June 26, 2017

War Front and Home Front, Father and Son: A Family’s Contribution to the Civil War (Part I)

June 26, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Surrounded by the capitol city that has grown up around it, Ten Broeck Mansion was built in 1797-8 outside Albany, NY and remained a private home until it was presented to the Albany County Historical Association in 1948. Although its early history remains a strong focus—to this day it retains the name of its builder and first owner, General Abraham Ten Broeck—the mansion witnessed another upheaval of American History, the Civil War. At the time, the family of Thomas Worth Olcott owned and resided in the house. He and his son, Dudley, both offered their service to the cause of the United States, although in entirely different ways.

June 19, 2017

History in your Backyard!

June 19, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Sure enough, I managed to find some Civil War history in my backyard; and I’m sure there is more here if I just keep looking. So, the next time you see something interesting make sure you take a look, you never know what you will find.

June 12, 2017

"Come and Go with Us": Legacies of Union, Freedom, and Civil War at Yorktown

June 12, 2017/ Becca Capobianco

Yet with their retreat, and the subsequent Union occupation of Yorktown for the rest of the war, the success of this siege had far more deep implications for the legacies of Yorktown and the Revolution.

March 20, 2017

Reporting from USITT: Curating 101

March 20, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Even if you do not work for a big museum, there are opportunities to put together exhibits at colleges, libraries, local sites, or special events. These steps will vary depending of your specific exhibit, but hopefully this framework will help inspire more creative exhibits!

February 13, 2017

Reporting from the AHA: Success Tips for the Academic Job Market

February 13, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Several sessions at this year’s meeting of the American Historical Association focused on the job market, and how to successfully land your first job in academia. Here are tips from historians on how to nail your interview and transition to your first job.

January 30, 2017

Book Review: The Politics of Mourning by Micki McElya

January 30, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

On first glace, Micki McElya’s The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery appears to be a history of the creation and development of the United States’ most famous national cemetery. Very quickly, however, the reader realizes that this book is a much deeper analysis of how Arlington National Cemetery grew from a family home and plantation to the country’s most sacred burial grounds, one that considers race, gender, memory, and politics. As a result, this work illuminates not only the history of the National Cemetery, but the society in which it developed.

January 19, 2017

Civil Discourse Turns Two!

January 19, 2017/ Civil Discourse

Earlier this month, Civil Discourse quietly passed a milestone...our blog turned two! The new year and our blogging venture's anniversary offer an opportunity to look back at what we've accomplished in 2016 and what lays ahead in 2017.

January 09, 2017

When Did Slavery Really End in the North?

January 09, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

The perception about the United States in the period before the Civil War is that the North was “free” and the South was “slave.” Now, in some senses this division is accurate; certainly the two regions would end up going to war against each other for issues very related to this debate over slavery. However, the demise of slavery in the North was far more complicated that usually presented. It is certainly not the oversimplified story of slavery ending in the North after the Revolution, leading to a “free” region, as we sometimes see presented in classrooms.

December 30, 2016

Diary Disclosures: David Hunter Strother on Civil War Leaders

December 22, 2016/ Zac Cowsert

Forty-five years old at the start of the Civil War, David Hunter Strother had built his career through pen and pencil. A renowned artist, known via his pen-name "Porte Crayon," Strother traveled throughout the nation in the antebellum years, sharing sketches and stories of his travels via popular magazines of the day. Yet as the nation collapsed in 1861, Strother, who hailed from western Virginia, decided to put his artistic talents to use for the Union army. In the war's early years, Strother served as a topographer for Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia; he eventually earned a commission as a Union officer. Besides Strother's daily work of scouting terrain and sketching maps, the observant Virginian also kept a meticulous, detailed diary which would eventually span dozens of journals. In today's post, I want to share David Hunter Strother's experiences and opinions of various important Civil War figures with you. All of these diary entries date from September, 1861-February, 1862; these diary entries were not published in Cecil Eby's Virginia Yankee. While I have edited lightly for clarity, I have largely left Strother's words and occasional misspellings as they were. After each entry, I have offered a small note with my thoughts and biographical information.

