Recent Acquisitions to My Library

During my 30 years or so of collecting books on the Civil War era, I've made it a goal to gather and read primary source collections. And, I've tried to find those expressing various perspectives to help me gain a fuller understanding of how our nation's defining moment impacted the people at that time. That trend continues with the majority of my newest acquisitions.

I have the diaries, and thus thoughts, of at least two other East Tennessee Confederate women in my library (Ellen Renshaw House and Myra Inman), but the experience of the war there is so interesting due to the politically divided nature of population, which was heavily Unionist in sentiment, yet in a seceded state. Eliza Fain's words appear in numerous scholarly studies from many of the top historians of this period, but now I have the opportunity to read her thoughts in context for myself. I found a copy on a temporary sale through the University of Tennessee Press for a steal. Sanctified Trial: The Diary of Eliza Rhea Anderson Fair, a Confederate Woman in East Tennessee looks to be a true treasure.

I appreciate William Marvel's often contrarian approach to history. His works poke and prod us to think differently about people, places and events of the past; whether we accept his conclusions or not. I bought his Andersonville: The Last Depot largely in attempt to hopefully mine his sources for links to Petersburg Campaign captures in effort to help me explore incidents in my own research. I'm sure this study, in one way or another, will challenge my previous notions about the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner of war camp.
 

I've enjoyed Stephanie McCurry's books since first reading her Masters of Small Worlds in graduate school. A few years ago, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, really opened my eyes to the unexpected power and political agency that those who did not have the vote (women and slaves) ultimately exerted on Confederate officials. Women's War: Fighting and Surviving the American Civil War appears to follow a similar vein as Confederate Reckoning in that McCurry makes sure that women do return to the shadows of the conflict.

I first heard about Letters from the Storm: The Intimate Civil War Letters of Lt. J. A. H. Foster, 155th Pennsylvania Volunteers from Peter Carmichael at last year's Gettysburg College Civil War Institute while he was speaking about his then forthcoming book The War for the Common Soldier. I just finished reading this fascinating collection of letters and will be sharing a review on here soon, so for now I won't say more.

Another collection of letters involving a spousal relationship are found in This Infernal War: The Civil War Letters of William and Jane Standard, edited by Timothy Mason Roberts. With this couple we get yet another intriguing perspective, that of Illinois Copperheads. Fascinating! I can't wait to delve into the sea of subjects this couple must have discussed.

Happy reading!

"The Prisoners at Andersonville"

The above little story ran in the August 20, 1864, issue of the Richmond Daily Dispatch. During the Petersburg Campaign, many captured Union soldiers were sent to prisoner of war camps at Andersonville, Georgia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Florence, South Carolina.

As this article shows, the thousands of captures around Petersburg and Richmond during the first three or four of Grant's offensives swelled the POW populations, particularly at Andersonville. More were added daily. The estimated 30,000 Union inmates deep in Confederate territory raised concerns not only about the large numbers of Confederates it took to guard them, but also the expense of feeding such a large incarcerated population.

I recently bought William Marvel's Andersonville: The Last Depot in hopes of perhaps finding some good primary sources about Petersburg Campaign captures to examine. I also hope to learn more about this notorious POW camp. Another book, one that I read not so long ago and that promises some primary accounts is Lorien Foote's Yankee Plague: Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy. I think I remember her mentioning some Petersburg Campaign prisoners in it, but I wasn't focused on this specific research topic at the time and could be wrong. I have it in my library and will be re-browsing it, if not rereading it. 

It would have been interesting for the editor or author of the Daily Dispatch article to have given their recommendation on what to do with the situation. If I am not mistaken, at this time the prisoner of war exchange system was in abeyance due to the Confederacy's unwillingness to recognize African American men as legitimate soldiers, thus not willing to trade United States Colored Troops soldiers equally for white Confederate soldiers. It seems to me that building additional prisoner of war camps would have been time consuming, expensive, and would also have required guards to man them. Unless the exchange system could get moving again, there was little hope of relieving the pressure on resources caused by Union prisoners of war. 

"An Incident"

On August 25, 1864, the Richmond Daily Dispatch ran a story gained from the Petersburg Express. It notes, "An Incident," that occurred during the Battle of Weldon Railroad (aka Globe Tavern, August 18-21).

In this brief story, two privates from the 12th Virginia Infantry incorporate a degree of guile to capture two Union officers (a captain and a lieutenant) and 25 privates. The article claims that the two Confederates marched their captives in "double file to a stronger guard." Apparently the more numerous prisoners were chagrined at the turn of events and at being tricked by their two captors.

There is little doubt this event actually happened. The existence of the 12th Virginia privates that are mentioned, "George W. May, company A, and _____ Miles, company B" are corroborated with their extant service records. May had been a prisoner of war himself, captured in the fighting the first day of Chancellorsville. Perhaps he learned something from his experience as a prisoner. "______ Miles" looks to be Alexander M. Miles of Company B. Before the Overland Campaign, Miles served on detached duty with the provost guard at Orange Courthouse, Virginia, so perhaps, he too knew something about the world of prisoners.

When the war began it was often mentioned (sometimes by both sides), but especially by the Confederates, that "one Southern man could whip 10 Yankees." Was the newspaper's purpose in publishing this positive-news story meant to boost Confederate morale and provide evidence of the old claim? Or was it just a positive-new story space filler?

