I’ve often wondered what went through the minds of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee as they slugged it out for the first time in the Wilderness in May 1864. From there, they fought on to Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, Totopotomoy Creek, Cold Harbor, and on to Appomattox.

As it turns out, living historians who portray Grant and Lee also wonder the same thing.

On Thursday, April 14, I had the chance to spend time in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Court House with Curt Fields and Thomas Jessee. Curt and Thomas are the two foremost Grant and Lee (respectively) historians in the country. For the Appomattox 150th, for instance, the National Park Service has Curt and Thomas portray Grant and Lee for the recreated surrender ceremony.

Curt is a friend of mine, although we’ve never met in person. To spend the day on the battlefields with my friend and his wife was treat enough. To spend it with Curt and Lena and Thomas and his wife, Rebecca, was especially wonderful. There’s a big part of me that’s still a Civil War fanboy, so to spend the day on the field with Grant and Lee was a fanboy dream. Cur and Thomas had been in Williamsburg to do a joint program for the roundtable, and Bill Miller—a longtime friend of ECW—brought them to my neck of the woods the next day.

Thomas had not been to the Wilderness or Spotsylvania since he was a kid, and Curt had never been there at all. So, to walk the ground with them—and do so in a way that helped the two living historians better connect with the characters they each portray—was a big responsibility. I took them to places where Grant and Lee had particular connections so that Curt and Thomas could walk in the footsteps of Grant and Lee in an effort to better understand them. They have each been at their craft for years, but they were each making an effort to learn something new about the men they portrayed. They yearned to better understand Grant and Lee and, in doing so, improve their own portrayals.

The climax of the day probably came at the Brock Road-Plank Road intersection, where Grant chose to go around Lee and, in doing so, changed the very nature of the war. We had a fantastic discussion on the spot, even as dozens and dozens of cars drove by, obvious to the turning point of the war they were passing through.

“What more is there to learn about the Civil War,” people often ask me. As Curt and Thomas demonstrated by walking the ground, there’s always something new to learn.

— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief

Sarah Kay Bierle recently made a long-anticipated research trip to Alabama, visiting three libraries in three days and finding several historic markers that were “off the beaten path” in Calhoun County. 

Doug Crenshaw will be leading a private tour of the Seven Days battlefields on April 29.

In the past few weeks, Bert Dunkerly has given presentations on the Powhatan War of 1622 and the 1863 Brown’s Island Explosion. He has also been assisting Chris Calkins with editing his books, The Battles of Appomattox Station and Appomattox Court House and The Final Bivouac, for republication by Savas.

Brad Gottfried did a presentation for the Adams County Historical Society on April 7 about the ECWS book he co-authored with his wife, Linda: Lincoln Comes to Gettysburg.

Meg Groeling's First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, The North's First Civil War Hero has received another great review--this time from Jonathan Noyalas in the May 2022 Civil War News. Meg's "skillfully written" biography "impeccably details" Ellsworth's life, and Noyalas commends the book for being "well-written, superbly researched, and astutely constructed...." 

From Steward Henderson: “On April 3, five members of the 23rd USCT were invited to participate at the Angel Visit Baptist Church Emancipation Day Anniversary, which included the unveiling of their Virginia state marker for the church, which has been an established church since 1866. They celebrated April 3rd as Emancipation Day for Essex County as the day that Richmond fell to the Union soldiers, marking most of the slaves in that area to be free from slavery. On April 18, I gave a tour for the Fredericksburg Department of Tourism, 'Walk in the Footsteps of John Washington.'” Washington was a former slave who self-emancipated during the Federal occupation of the city in the spring of 1862. On April 23, Steward represented the 23rd USCT at Louisa County Heritage Day.”

From Dwight Hughes: “My only accomplishment last month was to complete the manuscript on deadline for the new ECW 10th Anniversary volume The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War, which is due out in the fall. For my first crack at it, I discovered that editing can be fun (usually) and instructive (always). Thanks to all my compatriots who contributed essays. Now spring is beckoning as yard and gardens are pulling me away from the keyboard.” (Dwight provided us with an image of his backyard cherry blossoms, above.)

Chris Kolakowski has been enjoying delving into the service of some newly discovered ancestors in the 30th, 44th, and 100th Indiana Volunteers. 

