This post contains a list of Civil War/History articles published this past week around the Internet. Click on the title to go to the full article.
The African American Civil War Memorial & Museum will honor black soldiers who were not welcome at the original Grand Review celebration. An article in The Nation by Richard Kreitner. An excerpt …
“By this week 150 years ago, the Civil War was over, the Union preserved and slavery effectively abolished. But there was one more formality needed to officially mark the end of the war: a Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, DC, to welcome the victorious troops home …
“Excluded from the triumphant event, however, were the almost 200,000 black soldiers who had fought on the Union side, all of whom had been conveniently kept away from Washington. The only blacks who marched were former slaves paraded as comic relief.”
An article in the NY Times by Richard Parker, author of “Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America.” An excerpt …
“PALMITO RANCH, Tex. — On the flat, cactus-studded coastal plain of South Texas the prevailing wind brings the salty smell of the Gulf of Mexico. Gloomy, low-hanging clouds stream overhead, northward. Other than the saw grass and yucca, the landscape is featureless, bounded only by the muddy Rio Grande and the sea.
“It was here, though, that the American Civil War ended in its final and ultimately pointless battle, 150 years ago. When the news of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox reached the Confederacy’s westernmost state, chaos fell upon the cities as the remnants of the Confederate Army turned upon Texas itself. And here, on this isolated stretch of nowhere, the Confederate Army made its final and most futile stand.”
An article in the NY Times by Phil Leigh, Civil War book author. An excerpt …
“By early May 1865, a month after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, most of the remaining Confederate soldiers had laid down their arms. While some Southerners were angry, and others were relieved, nearly all were apprehensive about the future. Many moved West and north; some decided to leave the United States completely.
Many Southerners were pessimistic about the region’s economic future. Partly because of the monetary value of slaves, in 1860 seven of the 10 states with the highest per capita Wealth would join the Confederacy. Much of that Wealth was wiped out, and today Virginia is the only former rebel state to rank among the top 10 in per capita income, while five of the bottom 10 are former Confederate states. The classic example is Mississippi, which ranked No. 1 in 1860, and 50th in the 2010 census.”
An article in the NY Times by Adam Arenson and Virginia Scharff. Adam Arenson is an associate professor of history at Manhattan College and a co-editor of the new volume “Civil War Wests.” Testing the Limits of the United if Virginia Scharff is an associate provost for faculty development and a distinguished professor of history and the director of the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico. She is also the chair of western women’s history at the Autry National Center and co-curator (with Carolyn Brucken) of the Autry exhibition and editor of the companion volume “Empire and Liberty: The Civil War and the West.” The exhibition is open now and runs through January. This essay draws on the introductions to both volumes. An excerpt …
“After Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the Civil War continued. After the final pitched battle at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 12-13, 1865, the Civil War continued. After Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender on June 23, 1865, the Civil War continued. Even after Aug. 20, 1866, when Andrew Johnson formally declared an end to the War and began to pull back the troops occupying the former Confederate states, the war wasn’t really over, at least not in the American West.”
A blog post at Mysteries and Conundrums, a blog exploring the Civil War-era landscape in the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania region. An excerpt …
“This month brings the sesquicentennial of some of the first instances of historical touring of the Fredericksburg-area battlefields during peacetime in Virginia (even if not yet during peacetime nationwide), by military personnel other than members of the units who had fought at those places.
“The intermittent touring of mid-May 1865, ranging from the informal or self-guided to the planned and guided, was among the secondary activities of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and some units of a four-corps army group that he accompanied through the Fredericksburg area. Although a majority of the regiments in one of the four corps had fought at Chancellorsville with the Army of the Potomac, they were strangers to the sites of the local battles that had come after Chancellorsville. Most of the men in the other three corps were seeing the Virginia combat zones for the first time. My blog post today samples impressions of the four battlefields penned by soldiers of three of the corps, the Fifteenth, the Seventeenth, and the Twentieth.”
A blog post at Emerging Civil War, a blog providing fresh perspectives on America's defining event. An excerpt …
“Over the last ten years, the Civil War Trust has worked tirelessly to reclaim the once-lost Franklin battlefield in central Tennessee, where Confederates attacked Union forces on November 30, 1864. The attack ignited horrific, close-quarters combat that lasted five hours. According to Southern author Sam Watkins, this battle served as ‘the finishing stroke’ of the Confederacy. After the fighting, the ground was littered with dead soldiers, the majority of whom belonged to the determined-yet-unsuccessful Confederate army—yet ‘Bloody Franklin,’ as the soldiers later called it, was considered a Confederate victory.”
An article by Gregory P. Downs and Kate Mazur appearing on TheAtlantic website. An excerpt …
“Four years ago, the sesquicentennial of the Civil War kicked off with conferences, public lectures, government proclamations, and even balls and galas. As Reconstruction's anniversary begins, however, there is no such fanfare and few signs of public reckoning, much less celebration.
“Reconstruction has long suffered such neglect. The National Park Service, steward of the nation's Civil War battlefields and a leader in interpreting the war for the public, has not a single site dedicated to that vital and controversial period. Now, on the cusp of significant Reconstruction anniversaries, the Park Service is ready to change how Americans remember Reconstruction, to help push the era—in all its complexity—back onto the map of America's collective memory.”
Missouri 150 Years Ago
Every week, Len Eagleburger (co-edited by Beverly Shaw) edits a newsletter called “Ozarks Civil War Sesquicentennial Weekly.” One of its sections is entitled “Missouri 150 Years Ago.” These are the links to articles which appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune newspaper published in Columbia, Missouri.