Just Finished Reading - General Lee's Immortals

Published brigade studies have appeared since the end of the Civil War, and they have remained fairly popular forms of understanding the conflict ever since. Early works such as J. F. J Caldwell's History of a Brigade of South Carolinians chronicled the Gregg/McGowan Brigade, and Ed Porter Thompson's History of the Orphan Brigade set a rather high standard for such unit studies. In more modern times, James I. Robertson's The Stonewall Brigade; Alan T. Nolan's The Iron Brigade: A Military History; Jeffrey Wert's A Brotherhood of Valor, a comparative study of the Stonewall and Iron Brigades; Earl J. Hess's Lee's Tar Heels: The Pettigrew-Kirkland-MacRae Brigade; and Susannah Ural's Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit have all added significantly to our understanding of these units.

Joining the recent brigade studies front is Michael C. Hardy's General Lee's Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865. Having an ancestor who fought in the 37th North Carolina, and working at the historic site where Lane's Brigade defended the Petersburg line the last week of the campaign, I was excited to see this book published last year. I was also happy to have Mr. Hardy comes to the Park to speak about the book during out 2018 Breakthrough Anniversary weekend. I purchased a copy of the book at that time, and a couple of weeks ago finally took it off my "to be read shelf." I should have done so much sooner.

This often overlooked Army of Northern Virginia brigade (7th, 18th, 28th, 33rd, and 37th North Carolina Infantry regiments) was a premier fighting force for Lee. They proved themselves over and over in some of the ANV's hardest contests. Among earlier contests they battled at Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, lost their brigadier, Lawrence Branch at Sharpsburg, experienced hard times at Fredericksburg, had the misfortune of shooting Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, participated in the third day charge at Gettysburg, fought desperately to stave Union attacks at Spotsylvania, and defended Petersburg until their lines were shattered early on the morning of April 2, 1865. The military history contained in General Lee's Immortals is a solid and balanced treatment in relation to the tactical successes and failures of the brigade. Nice maps by Hal Jesperson, along with period photographs of many of the individuals described in the text, and having footnotes on the actual pages of the citations were all nice inclusions, too.

However, what I personally enjoyed most about General Lee's Immortals were those chapters that often came between the chapters on battles and campaigns. Chapters on "Brigade Medical Care," "Daily Camp Life," "The Plight of the Prisoner," and "Crime and Punishment," all get to the heart of what the men of the Branch-Lane Brigade experienced in the environments and situations where they spent the majority of their time while in the army. Hardy's deep research is present in these chapters.

One aspect that I wished would have received more coverage was a deeper look into the socioeconomic status of the men that comprised the Branch-Lane Brigade. They came from diverse geographical communities of the Old North State, from the western mountains to the northern border region to the southeast coast, and places in between. It would be fascinating to see how their class status and association of slaveholding family ties potentially influenced their enlistments and sustained commitment to the cause of secession.

Regardless, General Lee's Immortals fills a void in the history of the Army of Northern Virginia studies in particular and Civil War history at large that had existed for too long. It is well done and I recommend it.

Arrival of Prisoners

During my research, I've been somewhat surprised by how much attention the Confederate press gave to covering news about Union prisoners during the Petersburg Campaign. It is especially interesting that they often chose to share the names and regiments of some of the captured commissioned officers.

The above short article appeared in the October 4, 1864, edition of the Richmond Enquirer. It noted the large number of prisoners captured during Grant's Fifth Offensive both in fighting at Peebles Farm (1500 according to this account), and New Market Heights/Fort Harrison (apparently 52).

Almost every time that Gen. Grant made an offensive move in attempt to capture Confederate supply routes or gain additional ground on which to dig in and thus spread the Southerners thinner, the Confederates counterattacked. When the Rebels reacted, they often did so with fierce determination, smashing Federal lines of battle and nabbing hundreds of Union soldiers.

The handful of officers listed here belonged largely to two divisions of the IX Corps (here the 51st New York, 45th Pennsylvania, 58th Massachusetts), who along with two divisions of the V Corps and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg cavalry division (here the 24th New York Cavalry, 2nd New York Mounted Infantry, 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry) made the offensive at Peebles Farm on September 30, 1864. Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's Confederates counterattacked and pitched into the IX Corps, capturing large numbers.

Did losing large numbers of prisoners in his offensives hinder Grant's Petersburg operations? Would Grant have waged an Overland Campaign at Petersburg if had had the manpower? Hmmmmmm.

Just Finished Reading - Looming Civil War

Looming Civil War: How Nineteenth Century Americans Imagined the Future by Jason Phillips is unlike any other history book I've read. In this unique study Phillips shows us that a host of factors influenced how people anticipated the coming of the Civil War. By examining diverse personalities, emerging technologies, ideas, religious beliefs, and even material culture items, we get a better understanding of the ways that race, gender, section, and age affected how people of this era viewed the future.

While "memory studies" have proliferated since about 2000, Phillips may have just opened a new whole new branch of Civil War scholarship to explore. At the very least Phillips has given us a new way of thinking about the coming of the conflict.

Through the lens of "anticipation" or "expectation" people of the nineteenth century came to grips with their rapidly changing world. Phillips explains that those who "anticipated" the future were those who believed in active agency. Those that "expected" the future saw that events ahead were determined by Providence, and in His due time.