Chris Mackowski appeared on the podcast “The Other 51” by the Sports Media Guy, Brian Moritz, to talk about writing, the Civil War, and writing about the Civil War. The episode dropped on April 21. You can listen here.

Chris also appeared with Brian Matthew Jordan to talk about “The Great What Ifs of the American Civil War” for the Civil War Roundtable Congress on Friday, April 15. You can watch their talk here.

Angela Riotto will be attending the Civil War Era Studies National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at Gettysburg College in June 2022.

Brian Swartz spoke about his book Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the Civil War via Facebook Live with the Civil War Round Table of Central Louisiana on Saturday, April 9. The presentation was part of the CWRT's Second Saturdays with Savas Beatie Publishing series. Brian opened his program with a plug for Savas Beatie and for Emerging Civil War.

Thanks to the efforts of ECW’s Jon-Erik Gilot, the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, PA, featured an all-ECW line-up for the museum’s biennial one-day Civil War Symposium. The theme was “The War in 1862,” and the line-up included Drew Gruber of Civil War Trails, Paige Gibbons-Backus, Chris Mackowski, Dan Welch, and Kris White. ECW author Mike Block also made an appearance. (see photo of the gang, below)The library in Carnegie is the home to the Capt. Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic post, one of the most intact GAR posts in the country. 

Five Questions . . .

with Jon-Erik Gilot

For our “Five Questions” feature, we’re focusing on the work being done by some of our stalwart ECW “staff.” We have an outstanding cadre of contributors at ECW, but many of them go above and beyond their writing duties to help run the organization. We’re an all-volunteer crew, so we want to spotlight some of those great folks. ECW wouldn’t be possible without them. This month, we’re talking with Jon-Erik Gilot, the co-coordinator (with Sarah Kay Bierle) of our annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. Jon-Erik is also the secretary on our board of directors. You can read his full ECW bio here.

What does the job of symposium co-coordinator involve? 

A lot more than advertised! From the big things—developing the program and interfacing with our speakers, attendees, and venue—to the little things, like making name tags and scheduling weekly blog posts. Thankfully I have a great co-coordinator in Sarah Kay Bierle, and with her strong background in event planning I find myself leaning on her quite a bit. Between the two of us, we have a good handle on whatever might come up. 

What is your favorite part about the job? 

Interacting with the attendees. You start to recognize faces from previous years, readers from the blog, and members of roundtables where you've spoken. It feels more and more like a family reunion each year. You can't understand it until you've attended a symposium, so I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to encourage our readers to purchase a ticket. Less than 25% of seats remain—and once they're gone, they're gone! 

How did you work your way to become symposium co-coordinator? 

Attrition? Kidding! The previous co-coordinators had been at it for several years and were looking to pass the baton so they could get involved in other arms of the organization. We're only building on their successes, and I hope to someday pass that along to my successor. I feel like I have at least one more year in me, but ask me again in September....

What else do you do for ECW? 

I serve as Secretary of the ECW Board of Directors and also serve on the Editorial Committee. There's no shortage of work around here for those who want to be involved!

Working on anything fun these days? 

I recently wrapped up a mini-ECW symposium at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, PA, and I host a monthly 2nd Saturday Civil War Lecture Series there, which keeps me busy. My next book project is always in the back of my mind, but lately I've been having fun jumping around whatever topics I might find interesting. I also really buckled down with reading over the winter and finished books that had been languishing for years in my “to read” pile. 

For anyone who might be interested in having you speak to their roundtable or historical group, what are your areas of expertise? 

John Brown's Raid and West Virginia during the Civil War. I have quite a few talks that highlight the personalities, politics, and military engagements in that 1859–1865 window in West Virginia history. 

I'm also particularly interested in the advantageous use of short-term soldiers, such as the militia and home guard companies who opposed John Hunt Morgan during his 1863 Ohio Raid, and the Ohio 1864 National Guard regiments. These organizations weren't designed to see combat but put in some really effective work against veteran opponents. With enough notice, I can put together a talk tailored to your group, region, or interests. 

ECW Multimedia

We have had a busy month in our effort to take over all forms of media! :-)

First of all, we have relaunched the Emerging Civil War podcast on a wider number of platforms. Look for us at places like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

You can also subscribe to our podcast through Patreon, where we are now also offering exclusive bonus content for subscribers. That’s just $3.99/month, and proceeds go toward defraying the production costs of the podcast. Check us out: https://www.patreon.com/emergingcivilwar.

