One of the great challenges of Civil War research is figuring out when an eyewitness source is reporting a false, or falsified, memory. I can remember when, like many with a budding interest in the Civil War, I would read an historian’s account of a battle or a meeting and accept that account at face value as “what really happened.” After all, most of the accounts were copiously footnoted and “documented.”

When I reached the point of wanting to research and write some Civil War history on my own, I finally delved into the treasure trove of original sources. What a shock! The first thing I learned was how little we really know, and how much of our accepted history really is a reconstucted narrative based upon best guess interpretations of what the sources tell us. Sources contradict one another endlessly; eye witnesses tend to telescope time, running events that happened hours or even days apart together;  many writers of orginal sources write with an eye on the history books or the promotion of their careers, and some have crafted elaborate, detailed memories that are just plain false.

A great example of such a false memory is Chaplain  Jaquelin Marshall Meredith’s (47th Virginia Regiment, Brockenbrough’s Brigade, Heth’s Division, Hill’s Corps) account of the approach to Gettysburg by Heth’s division on the morning of July 1. Meredith treats  us to a great cavalry charge by Union General John Buford’s celebrated cavalry:

We had proceeded very slowly, giving time for the whole division to form in the road and march, and had, at 9 o’clock A.M., reached only about and and a half or two miles east from Cashtown, when we passed over a long ridge and down into a broad, clean, open valley, with the pike leading gradually by open fields upwards to another long ridge, where some oak woods covered a large part of the crest on both sides of the road. We had begun to ascend this slope, when I noticed Archer’s Brigade file to the right of the road and march by columns of four, or marching orders, at right angles to the road. In a few moments Brockenbrough’s Brigade filed out on the right about four to five hundred yards in rear of Archer’s. While still marching; and without time to face into battle line, with guns unloaded, Archer’s Brigade of 1,000 men were suddenly charged upon by Buford’s Federal Cavalry, 2,500 strong, from the cover of the wood on the ridge. The attack was so sudden in front and both flanks that in a few moments I saw General Archer and two-thirds of his brigade captured with only a few pistol shots from the cavalry.

It’s a great scene from a movie, but only Chaplain Meredith saw this particular epic production. Buford’s cavalry fought dismounted; Archer’s brigade advanced several hundreds yards in line of battle from Herr Ridge toward McPherson’s Ridge, and after a vicious firefirght they were flanked and routed by the Union Iron Brigade that came up to relieve the cavalry.

Meredith wrote this accont a full 33 years after the events in question. He intended to praise General Heth, whose adventures that morning could most charitably be described as “unfortunate.”  It is a great example of an eyewitness to history account, full of colorful detail, all of it completely false.

You can find the full text of Meredith’s article in the Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume XXIV, pp. 182-187.

Thanks to Brett Schulte for welcoming me as a new blogger to TOCWOC. You can find a bit about me in my Profile.

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False Memories – A Charge That Never Happened

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Editor’s Note: Dean West has graciously decided to join TOCWOC as a new blogger.  Dean’s recent comments on one of Fred Ray’s posts and the resulting email exchange which followed made it clear Dean was one of the “obsessively compulsed” amateur Civil War historians who fit the profile of a TOCWOC blogger.  A little bit of dean’s history, written by Dean as an introductory post, follows below.  Please join me in welcoming Dean to the team.  I think you’ll really enjoy what he brings to the table.

No one including me knows how I first became interested in military history. My mother used to tell her friends that history books and toy soldiers simply showed-up in my baby crib one day. I date my interest from an inscription in a copy of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume IV, which says, “Merry Christmas Deany, 1955.” I was ten years old. I’ve been “obsessively compulsed” ever since.

Throughout my life, the study of military history has been both hobby and avocation. For years I was part of the design team of well-known war-game designer John Hill. I worked with John as historical consultant and developer of the award winning miniatures game Johnny Reb, which is still popular after twenty-five years on the market. In 1996 my own miniatures rules, The Final Argument of Kings, were published. Final Argument is a tactical simulation of combat in the period 1740-1762. Through the years I’ve written numerous articles for various war-gaming magazines, and several years ago had a piece on Civil War cavalry published in North & South magazine. I have received credits as a researcher, copy editor and/or proof reader for historians Professor Christopher Duffy and Brent Nosworthy. I edited the western theater narrative in Keith Rocco’s Civil War art book “The Soldier’s View.” In the ’80s I was active in Civil War round tables, serving for awhile as president of the Jefferson County round table, located in Madison, Indiana.

