Real world has been intruding again, leaving little time for blogging. Nevertheless…

A group of academics, some of them historians, urged President Obama not to lay a wreath at the Confederate memorial in Arlington on Memorial Day. One of them was James McPherson. Now my opinion of McP has been declining for a while, as he seems to be just coasting along on his reputation, but it hit rock bottom when he signed this, joining such luminaries as domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Blogger John Rosenberg likens it to “waving the bloody shirt” and I agree. Rum, Romanism and Rebellion anyone?

I’m happy to say that the nation’s first black president did the right thing and sent it anyway, along with another one honoring black CW soldiers. Then again, Barack Obama is not a descendant of slaves, and indeed his ancestors may have owned a few themselves.

In less divisive news, the Civil War coin market has been active. Collectors stood in line for a new Lincoln penny:

Amid rain, traffic and music, more than 2,500 people showed up for the official launch of the “Indiana” Lincoln penny, depicting (on the “tails side”) a teenage Abe sitting on a log reading while taking a break from rail splitting.

The US Mint is also offering a limited edition of a Lincoln silver dollar, which you can buy for an introductory price of $37.95.  I’ll sign up when they make one of Jeff Davis.

And, a Gettysburg commemorative coin is under consideration.

NPR has a lengthy article on CW soldier Jennie Wade/Albert Cashier, who although considered a curiosity in her time is now considered a feminist icon, and may well have been the first woman to vote (as a man, of course).

And finally, if you’re a Dakota Indian, you can legally go back to Minnesota. Abe Lincoln banished the tribe in 1863 after some unpleasant events, and the law remains on the books.

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Short Takes

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Cross posted at Civil War History.

Given this very interesting post by Brett, I thought I would bring up an interesting couple of ideas for teaching the war in the classroom and see what you all think. While understanding slavery and emancipation are essential to understanding the war years, I do feel that some classes on the war focus too much on non-military issues and not enough on battles. That is where the following ideas come into play.

The first is one I have some experience with from my days in elementary school in Illinois. When I was in fifth grade, my bus driver, who was also an avid reenactor, came and talked to our class on the war, while dressed as a Confederate soldier. It was really something cool to see and got me interested in reenacting myself (unfortunately, I do not have enough cash to get started yet, but some day) and later into public history. I think reenactors should be encouraged to present to schools, as seeing someone dressed in period attire is a wonderful way to introduce the war to younger people. In addition, reenactors do not have to just be soldiers, as civilian reenactors could portray and talk about how the war affected the home front. Further, if looking for a presentation on slavery, what better way to illustrate the evil of it than by having reenactors talk about the Underground Railroad, slave life, and African American experiences. For example, several students, professors, the college chaplain, and I participated in a play when I attended Illinois College, where we acted in several skits dealing with different contributions of my alma mater to the Underground Railroad. I would like to think that it was a great educational tool for the local children in attendance. I hope to use reenacting in the classroom when I finally become a professor, as it is a unique way to present history.

The other idea involves war gaming as an educational tool. There are many good PC games on the war that involve unit level operations and tactics. Students could have a lesson on a particular battle, then take command and see how they would lead troops. In addition to PC games, students might have a great time learning about battles and tactics of the war through more traditional war gaming, including counters and miniature soldiers. Plus, the more traditional method may be easier than attempting to link several computers and providing the software. War gaming is a very unique and fun way to get students interested in the war, as it allows them to understand what it took to lead the armies in the war.

Recall the diorama fiasco in Texas, where high school students built a diorama of the war’s last battle at Palmetto Ranch, Texas. Those students learned about the war through a unique lesson. I can only imagine how much greater appreciation those students have for history and the Civil War after building that diorama, however, when it was destroyed, I bet their enthusiasm was curtailed. This unfortunate incident does not mean that a diorama project is a great way to get students into history.

Overall, bringing reenactors into the classroom, using war games, and building dioramas are all great ways to learn about the war. There are many other great ideas to engage students, but I encourage educators to look at these ideas as potential teaching tools.

Please check out my blog Civil War History.

