From the Editor

Most people assume I teach history at St. Bonaventure University, which I’ve been proud to call my academic home for twenty-three years. I’m actually a writing professor, though, who has come to the Civil War “sideways.” As a writer, I happen to write about the Civil War, which is how my two avocations intersect.

As a writer, I’m fascinated by good stories, and the Civil War has no shortage of them. (The war is, in fact, our great national story.) I love language—both the craft and the art of it—and I place a huge premium on not just factual and technical accuracy but on readability. After all, I want to share these stories, so I want people to want to read them.

It’s within this context that I recently made my first trip to England thanks to the kind invitation of the American Civil War Roundtable of the United Kingdom. My friend Frank O’Reilly and I spoke at their annual conference, focused on the Overland Campaign. I have visited some wonderful roundtables over the years, but the members of the U.K. Roundtable were all deeply engaged in discussion and highly knowledgeable. It was as rich an intellectual environment as I’ve experienced in a long while. It was a privilege to participate in.

I gave myself a few extra days prior to the conference to do some sightseeing, and Darren Rawlings of The American Civil War and U.K. History page was kind enough to serve as my guide. I absorbed a tremendous amount of fascinating history as we toured, but my main objectives were literary, not historical. I wanted to visit the graves of the poets in Westminster Abbey. I wanted to visit Stratford-upon-Avon and go to Shakespeare’s home. I wanted to have a drink at the pub where J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and their fellow Inklings once shared ideas. The trip took on the feel of a pilgrimage.

Most moving for me was my visit to Shakespeare’s tomb in Holy Trinity Church. I savor Shakespeare’s plays and can still recite lines I once learned for performances. Unexpectedly, I choked up as stood there, caught off guard by the emotional power of fulfilling a lifelong dream to pay my respects to a writer I admired so much.

I’ve returned stateside inspired, my writing energies renewed. As we approach the spring “battlefield season,” where so many of us finally get to do some battlefield tromping and get in touch again with the landscapes that mean so much to us as students of the Civil War, my hope for you is that you, likewise, find renewed inspiration and meaning.

—Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War

Earlier this month, ECW authors Jon-Erik Gilot and Kevin Pawlak released John Brown's Raid: Harpers Ferry and the Coming of the Civil War, the latest volume in the Emerging Civil War Series published by Savas Beatie.

John Brown, the infamous fighter on the Kansas plains and detester of slavery, led a band of nineteen men on a desperate nighttime raid that targeted the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. There, they planned to begin a war to end slavery in the United States.

But after 36 tumultuous hours, John Brown's Raid failed, and Brown himself became a prisoner of the state of Virginia.

Brown's subsequent trial further divided north and south on the issue of slavery as Brown justified his violent actions to a national audience forced to choose sides.

ECW News and Notes

The May 2023 issue of Civil War News offered a positive review of Civil War Monuments and Memory, part of the Emerging Civil War 10th Anniversary Series published by Savas Beatie, co-edited by Jon Tracey and Chris Mackowski. Reviewer Sal Cilella offered a good overview of recent “memory wars” sparked by monument controversies, lauded the “39 separate entries on nearly every aspect of history and memory [which] touch on all the bases. . . .” He goes on to say, “The existence of emerging civil war authors, with or without their PhDs, their strict adherence to tight logic, judicious use of primary sources, and ability to communicate, refutes the doomsday scenario that history is dead.”

Neil Chatelain recently signed a contract with McFarland and Company for his next book, tentatively titled Treasure and Empire in the Civil War: The Panama Route, the West, and the Campaigns to Control America's Mineral Wealth. On April 15, he presented for The Historian's Lounge about his paper "Postwar Identity Crisis of the Confederate Navy's Officer Corps," published last year in US Military History Review.

Doug Crenshaw has been giving a series of tours on both the Seven Days and the Cold Harbor Campaign. Doug and Drew Gruber will be speaking on May 18 at Hanover Tavern on their new book To Hell or Richmond. 

Meg Groeling reviewed America’s Hardscrabble General: Ulysses S. Grant, from Farm Boy to Shiloh by Jack Hurst, published by Southern Illinois University Press. The review, which appeared in the May issue of Civil War News, said, “The depth with which Grant’s early career is examined is invaluable.”

