaria appraiser on the PBS Series Antiques Roadshow.

Memorial Service to Be Held for Ed Bearss

Park Service. Light refreshments will be served.

This event is open to the public; however, RSVPs are appreciated to help estimate turnout and plan accordingly. Please signal your attendance by emailing RSVP@ battlefields.org with “Bearss Memorial” in the subject line.

Realizing that not all of Ed Bearss’s many friends and admirers will be able to attend in person, the Trust is also collecting written messages and recollections on behalf of the family. Letters, cards, and other remembrances may be addressed to Bearss Family, c/o American Battlefield Trust, 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005.

A memorial service honoring the life and legacy of Edwin C. Bearss (1923–2020) will be held at the Brownsville Picnic Pavilion in the Manassas National Battlefield Park on Saturday, October 9, at 2:00 p.m. The Bearss Family and the American Battlefield Trust are hosting this event to remember the legendary figure who held the title of historian emeritus for both that organization and the National

Further, in collaboration with the Bearss Family, the Trust has established a special memorial fund to preserve battlefields of the Vicksburg Campaign, an area of particular importance to Ed. More information and a donation mechanism are available at www.battlefields.org/ RememberingBearss.

If you have questions about the event, please email Bill Vodra at billvodra1@gmail.com.

Ed Bearss at home. Photos by Buddy Secor.

Edwin C. Bearss.

America in 1857

The Graphic War highlights prints and printmakers from the Civil War discussing their meaning and the print maker or artist’s goals.

The decade of the 1850’s in America was one of tension and anxiety. It seemed that the American people were hopelessly deadlocked on the concept of their “original sin,” slavery. Its existence and/or its expansion were the themes of the day as the nation appeared to be on a headlong collision between those who supported the “peculiar institution,” and those who vehemently opposed it. Proponents on both sides possessed subtle variations of solutions. Details such as those that appeared in the 1820 Missouri Compromise, one new free state, Maine; one slave, Missouri, were modified with the

CHARLESTON IN THE WAR

CHARLESTON IN THE WAR

Compromise of 1850. With the new formula, California was to be admitted free; territories taken in the Mexican War were added with no designation; the slave trade (not slavery) was outlawed in the District of Columbia, and the Fugitive Slave law was strengthened.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 killed the Missouri Compromise altogether by allowing residents of territories applying for statehood a voice in whether the state should be free or slave. The proponents of “popular sovereignty” vigorously pursued by Senator Stephen Douglas were convinced that the intensity of the debate would cool tempers on both sides. It was not to be; pro and anti-slavery advocates poured into Kansas. The concept, instead inflamed tempers leading to “Bleeding Kansas;” the caning of Senator Sumner on the senate floor by South Carolina Senator

Preston Brooks in 1856; John Brown’s Pottawatomie massacre that same year; and the demise of the Whig Party in 1854. Further infuriating abolitionists, in 1857, the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision pronouncing slaves and all blacks

inferior and not Americans.

Presiding over the last four years of the decade was the politically weak President James Buchanan. He had parlayed himself into the White House playing northern Democrats against their southern counterparts. Almost forgotten in the country’s headlong plunge toward war was the panic of 1857, overshadowed by John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. With Lincoln’s election in the new Republican Party, the die for war was cast.1

It is no wonder print makers and cultural leaders turned to symbols of apparent stability and tradition. In 1857, although the country took a momentary breath, it was headed on a path toward dissolution. Currier and Ives decided to bring the image of Washington to the fore in a modest attempt to instill some modicum of patriotism and the idea of one nation. In their portrait of Washington,

Currier depicted him as a hero dedicated to gaining American independence from British rule. The print’s appeal was obviously to our forefathers. With his battle plans spread on the table and his sword beside him, Washington is portrayed as a leader fighting for freedom. An army encampment is visible through a door in the background. In his dream, Washington’s desire to establish an independent nation is embodied by three allegorical figures of women dressed in flowing garb. Triumphantly positioned on a globe labeled “America,” the three symbolize (from left to right) prosperity with her cornucopia; liberty with her sword, and justice with her scale.

The artist Louis Maurer, as we have highlighted in past columns, a native of Biebrach Germany, was an immigrant who arrived in America in 1851, thereby embarking on a remarkable career. He was a renaissance man,

“Washington’s Dream.” Artist Louis Maurer (signature on image). Library of Congress.

trained in anatomy, lithography, and mechanical drawing. He learned cabinet making from his father. At war’s outbreak Maurer became a shooting instructor in Palisades Park,2 and worked as one during the War. He earned his artistic reputation employed with Currier and Ives specializing in trotting horses; a series called The Life of a Fireman; and Indian and Western scenes. Currier authority, Harry Peters credited him with immortalizing the American trotter.3 The Western scenes he drew came after two extensive trips to the frontier. Although he had already established his art credentials, it was not until Maurer turned 50 that he began the formal study of art, enrolling in the Gotham Art School and The National Academy of Design. At 80 he joined the Eastman School of Music, learning how to play the flute. He had his first solo exhibition at age 99 in New York City, and lived another year passing away during July 1932. At his 100th birthday party, he played the flute.4

He lived to see the country torn

Endnotes:

• For an excellent view of the year of 1857 and its place in the decade of the 1850s see Kenneth Stampp, America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink. Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1990.

• “Louis Maurer, 100, Oldest Artist, Dies,” New York Times, July 20, 1932.

• Peters, Harry, (1942). Currier & Ives, Printmakers to the American People. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

• New York Times, July 20, 1932.

After 43 years in the museum field, Salvatore Cilella devotes his time collecting American prints and maps and writing. His last professional position was President and CEO of the Atlanta History Center. His most recent books are Upton’s Regulars: A History of the 121st New York Volunteers in the Civil War (U. Press Kansas, 2009). His two-volume Correspondence of Major General Emory Upton, (U. of Tennessee Press, 2017), received the 2017–2018 American Civil War Museum’s Founders Award for outstanding editing of primary source materials. His latest book “Till Death Do Us Part,” an edit of Upton’s letters to his wife 186870, was published in 2020 by the Oklahoma University Press.

“Let ‘em Up Easy”

Presentation of a Meeting between President Lincoln and General Grant at Petersburg, Va., April 2, 1865

by Professor Earnest Veritas Special Correspondent to the Civil War News

Fun Fest, Kingsport, Tenn., (in partnership with the Tri-Cities Civil War Round Table), as part of its 10-day celebration, has a Civil War Night every year. For 2021, they presented a meeting between General Grant (Dr. Curt Fields) and President Abraham Lincoln (Dennis Boggs). They talked individually and together about their efforts in the Civil War and what to do when the war was won and over.

“Let ‘em up Easy” is a presentation developed by Dr. Fields. It is about the March 1864 visit of President Abraham Lincoln to General Grant’s City Point, Va., headquarters. The President was invited by General Grant and came to see the situation around

Petersburg, Va., and meet with Grant and other ranking military leaders about the status of the war and what to do when the war was over. Grant and Lincoln met several times during that visit for extended periods to talk about the war. This presentation lifts up those conversations. It also illuminates the deepening trust and friendship between Lincoln and Grant and the humanity of each of them.

The low murmur of conversation among the 250-plus people in the audience immediately silenced when the announcer said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant! General Grant, portrayed by Fields, walked out to center stage and stood at attention as applause rolled through the auditorium. Then the announcer said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln!” Yet more applause erupted as President Lincoln, portrayed by Boggs, came to center stage and stood

next to General Grant. The two men stood side by side on the stage for a few moments. When the applause died out, they turned to face each other and firmly shook hands. The stage lights then drew down to spotlight only the President. General Grant silently, unobtrusively, turned and walked into the darkness leaving the President to his thoughts.

For the next half-hour, President Lincoln talked about his efforts to find a general who would fight and win. He enumerated all those officers entrusted with command of the Army of the Potomac who, in grim succession, had failed, causing the nation to spiral into a dark and ever more somber mood. He agonized that he simply could not find the general who could win the war for the Union.

did not get back in the army.

By Lawrence E. Babits

Civil War Alphabet Quiz – R as in...

October

The President also told of his struggles with getting the army’s leaders to engage the enemy; take the fight to them! He addressed several of his efforts at learning how to be a military leader, that he might understand why the commanders of the Army of the Potomac were doing, or not doing, what they could to win the war, or at least make a suggestion about what they might do. Yet, he had not found success with any of them. Then, his attention was riveted upon the war in the Western Theater and the consistently victorious General Grant. He had been following Grant but had not yet determined that Grant might be the general who would fight and win.