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The Civil War in the classroom

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I have been running a Civil War blog in one form (American Civil War Gaming & Reading) or another (TOCWOC) since late 2005 with several hiatuses.  Due to this, I sometimes fall into the bad habit of assuming readers know exactly how TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog can be used to read articles of interest to you, to find Civil War wargames mods, to see just how many Civil War blogs are currently active out there in the blogosphere, and to even find some regimental level orders of battle with unit strengths for several major battles. This post is an attempt to educate readers, new and old, about the variety of Civil War related materials here at TOCWOC and how to navigate quickly and easily to the materials you find most interesting.

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Let’s look at the top menu of TOCWOC first. I’ll list the items you can click on below and go into detail as to what you might find after you click.

• HOME: If at any time you would like to return to the front page of TOCWOC, simply left click on this item to do so.

• ABOUT: TOCWOC’s ABOUT page tells you how TOCWOC came together, when we started, and the blog’s purpose.  It also links to the authors and the categories so you can get started quickly.

• ARCHIVES: The archives list all previous posts sorted by month or by category.

• AUTHORS: TOCWOC is as many of you know a group blog. The AUTHORS page shows you who the current bloggers are with a bit of background. Lower on the page you will see currently active bloggers elsewhere who might cross post at TOCWOC from time to time. At the very bottom of the page you will see formerly active TOCWOC bloggers who have taken a semi-permanent or permanent leave of absence from TOCWOC blogging. All of these former bloggers are welcome back at any time to resume their former activities.  Please note that you can click on some blogger names to see their personal About page here at TOCWOC.  My about page, for instance, tells you a little bit more about me and why I decided to start TOCWOC.

• CATEGORIES: Every category used at TOCWOC is listed here in a branching format. In order to keep things relatively simple, TOCWOC uses at most one level of sub-category. For instance, you will see the Books – Reviews subcategory under the main Books category.

• CONTACT US: The CONTACT US area can be used for a multitude of things. Common reasons to use the Contact form include:
  1. Asking a question about TOCWOC which isn’t post-specific. We have been asked about our review policy, asked by prospective bloggers if they could join TOCWOC, and asked about the Civil War wargames mods on the site.
  2. Asking a Civil War question of the authors which you think we may be able to answer.We have been asked about specific books and wargames, to recommend favorite books on a particular subject such as a battle or a military or political leader, and in one case, we were even asked to provide some help for an upcoming episode of a popular Showtime cable television show!
  3. Publishers or authors asking us to review a copy of their new book. I particularly enjoy these, especially now that TOCWOC is able to review fiction as well thanks to the gracious volunteer efforts of Civil War fiction author Jessica James.

• DISCLAIMER: Because this is a multi-author blog which consists of authors with differing personal, political, and religious views, the DISCLAIMER simply states that each author’s views are solely those of the author in question and do not reflect the views of TOCWOC or the authors as a whole.

• SITEMAP: The SITEMAP literally lists every single post and page on the entire TOCWOC site. As you can imagine, a blog which has been mostly active since 2005 has accumulated quite a bit of content. If you have exhausted every other option short of using our search feature, the SITEMAP is the best place to go to find an item you are specifically looking for on the site.

• RSS: RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS allows a reader to view TOCWOC’s blog posts without ever actually having to visit the site if they choose not to. By clicking on the RSS link, you will be able to subscribe to TOCWOC’s blog entries via email or using a feed reader program which you have downloaded and installed on your computer. Using a feed reader will allow you to be notified when TOCWOC has a new blog entry up, and it displays that blog entry for you to read. It’s a great way to keep track of multiple blogs. Instead of going to each blog every day, you wait for blog entries to appear via your feed reader. If RSS appeals to your lazy side (we ALL have one, right?), subscribe to TOCWOC via email or a feed reader today and let TOCWOC blog posts come to you instead of the other way around.

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Second, let’s look over the items found in the left sidebar of the site. The items listed here include many links to Civil War related web sites I have found to be useful in my years of Civil War internet surfing. You will also find other ways to interact with TOCWOC and TOCWOC bloggers. The left sidebar ends with links to the many blog directories TOCWOC is listed at, including obvious ones such as Technorati.

