The Civil War Tours

[Stonewall Jackson’s death bed, source.]

The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (run by Jerry Brent, featured on the 2nd Civil War Tours Podcast) has saved the site where Stonewall Jackson’s wounded arm was amputated. His arm was removed at the 2nd Corps hospital complex, behind Confederate lines at the Battle of Chancellorsville (not to be confused with the image above.) You can read about the acquisition here.

I did a story for Morning Edition on the curious fate of Stonewall Jackson’s arm, which has its own “grave”. You can listen to that here.

(1880 volume of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, vol. 3 p 59. “The Barricade”, source)

Perhaps the most dramatic example of how the novel filtered into the imagination of the soldier came from Wilky James, the younger brother of William and Henry James. Wilky joined the Massachusetts 44th and then the famous black regiment, the 54th. In spring 1863, he wrote, “Today is Sunday and I’ve been reading Hugo’s account of Waterloo in ‘Les Miserables’ and preparing my mind for something of the same sort. God grant the battle may do as much harm to the Rebels as Waterloo did to the French.” That summer, Wilky was seriously wounded in the assault on Fort Wagner.

Really cool post on the NYT Disunion blog about the novel Les Mis in the lives of Civil War soldiers. Check it out here.

(Patent Office Building, 1846, Daguerreotype by John Plumbe Jr., Library of Congress)

I was at the National Portait Gallery yesterday checking out their Civil War exhibits (specifically, their new exhibit on African Americans and the Civil War), and it turns out that the itself building has a very interesting Civil War history.

Between 1861 and 1863, the building was used as a temporary barracks. My friend John Cummings found this Harper’s Weekly page showing how soldiers were housed. 

It also served as Union hospital, specifically after 1st and 2nd Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg. Walt Whitman could be found here tending to the wounded. Some graffiti from a recovering soldier still remains today!

Click for more photos of where Lincoln’s Second Inaugural ball took place and for the trippy contemporary art that is housed there.

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[Photo from Harper’s Weekly, 3.18.1865]

Hey, ya’ll.

I’m reading Elizabeth Keckley’s memoirs, “Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House; Memoirs of an African American Seamstress,” and I wanted to share this passage about Lincoln’s Second Inauguration with you.

In due time the election came off, and all my predictions were verified. The loyal States decided that Mr. Lincoln should continue at the nation’s helm. Autumn faded, winter dragged slowly by, and still the country resounded with the clash of arms. The South was suffering, yet suffering was borne with heroic determination, and the army continued to present a bold, defiant front. With the first early breath of spring, thousands of people gathered in Washington to witness the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. It was a stirring day in the National Capital, and one that will never fade from memory of those who witnessed the imposing ceremonies. The morning was dark and gloomy; clouds hung like a pall in the sky, as if portending some great disaster. But when the President stepped forward to receive the oath of office, the clouds parted, and a ray on sunshine streamed from the heavens to fall upon and gild his face. It also said that a brilliant star was seen at noon-day. It was the noon-day of life with Mr. Lincoln, and the star, as viewed in the light of subsequent events, was emblematic of a summons from on high…

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In response to this article, Welcome to the New Civil War by Andrew O’Hehir for Salon.com. The photo is a zoom of Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

During Jon Stuart’s Election Night coverage last November, he updated his audience with the following quip, “Good news for Mitt Romney, he has won tonight, we can announce this right now, most of the Confederacy.”

Although this was admittedly pretty clever (I laughed), it calls to light a larger conversation our country is having about our history, and our relationship to each other as we stagnate in our inefficient two-party system. There is no doubt whatsoever that our nation is at a crossroads, and parallels to the Civil War are constantly being drawn (especially what with the War’s Sesquicentennial underway and Spielberg’s latest flick, Lincoln). Mr. O’Hehir’s essay ‘Welcome to the New Civil War’ rightly points out “how hardened our political and cultural divide has become, and how poorly the two [parties] understand each other.”

Especially after the latest bitter political fight, and the looming ones to come, it’s easy to throw in the proverbial towel and give up hope of finding common ground. It’s easier still to point fingers at the other side. But going so far as to say we are embroiled in a Civil War (and that the Civil War never actually ended), is misguided, dangerous, and not to mention historically inaccurate. Worse yet, labeling the Republican Party as “Neo Confederates,” and blaming them for holding the country back only perpetuates a different kind of Civil War that promotes disunion and animosity.

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I finally, finally made it to the African American Civil War museum here in D.C., despite having studied USCT history since June now. I actually learned quite a bit, which I’ll talk about, but I almost wish I could give it a small make over. I’ll talk about that too.

My company for the day was my dear friend Greg, another Civil War buff and history grad student at Georgetown.

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My good friend John Cummings has been doing some painstaking research regarding the famous images produced by Gibson and O’Sullivan, in the aftermath of the first day of fighting at Gettysburg. Despite several other experts also working (and often disagreeing) on the results, John has made use of some very impressive aerial geometry and topographical analysis to determine the exact location of where the photos were taken.

To see the work and visit his blog, click here. 

Above is a shot from John Ford’s ‘Young Mr. Lincoln’. With a masterful performance by Henry Fonda, ‘Young Mr. Lincoln’ focusses on the early life of the President, about the trials and tribulations of rural life in Illinois that formed him into the man he was. Henry Fonda is a complete natural in the role- the calm folksiness, the sense of humor, the humility. He participates in tug of war contests and judges local pies, while simultaneously protecting his client’s from lynch mobs (the film is loosely based his defense of someone accused of murder).

In a way, the new Spielberg pic ‘Lincoln’, specifically Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance, is not a huge departure from the character that Henry Fonda created in 1939. Like Fonda, Day-Lewis is also a folksy, soft spoken guy (Fonda’s voice is naturally high, Day-Lewis’s is higher and less booming than usual - we’ve heard tell that Abraham Lincoln’s voice was also kind of high). The pie contests and “outhouse humor” (as A.O. Scott describes it) have stuck with him, it seems, even in tense moments of crisis. When scores of staffers are in a room waiting for a telegram to come in about the outcome of the Battle of Wilmington, Lincoln tells a story about a portrait of George Washington in a British water closet, and how it relates to the speed of an Englishman’s bowl movements. The film lacks Spielberg’s typical over-the-top film making, and Day-Lewis’s sensitively sophisticated acting makes for a moving film that is not simply hero-worship.

There were a few points in the movie I was particularly interested in from a historical perspective. Click for them, if you’d like!

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Yesterday, I had the honor of marching behind the USCTs at the Remembrance Day parade held in Gettysburg on the 17th of November. Tomorrow is the 149th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, which is to be given by Steven Spielberg this year. They say that he and Daniel Day-Lewis were in Gettysburg the day of the parade, but I didn’t see them.

Anyway, here is the USCT contingent of the parade, which had members of the 1st, 3rd, (the 22nd?), 23rd, and 54th USCT units within it (although lead by the officers of the 3rd). Frederick Douglass is out front.

(The USCT Color Guard)

Not only was it my first time in uniform, but also my first time carrying a rifle musket for any extended period of time. And good lord, it was heavy. Luckily I was not in the rank and file so I did not have to drill according to an officer, so I could switch positions at will, which was a god send for my arms. I thought about all of the 12 year old boys that were fighting and had to carry guns, but my friends from the 23rd USCT pointed out that those boys would be used to doing farm work, so they were probably a lot stronger than I am!

Click to see more photos of the parade and of me as a soldier!

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