The final part of the President’s soliloquy was his decision to appoint Grant to command all Union forces, the process of reviving the rank of Lieutenant General; and the process involved in that legislation and appointment. Grant was appointed Lieutenant General of the Army March 9, 1864, the first since George Washington; General Winfield Scott held the rank as a brevet but had never actually reached that rank. He immediately began structuring the army to his requirements and planning on taking the fight to Robert E. Lee as soon as he could.

His rapid pro motions through the ranks were addressed, and how he was surprised at every one of them. He did not seek rank or favor, yet both seemed to court him, to follow him. The General enumerated the victories he had accomplished with the Army of the Tennessee and the staggering numbers of captured men and artillery that had been surrendered to him from February 1862 to July 1863. Then he talked of the victory at Chattanooga where he had led the rescue of the Army of the Cumberland from the siege and followed that by the destruction of Bragg’s Army of Tennessee at Missionary Ridge.

After talking of Chattanooga and his subsequent promotion to

Lieutenant General, Grant turned to his left and walked into the darkness. Thus ended the first act of the presentation.

The second act began with the President and General Grant sitting in the general’s camp, talking of the war, and how they viewed what had happened. Both men mused about the war’s progress and gave in-insightful observations about how the war had been fought and how they had come together to finish the fight. Their conversation was wide-ranging

Answers found on page 47.

When President Lincoln finished his talk, he turned and walked out of the spotlight to his right. As the President disappeared into the darkness, General Grant walked out into the spotlight, taking center stage to begin his visit with the audience. Grant talked of his fear of not getting back in the army when the war started in 1861 and how he nearly

Dennis Boggs, as President Lincoln, and Curt Fields as General Grant.

and gave introspective looks into what each thought had to be done and how to do it. They came to talk about the war’s end and what to do when peace returned to the torn country.

General Grant advised the President that Lee had evacuated Petersburg and that he must be leaving soon to catch up with the army. He told President Lincoln that the war couldn’t last much longer, possibly only days, and asked the President his thoughts about how to address the surrender of Lee. He asked about how he should handle that matter, and the President replied just “Let ‘em up easy, General.”

At that time, Colonel Horace Porter (portrayed by Mike Reetz) escorted to them a courier (portrayed by Tim Massey) with news that Lee was retreating faster than was expected and the army needed Grant.

General Grant told President Lincoln this news and stood up, the President rising with the general. They walked to center stage and turned to face each other, the President towering over General Grant. Grant asked him if he had any parting thoughts or comments before he left? President Lincoln took Grant’s hand in both of his and said, again, with hearthfelt emotion, “Let ‘em up easy, General!” The stage then went to darkness.

There was a standing ovation when the lights came back up.

The presentation was well-received by the audience and the organizers of the event. Wayne Strong, the primary organizer for the presentation, had these comments about “Let ‘em up Easy:”

“Thanks, once again, for the

fine program you and Dennis did for us in Kingsport. It was truly remarkable how the audience and you connected and was greatly appreciated.”

“Curt and Dennis, here is just one of the many positive inputs we received from the audience and team members. You guys really did knock it out of the park. I cannot remember a time when our guests were given a standing ovation. Well worth it. Thanks again for doing a masterful job with the program you guys presented.”

Another organizer in the Fun Fest Kingsport said:

“A HUGE thank you to you, Wayne!! You pulled off a great production! It was top quality and so informative!

Dennis Boggs, as President Lincoln, may be found on his website of: www.meetmrlincoln.com or dboggs@meetmrlincoln.com

Curt Fields, as General Grant, may be found on his E-HQ and Campsite: generalgrantbyhimself.com or curtfields@generalgrantbyhimself.com

“Let ‘em Up Easy” was the kick-off event for the 2021 Kingsport, Tennessee, Fun Fest. The information below is a description of that annual event and the contact information to learn more about Fun Fest in Kingsport.

“This 2021 year, the Kingsport Fun Fest at http://funfest.net/ is celebrating its 40th year of existence. Fun Fest was the brainchild of the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, which wanted the

communities to connect in unity and not be at odds with each other (community vs. city). At that time, Kingsport was in a 5-year plan of annexing Colonial Heights and Indian Springs. Inventing Fun Fest brought us all together in the celebration of 10 days of fun during the middle of July each year. Local industries help fund many events, bringing in firstclass entertainers and finishing off the 10-day festival with a big fireworks display. Kingsport Fun Fest has been a favorite summer event for many Tennessee families for over 40 years. The festival runs for ten days every July, featuring over 100 events in 50 locations throughout Kingsport. Live music concerts, hot air balloon

rides, car races, heritage, and cultural events, children’s activities, and much more make Fun Fest one of the most popular summer events in the area. Kingsport Fun Fest began in 1980 and has been held annually, bringing traditional summer entertainment to the Greater Kingsport community.”

On July 11, 2022, for Civil War Night, the Fun Fest, Kingsport, TN, will host Robert E. Lee (Thomas Jessee) and General Grant (Curt Fields) in a two-man presentation, “The battle of the Wilderness: Two Days in Hell.”

For information regarding tickets to that presentation, contact Wayne Strong at: Trustwrks@aol.com or 423-367-4545.

Professor Veritas would like to express his appreciation to Mr. Wayne Strong of Kingsport, for his significant contributions to this article.

Simply put, always endeavor to tell the simple truth; simply.

– Professor E.

Veritas

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Boggs and Fields shake hands after the presentation and standing ovation.

Highly Respected Norfolk Physician Hanged for Murder

by Bob Ruegsegger

On October 23, 1863, Dr. David Minton Wright was taken to a gallows erected in the middle of the old Norfolk Fairgrounds racetrack outside town and hanged. Federal occupation troops posted in a square guarded the scaffold. Local citizens watched from rooftops or stood on wagons, carriages, and carts to witness his execution. After a funeral service at Christ Church, Dr. Wright was quietly buried in Elmwood Cemetery the following evening.

Dr. Wright moved to Norfolk, Va., from Edenton, N.C., in 1853. When the most severe yellow fever epidemic in Norfolk’s history plagued the city in 1855, Dr. Wright fell ill. He recovered and selflessly administered to the sick and dying in the city he had so recently adopted. His devotion to Norfolk’s citizens during the yellow fever plague earned him the respect of the seaport community.

“Dr. Wright’s grave was one of the places I’d always stop when I did cemetery ghost tours,” said Robert Hitchings, archivist with the Norfolk County Historical Society. “I’d stop and talk at his grave stone. He was well liked, and everybody respected him. He won the admiration of the locals.”

While Dr. Wright was a Southerner born in Nansemond

County, he was a Unionist and objected to Virginia’s Ordinance of Secession that declared the bond between Virginia and the United States of America under the U.S. Constitution dissolved. When secession came in April 17, 1861, Dr. Wright elected to remain in Norfolk in spite of the imminent change in the political circumstances. Two of his sons enlisted in the Confederate army, and Dr. Wright eventually became a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.

Anticipating the impending Federal invasion, Confederate Major General Benjamin Huger withdrew his Rebel forces from the area and directed that military provisions be turned over to civilian authority. Mayor W.W. Lamb of Norfolk surrendered the city to Federal military authorities under a flag of truce. He was given the “strongest assurances” by General John Wool and Secretary Salmon P. Chase that “persons and property of all inhabitants” would be treated with the “utmost respect.”

“After surrendering the city, Mayor Lamb later was sent to Fort Monroe under lock and key and a ball and chain. He was sent over there as a prisoner,” said Hitchings.

Norfolk immediately fell under

martial law. Brigadier General Egbert Viele became the military governor. “When the Federals took over, they more or less turned out everybody on Freemason Street, a fashionable part of the city,” said Hitchings. “They made residents get out of their houses. There was a lot of hostility and anger.” Norfolk’s white citizens gradually became more and more resentful of Federal occupation and oppression, especially toward the regiments of armed USCT troops that marched through the city streets.

Dr. Wright was among those who had come to feel antipathy toward the occupational forces. Following a celebration of his wedding anniversary on June 17, 1863, Dr. Wright was walking on Main Street toward its intersection with Church Street when he encountered a column of troops from the 1st USCT Regiment led by a white officer.

A group of civilians had gathered to peacefully protest the presence of the USCT troops serving as occupation forces as they marched boldly down a sidewalk forcing the citizens aside. Dr. Wright clenched his fists and gave voice to his revulsion by shouting a direct insult at Lt. Alanson L. Sanborn, the white officer commanding the black

soldiers. “Oh! “You coward!” shouted the indignant Dr. Wright.