December 06, 2016

'A Most Dangerous Precedent:' Charting the Progress of Freedom in the Civil War

December 06, 2016/ Becca Capobianco

Yet here we are, as Maury and her peers were, confronted with a people demanding recognition even without the protection or support of the law. In this moment, freedom existed alongside slavery, making it all the more difficult to reckon with both for contemporaries and for historians.

November 29, 2016

Roundtable: Our Favorite Civil War Regiments

November 29, 2016/ Civil Discourse

All of our bloggers possess extensive experience studying the Civil War and, more specifically, spending time visiting and interpreting both the war's battlefields and its participants. We've all become familiar with countless regiments, but from the many we've encountered, a few have stuck out. Here are some of our authors favorite regiments.

October 19, 2016

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? David Ireland and the 137th New York

October 19, 2016/ Civil Discourse

We all know the story of Joshua Chamberlain holding the left of the Union line at Gettysburg. But, did you know that a similar action occurred on the right of the Union line as well? Guest author Justin Voithofer gives us a look at David Ireland's 137th New York Infantry at Culp's Hill.

October 12, 2016

The "Derangement" and Death of Private Ludwig Salzwedel: A Suicide and Cover-Up in the Civil War

October 12, 2016/ Zac Cowsert

As the hot Kansas sun rose over the camp of the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry on June 17, 1862, the German immigrants who formed the bulk of the regiment were abuzz with the terrible news of last evening’s events. Rumors ran rife that a soldier in Company F killed himself during the night. And indeed, fifty-one year old Private Ludwig Salzwedel, a German immigrant to La Crosse, Wisconsin and the father of a family of five, had committed suicide that night.

September 12, 2016

The Great Locomotive Chase: Part IV, The Medal of Honor

September 12, 2016/ Kathleen Thompson

While the Andrews Raid was a failure that resulted in the deaths of many of the participants, the Raiders went down in history in an additional way. Six of the raiders were the first men to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

September 05, 2016

The Great Locomotive Chase: Part III, the Raiders’ Fate

September 05, 2016/ Kathleen Thompson

Andrews was tried first on crimes of spying and treason, but the following trials were disrupted by Mitchel who continued to move towards Chattanooga. At the beginning of May, the Raiders were transferred to Madison for a period of time and then returned to Chattanooga. At the end of May, twelve of the Raiders were transported to Knoxville for trial. The same day, Andrews received the result of his trial, a death warrant for his execution on June 7.

August 29, 2016

The Great Locomotive Chase: Part II, The Chase

August 29, 2016/ Kathleen Thompson

The crew was sitting down to their breakfast when they heard the sounds of the engine and saw it start to pull away from the station. A local resident rode off toward Marietta, and the nearest telegraph, to alert authorities, but William Fuller knew the train would be long gone before the word went out. Fuller took off after the train on foot, followed by his engineer, Cain, and Anthony Murphy. The “Great Locomotive Chase” had begun.

August 22, 2016

The Great Locomotive Chase: Part I, The Plan

August 22, 2016/ Kathleen Thompson

While the story strays far from the original, Keaton and his collaborators based the film The General on a memoir written by William Pittenger entitled The Great Locomotive Chase. At times overshadowed by larger military events, the action Pittenger was involved in was one of the most daring and compelling stories of behind-the-lines action in the war. On April 12, 1862 twenty Union men who had snuck into Confederate territory stole The General and raced for Chattanooga, Tennessee, hoping to destroy railway and communication lines along the way. The end result was both exciting and devastating for those involved.

July 25, 2016

Why Some Southern College Campuses Cannot Escape their Confederate Past: The University of Mississippi

July 25, 2016/ Kathleen Thompson

Ole Miss has been in the news several times in the last couple of years, dealing with its Civil War and Civil Rights legacy. In 2010, the university made headlines when they changed their school mascot away from one that highlighted its Confederate heritage. In 2014, an Ole Miss fraternity was shut down after students placed a noose on the statue of James Meredith, the first black student to enroll in the all-white school. Most recently, the university joined the Confederate flag debate when the students and faculty chose to remove the state flag, which includes Confederate symbols, from the campus.

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