To explain these viewpoints Phillips uses several historical figures, many of whom were either active or peripheral participants in the John Brown Harpers Ferry Raid drama. One person that gets a significant spotlight is Henry Clay Pate. Virginian Pate battled John Brown in Kansas, lost his bowie knife to the militant abolitionist and Brown turned the symbolism of Pate's knife into his own tool for change as he had it serve as the model for his famous pikes. Somewhat similarly, arch-secessionist Edmund Ruffin sought to use John Brown's pikes as a propaganda tool to encourage slave state governors to at least consider a break from the Union for a better future. Before the war Ruffin also produced a novel, "Anticipations of the Future," which foretold of a civil war, in several aspects eerily similar to that which eventually came about.

In addition, by examining how many nineteenth-century Americans viewed how the Civil War would unfold, Phillips challenges the traditionally popular "short war myth." Much of the evidence that Phillips presents shows that numerous Americans, both North and South, saw a future internal conflict as a long, dark, determined, devastating, cataclysmic event; much opposed to the brief 90-day, military lark we have all read about.

Looming Civil War is an important new work to the field. Its approaches, especially those of using the symbolism of period material culture items, and viewing the past through a forward-looking lens is sure to have an impact on Civil War scholarship, and one us museum professionals will certainly appreciate. I highly recommend it.

Heavy Influx of Yankees

In my continuing search for source information on prisoners of war taken during the Petersburg Campaign, I located the two news articles, above and below, in the August 22 issue of the Richmond Daily Dispatch. These soldiers, captured during the Battle of Globe Tavern (aka Weldon Railroad) belonged primarily to the V and IX Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, respectively. 

Interestingly, a few of the regiments listed here with the officers' names appear to have been defunct by the time of the Petersburg Campaign. For example, the 2nd Pennsylvania is listed here a few times, but it was apparently a 90-day regiment who mustered out in July 1861. Also, the 4th New York, who mustered out in May 1863. Did these Union officers give their Confederate captors false information? I'm not sure.

However, armed with this information, I hope that as I search through some of these names, that I am fortunate enough to come across at least a few personal accounts recorded by these officers. In addition, perhaps, their accounts will lead me to others made by their enlisted men when captured. Regardless, it is an encouraging first step toward personalizing the experience of being taken prisoner of war during the Petersburg Campaign. Wish me luck in my search!

Just Finished Reading - Iron Dawn

I've fallen a little behind in reporting my thoughts on a few books that I've read recently, but I'll try to get caught up over the coming weekend.

Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History by Richard Snow is quite the entertaining and informative read. The story of how these ironclads came into being in the first place and then how they waged war on one another is something that every student of the Civil War needs to be familiar with. However, land actions seem to predominate enthusiasts' interests over naval actions. I know that has been the case for me. Books like Snow's though, may convert more naval fans.

One of the things that fascinates me so much about this historical incident is the different designs that each belligerent chose to construct. For example, the Confederates transformed a captured Union vessel into a two-sided floating fortress. Although it proved to be more difficult to maneuver and required deeper water, the Merrimack (aka CSS Virginia-more on that below) was a formidable weapon, especially when equipped with a specially designed ram. The Union's Monitor, a smaller ship that sat low in the water with basically only the center circular turret showing above the water was an ideal naval weapon. It navigated better than its adversary and its revolving turret allowed a faster range of motion instead of having to turn the whole ship to get in good shots.

When I first read this book's title I wondered why Snow chose to call the the Confederate ship by its former Union name. But the author's argument is quite interesting and well fashioned.

This book is a true pleasure to read, and while it is always disappointing when an author or publisher (whoever decides those things) chooses to not incorporate citations (especially for its quotes), and thus somewhat compromises the credibility of the work, I found few obvious errors, But then again, I'm a naval novice. I recommend Iron Dawn to those looking to find a gateway drug into Civil War naval studies. I know I'll be looking to learn more about the "war on the waters" in the near future.

Recent Acquisitions to My Library

A book that is receiving a significant amount of social media buzz is James J. Broomall's Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers. How did Southern men navigate the emotional rollercoasters that were secession, war, and Reconstruction? This much anticipated study provides the answers. Fortunately, I happened across a 40% off sale on the UNC Press website and snagged a softcover copy.

Another UNC Press book that I've had on  my wishlist since I first heard about it is Larry J. Daniel's Conquered: Why the Army of Tennessee Failed. I will be reading it very soon for a published book review. My western theater reading has dropped off since moving back to Virginia four years ago, so this will be  a nice return visit to where my fascination with the Civil War began so many years ago. I've enjoyed Daniel's other books on Army of Tennessee subjects, and honestly, I can't think of a better person to write this particular book.

If I've said it once at work, I've said it a thousand times: the reason we know so much about Civil War soldiers is because they wrote so much . . . and it didn't hurt that their letters weren't censored. I can't get enough of reading "dead people's mail." It is so fascinating! With Christopher Hager's I Remain Yours: Common Lives in Civil War Letters we get even more glimpses into the worlds of folks from the mid-nineteenth century who were trying to make sense of the separation and loss caused by the Civil War. This should be a fantastic read!

Along with Civil War navies, another significant gap in my Civil War knowledge is how the war played out in eastern North Carolina. Coming to the rescue is Hampton Newsome's The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864. I consider myself fortunate to have discussed research topics with Hampton and sincerely respect his research and writing. He was kind enough to give me a complementary copy for my library. In my opinion, his book, Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864, is one of the top five books about the Petersburg Campaign. I'm sure The Fight for the Old North State will follow suit. If you haven't read Hampton's books, you need to.

