During the Sesquicentennial, one of the major themes the National Park Service touted was “From Civil War to Civil Rights.” It seemed an odd choice at the time, designed not to focus on the war but rather shift focus away from it toward a narrative that stretched forward toward some vague spot in the 1960s. The lack of any concerted national effort to promote the Sesquicentennial doomed that broad vision, and everyone seemed to shake hands at Appomattox and go home, facsimile parole passes in hand.

The shame is that there is a clear path from Civil War to Civil Rights—one that largely went unexplored by the NPS in the Sesquicentennial, despite the catchy slogan.

Over the last ten years, I’ve spent time on my own exploring that link, and I’ve done it primarily by taking advantage of the “power of place.” When I’m out on a battlefield trip or visiting a roundtable for a talk, I look for opportunities to make that journey from Civil War to Civil Rights by finding sites that let me explore it on my own terms.

Battlefields served as my first—and still as my main—connection with Civil War history. Landscapes move me. Place inspires me. Standing in the footsteps of those who came before us gives me—gives all of us—a perspective we can’t get in any other way. This is the first step to understanding and empathy and insight.

Inspired by these adventures over the years, I’m teaching a class this semester call “The Civil Rights Movement and the Media.” I’m sure some people will shake their heads and grumble about “one more woke college professor,” but my motivation for teaching the class springs from my visits to these historic places and the inspiration I’ve walked away with. It’s my first time teaching the class, which I’ll use an opportunity to indulge my curiosity even further, right alongside my students. I'm excited to teach it.

No doubt, we can carry the thread of history from the Civil War to Civil Rights—a thread that doesn’t stop in the 1960s. We study the past to better understand the present. What can the lessons from both those eras, and the connection between them, teach us about today?

—Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War

From Edward Alexander: “I'm finishing up a few cartography projects, including maps of the Charleston, South Carolina area for both the Emerging Civil War and Emerging Revolutionary War Series. I also recently took on a much more modern project and anticipate seeing two maps in Lt. Col. David Kelly's (Ret.) Hell in the Streets of Husaybah: The April 2004 Fights of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines in Husaybah, Iraq published within the month.”

Sarah Kay Bierle has been trying to do some winter hiking between snow and ice storms in Virginia. She was excited to bushwhack to the 114th Pennsylvania Monument at Chancellorsville Battlefield and explore other areas around Hazel Grove.

Sheritta Bitikofer gave her first-ever Civil War Roundtable talk this month about the last slave ship, the Clotilda, which smuggled 110 Africans from the Bight of Benin to Mobile, Alabama, in the summer of 1860. The presentation was well attended, including a descendent of one of the Africans from the Clotilda, there to represent the Clotilda Descendants Association and share about their efforts to preserve their heritage in Africatown, just outside of Mobile.

Neil Chatelain just had an article titled “Creuzbaur's Revolutionary Confederate Ironclad Avenger” published in Civil War Navy–The Magazine's winter 2022 issue, examining recently uncovered schematics of an innovative prototype ironclad design.

Bert Dunkerly and Doug Crenshaw continue to hike the more obscure areas of the Richmond battlefields, always looking for something new.

From Meg Groeling: Meg is doing fine, thank you. She is getting her hair back, although it is beginning to look a bit Edmond Ruffin-ish. She is trying to catch up on all her obligations and is constantly working on improving her “off the cuff” speechifying for Zoom and Facebook. She is also becoming adept at wrapping books for the mail and setting up PayPal payments, so if you haven't bought your copy of First Fallen yet, do so! It is essential, you know, to all Civil War buffs and fans in general, that a copy of FF be in every household. Ahem.

Meg also received a highly complimentary review of First Fallen in the Wall Street Journal by Hal Holzer on December 29, 2021. Holzer called the book a “straightforward, deeply research biography” and a “vivid inquiry in [Ellsworth’s] star appeal.”

Guy Hasegawa’s Matchless Organization: The Confederate Army Medical Department, part of ECW’s Engaging the Civil War Series from Southern Illinois University Press, received a favorable review from John Michael Priest in the February 2022 issue of Civil War News. “Matchless Organization is, as of now, the definitive study of the Confederate Army Medical Organization, but also provides an explanation of how the Confederacy destroyed itself,” Priest says.