• Join TOCWOC as a Blogger: TOCWOC is always looking for more bloggers to add to the list, especially those who bring a unique perspective to their study of the Civil War. Click on this link to “apply” to be a TOCWOC Civil War blogger. Simply state what you believe you bring to the table as a Civil War buff. We will evaluate your “application” and get back with you in 24-48 hours.

• Enter the Latest TOCWOC Contest: This area will be used currently and for the foreseeable future to highlight the latest TOCWOC blogging contest. The current contest involves answering what five Civil War books are the most important you have read, and why, in 1000 words or less. The winner receives a FREE copy of Brent Nosworthy’s new Civil War book Roll Call to Destiny.

• Archives: Past TOCWOC blog entries can be found by clicking on past months’ worth of blog entries.

• Authors: Every past and present TOCWOC author is listed here with their total number of posts in parenthese next to their name.

• Book Publishers: The book publishers listed here are those who I value highly enough to purchase books from directly.  I would rather give them the full value of the book’s cost than buy these books used because I believe in what these publishers are doing.  I will also promote any and all books they publish to get these publishers as many paying customers as possible.  If they continue to do what they have been doing, all students of the Civil War come out ahead.

• Game Publishers: Read the paragraph above and replace the word book(s) with wargame(s).

• Civil War Sites: These are Civil War sites I enjoy which really do not fit in the other categories.

• ACW Magazines: I have listed all of the Civil War magazines I subscribe to, many of which I provide monthly summaries for here in TOCWOC blog entries and also at my American Civil War Magazine & Journal Index.  My personal favorites are North & South Magazine and also Blue & Gray Magazine.

• Book Buying: These are the sites I most commonly buy books from online.  eBay and Abebooks have rapidly taken over as my main Civil War book buying sources.

• ACW Forums: I have listed here all of the main Civil War forums I frequent.  Try these out, as the Civil War forums can always use more members.

• Blog Directories: All blog directories which list TOCWOC are included here, including Technorati, BlogFlux, and others. These blog directories are a pretty good way to find other blogs in your topics of interest.

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Third, we’ll move on to the items found within the right sidebar of TOCWOC. In this area you can subscribe to TOCWOC’s RSS feed as described in the first section of this post, read over TOCWOC’s book review policy, search across ALL Civil War blogs to find posts on topics of interest, search only TOCWOC to find posts on topics of interest, look through recent and top posts here at TOCWOC, and see TOCWOC’s complete blogroll of Civil War blogs and other blogs of interest.

• Subscribe to TOCWOC’s RSS Feed: This item was covered in detail in the first section of this post. To briefly recap, you can subscribe to TOCWOC’s RSS feed via daily emails or using a news reader in this section.

• Read TOCWOC’s Civil War Book Review Policy: This page is to provide clear and detailed instructions to publishers and authors looking to ask TOCWOC authors to review their book. I like to be up front about how things work, and this area describes in detail what types of books TOCWOC reviews, what condition we prefer our books to be in (new, who doesn’t?), and how long an author or publisher may wait for a review to appear.

• Search ALL Current Civil War Blogs: This is a feature we are really excited about here at TOCWOC. If you are interested in a given topic, say Civil War artillery, for instance, you can search across the entire Civil War blogosphere. Simply enter your search term and look through the results generated by Google. The results featured only come from current Civil War blogs, the ones listed on TOCWOC’s extensive and complete Civil War blogroll.

• Search TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: If you prefer to narrow your search to only TOCWOC blog entries and pages, you can do this as well.

• Top Posts: This area allows you to look at some of the most entertaining/interesting/informative posts which have appeared at TOCWOC over the years. Currently these only include posts by me, but I plan to go through and rectify that situation soon by asking my fellow bloggers, especially Fred Ray, to pick a few of their personal favorites among their own body of work.

• Recent Posts: This area includes a list of the most recent posts at TOCWOC, showing you the date and the post title. As new posts are added to the blog, older posts disappear.

• Civil War Blogroll: This is the current list of Civil War blogs I am aware of. If you know of any new ones I’m missing, please let me know and I’ll be happy to add it. I’ve always been committed to listing every other Civil War blog out there, even the ones which have not offered TOCWOC a link in return. The idea is to accumulate a page where Civil War readers can find all of the Civil War blogs listed.

