The Source By Michael K. Shaffer
Confederate Veteran
Yet hold the past life something worth, For it was good and fair; It brightened up this dull old earth. And gave some gallant heroes birth, Whose names we could not spare. Reading those lines above, from Nina M. Rogers’s poem entitled “Our Past,” offers researchers a brief glimpse into the wealth of information contained in the volumes of Confederate Veteran. In addition to poetry, songs, and pages of advertisements, researchers can glean many accounts about particular veterans and their actions during the war. Summer Archibald Cunningham, a veteran of the 41st Tennessee Infantry Regiment - a unit which fought in most of the major engagements in the Western Theater - started the publication in 1893. He continued
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as editor until his death in 1913, leaving all but $1,000 of his estate for continuing publication of the Confederate Veteran. Edith D. Pope, Cunningham’s former secretary, took over editorial duties and continued the monthly publication until 1932. Many veterans, writing years after the fact, submitted articles recollecting their wartime experiences. Some accounts contain inflated boasts of achievements on the field of battle, and others, written amid the years when one’s memory starts to fade, contain innocent errors. As with all research, one needs to corroborate findings with other sources. Passing from words of early caution, and moving to the value of this source, let us examine some of the material researchers will find in the pages of the Confederate Veteran. Numerous soldiers and officers reminisced about their
involvement in various battles during the war, and many accounts do not appear in other sources. For example, in the March 1899 edition, W.S. Chapman – an Army of Tennessee veteran – wrote an article entitled “Comparing Two Armies.” Chapman disputed a previous article, which listed troop strengths of the combatants during the Overland and Atlanta Campaigns. Chapman detailed various aspects of the Atlanta Campaign, and lamented President Jefferson Davis removing General Joseph E. Johnston from command, considering the change “… the beginning of the end.”
Confederate Veteran cover.
An aged Kirby Smith and family, April 1893 edition. Researchers can find this account on pages 100-101 of the edition mentioned earlier. Serving as the official publication of the United Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Confederate Southern Memorial Association, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Junior Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Children of the Confederacy over the years, numerous illustrations and photographs filled the pages. Like the veteran accounts, many images seldom appear elsewhere. See the example of General Edmund Kirby Smith and family, from the first edition. During the life of the publication, submissions tended to lean more toward accounts from the Western Theater, but all geographic regions received adequate treatment. Cunningham had many interests outside the Civil War, and included stories of the American Revolution, and provided budding poets with an opportunity to share their work with the public. Most poems, as well as printed sheet music,
pertained to the Civil War, as did the book reviews. Advertisements populated the pages near the end of each edition, and while many ads promoted new books on the war, researchers interested in the social and economic aspects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can catch a fascinating glimpse of a recovering economy and an emerging industry in the south. Always eager to assist veterans, Cunningham provided extensive reunion coverage, often with accompanying photographs, and included a special section: “The Last Roll.” Here, readers could view obituaries of passing veterans and see a photo of the departed, if available. Another service of the publication – the “Inquiries” section – enabled veterans to reconnect with former comrades and the occasional opponent. Family members attempting to locate lost loved ones wrote in as well. One example: Mrs. J.M. Duncan of Yazoo City, Miss., penned the following, “…would like to correspond with some
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March 2017
Civil War News
The Last Roll.
Advertisement offering a special discount on the purchase of Encyclopedia Britannica to readers of Confederate Veteran. survivor of Company G, Second Louisiana Rifles (Capt. Dunn), who knew James W. Wright, of Mississippi, and can give
information of his last moments.” Historians and genealogists alike can obtain a wealth of information in reading these numerous pleas.
Mining the pages of the Confederate Veteran proved challenging until Tom Broadfoot, and Dr. Louis Manarin teamed to create an index for the entire series. First introduced in the late 1980s, Broadfoot Publishing (www.broadfootpublishing. com) continues to offer a reprint of the complete publication, plus a three-volume index. This index makes researching much easier, and as a bonus, volume one of the index includes three introductory sections. The first lists various Confederate military organizations by their initial local designations. A cross-referenced section contains different battle names, with the Northern and Southern titles listed. (Example: Battle of Bull Run/First Manassas.) The third section provides
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a comprehensive listing of each state’s U.C.V., U.D.C., S.C.V., and Children of the Confederacy camps. Thanks to the University of Pennsylvania and the Library of Virginia, researchers can access Confederate Veteran editions and an index online. The University of Virginia offers the complete publication run, but not the index. Users can select an issue, then flip through the pages in their browser, or download in various formats, including e-book editions. Start at the Library of Virginia’s website, which contains the index, to locate the specific volume(s) for your research. Select the ‘advanced search’ option to fine-tune your queries. Remember to check WorldCat http://www.worldcat.org for help in finding the Confederate Veteran in a local library, and take advantage of this valuable source! Closing this month’s column, a quote from Cunningham who wished for the publication to serve as “…an organ of communication between Confederate soldiers and those who are interested in them and their affairs, and…to furnish a volume of information which will be acceptable to the public, even to those who fought on the other side.” Mr. Cunningham, you may rest calmly amid the peaceful grounds of the Willow Mount Cemetery in Shelbyville, Tenn., knowing you
accomplished your mission.
Website References • University of Pennsylvania, Online Confederate Veteran: http://onlinebooks.library. upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=confedvet • Library of Virginia, Online Index to Confederate Veteran: http://lva1.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/F/?func=file&file_ name=find-b-clas65&local_ base=CLAS65&_ga=1.73080 083.1639850006.1477929703 Next month, we will continue to explore other sources, and please keep suggestions for future ‘The Source’ columns coming. Send them to the e-mail address shown below. Continued good luck in researching the 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 to request speaking engagements via his website www. civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www. facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer and Twitter @michaelkshaffer.
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