Another intriguing title that I picked up through the recent UNC Press 40% off sale is Steven M. Stowe's Keep the Days: Reading the Civil War Diaries of Southern Women. Similar to letter writing, composing diary entries helped the authors get their inner-most thoughts out of their heads and onto paper. However, what we get from diaries and those that maintained them are usually different takes than even letter writers. Diarists usually believed no one but themselves would be reading their thoughts, so we get much more honest thoughts and feelings. Stowe uses a number of familiar diaries from Southern women during the Civil War to help us better understand their experiences.

Two Thousand Prisoners Captured

In looking for the evidence of the large numbers of prisoners taken during the Petersburg Campaign and what effect it had, I imagined it would be largely practical. It stands to reason that with great losses in manpower, it limited the belligerents' ability to wage war, particularly offensive operations. More sources may indeed bear that out. However, I also suspected that both sides drew inspiration from taking in large numbers of the enemy.

The above brief article seems to bear out the positive intangible effect that taking large numbers of Union prisoners had on Confederate morale and resolve. This article, published in the August 20, 1864 issue of the Richmond Daily Dispatch came during the middle of the Battle of Globe Tavern or Weldon Railroad (Aug. 18-21).

Capturing 2000 prisoners from Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps prompted the author to speculate that losing such quantities would damage Gen. Grant's reputation and thus increase interest in the Democratic Party leading up to their nominating convention in Chicago. Following a slippery slope line of thinking, the author believed that rising Democratic support, based on a peace platform, would "hasten the close of the war," and bring Confederate independence.

The author seemingly ignored the progress that the Army of the Potomac had made toward capturing Petersburg by that point, and that Gen. Sherman was virtually knocking on Atlanta's door. Perhaps brushing aside such obvious facts only shows the powerful effect gobbling up large numbers of Union prisoners had on maintaining Confederate hopes for ultimate success. 

Pleased at the Prospect?

Yesterday, while browsing through 1864 issues of the Richmond Daily Dispatch, in search of stories about Union prisoners during the Petersburg Campaign, I happened across the above short article.

One has to take its claim with a healthy dose of skepticism. It states that three slaves: Reuben, Ben, and Nelson, were "recaptured" from Union troops. This notice appeared in the August 24, 1864 edition, and explains that they were recovered "from the Yankees on the north side of the James river," Their capture likely happened during the fighting or its aftermath at Second Deep Bottom, which occurred at roughly that time.

The little story doesn't tell us how they ended up in the Union army's hands in the first place. Were they scooped up and impressed as the Northerners went through King William County, or did they run away from their owners when an opportunity appeared to abscond to freedom?

The author claims that, "They seem much pleased at the prospect of again being placed under the fostering care and protection of their owners." A dubious statement at best. What did he think slaves would say or act like if they were caught by their previous owners. They were probably going to do anything possible to regain any favor they had lost from running away. Slave owners and pro-slavery advocates, however, didn't take the time to consider the perspective of the enslaved.

More likely was the case that I came across a few days ago while reading The Looming Civil War: How Nineteenth Century Americans Imagined the Future by Jason Phillips. On page 159, he writes: "In the spring of 1863, John Washington found freedom in Falmouth, Virginia, when cannon fire disrupted breakfast at the hotel where he worked. A Confederate cavalryman dashed into the room and reported the Yankees were coming. 'In less time than it takes me to Write these lines, every White Man was out the house,' Washington recalled. He and a group of African Americans went to the riverside, where they heard Union marching bands playing on the opposite bank. Union guards spotted them and crossed the river in a boat. When soldiers asked them about the whereabouts of the rebel army, Washington presented them with Confederate newspapers. 'I told them I was most happy to See them all that I had been looking for them for a long time.' The soldiers assured him that he was free and could find work in their camp serving some of their officers. That night Washington realized he 'had truly Escaped from the hands of the Slaves Masters and With the help of God, I never Would be a Slave no more.' He anticipated claiming every dollar earned by his labor and felt that 'Life had a new joy awaiting me.'"

Perhaps, Reuben, Ben, and Nelson were all actually rescued from Union army impressment, and perhaps there were truly glad to be reunited with their former masters. If so, their case was certainly in the minority. Far more were the situations like that of John Washington. Regardless, this little story provides an intriguing perspective of how Southerners viewed the paternalistic relationship between the enslaved and their owners.

Help Save Land at the Petersburg Breakthrough, and Other Sites

I don't make too many appeals on this forum, but like the preacher's occasional appeal to the congregation, I feel a certain obligation to ask for your generosity to help accomplish a great good.

The American Battlefield Trust (ABT) is asking for donations to help save acreage at the Petersburg Breakthrough. Not only is this small sliver of land part of the April 2, 1865 actions, it was battled over on the March 25, 1864 Jones Farm fighting, as well as the October 1, 1864 engagement that spilled over from Peebles Farm.

In addition, and along with this appeal, is the opportunity to help save land from development at Reams Station, another Petersburg Campaign location, and at Champion's Hill, Mississippi, and Jackson, Tennessee.