I grew up in north west Indiana, on the Shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. I’m married and have three grown children and five feisty grand children. For forty years I made my living working for State Farm Mutual in its automobile claim department. For twenty-five of those years I managed auto claim facilities in two Indiana locations. A major part of my job was managing defense litigation. I retired a few years ago, and can now devote most of my time to the study of the “linear” or “Black Powder” era of warfare, 1689 through 1865.

In 1999 we bought a “hobby farm” in a very rural county of Kentucky. One day, while watching the terrific Civil War movie “Ride With the Devil” I decided I needed to learn to ride a horse well before I got to old. I had become intensely interested in cavalry, but knew I’d need the physical experience of riding to even attempt to understand the mounted arm. So at fifty-four I learned the basics of riding, bought two horses, and reconfigured the tiny hobby farm so we could care for horses there.  Then I bought a truck and a horse trailer and joined The Kentucky Cavalry Brigade reenactment unit. Being around these Kentucky cavaliers who had been on horseback since boyhood vastly improved my riding skills. I learned the drill and became a drill master, and was fortunate to eventually rise to the rank of captain. I retired last year, before I broke a hip or worse, but the adventures I experienced during my nine years in the “pretend cavalry” are without doubt the most exciting of my lifetime. Moreover, hands-on physical experience with horses has vastly enhanced my ability to speak and write confidently about cavalry. In 2008, I had the great honor to command the 9th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, USA, at the Chickamauga National event.

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Dean West’s Bio

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My interest in the Civil War began in the early 60’s, when a local Philadelphia newspaper did a series of articles for the War’s 100^th Anniversary. This was during my pre-high school days and I was hopelessly hooked. I remember correcting a history teacher, an Irish nun, on certain details regarding the War. She probably thought, “What woke this kid up?”

Anyway, even though I had enough sense to approach her about these mistakes after class, in private, I don’t think she ever forgave me. My report card certainly didn’t indicate that she thought I knew more than she did.

My father told me back then that our bloodlines traced back to General Hancock. I believed, as did he, that this was THE General Winfield Scott Hancock. Well into adulthood I still assumed this to be true. I never really checked into it, probably because I’d rather believe it to be true than to find out that it wasn’t.

Several years ago, on one of our first trips to Gettysburg, my wife insisted on getting our pictures taken in Civil War regalia. Hey, it was hot, we (my son Nick and I) were dog-tired from trampling around the battlefield all day, and the only thing I wanted to try on was a draft beer. But my wife persisted, as wives do, and we wound up at the studio.

As Debbie went off to a changing room, the young lady at the counter asked us whether we wanted union or confederate garb. We both replied ‘union’ as plain as day. Well, several minutes later the girl reappeared, with CONFEDERATE uniforms. Nick looked at me, I looked at him; we both smiled with a ‘Lets get it over with’ shrug and put on the grays.

Deb was upset at first, but we were already dressed and I gave her my best “you’re really trying me’ sigh, and told her how long it had taken for the girl to find the WRONG uniforms, much less sending her back again for the right ones. Deb finally agreed to take the pics the way we were already dressed. This, however, did not stop her from complaining afterward. “I still don’t know why you didn’t just tell her that she misunderstood you, and that you wanted union uniforms,” she said later that day and every time she passed the picture for the next six months.

A year or two later, at a funeral, I bumped into a cousin I hadn’t seen in some 30 years. This guy knew so much about the Civil War that HE should be writing this intro. Anyway, it turns out that we were NOT related to W.S. Hancock. We are, in fact, related to a John Milton Hancock, CSA, from Randolph County, North Carolina. John Milton Hancock was also wounded at Gettysburg, shot in the chest. He was only a Brevit General, so you won’t find any mention of him among the lists of generals. After being wounded he and many other confederate prisoners were taken to Fort Delaware, where he was held until his wound demanded further attention. He was removed to a hospital and eventually found his way back to Randolph County.

As it turns out, I’d visited Fort Delaware a few times, unaware that my ancestor had been a prisoner of war there! As far as the picture’s concerned, I guess the ghost of old John M. Hancock was not having his descendants photographed in Yankee blue.

I’m in the mortgage industry, which is just a thrill a minute these days. My son Nick is now a freshman at Wesley College, and my wife is a 7^th grade math teacher. She’d like to retire soon, but did I mention I’m in the mortgage industry?

One of my other passions, aside from the Civil War, and my wife, of course, is wine. I love buying wine, drinking wine, and repeating that cycle as frequently as possible. I’m into fitness training, and I play hardball in a wooden bat league. I also avidly (some would say maniacally) follow the Phillies, the Eagles, Sixers and Big Five basketball. I read a lot of ancient military history, anything on the Celts, the Greek city states, Hannibal, Rome….