Lt. Sanborn ordered his troops to halt and approached Dr. Wright, “You are under arrest,” Sanborn told Wright. Sanborn approached Dr. Wright with his sword raised. Soldiers under Sanborn’s command moved to take Wright into custody. Provoked at the thought of being arrested or threatened by Sanborn’s saber, Dr. Wright pulled a pistol from his coat pocket (some witnesses claimed Dr. Wright was handed the pistol by another angry citizen) and fired two shots at Lt. Sanborn. Dr. Wright’s violent actions proved deadly for Sanborn, and ultimately for Dr. Wright as well. The fatally wounded Union lieutenant staggered into Foster and Moore’s Drug Store and soon expired. There was no doubt who shot Sanborn. There were many eyewitnesses to the alleged assassination.

Dr. Wright was immediately arrested by the provost guard and jailed to await trial by a military commission. “I am tried by a military commission to-day or tomorrow,” wrote Wright in a note to his wife. “I suppose the verdict will be the same as that of the provost marshal, made before he

had examined the first witness,” anticipated Wright. “Should it be so, let us, while we hope and pray for the best, try to prepare for the worst.”

While Wright was incarcerated, Union authorities proceeded to arrange a court martial for his trial. The court convened in the stately Custom House on Main Street in Norfolk. For eight days with his wrists and ankles chained, Dr. Wright was forced to climb up and down the stone steps within the view of his sympathetic friends and neighbors.

Dr. Wright was tried by a military commission at the Norfolk Custom House on Main Street. Bob Ruegsegger photo.

Dr. Wright portrait.

Dr. Wright climbed these steps daily during his military commission trial. Bob Ruegsegger photo.

Dr. Wright spent the next four months trying to escape the death penalty for killing of Lt. Sanborn. Self-defense and insanity pleas found no favor with the military tribunal.

As Dr. Wright had expected, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the court. General Orders No. 17 directed that David M. Wright “be hung by the neck until he be dead” on the “16th day of October, at 10 o’clock in the forenoon” at a place in or near Norfolk as Brigadier General James Barnes, commander of United States forces may designate.

Friends and family of Dr. Wright did everything that they could to help the respected physician avoid terminal accountability. “They sent appeals to President Lincoln,” noted Tim

Bonney with Friends of Norfolk’s Historic Cemeteries. “Lincoln telegraphed Major General Foster.”

“If Dr. Wright, on trial at Norfolk, has been, or shall be convicted, send me a transcript of his trial and conviction, and do not let the execution be done upon him, until my further order,” directed Lincoln.

“Politically, Lincoln faced serious issues such as the draft riots, the necessity to recruit slaves into the army, the morale and discipline of the army, and the upcoming presidential election,” observed Tim Bonney.

President Lincoln thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and directed that the findings and sentence of the military commission be carried out. Lincoln granted a brief delay in Wright’s execution.

Wright was allowed an additional week to get his personal affairs in order.

“While in prison, Dr. Wright made his own coffin of cypress and placed daguerreotypes of his family inside the lid, including a portrait of his son, Minton Augustus Wright, who had been killed in the Battle of Gettysburg,” noted Bonney. “His family had kept the news of Minton’s death from him.”

Two days before her father’s scheduled execution, one of his daughters made a desperate effort to save her father from the hangman. “Dr. Wright was visited by his daughter Penelope. Dr. Wright shaved his beard and exchanged outer clothes with his daughter. He donned a dark veil and attempted to escape,” said Tim Bonney. Guileful Penelope had

slipped on her father’s boots and covered up with the blankets on his cot while her father sashayed out of his cell toward a waiting carriage. “An alert guard, Lt. Cook, suspicious of “Penelope’s” height and manly gait stopped him, and he was returned to his cell,” explained Bonney.

Maj. Gen. J.G. Foster sent a dispatch to General-in-Chief

H.W. Halleck on Friday, Oct. 23, 1863. “Dr. Wright was executed this morning at Norfolk, according to orders,” wrote Foster. “Everything passed off very orderly.”

After his execution, Dr. Wright’s body was turned over to his friends. A funeral was held in Norfolk’s Old Christ Church and Wright’s remains were quietly interred in Elmwood Cemetery.

The epitaph on the front of the obelisk marking Dr. Wright’s grave notes that he “died on October 23rd, 1863, in the firm hope of a blissful immortality.”

place and cause of death are left enigmatically blank.

Sources:

✪ Norfolk Historic Southern Port, Wertenbaker and Schlegel

✪ The Recording Angel, Volume 10, Issue I, Volume 9, Issue II (Newsletter Friends of Norfolk’s Historic Cemeteries)

✪ Norfolk Highlights 1584–1881, Tucker

✪ Tyler’s Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 21

✪ Official Records of the War of the Rebellion

neither his

fever

nor the immediate

There is no reference to the cause and place of death. On the cemetery interment card, his name, age, and year of death are written but, again, the spaces for his

Bob Ruegsegger is an American by birth and a Virginian. His assignments frequently take him to historic sites throughout Virginia, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Southeast. His favorite haunts include sites within Virginia’s Historic Triangle—Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg. Bob served briefly in the U.S. Navy. He is a retired educator and has been an active newspaper journalist for the last twenty years.

100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Atlanta Campaign collection of George Barnard’s camera work. Most of the photographs are from Barnard’s time in Atlanta, mid-September to mid-November 1864, during the Federal occupation of the city. With this volume, Stephen Davis advances the scholarly literature of Barnardiana.

Dr. Wright’s epitaph mentions

service to the citizens of Norfolk during the 1855 yellow

epidemic

cause of his death. Bob Ruegsegger photo

Dr. Wright Burial plot in Elmwood. Bob Ruegsegger photo.

Established in 1855, Elmwood Cemetery is Norfolk’s second oldest municipal cemetery. Bob Ruegsegger photo.

Nelson Miles at Chancellorsville & Po River

by Sarah Kay Bierle

In 1861, twenty-two-year-old Nelson Miles joined the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as a first lieutenant. He was destined to rise to other commands and the rank of brevet major general of volunteers by the end of the Civil War. He fought on numerous battlefields, including two locations preserved by Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, McLaws Wedge at Chancellorsville, and the Po

River Tract. For his actions at Chancellorsville, Miles received the Medal of Honor in 1892 for “Distinguished gallantry while holding with his command in an advanced position against repeated assaults by a strong force of the enemy; was severely wounded.”

The Civil War became a defining event in Miles’s life and began his life-long career of military service. After brief service with the 22nd Massachusetts, he served on General O.O. Howard’s staff during the Peninsula Campaign, then transferred and was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 61st New York Infantry Regiment. At the Battle of Antietam, when the 61st’s colonel, Francis C. Barlow, was severely wounded, Miles took command of the regiment and continued to press forward; trying to keep the advantage they had gained in flanking the infamous Sunken Road. His promotion to colonel and commander of the 61st resulted from his quick thinking and leadership at Antietam. During the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, Miles was wounded during one charge against Marye’s Heights.

The following spring, Miles and his regiment were part of the Army of the Potomac’s advance on May 1, 1863. As the brigades followed orders from General Joseph Hooker and withdrew to the Chancellor House, the 61st New York covered part of the II Corps’ retreat. Later, Miles wrote about the fighting on May 2-3:

“We were constantly engaged skirmishing with the enemy during the day, and at about 3 p.m., the enemy commenced massing his troops in two columns, one on

each side of the road, flanked by a line of battle about 800 yards in front in the woods. Their orders could be distinctly heard. They soon advanced with a tremendous yell, and were met with a sure and deadly fire of simply one line. A very sharp engagement continued about an hour, when the enemy fell back in disorder. Their charge was impetuous and determined, advancing to within 20 yards of my abatis, but were hurled back with fearful loss, and made no further demonstrations…. About 9 a.m. of the 3d instant, I received a detachment of 250 men, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel McCreary, of the One hundred and forty-fifth Pennsylvania, as support. Soon after, my line was vigorously attacked by the enemy on the left, and engaged the entire line. This continued for about half an hour, when I deployed about one-third of my reserve on the left, and was about to order up the remainder when I received a severe wound in the abdomen, and was obliged to leave the field….”

In a later reminiscence, Miles described constructing rifle pits and using the marshy ground to his front to delay the Confederate advance. He made a determined stand while other units broke and ran around his regiment. General Winfield S. Hancock sent reinforcements to Miles and carefully ensured they were commanded by junior officers, purposely allowing Miles to retain command of that portion of the field. Hancock reportedly declared that Miles was worth his weight in gold at Chancellorsville for holding his line against “desperate assaults.”

In this fight, for which Miles

was awarded the Medal of Honor, the young officer’s experience took a turn for the worse. Riding along the line to encourage and rally his men, Miles was badly wounded in the abdomen. Hauled to the Chancellor House hospital parlor, he suffered an examination and the doctor’s declaration that he would die. Miles lay paralyzed from the waist down, relying on others to move him, and narrowly escaped death when the Chancellor House caught fire. After a tortuous journey by ambulance and through hospitals, Miles arrived at his family home and surprised all by slowly recovering.