Can you give up buying a book or other small purchase this month to dig into your pockets and find $25.00 (or more) and send to the good folks at ABT to save these precious acres?

Save 226 Acres at 4 Civil War Battlefields

Just Finished Reading - The Quarters and the Fields

While recent years have produced a significant amount of scholarship on how slavery differed out in various regions of the United States, few studies have offered a solid comparative examination. The Quarters and the Field: Slave Families in the Non-Cotton South by Damian Alan Pargas helps fill that void.

In this important work Pargas argues that slaves' family life was largely determined by the "varied nature of regional agricultural in diverse southern localities." In making that argument he emphasizes what has emerged in recent slavery studies: time and place made a important difference in slaves' lives. To provide evidence for his argument, Pargas examines sources from three different geographical counties: Fairfax County, Virginia; Georgetown District, South Carolina; and St. James Parish, Louisiana.

The transition from tobacco to grain agriculture in northern Virginia impacted the lives for slaves there in many ways. The switch created a surplus of slaves who owners sought to either sell or rent out, both of which often separated families temporarily at best or forever at worst. In addition, a change in staple crops came with a change in daily work patterns. In coastal South Carolina, slaves drastically outnumbered whites and rice cultivation brought owners tremendous wealth. Georgetown District was a relatively stable slave population region. There was less out migration through the interstate slave trade or owners moving to other areas of the South than in northern Virginia. Sex ratios were relatively equal on South Carolina rice plantations and working task style rather than gang style allowed additional opportunities for family time together. In St. James Parish, Louisiana, where sugar planting reigned supreme, the industrial nature of the work produced an ever-regimented style of labor that benefited best from male workers. This produced unequal sex ratios and often hindered mate selection and thus the development of family units.

Following chapters cover topics like "Family Contact during Working Hours," "Family-Based Internal Economies," "Marriage Strategies and Family Formation," and "Forced Separation." In the book's conclusion Pargas sums up his argument quite nicely: "The crucial link between different local economies and slave family life has long been underestimated in the historical literature. Past studies have tended to paint one-dimensional pictures of American slave families by underestimating regional economic differences and by ignoring or--far more often--overemphasizing the agency of slaves in shaping their own lives. It is in this context that the comparative approach is so valuable, as it offers a means for understanding slave families in different settings as they truly were: dynamic social units that were formed and existed under different circumstances across time and space."

The Quarters and the Fields is a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on regional differences in slave family life. Its thorough research and comparative format makes for engaging and informative reading. I highly recommend it.

Just Finished Reading - Hard Marching Every Day

If you're a Civil War enthusiast and you've read your fair share of published soldier letters, you likely know that not all soldier's letters collections are created equal. Some soldiers were just plain able to convey their thoughts and share their experiences better than others. Then, too, one must consider the audience they were writing to. It made a significant difference whether a soldier was writing to his mother or father or his wife or a newspaper back home, who published his letters in their editions. The later was the case with Wilbur Fisk of the 2nd Vermont Infantry.

Hard Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk, 1861-1865, edited by Emil and Ruth Rosenblatt. Fisk's letters to Montpelier's Green Mountain Freeman have appeared in numerous scholarly works on the Army of the Potomac, as his career spanned the fours years of the war. In many ways Fisk's writing to a newspaper who shared his thoughts colored what he wrote. The majority of this missives to the Freeman are safely written due to the fact that he knew many different people would be reading them. If he had been writing to someone on a more close basis, or recording in a diary or journal he likely would have shared more private thoughts. However, there are occasions when he gets quite personal and tells about times when his patriotism wains and when perhaps he did not do his full duty. There were several occasions when he straight up tells of his fears or seeks a more safe position from which to observe an engagement. He usually doesn't mind telling he cares about his hide remaining without holes. This tendency follows closely with Peter Carmichael's idea of soldiers' pragmatic adaptability as a means of coping with the stresses of military life.

Fisk's 2nd Vermont spent the majority of its time in the Army of the Potomac's VI Corps. The VI Corps saw especially hard fighting during the Overland Campaign, around Petersburg, and during Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. They certainly put in their time marching from place to place. Unfortunately for me and my interests, Fisk was detailed as a hospital guard at City Point during the March 25, 1865 Battle of Jones Farm and the April 2 Breakthrough, and thus doesn't leave much comment on either event other than mentioning the death of Capt. Charles Morey on April 2.

The editors mention that Fisk kept a diary in addition to sending letters to the Freeman. One wonders why perhaps the diary wasn't included as an appendix to the book. It would be interesting to compare his private diary thoughts to his public letters sent to the newspaper.

Regardless, Fisk's letters make for a good and informative read and provide significant insight into the challenges Civil War soldiers faced on a day-to-day basis. Hard Marching Every Day is book at every student of the Civil War soldier should read. I recommend it.

Here are a few passages I found particularly insightful:
Dec. 31, 1863: "Camp life is about as dull as a soldier need wish it to be. A cold, drizzling rainstorm is just now upon us, and the pattering rain drops are making merry music on the canvass overhead, while not a few of them manage to find their way inside of our little shanty. At every crack, under the eaves, and all around, the water persists in obtruding its unwelcome presence in our midst. Some of these impertinent raindrops, with a presumption quite unpardonable, pay no attention to the roof of our house, but rush through and drop inside as if aware of the superior comfort to be found near our fire, which they have have nearly put out. The consequence of all this is that our floor of mother earth is becoming very muddy and slippery; our blankets, our beds and our knapsacks are becoming soaking wet, and everything in the tent is beginning to present a horribly untidy appearance. Notwithstanding all these unfavorable circumstances, I have secured myself a position on my bunk, with two knapsacks for a seat, and in events, I have determined to pen you a fine lines."