• Other Blogs: Other blogs are listed below the Civil War blogs and they are divided into several categories. I read each of these blogs on a frequent basis and highly recommend each one.

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Fourth, let’s discuss the various items and tools you can use within a given TOCWOC post. When you left click on a post title, you will be brought to the permanent URL of that blog entry on the TOCWOC site. This changes the viewing environment a bit. Here I hope to make you aware of the various features within any given blog entry.

• Title: The title of the blog entry is listed prominently across the screen.  Most of the time the title will be a part of the permament URL of the blog entry, also known as the “Permalink”.

• Date: The month, day, and year the entry was posted on.

• Author: The author of the post.  It’s a good idea to pay particular attention to this on a group blog like TOCWOC!

• Comments: The number of comments currently posted on this entry.  Don’t see a comment yet?  Start the discussion!  More on comments in a bit.

• Body Text: The main body of the blog entry.  This is where we try to impart our wisdom on you the reader! 

• Related Posts: The related posts area is one of my favorite features on TOCWOC.  It lists up to five TOCWOC blog entries you may like after reading the current post.

• Categories: This area lists the major TOCWOC blog categories this blog entry fits under.

• Tags: These are more specific items such as a Civil War personality’s name, the name of a battle or campaign, the name of a Civil War book or author, etc.  Click on a tag to see other posts which have this same tag.

• Leave A Comment: Enter your Name, Email Address, Web Site (if applicable), and enter your comment.  Please note the ability to subscribe to comments for the given post located below the comments form by using a check box.  This will allow you to follow an interesting discussion for any given blog entry.

• Action Buttons/Social Networking: Text

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Lastly, I want to point out the wargames mods located here at TOCWOC. These includ:

• Wargames Mods: TOCWOC’s Civil War wargames mods page contains links to the various Civil War wargames for which I provide fan sites. These sites contain many different kinds of mods from ones which affect gameplay to sound mods to new graphics and scenarios for the games. The following Civil War wargames fan sites are listed:
  1. The Harpers Ferry Arsenal: This is a fan site for the Mad Minute Games’ series of Civil War “tactical simulators” for PCs. The games supported include Bull Run: Take Command 1861 and Take Command 2^nd Manassas. I hope to eventually support any games made by NordSoftDev here as well.
  2. The Macon Armory: The Macon Armory is a fan site for Gary Grigsby’s War Between the States.
  3. The Springfield Armory: The Springfield Armory is a fan site for AGEod’s American Civil War.
  4. The Tredegar Iron Works: The Tredegar Iron Works is a fan site for Forge of Freedom.
  5. In addition, I have an old fan site for HPS Simulations’ Civil War Battles series of computer games which is not included directly into the TOCWOC format.

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If you’ve read through this entire tutorial and you still have questions about how to use the blog, use the Contact Us link at the top of the screen and feel free to ask. We typically respond in 24-48 hours worst case scenario. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little look around, and I hope you continue to come back to TOCWOC in the future.

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How to Use TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

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This is the first of hopefully many blog entries for beginning Civil War readers about Civil War books they might like to read.  This is not a post aimed at children or young adults, though I do hope to target those audiences in the future as well.  Instead, I hope to provide a nice guide for those who are brand new to reading about the American Civil War. I tend to forget that readers new to the topic of the Civil War will be drawn to this and other Civil War blogs quite often by Google and other web searches. Reader Paul H. from Northampton, England was kind enough to suggest this subject for a blog entry, and I think it is such a great idea that I’m expanding the scope into multiple blog posts.

In this first entry, I’m going to try to look at overviews of the war. I encourage others to chime in as well in the comments below. I’m just one person. The more you know about the Civil War, the more you realize how much you will never know. You could spend an entire lifetime studying the war and you’ll never get to it all. Trust me, I’m trying!

There are numerous studies of the Civil War and the Civil War era, single and multi-volume works, some focusing on military aspects of the war, others on social aspects, and still others with a political bent.  The list below is not meant to be exhaustive by any means.  I’m sure I will miss someone’s favorite history of the war.  If that happens, by all means add your favorite in the comments below.