But nothing grabs me like the War Between the States. At the time of this intro I’m reading RETURN To BULL RUN, a fabulous read by John J. Hennessy, and am also enjoying the PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY of the CIVIL WAR, THE CAVALRY. The text was written in the early 1900’s by Brigadier General Theophilus Rodenbough, with contributions from officers of both sides. Crown Publishing reprinted it in 1983. I wonder if old Theo is getting any royalties?

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Marty Hancock’s Introductory Post

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Hello all.  My name is Jessica James and Brett has kindly invited me to join TOCWOC as a fiction reviewer. I love to read good, solidly written historical fiction that entertains while being informative and educational. I know many historians turn their noses up at fiction, but I think it’s a great way to draw people into history that otherwise would not be interested. (“The Killer Angels” did it for me).

My background is in PR/Journalism (uggh, I know) but I left an 18-year career as a newspaper editor to finish and publish my novel “Shades of Gray.” I’m an “old-school” type journalist that remembers the days when reporting was objective, so had no second thoughts about leaving the newsroom of today behind.

Though I spent most of my life in the Gettysburg area, a five-year stint in northern Virginia is where I really got the Civil War bug. I will have to blame the hours and hours I spent on the back roads of Loudoun and Fauquier counties on Col. Mosby, whose exploits I just could not get enough of. Every home or landmark written in any book about him, I just had to see for myself.

I am really lucky now to live in a pre-Civil War house on 10+ acres in Gettysburg that I bought almost 15 years ago. Everyone called me crazy when I bought it, (OK, so it didn’t have any indoor plumbing back then) but it is my writing retreat now. The outhouse still stands as a reminder of my pioneer days.

That’s my background in a nutshell. I am extremely pleased to be here, and though my time is limited, am looking forward to reading and reviewing some great books!

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Glad to be on board

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That was quick!  My request for a Civil War fiction reviewer has already been answered.  Jessica James, author of the award-winning Civil War novel Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia and an avid reader of Civil War fiction, has graciously agreed to try her hand as TOCWOC’s unoffical Civil War fiction reviewer.  Publishers and authors take note.  If I receive a request to review fiction, Jessica will be the first person I ask.  Please join me in welcoming Jessica to the TOCWOC family.  Her area of expertise fills a void in TOCWOC’s stable of bloggers, just as Matt Young’s did before her.  I am excited to have these two intelligent individuals with impressive credentials as new members of the TOCWOC crew.

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Welcome Jessica James to TOCWOC!

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I’d like to take a moment to wlecome Matthew Young to the current group of TOCWOC bloggers.  Many of you have probably already read Matt’s intgroductory post.  I’ve added Matt to the TOCWOC Author’s page as well.  Matt fills several niches in the TOCWOC world as an educator in a museum setting, a longtime reenactor, and an avid reader.  Please help me in welcoming Matt to the Civil War blogosphere!

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Welcome Matthew Young to TOCWOC!

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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.

My first posting, Brett informs me, should be one of personal introduction, something with which I’ve almost always had great difficulty. But it helps to be a little crazy, so I’ll push stalwartly on like the old grenadier that I’ve been lately pretending and imagining myself to be.

It feels extremely comfortable and somehow vindicated to count myself now among The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed! I’ve a mind to order a new carving of the family shield with the acrynym “TOCWOC” prominently emblazoned across its width. After all this time I feel as if I’ve finally come home. Its been a long, long journey…begun in a Fifth Grade classroom some 50-odd years ago.

“You may now get out your reading book and turn to page 43,” said Sister Mary Sarah James, much too pleasantly. She peered out expectantly at us from her neatly-boxed, black and white Catholic nun’s habit on that hot, stifling and listless afternoon. There was something troubling about the way she always seemed so crisp and fresh while the rest of us slowly wilted away in that old brick classroom, breathing in that stale, motionless air thinly laced with the faint smell of chalk dust and spoiled milk. As I dejectedly turned the pages with knotted brow, feeling the onus of another boring and excruciating memorization drill for Friday’s upcoming test, I had no idea that my young life was about to be transformed.

Page 43 of the reader contained a remarkable black and white illustration, one of those very simply rendered yet amazingly attractive drawings with beautiful gray shades that paid tribute to the adage that “one picture is worth a thousand words.” Beneath the drawing appeared the scripted title and the first few stanzas of a poem that has echoed within my mind ever since; John Greenleaf Whittier’s, “Barbara Frietchie.”

“Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn,…”

The illustration was of Stonewall Jackson, sword in hand, at the head of a scruffy, but nonetheless dangerous looking column of Confederate troops, questioningly staring upwards at a white-haired matron defiantly waving the Stars and Stripes from her upstairs window. Somehow my brain was suddenly and uncontrollably adding all sorts of things to that illustration; expanding it, coloring it, animating it!

“…The clustered spires of Frederick stand, Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.”

I could almost begin to smell the dust rising from the road, hear the soft, quick flapping of a bird’s wings as it took flight from the approaching column. I could almost feel my eyes beginning to squint against the sudden rash of glittering reflections that cast off from a host of polished gun barrels as the column eased through a slight bend in the road.

“Round about them orchards sweep, Apple and peach trees fruited deep,…”

I could see a few of the soldier’s arms reaching up to pluck the fruit from richly-burdened overhanging limbs, some of them quickly climbing the railed fence alongside the road for a better purchase and just as quickly leaping back down into their file, their jaws already working the object of their plundering into a sad relic of its former shape.

“…Fair as the garden of the Lord, to the eyes of the famished rebel horde.”

So completely taken with Whittier’s words was I that it was with no small amount of difficulty that I was finally forced to put the reader aside for the next lesson. Whittier’s poem had invaded my head, my heart and imagination as nothing else ever had.

“On that pleasant morn of the early fall, When Lee marched over the mountain-wall;…”

It was as if some strange, strong wind from the past had suddenly blew over me from head to toe, whispering to me in voices long since hushed, telling me that a great story of intense drama, terrible suffering, incredible adventure and heroic sacrifice was waiting to be read, waiting to be revealed to me if I would only seek out its pages.

“…Over the mountains winding down, Horse and foot, into Frederick town.”

I was completely trapped within that poem, wanting only to remain there until I had gleaned and soaked up every last bit of suggestion and nuance that I could discover. This was something, I felt, so moving and so deeply personal to my own soul that I would not be able to share it with my closest friends, nor even with my own parents. How could they have understood my excitement, my fired imagination, my overwhelming, sudden thirst for something so remote?!

“Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars,…”

I was secretly convinced, as some other boys my age would have been about a career in sports, that Mr. Whittier had taken pen in hand for the express purpose of indelibly imprinting me with the terrible glory of that great American Civil War, and that I had been challenged to discover as much about it in my lifetime as I possibly could. From that moment on a Civil War history book of some kind was never far from my hand. From that moment on I had become trapped by a poem, relegated to delving into the past as I tried to live the present. It became my passion.

Much has happened to me since that day. I ascended through the school grades, much like any other young kid, played high school football and dated the gals, scraped through two years of college, grew to manhood in the Viet Nam era and volunteered my service for three years in the Navy. After that I restlessly sought a more personal kind of adventure, sailing for another four years as an assistant-engineering officer in the Merchant Marine with the old Standard Oil fleet out of Richmond, California, getting to see a good part of the Pacific. Ports of call included the usual refinery and fuel storage stops on the Pacific Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii, with excursions as far west as Wake Island and Dutch Harbor.

My sailing days ended when I broke my own standing rule about never dating girls from my home city of Sacramento! Tossing away the sailor’s watch cap from the Golden Gate Bridge after my marriage, I donned the trappings, in succession, of a sawman in a lumber mill, a school custodian, an audio/visual clerk, and then, of all things, an independent milkman! Those were hard years for me, a time of poor choices, much like that marriage of 15 years! (I believe that some of my dementia started then!)

After passing through the world’s most acriminous divorce ever, I took to the road as a truck driver, finally gravitating back to the engineering side of things with a well-respected, fertilizer company in Northern California. By the time I retired, some 18 years later, I had gotten legal custody of my first two, achingly missed children, re-married to an outrageously wonderful woman, fathered two more wonderful sons, and became a grandfather for the third time at the age of fifty-eight! An impish heart condition then sidelined me from the ranks of the normal work force and forced me to reconsider my own mortality!

But somehow throughout the unexpected twists and turns of my life, my Civil War library grew (sometimes having to go grievously and pathetically into boxed storage) while my knowledge expanded; the candle that was lighted by Mr. Whittier in the Fifth Grade still burns brightly, in some ways brighter than ever! I have time to write now, time to research, time to more deeply explore and discover what was contained in those whispers from the past. I’ve read, and read well, sometimes in odd places and situations: like on the thickly-painted ready bench of an ammo locker under the forward 5″38 gun on a destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin; a smoothly-rounded granite rock in the high Sierra; a rough, corral beach littered with small pieces of old rusty steel; a smokey barroom stool in Sitka; a creaky hallway waiting-bench outside of a family law courtroom; a carved up picnic table at a dirty roadside rest stop; an operator’s perch in a phosphoric acid chemical convertor; and a draftsman’s table in a engineering office.