He returned to active duty prior to the 1864 Overland Campaign, leading the First Brigade, First Division of the II Corps. The II Corps engaged in some of the hardest fighting during the campaign. After battling in the Wilderness, the II Corps marched down Brock Road and then swung south toward the Po River. Crossing the waterway, the II Corps attempted to attack Confederate supply trains without significant success. Pushing east toward Blockhouse Bridge which

spanned a twisting turn in the Po River, Miles’s Brigade battled the Confederates on May 9-10, until the First Division was ordered to withdraw north of the river and march to another location. On May 12, Miles led his brigade in the attack on the Mule Shoe Salient, punching through the east side of the Confederate defensive works. Miles’s promotion to brigadier general was due to his role in this attack. During the rest of the Overland Campaign, he continued to lead conspicuously and rose to temporary command of the First Division, and then II Corps as superior officers left with illness or injury. His final Civil War campaigns were at Petersburg and Appomattox.

When the Civil War ended, Miles stayed in the U.S. Army, guarding Jefferson Davis and working with the Freedman’s Bureau. In the 1870’s, Miles commanded troops in the Plains Indian Wars. Even though he is associated with the events resulting in the Massacre at Wounded Knee, Miles regarded the massacre as “the most abominable criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and

Nelson Miles received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Miles fought near the Po River on May 9-10, 1864, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House; some of the land where he battled is preserved by Central Virginia Battlefields Trust.

McLaws Wedge—a tract of land on Chancellorsville Battlefield— includes the site of Miles’s defensive action and wounding.

children” and advocated compensation and aid for the survivors.

He actively organized troops during the Spanish American War and even volunteered to leave retirement to see combat in World War I. When General Nelson Miles died in 1925, he was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

Miles’s memorable defense of the Union lines at Chancellorsville occurred on the preserved tract of land now called McLaws Wedge. Preserved in the early days of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, the property has since been incorporated into Chancellorsville National Battlefield where a tour stop on the walking trail interprets Miles’s defense and wounding.

Fort

The land where Miles battled near the historic Blockhouse Bridge during the Battle of Po River segment of Spotsylvania Court House is one of two tracts Central Virginia Battlefields Trust preserved in the early 2000’s. This site is not currently open for public access, but hopefully, it will be interpreted in the future.

Sarah Kay Bierle serves as the Chief Administrative Officer at Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. CVBT is dedicated to preserving hallowed ground at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. To learn more about this grassroots preservation non-profit, please visit our website at www.cvbt.org.

Chris Mackowski

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Paige Gibbons Backus and Rob Orrison both have pieces in the summer 2021 issue of Hallowed

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

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,

Brian Swartz (right), author of Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the Civil War, poses with living historian Matt Bray at a July event in western Maine.

Sheritta Bitikofer is one of the newest voices at Emerging Civil War.

Dwight Hughes and Ted Savas pose with Dwight’s book, which Ted published, Unlike Anything that Ever Floated.

ECW’s Kris White wrote the text for the American Battlefield Trust’s new series of map books.

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

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!

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.

Digital

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

Emerging Civil War Celebrates 10th Anniversary

by Leon Reed SPOTSYLVANIA, Va.—More

than 165 Civil War scholars, writers, and enthusiasts gathered August 6 through 8 at Stevenson’s Ridge conference center in Spotsylvania, Va., for the 7th Emerging Civil War Symposium.

Emerging Civil War Editor-inChief Chris Mackowski opened the conference by presenting the Emerging Civil War Award for Service in the Field of Civil War Public History to Dr. Gary Gallagher. (see cover story) Mackowski and other attendees praised Gallagher for a lifetime commitment to historic studies, battlefield preservation, and education of the next generations of historians; for his years of service on many boards; and for his willingness to mentor young people. ECW also presented several other awards later in the evening. Another celebration happened at lunch on the second day of the conference when the hosts brought out a cake and celebrated the 10th birthday of Emerging Civil War. ECW authors and staff present were called forward for a “team picture.”

Not earning an award but perhaps deserving one, were Doug Crenshaw and Robert Dunkerly, who put together a joint presentation on Joseph Johnston with about two hours’ notice to pinch hit for a scheduled presenter who couldn’t make it.

This year’s conference theme was “Fallen Leaders of the Civil War.” The people at ECW used the term “fallen” broadly. While the presentations dealt with many officers who died during the War, including Jeb Stuart, John Pelham, Earl van Dorn, Richard Armistead, Thomas G. Stevenson, and Leonidas Polk, it also included officers who were alive and

more or less well at the end of the war, including PGT Beauregard, Joseph Johnston, John Pope, and Fitz John Porter, leaders who had fallen from grace.

Best-selling author Gordon Rhea gave the keynote presentation on “JEB Stuart’s Mortal Wounding at Yellow Tavern.” He covered the outline of Stuart’s career as a cavalry leader and acknowledged the traditional accusation that Stuart was occasionally too interested in publicity, public acclaim, and the ladies. He then reminded listeners the effective leadership Stuart provided was not always in the cavalry sphere. For example, after Stonewall Jackson fell on the first night of the Chancellorsville campaign, Lee selected Stuart to lead Jackson’s Corps, and Stuart led the infantry very effectively through the rest of the battle.

Raising a theme that echoed through many presentations, Rhea pointed out how Stuart redeemed himself after his acknowledged failure during the Gettysburg campaign. His active defense on the retreat to Virginia and his superb work during the early stages of the 1864 Overland Campaign demonstrated his value as a cavalry leader. Rhea gave Stuart particularly high marks for his defensive efforts during the Army of the Potomac’s attempt to flank the Army of Northern Virginia after the Battle of the Wilderness. Stuart’s aggressive screening held up Grant’s army and ensured that the Army of Northern Virginia would beat Grant to the key crossroads at Spotsylvania Courthouse.

After his presentation, Rhea patiently signed extensive collections of his works from fans who seemingly had emptied their bookshelves for the occasion.

Certain commonalities emerged across the presentations. In at least five cases, personality may have contributed as much as performance to the officer’s downfall. Doug Crenshaw and Sean Chick both asserted that Johnston and Beauregard’s feuding with each other and their ongoing conflicts with President Jefferson Davis certainly made them more vulnerable to dismissal when performance disappointed.

Matt Atkinson pointed out that Earl van Dorn’s death, of course, traced directly to his reputation for womanizing. Atkinson said that van Dorn showed distinct traits throughout the war: impetuosity, thirst for glory, and a continuous interest in “the fairer sex.” Before the war, he was known as one of the greatest Indian fighters in the U.S. Army. With responsibilities of higher command, he suffered defeats at Pea Ridge and Second Corinth but had several triumphs leading cavalry, including a raid that destroyed a major Union supply depot and another success at Thompson Station.

Although John Pope’s dismissal was inevitable after his thrashing at 2nd Manassas, Dan Welch observed that his bombastic statements upon assuming command made him a more visible target and did much to make his fall “unavoidable.” Fitz John Porter, whose path crossed Pope’s, was arrested and convicted for refusing to follow orders, but, according to Kevin Pawlak, his public criticisms of Pope made him a bigger target.

In three cases, a general’s “fall” was far from the end of his career. Robert Dunkerly pointed out that Johnston was brought back to command in the spring of 1865 and, considering the Army of Tennessee’s condition after Hood’s defeats at Franklin and Nashville, performed a magnificent job of getting a fighting force organized and then leading them effectively in the Battle of Bentonville, one of the last major battles of the war. Dunkerly said he considers Johnston’s work during the spring of 1865 “Johnston’s finest performance.”

Welch described the ambition, use of political connections, and slender accomplishments that preceded John Pope’s appointment to command in the east. The “inevitable fall” in his title referred to his incompetent handling of his forces in the Battle of Second Manassas. Welch went on to point out that the conventional view Pope was exiled to a backwater after Second Manassas is an incorrect reading of the situation.

The Sioux war in Minnesota was a dangerous uprising that caused the Lincoln administration serious political problems. “If he was being exiled, why did they send him to a place where important fighting was taking place?” Pope handled the situation effectively and sensitively and went on from there to several other important

assignments, including theater command during the war and postwar assignments that influenced the future of the U.S. Army.

PGT Beauregard was another general whose flamboyant personality repeatedly got him in trouble but his popularity and unquestioned abilities as an engineer kept him in demand until the

ECW Editor-in-Chief Chris expresses his thanks to everyone for making ECW’s first ten years a success.

Some of the historians who make ECW happen on a day-to-day basis gathered for a group photo and some birthday cake (with Earl Van Dorn lurking over their shoulders). Hank Ballone.