Chris Kolakowski reviewed Strategies of North and South: A Comparative Analysis of the Union and Confederate Campaigns by Gerald L. Earley for the February 2022 issue of Civil War News. Chris called the book “an interesting work” that offered thought-provoking analysis, but “the book’s limitations impact its usefulness.”

Derek Maxfield was pleased to learn that his first book, Hellmira: The Union’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp – Elmira, NY, has now been made available in a second edition. On February 17 at 7:00 p.m., Derek will present his book at the Dundee Library, in his hometown of Dundee, NY. The event is co-sponsored by the library and Dundee Area Historical Society. On March 9, Derek and his wife, Jess, will perform their one-act play, “Grant on the Eve of Victory,” for the Cleveland Civil War Round Table at 7:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Cleveland-S Independence.

On Dec. 19, Ryan Quint attended the yearly peace ceremony at the Dranesville Church of the Brethren. This year, they asked that he say a few words, which he copied in a blog post. A new sign was also dedicated to commemorate the battle and the lives lost there. “Continuing on the theme of Dranesville,” Ryan says, “I gave a talk to the Bull Run Civil War Round Table on January 13. The rising cases of Omicron forced it to be a virtual presentation, but the turnout was good and the audience questions even greater.”

Brian Swartz spoke about Joshua Chamberlain and Passing Through the Fire at the January 13, 2022, meeting of the Joshua L. Chamberlain Civil War Round Table. Around 35 people attended the meeting, held in the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine.

Congratulations to Dan Welch, who has been selected as the new associate editor of Gettysburg Magazine, published by the University of Nebraska. In making the announcement, the Press said: “An experienced seasonal Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, Dan has a vast knowledge of the park & its history [which he has] contributed to many #CivilWar publications (like Emerging Civil War).”

Kris White wrote an article for the Winter 2021 issue of Hallowed Ground magazine, “Oceans Rise, Empires Fall: How the American Revolution Became a Global War.”

ECW Is Coming to Pittsburgh!

When one ECW symposium just isn’t enough, we have you covered—but only if you act quickly! Only 30 seats remain available for the upcoming Civil War Symposium at The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall and the Captain Thomas Espy Post in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, April 9, 2022.

The symposium will feature five historians from Emerging Civil War highlighting several key themes of the second year of the Civil War. The symposium will examine how the events of 1862 impacted a soldier’s experience, including the battles that scarred them, the medicine that healed them, and the words that freed them.

Presentations Include:

·     Drew A. Gruber – “The Civil War on the Virginia Peninsula in 1862” 

·     Dan Welch – “Abraham Lincoln & The Emancipation Proclamation”

·     Paige Gibbons Backus – “Dr. Jonathan Letterman’s Plan that Changed Military Medicine”

·     Chris Mackowski – “Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia”

·     Kristopher D. White – “The Battle of Gaines’ Mill, Virginia”

In addition to the speakers, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Captain Thomas Espy Post, a national treasure considered the most intact surviving Grand Army of the Republic Post, as well as the Lincoln Gallery, an impressive display of 100 prints of Abraham Lincoln captured between 1847 – 1865. There will also be an expansive Civil War book sale and raffles throughout the day.

A limited number of tickets are available at the regular price of $60.00, which includes the five lectures and a boxed lunch. Tickets may be purchased at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall

ECW Bookshelf

We have two new ECW-affiliated books to highlight this month!

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On May 24, 1861, Col. Elmer Ellsworth became the first Union officer killed in the Civil War. The entire North was aghast. First Fallen is the first modern biography of this national celebrity, Northern icon, and mostly forgotten national hero.

Meg Groeling’s well-written biography is grounded in years of archival research and includes diaries, personal letters, newspapers, and many other accounts. In the six decades since the last portrait of Ellsworth was written, new information has been found that gives readers and historians a better understanding of the Ellsworth phenomenon and his deep connections to the Lincoln family.

