Review of Smith’s Race and Recruitment

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Here is my review of Race and Recruitment: Civil War History Readers, which was just published at The Civil War Monitor.

In recognition of Civil War History‘s 60th anniversary, the editors at Kent State University Press are releasing a series of books that feature some of the journal’s most important publications. The essays in the present volume, edited by John David Smith, cover a broad swath of the recent historiography of slavery, abolitionism, emancipation and memory. While the book is ideal for a graduate level course on the historiography of the Civil War era, given the narrow focus of many of the essays, it is unlikely that it will appeal to the general reader.

Click here for the rest of the review.

See You In Petersburg!

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1864 USPS Stamps

United States Postal Service, Commemorative Stamps for 1864

Heading down to Petersburg, Virginia later today for the 150th anniversary of the battle of the Crater. I will be on the battlefield at roughly 4:45 tomorrow morning to mark the initial explosion at Pegram’s Salient and the beginning of the battle. Throughout the day I will do my best to post pics and comments on twitter with the hashtag #Crater150. Continue reading →

Living Up to Robert E. Lee’s Code of Honor

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Update #2: Here is the latest. The university issued the following statement: “According to our Office of Public Safety, our officers reported four occasions when they interacted with individuals who were participating in the July 26 rally sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in downtown Lexington. The officers characterized all of these interactions as respectful. They did not record names or ages of any of the individuals.”

Update: Local news is looking into this incident and supposedly talked to the child in question. I leave it to you to decide whether the voice on the tape sounds like a 15-year old. Even if it is we still have no names, no faces… basically no real evidence.

Southern heritage advocates such as the Virginia Flaggers and Sons of Confederate Veterans love to talk about and claim to live by a Southern code of honor that I assume includes integrity and honesty. Yesterday a post appeared on the Facebook page of the Virginia Flaggers accusing “the Police” of harassing a 15-year old boy who merely wanted to visit the Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University. It has since appeared on a number of websites. Continue reading →