Gordon Rhea.

War’s end. Chick pointed out that the “hero” of Fort Sumter and the victor of First Manassas performed valuable services in preparing the Charleston defenses, commanding troops at Bermuda Hundred, and, perhaps most impressively, conducting the initial defense at Petersburg. Chick described the latter effort as “one of the finest defensive battles of the Civil War.”

Finally, Fitz John Porter was the one general who survived the war but did not recover from his “fall.” Porter, a corps commander and close associate of George McClellan, was part of the portion of the Army of the Potomac assigned to reinforce John Pope’s short lived Army of Virginia. Kevin Pawlak pointed out that Porter made himself vulnerable with his open criticism of Pope, a vulnerability that he then compounded by not staging attacks on Lee’s right at Second Manassas that Pope ordered him to make. Pawlak argued that the charge that Porter refused to move in order to undercut Pope, and therefore endangered the entire army is incorrect; a board finally exonerated him, years after the war. The most obscure individual covered was the man for whom the ridge and the conference center are named. Mackowski said

“For eight years, Emerging Civil War has gathered at Stevenson Ridge to talk about the Civil War, but we’ve never really talked about the guy the place was named after, Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson. Stevenson was a 28-year-old division commander in the Federal IX Corps who was killed during the battle

of Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864. According to historian Gordon Rhea, Stevenson was “arguably Burnside’s ablest division commander.”

“But most people don’t really know who Stevenson was. As a short-tenured division commander in the most under performing Federal corps (IX), commanded

by one of the most lampooned Union generals (Burnside), along the least-known front of the battle, it is little wonder that Stevenson is barely remembered today or that his death gets little mention. Late historian Richard Sommers describes him as “the neglected hero Stevenson.”

At least three presentations foreshadowed forthcoming books. Crenshaw covered material from his forthcoming book, To Hell or Richmond: The 1862 Peninsula Campaign, while the topic covered by Chick was based on his upcoming book Dreams of Victory: PGT Beauregard in the Civil War. Sarah Bierle’s discussion of Pelham was also based on her forthcoming book. Her presentation summarized his life and brief military career but also examined the inflated position he assumed, almost immediately, in Confederate mythology and memory. She challenged the audience to recall that “a person’s life and the story written about them after their death may not match.”

The conference was bookended by a pair of battle walks. On Friday morning, Ted Savas led 84 people on a tour of Payne’s Farm on the Mine Run battlefield. Savas and Paul Sacra rediscovered the lost battlefield in the

1980s and it has since been protected by the American Battlefield Trust. Sunday morning, historian Greg Mertz took more than 100 people on a walk through the Wilderness Battlefield and discussed the wounding of James Longstreet. In keeping with the conference theme, he also worked Longstreet’s postwar “fall” into his presentation.

Sarah Bierle, one of the chief conference organizers, summarized her feelings at the end of the conference: “It was exciting to see this year’s symposium come together and such a delight to see so many friends. I particularly enjoyed meeting some of our newest writers for the blog and symposium guests who were attending for the first time. The Symposium is such a wonderful networking event, in addition to the scheduled programs, and I find it satisfying to watch people connecting, talking about their interests and research, and making plans for the future. That is at the heart of the Emerging brand, and to see it in-person and be a part of making the event happen, is a fulfilling way to give back to the history community.”

Next year’s conference theme is “What-if’s of the Civil War.”

Sarah Bierle.

Military coverage of the War—‘the Glorious News’

THE ADAMS SENTINEL.

by Joan Wenner, J.D.

The Gettysburg weekly, The Adams Sentinel, was one media outlet, especially in June and July 1863, that took its reporting very seriously as did many other media companies of the day both large and regional.

Editor Robert G. Harper had a home and office on a Gettysburg street, just a stone’s throw away from the residence of prominent attorney David Wills where Lincoln had stayed the night before delivering his famous address.

When returning to his printing press to report on the momentous 1863 battle, he included in the July 7 edition an apology to subscribers for their not receiving an issue since June 23, though the absence could hardly be unexpected due to the tumultuous events that had been transpiring.

Our Apology

Even in those extraordinary days, he would write of some local people who joined the Union ranks, “...who with indifference to surroundings, pursued the even tenor of their way, and met and discharged their accustomed duties, may consistently find fault.”

This despite the glaring headlines like Gettysburg and the War and Killed and Wounded, along with his reporting on the ebb and flow of the ‘great battle’ and references to particular residents as “shot and shell, grape and canister from both, darkened the air in every direction.”

Read the actual text of the heartfelt apology in total online in a July 12, 2019, post by writer Codie Nash at: https://www.penncivilwar.com/ post/a-terrible-and-yet-glorious-reality.

The Adams Sentinel was published on time throughout the remainder of the war. Then on Tuesday evening, April 11, 1865, Harper ran the bold print headlines: “The War Nearly

Over!” “BRIGHT SKIES! Lee Surrendered—And His Whole Army!

Robert Harper continued his reporting as editor until 1867.

Joan Wenner, J.D. is a longtime contributor to the Civil War News with a law degree. She is also a book reviewer. Her email is: joan_writer@yahoo.com.

Nobody even comes close to building a Civil War tent with as much attention to reinforcing the stress areas as Panther. Our extra heavy duty reinforcing is just one of the added features that makes Panther tentage the best you can buy!

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Gettysburg Adams Sentinel

Gettysburg Adams Sentinel. April 1865.

Gettysburg Adams Sentinel. April 11, 1865.

Gettysburg illustration of a hospital scene behind the lines.

Gettysburg reporters overlooking the town of Gettysburg.

CIVIL WAR BOOK,___ B mv 11:

Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with timely analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War research and scholarship. Contact email: BookReviews@CivilWarNews.com.

An Excellent Introduction to the Capital of the Confederacy

Embattled Capital—A Guide to Richmond During the Civil War. By Robert M. Dunkerly and Doug Crenshaw. Maps, Photos, Illustrations, Bibliography. 177 pages. Savas Beatie, www.savasbeatie.com. Softcover, $14.95.

Reviewed by Tom Elmore

More than just Battle Events

We Gave Them Thunder –Marmaduke’s Raid and the Civil War in Missouri and Kansas. By William Garrett Piston & John C. Rutherford. 2021, Ozarks Studies Institute of Missouri State University, Springfield. https://ozarksstudies. missouristate.edu/book-series. htm. 341 pp., $29.95.

Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart

commanders using a communication system dependent upon written messages delivered by horseback and made worse by the Federal need to defend numerous points thus negating their overall strength. Favoring the Federals were their earthen defensive lines supplemented by fortified log strong points. These fortified supply bases were defended by determined men who, faltered at times, overall stood their ground and denied raiders access to the Federal supply depots.

Dunkerly and Crenshaw, two veteran authors with ties to the Richmond National Battlefield, have produced an excellent book aimed at the casual reader. It is both an introduction to what the city was like during the war and a guide book for anyone wanting to visit it today.

The book is divided thematically into twelve chapters. As one might expect, popular visitor destinations like museums and battlefields are covered. In addition, the authors discuss prisons and hospitals. Also mentioned are numerous little known, and out of the way sites.

The authors concentrate their tale of Marmaduke’s failed 1863 raid around two Confederate defeats: Springfield on Jan. 8, 1863, and Hartville on Jan. 11, 1863. The tale of these two Missouri battles is well told, allowing the reader to follow the flow of the fighting. The authors do not simply report battle events but provide critiques of what went right and what went wrong. They speculate about what would have happened to Federal strategy if the raid had been successful.

Horace Greely, the influential editor of the New York Tribune spoke for most northerners when he put “On to Richmond!” under the letterhead of his newspaper. Not surprisingly, the capture of the Confederate capital became one of the main objectives of the Union army. However, strong Confederate military leadership and poorly planned and executed Union campaigns allowed Richmond to avoid capture for almost four years.

There are also chapters dealing with difficult subjects like slavery in Richmond and the Reconstruction era. In the chapter about monuments, they discuss the on-going controversies regarding the many Confederate monuments around the city and the recent removal of some of them. To the author’s credit, these subjects are discussed in a very fair and impartial manner.

For anyone who wants to know more about Richmond during the Civil War, this book is an excellent starting point, and should be carried by any Civil War enthusiast planning a trip to the Confederate capital.