June 11, 1864: "These bullets have a peculiar sound. Some of them come with a sharp 'clit,' like striking a cabbage leaf with a whip lash, others come with a sort of screech, very much such as you would get by treading on a cat's tail. Then there are others, the sharpshooters' bullets we suppose, that whistle on a much higher key, and snap against a tree with as much force as if the tree had been struck by a heavy sledge hammer. Some strike in the dirt with a peculiar "thud," others fly high in the air and make a noise similar to a huge bumble bee. They do not tarry long by the way. What they do is done quickly, and woe to the man that stands in their way."

 Dec. 15, 1864: "We are finally back here on Gen. Grant's line fronting Petersburg. . . . There is nothing desirable about this place. It is all fighting and no fun. We neither whip nor get whipped here. Is regular cold blooded duelling, day after day, with no decisive result on either side, and fellows no braver than I am, get tired of it after a while. I suppose those that are braver have keener relish for this continual skirmishing and picket firing, but I own I haven't, and a man that writes must tell his own feelings and speak his own thoughts. But they have got us here now, and we will make the most of it. Somebody must do this work, and they probably thought it might as well be us as anybody. We know how it is done."

Just Finished Reading - Lincoln and the Abolitionists

A welcome addition to the ever-growing Concise Lincoln Library collection, published by Southern Illinois University Press, is noted abolitionist historian Stanley Harrold’s contribution, Lincoln and theAbolitionists.

In order to understand the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionists, Harrold contends that it is important to understand their vastly different backgrounds. Lincoln, born in slaveholding Kentucky, raised in southern Indiana and frontier Illinois, was a product of the environment and the people he grew up with. Although often commenting on the basic immorality of slavery, largely as a violation of the revered Declaration of Independence, as a young man, and even deep into his political career, Lincoln felt slavery was a political conundrum that would be difficult to solve. And, as Harrold puts it so well, “being ‘antislavery’ was not the same thing as being an abolitionist.” (p. 6)

Harrold explains that once Lincoln embarked on his political career, it was those politics that kept him from moving into the abolitionist camp. Taking on a political life as a Whig and revering “The Great Compromiser” Henry Clay as his ideal politician left Lincoln with a pragmatic approach to what would be the future of slavery in the United States. The man who would be one day become known as “The Great Emancipator” knew that any success he was to have in politics—particularly in local and state politics—depended on meeting in agreement, at least on a certain level, with those who cast the votes. Lincoln often saw abolitionists as disrupting the Union and thus chose to maintain a rather conservative stance on the institution of slavery and race relations in Illinois and reject the more radically perceived abolitionist view of immediate and uncompensated emancipation. He knew doing so was instrumental to his success in climbing the political ladder.

The majority of Lincoln and the Abolitionists focuses on the Railsplitter’s rise to the presidency, and rightly so. As mentioned above, understating Lincoln’s background is prerequisite to understanding how he viewed abolitionists and approached their methods. However, the short treatment—always a challenge with a “concise history”—on the often fraught relationship between President Lincoln and abolitionist leaders like William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley, and Frederick Douglass leaves considerable room for further examination. Despite this fact, Harrold makes clear that abolitionist pressure influenced many of Lincoln’s decisions regarding slavery during his presidential terms.

Lincoln and the Abolitionists clearly achieves its goal in providing a short, thoroughly researched, yet highly-readable explanation of the sometimes rocky relationship between the two parties. Despite their differences in backgrounds, political ideology, and ultimate goals, both Lincoln and the Abolitionists, and thus their interactions, left a tremendous impact on the history of the United States that still resonates today. Harrold’s book makes that particular relationship dynamic ever so more understandable for both casual learners and well-versed historians. I recommend it.

Just Finished Reading - Money over Mastery, Family over Freedom

While the majority of the the accounts that historian Calvin Schermerhorn uses in crafting his Money over Mastery, Family over Freedom: Slavery in the Antebellum Upper South are well known to students of slavery studies, how he interprets those accounts is what makes this book truly an original piece of scholarship.

Schermerhorn focuses his work on the Chesapeake Bay region, examining how the "peculiar institution" played out in coastal or tidewater areas roughly between Wilmington, Delaware and Wilmington, North Carolina. This region was in the midst of great transition during the first half of the 19th century. As tobacco agriculture began to wane due largely to soil exhaustion in many of these states' eastern most counties, being replaced with grain cultivation and city and town manufactures, the centuries old practice of human bondage began to change as well. Not needing the larger populations of slaves for the labor intensive tobacco plantations, planters and farmers sought sell or find new uses for slaves; which often resulted in enslaved family separations. Schermerhorn looks at how enslaved individuals attempted to exercise agency to deal with these disruptions.

As mentioned above, using many well known slave narratives, such as those of Charles Ball, Moses Grandy, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs, as well as a number of less famous accounts, the author examines how the enslaved developed networks that tried to keep their families together, reunite separated family members, and just navigate day to day in a "slave society." Schermerhorn contends that as planters died and their children inherited slave property, or a new generation sought to migrate to the emerging "Cotton Kingdom" to the southwest, or they tried to reduce their surplus slave populations through sales to traders, all of these situations and more had a detrimental impact on the enslaved maintaining cohesive family situations.