Now, in the years left to me, I might just be able to make some slight yet meaningful contribution to that mass of knowledge that we call the history of the American Civil War. I may not succeed, but I’ll have a great time trying! After all, some of our best moments happen after we reach the age of sixty!

“Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;…”

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

Trapped By a Poem!

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I am Scott L. Mingus, Sr., a patented scientist, published Civil War author, blogger, and miniature wargamer currently living not far from the Gettysburg battlefield. Brett asked me to participate occasionally in this TOCWOC forum. Years ago, folks on a popular Civil War messageboard nicknamed me “the Mad Wargamer,” mixing my activities as a mad scientist with my hobby of wargaming.

I maintain a pair of blogs, one for wargaming the Civil War and one covering local Civil War history with anecodotes and stories specifically related to York County, Pennsylvania, which played an important role in the Gettysburg Campaign.

My Civil War historical books are available from Colecraft Books (titles include Human Interest Stories of the Gettysburg Campaign and Human Interest Stories from Antietam) and soon from fellow blogger Eric Wittenberg’s Ironclad Publishing (Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863, available later this year). Copies may also be obtained from amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Borders stores using their in-store catalogues. Volume 2 of the Gettysburg human interest book should be in print for Christmas gift giving.

I am the author of several well-received scenario books on wargaming the Civil War, including the two-volume Enduring Valor:Gettysburg in Miniature and the popularly acclaimed Undying Courage: The Antietam Campaign in Miniature, as well as Touched With Fire and Crossed Sabers: Gettysburg in Miniature. My latest manuscript, Brothers Divided, covers small unit actions in the Gettysburg Campaign for skirmish-level wargaming rules such as Brother Against Brother. It will be published in 2008 by Chicago-based Marek/Janci Design.

My wife Debi and I are the editors and publishers of Charge!, an international newsletter for Civil War miniature wargamers produced by the Johnny Reb Gaming Society. I have also written historical articles for several other magazines, including The Gettysburg Magazine, America’s Civil War, The Herald, The Zouave, and several others.

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“The Mad Wargamer Checks In”

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I’ve tried to write this introduction at least 8 times – I’m just too rusty and can’t for the life of me get something down on paper that I like. So I promised myself, no matter what, this is the last attempt –I’m going to post this introduction even if it is so bad, it gets me kicked out of the group.

So, let’s start off with who I am – Tom Churchill. I’m not an expert by any means; I like to say I’m an accidental Civil War buff. I’m also an accidental author, helping co-write “The Civil War Research Guide” from Stackpole books. I’ll tell both of these stories in a future post, ones that will give them better justice.

But I will say that I have been researching the 18^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry for the last 10 years or so and hope to one day help clear General James Barnes’ good name as well as write the history of the unit, a history that even its soldiers couldn’t complete.

For the last year, I have been writing on the blog “Touch the Elbow.” I took a brief bit of time off as real life interrupted my hobby but now – for better or worse, I’m back.

What else should you know about me?

We’ll, I’ve been married for 14 years, have three kids, graduated from The Citadel (yes, the school that claims the first shots by firing upon the Star of the West), live in the Charleston, SC area, lean heavily in favor of the Union, my Great-Great Grandfather was the color bearer of the 18^th Mass as well as an incredible collector of artifacts during his time and service, his collection was lost into the hands of private collectors for almost 80 years, when it was rediscovered it was offered to me for a mere $30,000, although I couldn’t afford it – I was able to get several pieces at an outrageous amount, I’m incredible bitter over all of this if you couldn’t tell and I’m having a house built which is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done. Oh, and much to my wife’s disbelief and hope that I will fail – I am looking for a perfect piece of Civil War art for the new house – but more on that with a later post.

As for you, I ask a few things from the readers – read with an open mind and feel free to disagree with me via the comments. As a matter of fact, I beg of you to comment – I’ve had more fun discussing points of contention than I could have ever imagined – and I look forward to more of that here.

We’ll it’s still not what I was looking for but I’ve come to the end and promised that I would post it.

Until next time, from deep in the heart of the Rebellion –

Tom

Post from: TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

I could barely write my introductory post and now it wants a title?

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