In December 1862, Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke led a Confederate cavalry raid north from Arkansas into Missouri. The raid was directed at the Federal supply depot located at Springfield, Missouri. The purpose of the raid was to destroy sufficient Federal supplies to prevent the Federal’s planned 1863 spring offensive against Little Rock, Ark. Springfield was the Federal forward supply base supporting the advance of Missouri troops into Arkansas. Marmaduke’s raiding force was built around Colonel Joseph O. Shelby’s Brigade and Colonel Joseph C. Porter’s Brigade. These two brigades formed the core of the 4th Cavalry Division, Army of the Trans-Mississippi

The story of the raid is well told and contains details of the campaign of which I was unaware. The authors rightly point out the fortitude the Confederate cavalrymen displayed as they advanced into battle while operating behind enemy lines during a very cold and wet winter. That the Confederate plan failed to achieve its aims was not due to failure in the personal courage of its soldiers.

Overall, the authors’ story again brings to the forefront the common factors that hampered Federal defensive response to a raid, lack of knowledge of the raiders intended target, and the real time location of the Confederate’s main force. The lack of current knowledge was compounded by Federal

A much more important topic, however, is the Federal response to the raid. They launched an 1863 spring-summer offensive designed to knock Arkansas out of the war. The results of this Federal campaign were that the Missouri Confederate state government would never return to Missouri, and the Arkansas Confederate state government would be deprived of its capital city, Little Rock.

The text of the book is supported

by a number of well executed battle maps, rendered in color, showing the flow of the fights. The supporting photos are also in color. A topic hinted at within the book, but not deeply delved into, is the impact of the raid on the civilian population in its path. The Confederate troopers were forced to live off the land as they moved through Missouri. The land they traveled through was populated by subsistent farmers whose survival during a brutal winter was uncertain even in the best of times. Thus, the reader is faced with an unanswered question. After the land was stripped by the Confederate raiders of food, fodder, and animals, what happened to the civilian population? Tidbits within the overall story suggest death by starvation and diseases were the lot of these unfortunates, but the reviewer is uncertain if this is the correct answer. If the Confederate TransMississippi Department is of any interest to you, this book is a must read and an excellent addition to any Civil War library.

Charles H. Bogart has a BA from Thomas More University and an MCP from Ohio State University. He is employed as a tour guide at the Fort Boone Civil War Battle Site in Frankfort, Kentucky, serves as President of the Frankfort Civil War Roundtable, and is a board member of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable. He has written a number of books and articles on military and naval history.

Tom Elmore, the author of A Carnival of Destruction— Sherman’s Invasion of South Carolina wrote about Whiskey in the

issue of Civil War

Slavery in the Western United States

Kevin Waite, West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire. Notes, bibliography, index, 372 pp., The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, paperback. $29.95.

Reviewed by Thomas J. Ryan

Judah Benjamin, a future member of the Confederate presidential cabinet, commented that the Eastern world’s “commerce makes empires of the countries to which it flows….” The transcontinental objective had been under consideration since Thomas Jefferson’s presidency led to the Louisiana Purchase, and was later extended by the Republic of Texas and acquisition of territory including present-day California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. The discovery of gold motivated Southerners to transport as many as 1,500 black slaves to California, despite a stipulation in its constitution: “Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude … shall ever be tolerated in this State.”

never appeared brighter.”

Research about the Civil War generally focuses on the eastern part of the United States, yet, as Kevin Waite points out in West of Slavery, slavery-related issues led to confrontations in far Western states and territories as well. While on a smaller scale, fallout over slavery and related forms of bondage in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Utah led to political maneuvering and deadly conflict among partisan groups. The author labels this landmass the “Continental South,” and notes, “Proslavery partisans transformed the southwest quarter of the nation … into an appendage of the slave states.” California was the scene of confrontation between northern and southern oriented combatants, with the southerners endeavoring to achieve independence as a slave state.

The author sheds light on the “southern powerbrokers” who schemed to bring the western region into their “political and commercial orbit.” He explains why residents in these states embraced the pro-slavery agenda of their counterparts in the southeastern states; and how the idea of westward expansion shaped Confederate grand strategy during the war. He labels this “a study of failure—a catalog of dreams deferred, schemes interrupted, and plans forestalled….” “West of Slavery” deals with the South’s desire for participation in the Asian market and its “600 million consumers.” This required construction of a transcontinental railroad that Northerners labeled “the great slavery road.” As early as 1852,

Regarding the location of a transcontinental railroad destined to enhance commerce in the area it traversed, Mississippi’s Senator Jefferson Davis argued it was needed to maintain political and military control over newly-acquired areas in the West. He favored the railroad running through the South, and, after that region won the right to build an overland mail route in 1857, expectations were the future railroad would run over that same area. Later, as Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis envisioned the railroad running from St. Louis to San Francisco; and, after the “Gadsden Purchase” acquired land along the Mexican border with Texas, plans moved ahead for another Southern railroad terminating in San Diego.

Despite these railroads not being built during the antebellum period, the South still established itself politically in California, New Mexico, and the area later known as Arizona. Emigrants from the South managed to acquire positions in legislatures, courts, and as members of Congress, enabling them to influence political decisions. Eventually, railroad builders employed black slaves, captive Indians, and Mexican peons to extend the roads further westward. Slaveholders and Democrat Party officials in California and other western areas looked to Jefferson Davis for guidance and support from his influential position in the U.S. Congress. In Utah, Mormon leader Joseph Smith believed the “African race was divinely destined for slavery…;” both Utah and New Mexico passed laws that protected slaveholders, and attracted “a mass migration of southerners.” As a result, Waite concludes, “By 1860, slaveholding prospects in the Far West had

So, when the people elected Abraham Lincoln as president and he took the oath of office in March, the Union not only divided between North and South, but also to a certain extent in the West, and Jefferson Davis was intimately involved in causing these divisions. Many Californians opted to join the Confederate military, and others posed a threat to generate an uprising within the state. Southerners in the U.S. military assigned to the Department of the Pacific, including such well-known stalwarts as Albert Sidney Johnston, George Pickett, Lewis Armistead, and Richard Garnett “resigned their commissions and fled east.” During the Civil War, Southern California remained strongly anti-Union and pro-South.

Following the collapse of the Southern rebellion, the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army, and the arrest of President Jefferson Davis, the situation out West stabilized. As the author points out, however, in his closing analysis titled “In the Shadow of the Confederacy,” the South rose again, so to speak, through the efforts of such organizations as the United Daughters of the Confederacy to sustain the memory of the Southern cause. The mindset and lifestyle of the South lived on through dogged efforts of “Lost Cause” revisionism. This too was true in the “Continental South,” including California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. For example, “No other free state housed more Confederate monuments than California.”

In West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire, Kevin Waite has created a fascinating study of a subject glossed over in other Civil War histories. This is a unique view of our country during the time of its greatest trial that all those interested in this period will find intriguing in its depth of research and clarity of narration. Readers will come away with a much expanded view of a conflict heretofore limited in both space and time.

Thomas J. Ryan is the author of the multiple award-winning Lee is Trapped and Must Be Taken: Eleven Fateful Days after Gettysburg, July 4-14, 1863 (along with co-author Richard R. Schaus), and the multiple award-winning Spies, Scouts and Secrets in the Gettysburg Campaign: How the Critical Role of Intelligence Impacted the Outcome of Lee’s Invasion of the North, June-July 1863.

The Ideal of a Cavalry Officer

Unsung Hero of Gettysburg: The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg. By Edward G. Longacre. Illustrated, index, notes, bibliography, Potomac Books, https://www. nebraskapress.unl.edu/potomac/, 2021, 316 pp., hardcover, $34.95.

Reviewed by Wayne L. Wolf

Gregg’s moment of lasting glory however came on July 3, 1863, when in conjunction with General George Custer, he attacked and successfully prevented cavalry under Gen. J.E.B. Stuart from coordinating a rear attack on Union lines with General Pickett’s frontal assault. His preventing of this dual attack saved the Union line and ultimately the victory at Gettysburg for Union forces.

For the remainder of the war Gregg was attached to the Army of the Potomac and, except for a few tactical errors at Brandy Station (perhaps due to ill health) he competently led his cavalry through actions at Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville, and Sulphur Springs, then engaging General Lee’s forces on their retreat route while simultaneously acting as General Meade’s eyes and ears.

David M. Gregg was the beau ideal of a mid-nineteenth cavalry officer. After graduating from the United States Military Academy, he spent six years honing his skills in the Southwest and on the Pacific coast fighting Native Americans and protecting frontier settlements. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned east and was appointed Colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Thus began the Civil War career of a modest, humble cavalry leader who would win the trust of superiors and the loyalty and affection of those who served under him.

Efficiently carrying out a variety of duties including supply routes and trains, skirmishing with Confederate raiders, and never holding back from an offensive assault when he thought an advantage could be gained, he still cared for his men and never needlessly placed them in danger. This philosophy held through engagements at Malvern Hill, Stony Creek Station, Second Deep Bottom, Haw’s Shop, Todd’s Tavern, Samaria Church, and countless other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley and during the Overland and Peninsular campaigns. Promoted to brigadier general in November 1862 upon General Bayard’s death, he inherited command of the 2nd Division. Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, a position he was to hold for the remainder of the Civil War.

