Published: 6/20/12DUNKELMAN: Marching With Sherman (2012)By: Thom BassettCategory: Book Reviews Marching With Sherman: Through Georgia and the Carolinas With the 154th New York by Mark H. Dunkelman. Louisiana State University Press, 2012. Cloth, ISBN: 0807143782. $39.95. By now most accounts of...
Published: 6/18/12The CumberlandBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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: 6/15/12Not Up To TimeBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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: 6/13/12STERNHELL: Routes of War (2012)By: Aaron Sheehan-DeanCategory: Book Reviews Routes of War: The World of Movement in the Confederate South by Yael A. Sternhell. Harvard University Press, 2012. Cloth, ISBN: 0674064423. $49.95. Some changes in historical interpretation are driven by...
Published: 6/11/12Elegy for the Native GuardsBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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: 6/8/12Masterly InactivityBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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: 6/6/12FELLMAN: Views from the Dark Side of American History (2011)By: Megan Kate NelsonCategory: Book Reviews Views from the Dark Side of American History by Michael Fellman. Louisisana State University Press, 2011. Paper, ISBN: 0807139025. $22.50. And there it was. The question I knew she would eventually...
Published: 6/6/12MCWHIRTER: Battle Hymns (2012)By: Randy FinleyCategory: Book Reviews Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War by Christian McWhirter. University of North Carolina Press, 2012. Cloth, ISBN: 0807835500. $39.95. In Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity...
Published: 6/1/12Sinbad Lincoln and the Old Man of the SeaBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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: 5/31/12Form follows Function: Changing Audiences Bring Changes to InterpretationsBy: Craig SwainCategory: The Front Line 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: 5/30/12REARDON: With a Sword in One Hand (2012)By: John R. NeffCategory: Book Reviews With a Sword in One Hand and Jomini in the Other: The Problem of Military Thought in the Civil War North by Carol Reardon. University of North Carolina Press, 2012. Cloth,...
Published: 5/27/12Nathan Bedford Forrest, ReconstructedBy: Andy HallCategory: The Front Line 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: 5/25/12Neutrality or Death?By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line 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...
Published: 5/23/12PATCHAN: Second Manassas (2011)By: Lawrence Kreiser, Jr.Category: Book Reviews Second Manassas: Longstreet’s Attack and the Struggle for Chinn Ridge by Scott C. Patchan. Potomac Book, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 1597976873. $26.95. The fighting around Manassas Junction in northern Virginia during the...
Published: 5/21/12LorenaBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line One of the most popular Civil War songs was Lorena. Reverend Henry D. L. Webster first penned the lyrics in 1856 after his fiancé— Ella Blocksom—ended their engagement. However, in...
Published: 5/18/12Why Don’t You Take It?By: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line Good morning! Today’s Friday Funny is an 1861 Currier & Ives sketch commenting on the Union’s substantial advantage in terms war materiel. The above cartoon illustrates the might of the...
Published: 5/16/12SCARBOROUGH: The Allstons of Chicora Wood (2011)By: Alex MacaulayCategory: Book Reviews The Allstons of Chicora Wood: Wealth, Honor, and Gentility in the South Carolina Lowcountry by William K. Scarborough. Louisiana State University Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0807138436.$35.00. The Allstons of Chicora Wood is an...
Published: 5/16/12CARNEY: Ministers and Masters (2011)By: John J. Langdale IIICategory: Book Reviews Ministers and Masters: Methodism, Manhood, and Honor in the Old South by Charity R. Carney. Louisiana State University Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 080713886X. $35.00. Over the last several decades, scholars of...
Published: 5/15/12The Battle of Drury’s BluffBy: Dave KummerCategory: The Front Line The morning of May 15, 1862 set up to be another feather in the cap of the U.S. Navy following her victories at Port Royal, South Carolina (November, 1861) and...
Published: 5/15/12John Mackie: The Man and the MemoryBy: Laura June DavisCategory: The Front Line One rarely thinks of the United States Marine Corps and the Civil War in the same thought. Given their small size and limited service, this is not really surprising. And...