In each case, I will include a picture of a reasonably recent version of the book, a link to Amazon.com, and a short background.  I haven’t read some of these books in a long time, and others I’ve not read at all.  However, rest assured I’ve done the homework for you so you don’t have to do it yourself!  The idea is to answer a question I get asked a lot and have a permanent place to store my answer for readers to use in the future.

McPherson, James. The Battle Cry of Freedom. Oxford University Press, USA (December 11, 2003).  952 pp.  ISBN: 978-0195168952 $19.95 (Paperback)

The first overview I’ll start with is going to be the one most people knowledgeable about this topic would recommend.  This is of course James McPherson’s The Battle Cry of Freedom.  McPherson’s one volume history of the war is recognized as the standard account of the subject.  The author spends time on all aspects of the war, social, political, and military.  In fact, the first 300+ pages describe events PRIOR to the firing on Fort Sumter.  McPherson’s book is highly readable and summarizes events nicely, providing a starting point for further study.  To be fair, I want to note some criticisms of McPherson as well.  Dimitri Rotov of Civil War Bookshelf, for instance, believes that McPherson subscribes to what he calls a “Centennial” view of history.  According to Dimitri, this “Centennial” view is in vogue today because Bruce Catton and others involved with American Heritage magazine around the time of the Civil War Centennial in the 1960s made it extremely popular.  He believes this view is too simplified and does a disservice to many of the events, people, and places involved, especially George McClellan.  These concerns noted, I believe McPherson does a good job summarizing what was in 1988 the orthodox view of the Civil War.  Start your Civil War reading here and you will have a solid basis for wherever the topic takes you in the future.

Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. 3 vols.  Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (November 12, 1986).  2,934 pp.  ISBN: 978-0394749136 $78.00 (Paperback)

If McPherson’s book is the standard one-volume work, Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil War: A Narrative is its multi-volume companion.   Many of you have probably seen Shelby Foote, possibly without realizing it.  Foote was a frequent commentator who was often seen in Ken Burns’ PBS documentary The Civil War.  He was there for a reason.  Foote had already written this trilogy by the time of Burns’ film.  The first volume was originally released in 1958, the second volume in 1963, and the last in 1974.  Foote’s trilogy is concentrates more on the military aspects of the Civil War, though political and social elements are there to a lesser extent.  The three volumes are Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Red River to Appomattox, in order.  The trilogy is subtitled “A Narrative” for a reason.  It is!  Foote was a novelist by trade and his writing style reflects his profession.  There is a story to tell and Foote does so with relish.  Although the entire work is almost 3,000 pages long, as a reader you move merrily along, always wanting more.  Foote makes history exciting and interesting, something many people today fail to realize or appreciate.  A Southerner by birth, Foote does have some Confederate bias.  Some critics have also mentioned small errors in his work.  With these criticisms out of the way, I wholeheartedly urge readers to read these books.  Foote’s trilogy, for more than just sentimental reasons, is probably my favorite Civil War book.  Do not let the length deter you.  Give it a chance!

Catton, Bruce. Bruce Catton’s Civil War. 3 vols.  Phoenix Press (2001) 1,680 pp.  ISBN: 978-1898800224 Out of Print (Paperback)

Another famous multi-volume work on the Civil War is Bruce Catton’s trilogy.  Consisting of The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat, Catton’s trilogy was written just before and during the centennial years of the Civil War, 1961-1965.  Catton’s work is shorter than Foote’s, and he focuses more on the political and social aspects than Foote did.  Due to the shorter length, Catton tends to delve into certain controversies more quite a bit less than Foote does, and he tends to tie up loose ends quite neatly, much more neatly than real life.  This is one of the criticisms of Centennial history, that controversies have been decided and that no further study of these controversies is necessary.  A good example would be the Lee’s lost order just prior to Antietam.  Buy Catton’s books over Foote’s if you have less time initially to get into the study of the Civil War or if you prefer the political and social aspects of the war.  Although the lead-in says “Out of Print”, you should be able to find the various volumes in paperback for reasonable prices.

I feel these three are the starting point for a solid foundation.  There are numerous other histories, one volume and otherwise, which attempt to tell the story of the war.  I’ve excluded these from any kind of analysis for various reasons, including cost, availability, and too much focus on one portion of the war, be it military, social, or political.  Let me know if you’d like me to flesh out any of the titles below in a future post.  These are in alphabetical order by author’s last name, if you were wondering.