After the war, General Gregg served a brief stint as counsel at Prague and a term as auditor general of Pennsylvania. Yet, he was always cash strapped, never lived in a home he owned, and devoted most of his time to organizations that were military related, including the Loyal Legion where he served as Commander-in-Chief. He died on August 7, 1916, largely forgotten for his Civil War service.

Edward Longacre expertly combines primary source material with accounts of military engagements to craft a very readable, historically accurate, and unbiased biography of General Gregg. This is a much-needed biography of a general who gave much yet never sought publicity or self-promotion. Any student of Gettysburg would be well served by having a copy of this book close at hand.

Wayne L. Wolf is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College, past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable and the author of numerous books and articles on the Civil War, including Two Years Before the Paddlewheel and The Last Confederate Scout.

Digital Issues of CWN are available by subscription alone or with print plus CWN archives at CivilWarNews.com

What Does Freedom Really Mean?

Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration. By Edward T. Cotham Jr., Photographs, index, chapter endnotes, and bibliography. 344 pp. State House Press, Schreiner University, Kerrville, Texas. https://www.tamupress. com/consortium/texas-am-university-press. 2021. Distributed by Texas A&M University Press Consortium. Cloth. $39.95.

Reviewed by Richard J. Blumberg

The Human Side of War

Ed’s meticulous research makes Juneteenth a seminal work. A military order is more than the paper it is written on. General Order Number 3 affected various aspects of everyday life.

Some of these included race relations, political considerations, military policies and procedures, and social and economic impacts. Ed analyzes each of these topics thoroughly. As a result, readers gain a deeper understanding of how military orders are created, enacted, and enforced.

Race relations are the hub of this study’s focus. Readers are challenged to determine exactly what freedom is for all parties and how it can be achieved.

My Enemy, My Friend. By Georgiann Baldino. Illustrated, notes, Pearl Editions, 2020, 272 pp., softcover, $14.95.

Reviewed by Wayne L. Wolf

minister to the boys in the hospitals and prisons.

romantic side of war and focus on its human cost.

Union Major General Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3, is among the most misunderstood of all military orders issued during the Civil War. Its first line contains the phrase “all slaves are free.” It was issued and signed off on by a staff officer of the Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865.

“Mr. Civil War Galveston,” Ed Cotham, was intrigued by this rather simplistic statement and decided further research was needed. Ed has written numerous other books and articles, but this is perhaps his best work. He correctly asserts that readers need a great deal of background information and context to understand this order’s significance and its multiple impacts.

Lincoln and his Cabinet were conflicted about when and how to publish the Emancipation Proclamation which provided the foundation for General Order Number 3. Enforcement of General Granger’s order was very problematic for military troops trying to provide for freed Negroes and simultaneously conduct a war with the Confederates. Ed also provides interesting discussions about how Negroes were employed and reintegrated back into some Galveston area’s plantations, as well as in military service with the Union Army.

Juneteenth is a fascinating and provocative exploration of why June 19th of every year is celebrated in Texas. Cotham’s book is well worth the $39.95 price tag. Excellent research, a detailed bibliography, and numerous photographic images make this book one that should be on everyone’s reading list.

Richard J. Blumberg has reviewed books for Civil War News for nearly twenty years. Three of his articles have been published in various issues of Civil War News.

Civil War Artillery Book

392 page, full-color book, Civil War Artillery Projectiles –The Half Shell Book.

For more information and how to order visit the website www.ArtillerymanMagazine. com or call 800-777-1862.

$89.95 + $8 media mail for the standard edition.

Georgiann Baldino has fashioned this fictional novel around two composite portraits—one Union (Archie Ryan) and one Confederate (Elias Goodson). Likewise, Archie’s wife Jennie and Elias’ fiancée Liz Becker are fictional characters symbolic of women’s profound political and moral differences on the home front and their sufferings during the war. The battles noted represent engagements fought by the 99th Pennsylvania Infantry for the Union and the 2nd South Carolina Infantry for the South. An additional main character, Mary Morris Husband, was an actual Civil War nurse who saved both Archie and Elias from their war injuries. Mrs. Husband epitomizes the sacrifices of those who risked their lives and health to

The author’s story is more than a simple recounting of two soldiers wounded in battle and serving their respective causes. Five themes that form its message emerge from this novel. First, despite a brutal war, combatants can put aside their differences after the war and work together for the common good of the country. Secondly, war has horrific costs for those left behind, years of separation, loss of affection, struggles to care for families, and death unattended by absent soldiers. Third, war is hell. Battles are not the sanitized versions recounted in newspapers. Instead, they are the blood, gore, pain, and suffering of human beings whose commitment by politicians with their rhetoric does not match brutal reality. Fourth, being exposed to war changes soldiers. In this novel, attitudes toward slavery morph into abolitionism. The soldier is deprived of his freedom in the army, is exposed to arbitrary military commanders, and is subjected to brutal punishments. Finally, shared wartime experiences can make enemies into friends. Soldiers come of age on the battlefield and realize they have more in common than supposed differences. Reconciliation is not only possible but preferred. While this novel does not contribute new insights into battles or campaigns, it does present the human side of war, using both fact and fiction to illustrate war’s complex challenges. Readers of fiction will like this book for its character development and moral message. It is recommended for those who wish to forget the

Wayne L. Wolf is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College and the author of numerous Civil War books and articles, including Heroes and Rogues of the Civil War and The Last Confederate Scout. He is past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable.

By Jack W. Melton Jr.

Hidden Evidence

A Look Inside Civil War Artillery Projectiles

"Through Jack’s superb photography; the collector and professional can now view an extensive exposure to sectioned projectiles. This is new for the average person in that for the first time since radiography; one can examine the internal makeup of a shell."

CWO4 John D. Bartleson Jr., U.S. Navy EOD

Author of Civil War Explosive Ordnance 1861–1865

6-PounderSphericalCaseShot

What do they say?

Jack Melton’s latest endeavor, Civil War Artillery Projectiles – The Half Shell Book, is a remarkable addition to Civil War artillery ammunition literature. For archaeologists and collectors the clearly written text and the excellent photographs provide a wealth of information to properly identify recovered shells and burst fragments. For bomb squad and EOD specialists this book should be on every units’ shelf. The material found in these pages will help EOD personnel identify what has been found, whether or not it is dangerous, and how to inert the round without the necessity of destroying an important historic object. This book takes Civil War artillery ammunition studies to a new level.

Douglas Scott Adjunct Research Faculty, Colorado Mesa University. Author of Uncovering History: Archaeological Investigations of the Little Bighorn.

Theexpedienttriedbytheconfederatesinimitationof ourprojectiles,(andoccasionallyusedbyourownmen,)of mixingmusketbulletswiththeburstingchargeof

wasentirelyfutilefromwantof

Inthisexample,riflebulletswereutilizedasthecaseshotmaterialincluding3-ring.58caliberbullets,3-ring.69caliberbul lets,andU.S.ring-tailSharpsbullets.IthasabrassBormannsupportplug(underplug)thatiscountersunkonbothsidesof the flame’scommunicationchannel.Theblackpowderburstingchargewaspouredinloosearoundthebullets.Thismethoddid notworkverywellandoftenonlysucceededinblowingthefusesout.Projectilesfilledwithbulletsusedascaseshotarerare. Thisspecimenwasrecovered,alongwithotherConfederateandUnionprojectiles,fromthepost-CivilWardumpsitelocated neartheConfederatePowderWorksinAugusta,Georgia.

• 392 pages of full color photographs with descriptions

• Covers projectiles, fuses, canister, grapeshot and more

• 850 photos, drawings, radiographs, patents and maps

• A must for every serious artillery enthusiast

Wow. I have been reading a lot of different books on ordnance from this era, but this one takes the cake. Most of the other books drift off in directions that are not helpful with the ordnance specific information I am usually looking for. But this book stays on task and topic from start to finish.

Tom

Gersbeck

MFS, Graduate Faculty, Arson-Explosives Investigation (AEI), School of Forensic Sciences, Oklahoma State University

Jack Melton’s new book Civil War Artillery Projectiles – The Half Shell Book, promises to be one of the most important volumes on Civil War artillery in recent times. Anyone who has studied the wide variety of Civil War projectiles knows that what is inside is just as important, and maybe more so, than what is outside the shell. In this book, cutaway shells are graphically explained with superb color photographs and detailed notes. They reveal important details and differences in a variety of similar projectiles that tell us U.S. from C.S. and between type variations, in a way that no other approach has ever done. It is supremely helpful in explaining to others just how a shell works, whether it is still dangerous or not, and why.

