Blog
Published: 6/27/12
John Brown Still Lives! (2011)
The catalysts, conduct, context, and consequences of the Civil War era continue to resonate through American intellectual and popular life. Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and to a lesser extent,...
Published: 6/26/12
The Intrepid
This week marks the sesquicentennial of the Seven Days’ Campaign. As such, we thought we would bring you this image of the Intrepid—one of the Union Army Balloon Corps’ aerial...
Published: 6/22/12
The Railsplitter
Today, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter officially hits movies. As such, we thought it fitting to pay tribute to the original Railsplitter—as opposed to the axe wielding vampire killer. The Railsplitter...
Published: 6/22/12
The New Orleans Plum
Happy Friday! This week’s Friday Funny is an 1862 cartoon entitled, “The New Orleans Plum.” A contemporary take on the famous Mother Goose tale, “Little Jack Horner,” this illustration casts...
Published: 6/20/12
The Revolution of 1861 (2012)
Perhaps the oldest and most out of favor interpretation of the American Civil War was formulated by Karl Marx who saw it as only one aspect of an international revolution...
Published: 6/20/12
Marching With Sherman (2012)
By now most accounts of Sherman’s war-altering campaigns across Georgia and then up through the Carolinas follow the same well-trod paths. Many books, like Noah Andre Trudeau’s Southern Storm, give...
Published: 6/18/12
The Cumberland
Good morning! Today we bring you an 1862 poem by Herman Melville entitled, “The Cumberland.” Written in March of 1862, Melville lyrivally referenced the fateful sinking of the USS Cumberland...
Published: 6/15/12
Not Up To Time
Good afternoon! Today’s Friday Funny is an 1862 piece from the London weekly magazine, Punch. Entitled, “”Not up to Time;” Or, Intereference would be very Welcome,” the cartoon highlights the...
Published: 6/13/12
Routes of War (2012)
Some changes in historical interpretation are driven by uncovering new sources. Others come as a consequence of new methods or new analytical interests. Still others derive more simply, from scholars...
Published: 6/11/12
Elegy for the Native Guards
In honor of Natasha Trethewey being named the next poet laureate, we thought we would share with you one of her Civil War inspired poems. Now that the salt of...
Published: 6/8/12
Masterly Inactivity
Good afternoon! This Frank Leslie cartoon parodies the extended military standoff between Union General George B. McClellan’s Army of Potomac and Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard’s Army of the Shenandoah during...
Published: 6/6/12
Views from the Dark Side of American History (2011)
And there it was. The question I knew she would eventually ask, this undergraduate who writes for her campus newspaper. “So why did you become interested in the Civil War?”...
Published: 6/6/12
Battle Hymns (2012)
In Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War, Christian McWhirter analyzes the role music played in dividing the nation in 1860-1861, in sustaining civilian and...
Published: 6/1/12
Sinbad Lincoln and the Old Man of the Sea
Good Morning! Today’s Friday Funny is Frank Leslie’s “Sinbad Lincoln and the Old Man of the Sea.” A clear critique of Gideon Welles, the Union Secretary of the Navy, this...
Published: 5/31/12
Form follows Function: Changing Audiences Bring Changes to Interpretations
Most visitors to Spotsylvania Court House enter the battlefield via the suggested tour route off Brock Road. At the turn onto Grant Drive, several public displays—interpretive and memorial—greet the visitor....
Published: 5/30/12
With a Sword in One Hand… (2012)
New scholarship is most often produced through new interpretations of familiar evidence. Less often, historians discover and present genuinely new information. Even more rarely, scholars force us to completely reassess...
Published: 5/27/12
Nathan Bedford Forrest, Reconstructed
Today, Nathan Bedford Forrest is more popular than ever among the fans of the Confederacy. No doubt because he’s come to represent unyielding defiance, whether in victory or defeat, in...
Published: 5/25/12
Neutrality or Death?
Good Morning! Today’s Friday Funny comes to us from the June 29, 1861 edition of Harper’s Weekly. The caption reads, “Governor Magoffin’s neutrality means holding the Cock of the Walk...