Davis, Kenneth. Don’t Know Much About the Civil War: Everything You Need to Know About America’s Greatest Conflict but Never Learned (Don’t Know Much About…). Harper Paperbacks (September 1, 1999). 544 pp. ISBN: 978-0380719082 $14.95 (Paperback)

Dickson, Keith. The Civil War for Dummies. For Dummies; 1 edition (March 15, 2001). 408 pp. ISBN: 978-0764552441 $19.99 (Paperback)

Eicher, David. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War.  Simon & Schuster (August 20, 2002).  992 pp. ISBN: 978-0684849454 $22.00 (Paperback)

Flagel, Thomas. The History Buff’s Guide to the Civil War. Cumberland House Publishing (August 2003). 400 pp. ISBN: 978-1581823714 $16.95 (Paperback)

Hansen, Harry. The Civil War: A History. Signet Classics (August 6, 2002). 672 pp.  ISBN: 978-0451528490 $8.95 (Paperback)

Hattaway, Herman. How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. University of Illinois Press (June 1, 1991). 784 pp. ISBN: 978-0252062100 $26.95 (Paperback)

Olsen, Christopher. The American Civil War: A Hands-on History. Hill and Wang; 1st edition (July 24, 2007).  304 pp. ISBN: 978-0809016402 $15.00 (Paperback)

Pratt, Fletcher. A Short History of the Civil War: Ordeal by Fire.  Dover Publications (July 7, 1997). 448 pp. ISBN: 978-0486297026 $13.95 (Paperback)

Weigley, Russell. A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History 1861-1865. Indiana University Press (February 2004).  648 pp. ISBN: 978-0253217066 $24.95 (Paperback)

Williams, David. A People’s History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom. New Press (September 25, 2006). 608 pp. ISBN: 978-1595581259 $24.95 (Paperback)

I think I’ve covered enough overviews of the war for anyone looking to get into the subject.  As I stated earlier, feel free to add your own additions or your views on my picks in the comments section below.

If you enjoyed this first blog entry in my “Guides to Civil War Books for Beginners” and would like to see more, by all means send me suggestions for what topic you would like me to look at next.  I already have plans to look at the best army overviews, best regimentals, and best books for children in future entries.  Let me know what else you would like to see!

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To end this post, I’d like to post some of my background for readers new to TOCWOC to see.  Although I do not have a degree in history (Match/Computer Science degree from the University of Illinois-Champaign), I have loved the subject my entire life.  I cannot remember a time in my life in which I did not love studying the Civil War.  I read Shelby Foote’s three volume history of the Civil War (which you will read about below) in the 6^th grade.  My teacher did not believe I was truly reading the books until he sat down with me to have a half hour chat on the subject.  He was convinced afterwards!  I’ve been reading detailed campaign and battle studies since approximately 1990 as a 12 year old.  My collection now sits at around 600 books and growing.  This blog holds many of the book reviews I’ve done over the past several years.  Feel free to click on the Categories link at the top of the page and look through the “Books – Reviews” category for details.  Civil War wargaming has always been a passion of mine as well.  I was a playtester for many years on the HPS Simulations line of Civil War games.  I’ve helped Mad Minute Games as a playtester and consultant in the past, and I am currently working with NorbSoftDev, whose programmer designed the Mad Minute “Take Command” series of Civil War tactical simulators.  I host many CivilWar add-on and modding sites for recent Civil War games.  The full list is located on my Civil War Wargame Mods home page.

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A Guide to Civil War Books for Beginners, Part 1: Civil War Overviews

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Hello. My name is Matthew Young, and I’m a Civil War junkie. That’s why this blog appealed to me so much to begin with. I found it totally by accident while browsing in the AGEOD ACW Forums. The more I read, the more I enjoyed it. I wrote to Brett asking if I could contribute, and after a qucik few e-mails back and forth, here I am writing my first post.

Perhaps I should give you some background about me so you can get a flavor for the kind of topics I feel that I can write on. So here is a short bio for you.

