SUMMER ISSUE FEEDBACK
I’ve been reading the Monitor for several years and I think your Summer 2019 issue might be my favorite one yet. Even though I’m mainly interested in the military history of the conflict—its battles and leaders—I was deeply impressed by the cover article by Amy Murrell Taylor on contraband camps and the escaped slaves who inhabited them [“The Refugees,” Vol. 9, No. 2]. I had previously been only vaguely familiar with the camps, so being able to learn more about their inner workings—and the continued hardships and uncertainty that faced slaves who escaped bondage during the war—was a big eye-opener. I’ll definitely be picking up a copy of Taylor’s book on the subject to learn even more.
Joseph Collins
Via email
* * *
I read with interest the article about J.E.B. Stuart in the Summer 2019 issue of the Monitor [“Dossier: J.E.B. Stuart,” Vol. 9, No. 2] and agree with Eric Wittenberg’s comment about what he most admires about Stuart: “His extraordinary gift for performing the traditional roles of cavalry: scouting, screening, and reconnaissance.” Several years ago, I wrote articles for The Washington Times about Stuart’s intelligence operations role in support of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. As I noted, Stuart’s responsibilities included five basic functions: information collection, counterintelligence operations, maintaining security, deception and disinformation, and field communications.
Regarding the question for your historian contributors about when Stuart was at his peak (they voted for Gettysburg as his worst performance), my view is that Gettysburg actually represented Stuart’s best performance of the Civil War. I have just completed a two-part series of articles on Stuart’s involvement in the Gettysburg Campaign in which I argue that Stuart performed as well as could be expected under difficult and confusing circumstances during the march northward toward Pennsylvania, and effectively guided and protected Lee’s army during the harrowing retreat following the Confederate defeat.
Unfortunately, existing biographies about Stuart do not emphasize his intelligence operations role, and completely ignore the existence of the Army of the Potomac’s sophisticated intelligence staff, known as the Bureau of Military Information, against which Stuart had to contend in the competition for providing the best intelligence to their commanding officers.
Tom Ryan
Bethany Beach, Delaware
* * *
I’ve been waiting for someone to do a story about General William S. Rosecrans [“Old Rosy Reconsidered,” Vol. 9, No. 2], who was typical of a lot of Civil War generals—fighting well as he rose through the ranks, and then losing his nerve in a critical battle. It’s interesting to read about both sides of his character.
Now I’m reading the summer issue’s other articles on slave refugees and the Baltimore riot. In 40 years of reading about the war, I had never come across that one illustration [on pages 60–61] that captures the intensity of the Baltimore riot in April 1861. The visuals and the writing of all the stories are implemented with a lot of care.
This issue brings to life aspects of the Civil War that we didn’t know about as well as we thought. Thanks to The Civil War Monitor’s staff for continuing to publish interesting material that sheds new light on the war.
Alan Sewell
Via email
FROM A NEW SUBSCRIBER
All my life the Civil War has been present. Within walking distance of my house in Birmingham, Alabama, is the Irondale Furnace, where steel was produced for the Confederacy. Locals called it “the cannonball factory.” I went to college in Montgomery, the first capital of the Confederacy, and to graduate school in Kentucky, near Forts Donelson and Henry. Then I lived in Atlanta, on the very ground where the Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought. I also have ancestors who served in the Confederate army. I used to be really interested in Civil War history but drifted away from it. I ran into an ad about your magazine and decided to subscribe. It was the name, Monitor (the name of several news organizations and of the famed ironclad of the Union navy), that hooked me. I like the fresh perspective of the magazine, which goes beyond rehashing the same stories and dives into the darker aspects of the conflict, as well as its causes and consequences.
Robert Caldwell
Via email
ANOTHER SPECIAL?
Do you have another special issue in the works? I am a charter subscriber to the Monitor and enjoy the magazine very much. Thank you for publishing it.
Bob Conklin
Via email
Ed. Thanks much for your longtime support, Bob. Yes, we will be publishing another special issue this fall. Titled Grant vs Lee, it will focus on the lives and head-to-head clashes of the two celebrated commanders. See page 3 to learn more about the issue—and to pre-order a copy at a discounted rate.