Through the sources he chose to use the author shows that slaves worked almost every angle available to them to try to keep their families together. Sometimes their decisions and actions were effective and sometimes they were not. However, the argument bears strength and shows that the enslaved were not passive actors in this drama. Enslaved men and women used emerging new technologies and the skills they had learned to try to manipulate both free and enslaved individuals in their surrounding environments and the life situations they encountered to try to produce best-effect scenarios.

In addition, Schermerhorn also shows that African Americans shouldered the burdens of a changing market-based Upper South. Slaves built the canals, railroads, and town and city factories that emerged in this region during this time. Slaves were rented out in large numbers by their owners, who often placed more value on the amount of money their human property could earn rather than their monitory worth. Whether working the region's waterways, toiling in other families kitchens, earning "overwork" pay in tobacco factories, or doing dangerous work on the railroads, enslaved people attempted to use these roles and the people around them to keep their family relations together and away from the hungry maw of the internal slave trade that chew up so many enslaved families.

This is an amazing book. Well written and researched, it should find a welcome spot on the bookshelf of any serious slavery studies student. I most emphatically recommend it!

Just Finished Reading - God's Almost Chosen Peoples

While both sides called upon the Almighty to assist the successful pursuit of waging war for their respective causes, it could not be so. Only one could ultimately be victor. In God's Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War by George C. Rable, we learn how Union and Confederate citizens, soldiers, slaves, refugees, politicians, and ministers drew on their faith to help make sense of our nation's great tragedy.

With a thought provoking prologue, 20 instructive chapters, and an engaging epilogue, all covering 400 page of text, Rable has produced the most comprehensive historical account to present of religion's role in the Civil War.

Of course, many of the chapters that I found most interesting were those that dealt with the soldiers and their chaplains. "Fighting for God and Country," "Temptations of the Camp," "The Shepherds and Their Sheep," "Christian Soldiers," "The God of Battles, "Carnage," among others tells the thoughts and emotions of men in the field and also of their loved ones back home, who pled for God's protection of their loved ones in the army.

Starting his coverage in the years just before the conflict, ranging through those four difficult years, and going just beyond its close, Rable includes the major denominations of the period: Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopalians, but he also makes sure that non-protestant religious groups such as Mormons, Catholics, and Jews also receive coverage. This work utilizes many popular, and thus published, sermons by some of the top ministers of the day, but the author's research goes much deeper to uncover many unpublished primary sources from everyday people to show the central part that religion played in mid-19th century American's lives.

Common themes of that period's citizens' and soldiers' concerns are those of the role of Providence in time of war, how sin determined reversals in fortune, and how the Almighty would ultimately judge who would win and who would lose. Some Northerners felt certain that the Confederacy would be judged harshly for its attempt to perpetuate the institution of slavery, while many Southerners believed that the Union would ultimately be held accountable for waging what they viewed as an unjust war on civilians and their physical and human property.

Extremely well written, thoroughly researched, and interpreted in an a engaging manner, God's Almost Chosen Peoples will remain the go-to source for understanding religion's role in the Civil War for many years to come. I highly recommend it.

Recent Acquisitions to My Library

Well, another month flew by and my library continued to increase by a few more books. Its growth has almost become as inevitable as death and taxes. This most recent group of books has some old and some new and some in between.

The "old" is Frederic Bancroft's classic study Slave Trading in the Old South, which was first published in 1931. However, unlike many slavery studies that came out during the Jim Crow-era and that claimed the institution was benign and even beneficial, Slave Trading in the Old South used thorough primary source research to show that the domestic slave trade was instead the commodification of human beings for blatant exploitative purposes.

One of the "new" is the recently published Upon the Fields of Battle: Essays on the Military History of America's Civil War by editors Andrew S. Bledsoe and Andrew F. Lang, and featuring a forward by Gary Gallagher. Not only do I feel a certain obligation to keep up with the latest scholarship in Civil War military history for my work, I also genuinely enjoy reading it. This 2018 volume includes studies by many of the top scholars in the field. Familiar names like Kenneth Noe, Earl Hess, Brian McKnight, John Hennessy, and Brian Jordan, among others, present a dozen thought provoking essays on a diverse set of military history topics.

An "in between" is Gary Gallagher's Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War. This 2008 book is one that I've wanted to read since it came out. Being the owner of several Civil War prints, I'm interested to see if Gallagher discriminates between those art pieces that seem to reflect images of the war versus those that appear to romanticize it.

No student of the Petersburg Campaign should be without a copy of Into the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg by Earl J. Hess. Although I've already read it, I now have it among my collection for ready reference.

Another of the "new is The First Republican Army: The Army of Virginia and the Radicalization of the Civil War by John H. Matsui. I've long been an enthusiast of the Second Manassas Campaign and try to read any new works on that and associated fights. Matsui's book appears to argue that the leadership of the Army of Virginia had a more radical political bent than their colleagues in the more conservative Army of the Potomac and helped convince Lincoln about the military necessity of emancipation in the late summer/early fall of 1862.