Name: Matthew Young

Age: 30

Location: Georgia & Alabama

Education: BA in History, working on Masters in History Education

Professional Experience: Education Director for the National Civil War Naval Museum for seven years (and will be moving to the new National Infantry Museum in a month or so to direct their new Education program), Part Time History Instructor at Vincennes University at Fort Benning for two years, featured in interviews on Georgia Public Broadcasting, the Military Channel, the History Channel, and the Travel Channel, author of two articles for the online Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Hobbies: Captain of Co. K, 17th Geo. Vol. Infantry for five years, Civil War Reenactor for twelve+ years, avid Computer war gamer since I received my first computer when I was 5 (a Commodore 64), and reader of all civil war books I can get my hands on.

I recently attended the 145th Battle of Gettysburg, and I am in the process of loading up pictures from the event. We also stopped at Lexington, Virginia, Harpers Ferry, and the Sharpsburg battlefield in addition to the real Gettysburg battlefield.

This is a picture of me and my soon to be wife at the event. We had a great time. More to come in the next post. I am very happy to be able to contribute!

- MY

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

Hey y’all

No related posts.

I took my US History I students on a field trip to the Minuteman National Park last Wednesday. Great day. My US History II kids, currently studying the Civil War, were left with my co-teacher, and we decided the show the movie, “Glory,” which I’m pretty sure that anyone reading this post has seen. I don’t like showing movies, it takes too long, its too passive, and movies are primarily entertainment, or art, if you will, and distort history.

Hell, I’ve distorted some history in my time, without even trying, but what gets me is that movies recycle the same god damn plot again and again. Take “The Patriot.” Who was the title patriot in the movie? It isn’t Mel Gibson. He’s motivated entirely by revenge. He’s riding the vengeance trail, a well marked route, travelled by every Hollywood action star since James Stewart.

Gosh, I wonder if the final scene will feature a climatic hand to hand duel with the chief bad guy, and it will look like the bad guy will win, but at the last moment, Mel will win. Phew, I didn’t see that coming!

In a much better film, “Glory” some of those cliches are on display. A tough Irish sergeant is uninhibited by p.c. and can spew racist insults–but you know, you’re got to be a hardass to toughen the men for combat, and apparently none of the blacks or the tender hearted white officers are up for the job. Thank goodness the viciousness was just for show, and when he salutes the 54th when they march, it means something special: tough guy to tough guys.

The hero=kill ratio. You can judge the star billing and charmisa of a star by how many extras he dispatches. Morgan Freeman kills quite a few, Denzel Washington knocks off half a dozen in the first fight, Matthew Broderick stabs and shoots three or four. Andre Brougher, playing the not-keeping-it-real Thomas, finally earns some respect by back shooting a reb at a critical moment. And he gets in some good killing in the final attack. The South Carolina young man with the sweet disposition is a demon with a rifle, displaying the key Hollywood connection between marksmanship and Bible thumping so beautifully protrayed in “Saving Private Ryan.”

What really bothers me is the character of Thomas, Shaw’s African American boyhood pal. He’s show as incredibly prissy, with a surreally over formal speech and pompous vocabulary. Of course he useless as a soldier and whimpers like a little girl during training, becoming a target for Denzel’s bully. Later, he does some nice killing, and earns the guys’ respect.

What bothers me is that education = not really black. Instead of being a vital member of the unit because he CAN read and comprehend documents, newspapers, army regulations, and contracts, his education makes him less worthy.

I’m going to post about some factual inaccuracies in “Glory” later.

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

No Guts, No Glory

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1. Review: Fields of Glory
2. Glory II: Across the Rappahannock
3. Glory and Tarheels

I’m “doing” the battle of Gettysburg with my US History II today. I’ve passed out pictures of Lee, and the kids did a chart of the Eastern Theater battles. A good lesson, but I was little crestfallen when one of the students asked at the end of the lesson, “Lee was on our side, right?” and several of the students were confused by the reference to the Yankees, the deeply hated baseball team(in this part of the country) with the Yankees, deeply hated….oh never mind. I’m going to spend 5 minutes at the start reviewing South North Union Confederate Yankee Rebel Lee Lincoln Free Slave.