First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero examines every facet of Ellsworth’s complex, fascinating life and adds richly to the historiography of the Civil War.

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In early August 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson took to the field with his Army of the Valley for one last fight—one that would also turn out to be his last independent command.

Near the base of Cedar Mountain, in the midst of a blistering heat wave, outnumbered Federal Infantry under Maj. Gen. Nathanial Banks attacked Jackson’s army as it marched toward Culpeper Court House. A violent three-hour battle erupted, yielding more than 3,600 casualties. “The carnage was fearful,” one observer wrote.

Civil War history typically breezes by the battle of Cedar Mountain, moving quickly from the Seven Days’ Battles into the Second Bull Run Campaign. As Michael Block’s The Carnage Was Fearful: The Battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, argues, the stand-alone battle had major implications. Part of the Emerging Civil War Series!

10 Questions . . .

with Mike Block

Mike Block is the author of the newest Emerging Civil War Series volume, The Carnage Was Fearful: The Battle of Cedar Mountain. Mike serves as the vice-president of the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield. As a public historian, he gives battlefield tours and lectures, focusing on the stirring wartime events in Culpeper County, including at Cedar Mountain. Retiring from the United States Air Force in 2001, he continues supporting the U.S. Government as a consultant.

You have a particular passion for the Civil War history of Culpeper County. How did you first make that discovery? 

In 2004, the family moved from Manassas to Bealeton, in southern Fauquier County. While I was unpacking box after box of Civil War-related books, I mentioned to my wife that it was time to give back. A small story in the paper the following week mentioned that the Brandy Station Foundation (BSF) was looking for volunteers. I joined the organization, became a docent at the Graffiti House, and eventually became part of their board. Nearly everyone was focused on the Battle of Brandy Station, so, with support and guidance from mentors Bud Hall and Robert Luddy, I studied the Army of the Potomac’s 1863-64 Winter Encampment and Rappahannock Station. From there, the rest of the county’s history opened up to me.

How did you get interested in Cedar Mountain, in particular? 

I left the BSF in early 2012. Within a month, the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield reached out and asked me to join their board and serve as a public historian. Remember, 2012 was the sesquicentennial of the battle. I had a very steep learning curve, indeed! Once on board, I realized that other than Robert Krick’s excellent Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, there was little written on the battle. As my understanding of the brief campaign grew, I began gathering material with the hope of someday telling the story of Cedar Mountain myself.

People tend to look at the battle of Cedar Mountain in isolation, but you have a great way of framing it as the last action of the Peninsula Campaign. Can you explain that briefly? 

The official reports for Cedar Mountain are in the volume with Second Manassas. This leads many to believe that they are linked as the same campaign. But looking at the correspondence and chronology of the 1862 Richmond campaign, it was clear to me that John Pope’s advance was a maneuver to threaten Richmond from the West. This would also threaten the key railroad junction at Gordonsville, Charlottesville ,and Richmond, as well as relieving some of the pressure on the Army of the Potomac at Harrison’s Landing. The last thing Lee needed in early August was 40,000 men at Richmond’s back door. Pope held the initiative until August 9. 

Everyone seems to have an (unfavorable) opinion of John Pope. What do you think of him? 

John Pope is an easy man to dislike—an arrogant braggart and a Republican when most of the army leadership were Democrats. I doubt I would have enjoyed his company. He came from the west with a very different way of prosecuting the war, which was the polar opposite of how George McClellan fought. Pope’s plan was a good one, but had a poor supporting cast. He hoped to maneuver Stonewall Jackson off the Rapidan River line and had the manpower to achieve it. Unfortunately for Pope, Jackson moved first and blunted the advance at Cedar Mountain. After that, personal animosities within Federal armies in the east—and Robert E. Lee—sealed his fate. But remember, Pope was again successful when sent back west. Lincoln saw value in him. You can’t say that about John Fremont or McClellan.

What do you love about the Cedar Mountain battlefield? 