Les Jensen

Former Curator of the Museum of the Confederacy

Before making plans to attend any event contact the event host.

Deadlines for Advertising, Editorial or Events

Submissions is the 20th of each month. We strive to add all events submitted to us but do not guarantee that your event will be published. There is a 100 word maximum for each event and a $50 insertion fee for each event. Email events to: ads@civilwarnews.com

Sept. 25, Illinois. Civil War & Military Extravaganza.

Zurko Promotions presents The National Civil War Collectors Fall Show and Sale which will be held at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $9, Free parking. For more information visit www.chicagocivilwarshow.com.

Oct. 1-3, Virginia. Period Firearms Competition

The North-South Skirmish Association 144th National Competition near Winchester. Over 3,000 uniformed competitors in 200 member units compete in live-fire matches with muskets, carbines, revolvers, mortars and cannon plus costume competitions and historical lectures. The largest Civil War livefire event in the country. Free admission, large sutler area, and food service. For more information; www.n-ssa.org.

Oct. 7-10. Georgia. Georgia Battlefields Assn. Annual Tour

GBA’s 2021 Tour is scheduled for 7-10 Oct. 2021 based in Macon, Ga. at the Springhill Suites at 4630 Sheraton Drive in Macon. Room rate, which includes breakfast and tax is $119 per night. Please call the hotel at: 478-8039100 for room reservations. The 2-1/2-day tour cost is $430 and will cover two dinners, two lunches, maps, and bus transportation. The GBA Tour will cover the opening weeks of The March to The Sea, some additional events of the July 1864 Stoneman Raid, defenses of Macon and events relating to the capture of Jefferson Davis.

Please mail a check for $430 check per person payable to GBA to Georgia Battlefields Association at P.O. Box 669953, Marietta, GA 30066, or pay online at www.georgiabattlefields.org.

Oct. 8-10, Virginia. Conference

Central Virginia Battlefields Trust invites you to attend a conference and celebration for their 25th year of saving hallowed ground around Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court. The three day conference includes a special reception, battlefield tours, a presentation by keynote speaker A. Wilson Greene, a BBQ on one of the preserved tracts of land, and brunch at historic Stevenson Ridge, along with other fun surprises! Tickets are on sale: $175 per person. Additional details and registration are available at www.cvbt.org/cvbt-annual-conference or by calling the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust office at 540-374-0900

Oct. 15. Online Seminar.

HISTORYtalks – 7 p.m. Eastern - The Impulse of Victory: Grant at Chattanooga by David Powell. Cost is $5/person. Zoom login details sent with confirmation. Register at www.civilwarseminars.org/lectures.

Oct. 21-24, Pennsylvania. Artillery Seminar

Artillery in the Civil War based in Chambersburg. Featuring tour guides Tom Clemens, James Hessler, David Shultz and Eric Wittenberg as well as talks by Craig Swain, Steve Nelson, Chris Stowe, David Powell and others. For information; www.civilwarseminars.org or civilwarseminars@gmail.com.

Oct. 23-25. Online Seminar - Virtual Infantry in the Civil War Tours will include Longstreet’s assault on July 2 at Gettysburg, the fighting in the West Woods at Antietam, Jackson’s attack at Harpers Ferry, and the Confederate assaults at Monocacy. Tour guides include Dennis Frye, Dr. Tom Clemens, Jim Hessler and Matt Borders. Lectures will cover some of the great infantry fights of both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the Civil War. Portions of the conference will be pre-recorded, but all tour guides will be LIVE via Zoom for commentary and questions. Entire conference cost is $150 for members, $160 for non-members. Register at www.civilwarseminars.org.

Oct. 30. Online Seminar

HISTORYtalks - at 7 p.m. Eastern - Stephen Atkins Swails, an unsung African American hero of the Civil War & Reconstruction by Gordon Rhea. Cost is $5/person. Zoom login details sent with confirmation. Register at www. civilwarseminars.org/lectures

Nov. 6, Louisiana. Camp Parapet Day

Originally Fort Morgan was a massive Confederate fortification in Jefferson Parish (County) on the Mississippi River built to defend the City of New Orleans from Federal assault. After capture by federal forces and renamed Camp Parapet, the fortification was expanded to defend against retaliatory Confederate assault. All that remains today is one of its powder magazines. During this yearly event, go inside the powder magazine and imagine soldier conversations that were spoken within its walls. Be part of flag waving ceremonies representing the progression of the war. Meet and visit with uniformed civil war reenactors. View displays of weapons, clothing and artifacts while being entertained by vintage musicians and dancers. Enjoy lunch on the grounds. Exhibitors attending include Louisiana Lt. Governor’s Office of Tourism, Jefferson Historical Society, Destrehan Plantation, Camp Moore Museum, Beauvoir, and other historic organizations and sites. Gates open at 8 a.m. for exhibitors, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for public. Admission is free.

Nov. 6, Virginia. Seminar

Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute’s fall seminar and tour “We Shall Have Graveyards at Every Door:” The Lower Shenandoah Valley’s Border Region during the Civil War with Prof. Jonathan A. Noyalas. $25 registration fee covers morning lecture, lunch at SU, and afternoon caravan tour of sites between Stephens City south to the banks of Cedar Creek. Space is limited, so visit www.su.edu/mcwi to register. For information; jnoyalas01@ su.edu or phone 540-665-4501.

Nov. 13, Virginia. Civil War Show

Bullet and Shell is proud to present the 40th Central Virginia Military Antique Show (formally Mike Kent’s Capital of the Confederacy Civil War Show). In conjunction with the Central Virginia Civil War Collectors Association, we plan to continue to do everything to make this one of the best shows in the country. The show will host vendors and displays of American military history from the Revolutionary War through WWII. Bring your relics for appraisal or to sell. There will be many historical items to add to your collection. Show hours are 9-5 on Saturday, vendor setup on Friday. Parking is free and admission is only $10/adults with children under 12 free. For more information or registration go to MilitaryAntiqueShow.com.

Nov. 20, Pennsylvania. Parade

The 64th Annual Remembrance Day parade, Gettysburg, Pa. is sponsored by the Sons of Veterans Reserve, the Military Dept. of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Parade briefing at the Wyndham Hotel at 9:30 a.m. Units form up at noon on Lefever St. between Baltimore St. and E. Confederate Ave. Parade will start at 1 p.m. For information; majorsvrprovost@gmail.com or 609-816-2012.

Nov. 20, Pennsylvania. Civil War Ball

The original Civil War Ball will be held at the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel located at 95 Presidential Circle. Price per person is $20 advance, $25 at the door. Music by Philadelphia Brigade Band, dances led by Victorian Dance Ensemble. Period dress encouraged. Door prizes, plus prizes for ladies’ cake walk. Cash bar. 8 p.m. to midnight. For information; email Col. Steve Michaels SVR at Lt.col.sm@gmail.com, 414-712-4655.

Nov. 30. Online Seminar

HISTORYtalks - at 7 p.m. Eastern - “Let Us Die Like Men: The Battle of Franklin” The great attack on the late Indian Summer afternoon of Nov. 30, 1864 has been regarded as the “Death of an Army.” Cost is $5/person. Zoom login details sent with confirmation. Register at www.civilwarseminars.org/lectures.

Dec. 4-5, Tennessee. Civil War Show and Sale

MK Shows presents the 34th Annual Middle Tennessee Civil War Show and Sale at the Williamson County Ag Expo Park, 4215 Long Lane in Franklin. The nation’s largest Civil War show, featuring 800 tables of antique weapons, artifacts and memorabilia from top dealers and collectors around the country and encompassing all eras of military history from the Revolutionary War through World War II. Appraisers are always on hand to help you identify and value your military collectibles at no cost. Hours are 9-5 on Sat., 9-3 on Sun., parking is free and admission is only $10/adults and children under 12 are free. For more information; www.MKShows.com or Mike@MKShows.com.

Middle TN (Franklin) Civil War Show

MK Shows presents the 34th Annual Middle Tennessee Civil War Show and Sale at the Williamson County Ag Expo Park, 4215 Long Lane in Franklin. The nation’s largest Civil War show, featuring 800 tables of antique weapons, artifacts and memorabilia from top dealers and collectors around the country and encompassing all eras of military history from the Revolutionary War through World War II.

Hours are 9-5 on Sat., 9-3 on Sun., parking is free and admission is only $10/adults and children under 12 are free.

Mike Kent and Associates, LLC • PO Box 685

• Monroe, GA 30655 (770) 630-7296 • Mike@MKShows.com • www.MKShows.com

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