Ignoring the last twenty years of scholarship on the military history of the Civil War, I’m making Gettysburg the turning point of the war. It makes dramatic, if not historic sense. I’m building Lee up as invincible, victim of hubris, meeting his nemesis at Gettysburg.

Worse I’m going to show part of the interminable film “Gettysburg” in which thousands of aging overweight men attempt to impersonate civil war soldiers, while 2nd string actors don false beards and gas on and on about heroism and valor etc. Where many are shot, or thrown comically in the air by explosions, but no one bleeds.

Specifically I’m going to show Jeff Daniels convincing the 2nd Mainers to rejoin the fight, then contrast it with the delirium provoked by Lee’s appearance, to drive home the point about morale. Then I’ll show part of the fight for Little Round Top, then part of Pickett’s Charge. The students will have a map to show the movements, and questions to check if they are paying attention.

The goal is giving the students some vague idea how CW armies moved, communicated and fought, as well as the central place of Lee in the Confederate universe.

I hate showing movies in class. It eats up valuable time, mostly the films suck on many levels, and its passive. But I’m going to in about two hours.

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

It’s Showtime!

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Lectured on John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry. They learned the name “John Brown” in connection with Bleeding Kansas last class. This class I passed out a photograph of Brown without identifying him and asked for their impressions. Brown looks fairly grim in all his photos and the responses were predictable. I revealed him as Brown and described the raid, arsenal, slave uprising, pikes, hostages, didn’t work out, blah, blah, blah. I introduced them to Robert E. Lee and showed a prewar photograph.(black mustache–you’ll all seen it), and described how Lee wrapped up the hostage crisis quickly, with the help of a detachment of marines.

Kid in class, “So Brown’s the bad guy for attacking the arsenal.”

Me: “No, he was trying to free the slaves, that’s good.”

Kid: “So Lee and the marines are the bad guys.”

Me: “No, they were trying to rescue the hostages that Brown seized. That’s good.”

Other kid, “Is Brown against slavery?”

First kid, “Yeah, duh,”

Third kid: “Can I get a drink of water?”

Me: “No.” I describe Brown’s trial and his transformation from homicidal nutjob to martyr. “Two men, attended Brown’s hanging, that I want you to remember. One was Thomas Jackson, and other was John Wilkes Booth.”

Third kid: “Can I go to the bathroom?”

Me: “No.” I describe how hangings were public events, conducted at the 50 yard line in a football stadium. I told them that the sins of this guilty land could be purged only with blood. What did that mean?

First kid: ” we going to have a big war and decide to end slavery.”

Second kid: ” That guy, Booth, murdered President Lincoln.”

Third kid: “I wanna go to the bathroom.”

Me: “You can go if you sing this song with me:

John Brown’s Body lies a moulderin’ in the grave.”which I sing at the top of my voice. The kid didn’t need to go to the bathroom enough to sing with me. Then the bell rang, which in our little school is actually one of my colleagues ringing a handbell, like Little House on the Praire. The kids laugh at the singing and file out. It’s Friday, a beautiful day out.

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

I Confuse My Students

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The Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse has an extensive collection of out-of-copyright clipart, much of it from the 19th Century. Of interest to us is the Civil War section (there is also one on Reconstruction), which has a lot of period illustrations from sources like Frank Leslie’s. All are available in various resolutions to fit just about any need, and of course they are free. Here’s one of the death of General John Sedgwick at Spotsylvania, which is more accurate than most.

Worth a look for your next project. For best results go to the search page and enter Civil War as a keyword.

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

Civil War Clip Art Source

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Reunions of old soldiers, such as the one I just attended in Gettysburg, invariably bring forth reflections on mortality. You see your old comrades in arms, once so young and strong, vainly fighting the last battle with a foe they have no hope of beating — father time. Civil War reunions were, I am sure, no different.

By chance I came across an annual student Civil War essay contest sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York and the New York Civil War Round Table. Some of the essays are very good, especially for high school students. So remember the names — like Jean Dahlquist, Yusuke Asai, Drew Williams, and Ashley Nelson. These are the ones who will be writing Civil War history when we are gone.

As an aside, I’ve had nothing but postive experiences with Gilder Lehrman. They have an exensive collection of Civil War manuscripts and are very helpful.

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

The New (new) Historians

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