It is a pristine battlefield with great trails. The only significant disruption to the ground is Route 15. There is very little housing, and the vistas are without disruption. Cedar Mountain is not owned by the NPS, nor is it a Virginia State Park (yet); it’s owned by the American Battlefield Trust. There are more than 400 acres preserved, with several hundred more under some form of protection! This is your battlefield. Most of the local landowners allow the guides to visit private property (with advanced permission), allowing us to tell a complete story. Also, Cedar Mountain, in the early 20th century, was the fifth-most monumented battlefield in America, behind Gettysburg, Antietam, Vicksburg, and Chickamauga. A true hidden gem.

Lightning Round (short answers with a one-sentence explanation) 

Favorite primary source? 

The letters from the soldiers. They contain the most important, unedited thoughts the writer had on that particular day. And their DNA is present!

Favorite Civil War-related monument? 

Impossible to answer. But I always pause at the 11th Pennsylvania monument at Gettysburg to visit Sallie (a Cedar Mountain veteran).

Favorite unsung hero of the Civil War era? 

Not a hero, but Colonel John Egbert Farnum, 70th New York Infantry, is a fascinating individual. He needs a biography.

What’s a bucket-list Civil War site you’ve not yet visited? 

Chattanooga and Chickamauga. I need to get out to the western battlefields.

Favorite ECWS book that’s not your own?

I’ve written three appendix’s for other ECWS authors, so I can’t pick those, either. I love the campaign guides and traveling the backroads, so Rob Orrison’s and Kevin Pawlak’s To Hazard All: A Guide to the 1862 Maryland Campaign.

Emerging Revolutionary War News

Although the winter months during 18th century warfare were usually relegated to winter encampments and inaction, in 1781, that was not the case in the southern colonies of America. On January 17, 1781, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan and a mixed force of Continentals and militia soundly defeated Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton's British force at the Battle of Cowpens. For the second time in less than four months, the British left wing in the back country of South Carolina had been destroyed, first at Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, and then at Cowpens. This would have severe implications on British strategy as conducted by Lord Charles Cornwallis, who would shortly thereafter embark on a mission to corner the American forces in the Carolinas. This would result in the successful “Race to the Dan” by Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene's patriot forces. 

To learn more about the pivotal battle of Cowpens, click on over to Emerging Revolutionary War's Facebook or YouTube pages and catch the “Rev War Revelry” about the battle. ERW was joined by two historians from the American Battlefield Trust to discuss all things Cowpens.

If interested in winter encampments, Valley Forge, or looking to finalize plans for November 2022, click over to www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org.

February

7th: David Dixon, “August Willich’s Civil War: Radical, International Revolutionary,” Rock River Valley CWRT via Zoom

12th: Chris Mackowski, Lincoln as a Writer, Irish Brigade Camp, SUV, Fredericksburg, VA

14th: Jon-Erik Gilot, The Battle of Philippi, Mahoning Valley Civil War Roundtable, OH

14th: Dwight Hughes, “Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor, the Virginia, and the Battle of Hampton Roads,” Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table, Fredericksburg, VA

15th: David Dixon, “August Willich’s Civil War: Radical, International Revolutionary,” Union Club of Chicago

15th: David Dixon, “August Willich’s Civil War: Radical, International Revolutionary,” Lincoln-Davis CWRT

17th: Kristopher D. White, “The Bliss Farm at Gettysburg,” Hershey Civil War Roundtable (PA)

17th: Derek Maxfield, “Hellmira: The The Union’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp – Elmira, NY,” Dundee Library, Dundee, NY (Derek’s hometown!)—co-sponsored by the library and Dundee Area Historical Society.

23rd: Bert Dunkerly and Doug Crenshaw, “Embattled Capital: Richmond in the Civil War,” Williamsburg (VA) SCV

23rd: Chris Mackowski, “A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House,” Fredericksburg (VA) Civil War Roundtable

March

9th: Derek and Jess Maxfield, “Grant on the Eve of Victory,” (one-act play), Cleveland Civil War Round Table, Holiday Inn Cleveland-S Independence

15th: “Defending the Arteries of Rebellion: Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River Valley,” Lincoln-Davis Civil War Round Table, Alsip, IL.

17th: “Defending the Arteries of Rebellion: Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River Valley,” Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table, Baton Rouge, LA.