Dwight Hughes and Neil Chatelain teamed up with historian and author (and occasional ECW contributor) John Quarstein to propose a three-paper Naval Civil War panel at the biannual U. S. Naval Academy McMullen Naval History Symposium in Annapolis, the largest gathering of naval historians in the world. Their proposal was accepted for the next symposium in September. Dwight will speak on “The Naval Civil War in Theaters Near and Far,” an overview of the naval war based on a new ECW Series volume he and Neil are working on. Neil will talk about “Tactical Confederate Naval Evacuations of Military Forces: Two Case Studies in Joint Cooperation,” and John’s presentation addresses “The Fall of Gosport Navy Yard, April 1861.”

On April 15, Jon-Erik Gilot hosted a one-day symposium at the Captain Thomas Espy Post in Carnegie, PA. Lecturers included Dan Welch, Pete Miele, Hampton Newsome, Dana Shoaf, and Rich Condon, each with an emphasis on the Gettysburg Campaign. The Espy Post hosts a monthly 2nd Saturday Lecture Series in Carnegie (also streamed on Zoom and Facebook), and an annual symposium each April. For more information, please visit the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall website.

Brian Matthew Jordan spoke to the North Central Texas, Fort Worth, and Dallas Civil War Round Tables in April. He likewise gave a paper at the McCormick Civil War Institute's spring symposium in Winchester, Virginia, (see photo) where he got to catch up with fellow ECW historians Jon Tracey and Sarah Kay Bierle. He appeared at the Antietam Institute on April 22. 

Chris Kolakowski recently participated in a discussion on the importance of military history for the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers as part of their Vanguard: Indo-Pacific podcast series. The discussion is available on all popular podcasting platforms. A direct link can be found here. 

Chris Mackowski was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Frank Vandiver Award of Merit, presented each year by the Civil War Roundtable of Houston, Texas. The award "recognizes the outstanding contributions to Civil War scholarship or preservation efforts by an individual or an institution."

Vandiver (1925-2005) was a widely recognized academic and author, and an administrator at Rice University, University of North Texas, and Texas A&M University. He was also a founding member of the roundtable.

Chris also spoke at the American Civil War Roundtable of the U.K.’s annual conference on April 14-16. The conference theme focused on the Overland Campaign, and Chris spoke on the battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the missed opportunities along the North Anna River.

Shrouded Veterans

Frank Jastrzembski offers an update on one of his latest projects through Shrouded Veterans, an organization devoted to getting headstones for Civil War veterans:

A government-issued headstone was recently placed at Colonel Richard Hudson Woolworth’s grave.

A stockbroker and militia officer before the Civil War, Woolworth was appointed major in the 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves on June 21, 1861. Before heading to the Virginia Peninsula, he was made lieutenant colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Reserves on June 1, 1862.

Woolworth was severely wounded at Charles City Cross Roads on June 30, and on the following day he was captured while lying in the hospital. He remained imprisoned in Richmond until he was paroled on July 17. Thirty days after the battle, portions of Woolworth’s uniform were extracted from his wounds.

In December 1862, he rejoined his regiment and led it at the Battle of Fredericksburg where he was struck by a spent ball and confined to the hospital for two weeks. On December 24, 1862, he was promoted colonel.

Towards the end of 1863, Lewis Cooper desired to form a business partnership with Woolworth and asked his uncle, Charles Gilpin, to forward the proposition to him. Woolworth turned it down and chose to remain with his men. He replied:

“Dear Uncle:— I duly received thine of the 7th, and am truly grateful to our friend for his kind and generous offer. I should feel it my duty to accept it under other circumstances; but as I have voluntarily sworn to serve the United States well and truly for three years, I do not feel at liberty to tender my resignation. I think that the officers are as much bound by their oath as the enlisted men, particularly as many of the latter have enlisted through the example of those higher in position. Officers who resign now are not much thought of by those who remain in the service. The remaining ten months will soon slip around, and then, should I be spared, I hope to be with you again. Tell my friend I am very sorry to decline his proposal, and hope I may have an opportunity of expressing my thanks to him personally."

At the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain on May 9, 1864, Woolworth was mortally wounded while gallantly leading his men. He was buried on the field beneath a locust tree close to where he fell. He left behind a widow and three children.

Woolworth’s remains were taken to Philadelphia and buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery. However, they were disinterred and relocated to Lawnview Cemetery in Rockledge, Pennsylvania.

A special thanks to David Callihan for adopting Woolworth’s grave and covering the cemetery’s installation fee.

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 you can do so by visiting our website: www.emergingcivilwar.com; you can mail us a check at the address below (make checks payable to "Emerging Civil War"); or you can make a gift through PayPal. Thank you!