On the video front, the Emerging Civil War YouTube page included a neat collection of short videos to coincide with the 160th anniversary of the battle of Shiloh:

·     Shiloh 160th Intro

·     The Signs of Shiloh

·     Albert Sidney Johnston’s Crisis of Faith (with Parker Hills)

·     Lick ‘Em Tomorrow

·     Grant’s Last Line at Shiloh

·     Mississippi Monument at Shiloh (with Parker Hills)

·     Iowa Monument at Shiloh

·     Beauregard’s Escape from Corinth

We tagged along on a fantastic video swing with the American Battlefield Trust through southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. You can see those videos in a playlist, “Civil War Georgia Battlefield Tour Sites,” on the Trust’s YouTube page. (Above, you can see Kris White shooting a video with historian Will Greene as ECW's Dave Powell looks on)

We also came away with a few shorter pieces of our own, which we’ll share in May as the Atlanta Campaign gets underway. In the meantime, we have a pair of pop-up previews with Garry Adelman:

• The earthworks of Rocky Face Ridge
• Garry Adelman on Kennesaw Mountain

Finally, with the podcast back up, we have the video components of those interviews back up on YouTube. See “Decisions at Fredericksburg” with Chris Mackowski, Ryan Quint, and Kris White.

More to come, including commemoration the bicentennial of Ulysses S. Grant’s birth!

ECW Bookshelf

The latest release in the Emerging Civil War 10th Anniversary Series of hardcovers is out: Grant vs. Lee, coedited by Jonathan Tracey and Chris Mackowski and published by Savas Beatie.

The book covers a lot of ground, geographically and chronologically, from the Wilderness through Appomattox, picking key moments and great stories from this marquee match-up of Civil War titans.

“Emerging Civil War has knocked it out of the ballpark again!” says Gordon Rhea, dean of Overland Campaign scholars. Petersburg authority Will Greene calls the book, “Engaging, entertaining, educational, and eclectic,” and says “this collection of brief essays by a cadre of ‘emerging” Civil War scholars provides hope for the future of accessible Civil War history. Highly recommended.”

Obviously, Grant and Lee also approve.

Emerging Revolutionary War News

By Phill Greenwalt

April is an important month in the history of the American Revolution. The first shots of the war, fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts erupted on April 19, 1775.

ERW’s popular "Rev War Revelry," which is Emerging Revolutionary War's Sunday night historian happy hour, had its two-year anniversary program on Sunday, April 17. For folks unable to catch the April 17 program, all our past "Rev War Revelry" programs are on our YouTube channel. Or if you prefer podcasts, ERW continues to update our podcast channel, Emerging Revolutionary War, which can be accessed however you usually download and listen to your podcasts. (This is also a good time to go follow the blog and Facebook page if you haven't already). 

On April 19, ERW historian Phillip S. Greenwalt gave a virtual talk for the Valley Forge Park Alliance about Barren Hill, the ending of the Valley Forge encampment, and the remaking of the American army, entitled 'Timely and Handsome': Transformation of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. 

Continue to check out our blog, especially for details on how to register for the September symposium held in conjunction with Historic Alexandria about the international impact of the American Revolution. Lastly, click on over to the blog (www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org) to secure your place on the second annual bus tour, which will discuss the history of and campaign that led from Valley Forge to Monmouth, November 11-13, 2022. Limited tickets remain.

May

2: Chris Mackowski, “Crossroads of Fire: The Battle of Chancellorsville,” Rock River CWRT (via Zoom)

3: Phill Greenwalt, “If this Valley is Lost…” The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, Brunswick Civil War Round Table

11-15: American Battlefield Trust Annual Conference, Chantilly, VA

19: Chris Mackowski, Hershey (PA) Civil War Roundtable

26: Jon-Erik Gilot, “Dangerfield Newby’s Fight for Freedom,” Prince William County History Lecture Series, VA

26: Chris Mackowski, “Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River,” Hagerstown (MD) Civil War Roundtable.

June

8: Neil Chatelain, “Defending the Arteries of Rebellion,” Civil Warriors Round Table, West Hills, CA, Virtual Presentation

August

27: Chris Mackowski, “The Myth of Grant’s Silence,” the inaugural Literary Landmark Authors Series speaker, Grant Cottage, Wilton, NY