Another of the "new" is published by Fordham University Press. A Great Sacrifice: Northern Black Soldiers, Their Families, and the Experience of Civil War by James G. Mendez makes use of letters written by family members of African American soldiers to Union military officials and now held in the National Archives. The letters illustrate the effect the Civil War had on black families in the free states and the contributions that black soldiers made to preserve the Union, end slavery, and advance their claims for citizenship and equality.
 

My interest in Civil War naval subjects continues to grow with my library. So, I was quite happy when our book club group at work chose Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack [Virginia], and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History by Richard Snow for our next discussion. Evolution in weapons technology is a hallmark of Civil War history, and I'm looking forward to learning more about how it played out on the waters. 

Courage Under Fire: Lt. Gardner C. Hawkins, 3rd Vermont Infantry

I apologize for the lack of posts during the last week of March. My work responsibilities were such as to leave little time for anything other than gaining some much needed rest.

While preparing for tomorrow's 154th Anniversary of the April 2, 1865 Petersburg Breakthrough walking tour I researched a little deeper into someone I had read, heard, and spoke about many times before. Yet, I wanted to see if I could find out a little more about this seemingly shadowy historical figure. I feel that I both succeeded and failed.

Gardner C. Hawkins was born February 11, 1846. His service records state that he was a native of Pomfret, (Windsor County) Vermont, which is in the central part of the Green Mountain State. The 1850 census shows that Gardner grew up in a large family and as a four year old, was the youngest boy of the household. Gardner's father, Lewis, is listed as a 44 year old farmer, who was born in Vermont. Although all of the Gardner's near neighbors owned real estate, Lewis apparently did not. Gardner's mother, Hannah, was a 43 year old Canadian native. Gardner's 6 brothers and 3 sisters ranged in age from 22 to 2 years old. All were born in Vermont.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find Gardner in the 1860 census. However, I did find his father and mother, a brother, and sister. They had moved to the Bridgewater community, also in Windsor County. In 1860, Gardner's father had land now valued at $1400.00. His parents did not apparently have any other surviving children after younger sister Isadore was born in 1848.

Wherever Gardner was in 1860, he showed up in Woodstock, near where he was born, in 1864 to enlist in Company I of the 3rd Vermont Infantry on January 28. Gardner was just shy of 18 years old! He is listed as 5' 11" tall with a light complexion and having blue or hazel eyes and brown hair. His stated pre-war occupation was that of clerk. He apparently received a $300.00 bounty for enlisting.

Gardner's early army career seems to have included clerking duties at regimental and brigade headquarters. Apparently he did well in his work, as on November 19, 1864, Gardner received a promotion to 2nd lieutenant in his company by the governor of Vermont. He received another promotion, to 1st lieutenant of Company E on March 28, 1865. Gardner was not only 19 years old! After the war the War Department retro-acted Gardner's promotion to February 25, 1865.

Apparently, on the early morning of April 2, Gardner was serving as acting adjutant with the 3rd Vermont, who was a member of the Vermont Brigade. That dawn found the Vermont Brigade stacked in columns of regiments for the attack on the Confederate earthworks opposite them. The stacked formation was intended to make the greatest impact and return positive results. The attack kicked off at about 4:40 a.m. with the 5th Vermont leading, then the 2nd, the 6th, the 4th, the 3rd, and finally the 1st Vermont Heavy Artillery (fighting as infantry and also known as the 11th Vermont).

The Vermonters encountered picket fire early from the Confederates as they were at the point of the attack. Brushing the pickets away, the Green Mountain men ran into greater trouble when they encountered multiple lines of abatis, stacked branches meant to impede the attacker's progress. Finding holes through the obstructions and making their own, too, the men made for the last yards of open ground in front of the Confederate ditches.

Leading the men of his command forward, Gardner saw them stall due to heavy rifle and artillery fire from the enemy. In an effort to inspire his charges, Gardner pulled his sword from its scabbard and waved it over his his head encouraging his men to do their duty and go on. While so doing, Gardner received a grievous wound through the face. His surgeon reported that he found Gardner "suffering in consequence of a wound . . . by a ball passing in near the ear, over the cheek, under the eye, through the nose, and out the opposite side." As one might image the terrible injury left the young lieutenant a bloody mess. However, when his comrades attempted to remove him from the field during the action he demanded that he remain where he was until he was confident that the attack had succeeded.

Gardner was eventually taken to Union hospitals, probably at the nearby Union's City Point base, and he was at last back home in Woodstock, Vermont by early May 1865 attempting to recover. By that point, with the war winding down due to the previous surrenders of the two main Confederate armies, men like Gardner, who were dangerously wounded late in the war were discharged. Gardner received his official discharge on July 8, 1865.

Still, much later, in 1893, Gardner revived the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism on April 2, 1865.

Gardner C. Hawkins's official commendation reads: "for extraordinary heroism on April 2, 1865, while serving with Company D, 3rd Vermont Infantry, in action at Petersburg, Virginia. When the lines were wavering from the well-directed fire of the enemy, First Lieutenant Hawkins, acting adjutant of the regiment, sprang forward, and with encouraging words cheered the soldiers on, and although dangerously wounded, refused to leave the field until the enemy's works were taken."

Gardner C. Hawkins lived a relatively full life after his wounding on April 2, 1865. He moved to Massachusetts, became an inventor of sorts and lived to be 67 years old, dying in 1913. He rests in peace in Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and serves as an inspiration of courage under fire.