As we all know one of the most misunderstood aspects of the debate surrounding the existence of black Confederate soldiers is the existence of pensions that were given by former Confederate states to qualified black citizens at various points during the postwar period. For the uninformed or those working primarily from a narrow agenda the [...]
Memory
So, in addition to having trouble accessing my blog yesterday the news feed that I use to track stories related to Civil War memory is clogged with articles about the Brad Paisley – LL Cool J controversy. I’m not sure which is worse. I don’t have anything insightful to say about the song other than [...]
Earlier today I finished reading Michael J. Bennett’s essay “The Black Flag and Confederate Soldiers: Total War from the Bottom Up” which is also published in Andy Slap and Michael Smith eds., This Distracted and Anarchical People: New Answers for Old Questions about the Civil War-Era North. In his essay, Bennett explores accounts of massacres [...]
Yesterday my wife and I stopped briefly at the Pelham Chapel in Richmond, which is the site of the ongoing protest by a group that styles itself, the Virginia Flaggers. As many of you know their protest is focused on the recent removal of Confederate flags from outside the chapel itself. I was hoping to [...]
A number of people have picked up on a recent news item that two children of Union soldiers are still receiving monthly payments from the U.S. government. It certainly reminds us of how close we are to the generation that fought to preserve this nation, but what I have yet to see is any acknowledgment [...]
It is one of the most unusual memorials on any Civil War commemorative landscape North or South. I vividly recall my own loss for words during my first trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery in 2011. It is a stop at the top of my list for next year’s Civil War Memory class and thanks to [...]
…but it may take me some time to sort through it all. Had a great time in Gettysburg this weekend. I was challenged intellectually. I caught up with old friends and even made a few new ones. It’s the kind of weekend that leaves you exhausted, but rejuvenated and ready to tackle new projects. For [...]
This will probably be the last post I write before I put together my final thoughts as an introduction to the panel on interpreting USCTs at Civil War sites that I will be moderating on Saturday at Gettysburg College. I am still thinking about Carole Emberton’s essay, which I briefly touched on a few days [...]
