Thought for the Day

“Our culture is fragmented. Our politics is fragmented, and so is our understanding of our own history. In our niche-marketed national consciousness, who really owns the Founders, or the Civil War, or the civil-rights movement? Two, three, many Jeffersons. Several Lincolns. Hundreds of personal Martin Luther Kings. We speak in the language of fragments now […]

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The fury of Wilderness…the thunders of Gettysburg

Near the Adams Farm, Richmond National Battlefield. When the Union Second Corps attacked near this position on the morning of June 3, 1864, a member of the 10 Massachusetts Light said, “It had the fury of the Wilderness musketry, with the thunders of the Gettysburg artillery superadded. It was simply terrific.” (from Rhea, Cold Harbor, […]

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The Mystery of Richard Garnett’s Sword

On July 3,1863, George Pickett’s famous Virginian division stepped out from the woods of Seminary Ridge to begin the charge that would go down in the annals of history bearing their commander’s name. It was mid-afternoon and the Battle of Gettysburg was quickly reaching its climax. Much has been written about this fateful charge. However, […]

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A Curious Case of the Measles

We are glad to welcome Meg Thompson as a guest author today. Meg currently teaches at Brownell Middle School, named for E. E. Brownell, a California educator who was named for Colonel Elmer Ellsworth and is related to Corporal Francis Brownell, the man who killed Ellsworth. She has also taught at other public schools in California […]

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The Sound of History at the Stonewall Jackson Shrine

“What do you like best about working here at the Shrine?” a colleague asks. I’m gazing through wavy panes of imperfect glass out toward the parking lot, looking for signs of visitors on this Saturday morning. It’s nearly eleven, and so far only five people have stopped to visit the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. It’ll pick […]

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Thought for the Day

“We reminisce not only to savor but to understand, or re-understand, the past more adequately….” — Edward S. Casey, Remembering: A Phenomenological Study

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Emerging Civil War Welcomes Author Phillip Greenwalt

We’re pleased to welcome another great historian to our ranks here at Emerging Civil War: Phill Greewalt. Phill currently works as an NPS historian at George Washington Birthplace, but he has roots in Civil War history. His particular interest is in the role played by his home state of Maryland in the war—which can sometimes […]

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Ex-Slave John Washington

Preparing for his freedom from a very young age, John Washington used his advantages as a very light-skinned, urban slave, who had earned money and traveled. He had a job with responsibilities, he was often surrounded by relatives—both black and white—and he knew and loved the Rappahannock River. So, he was ready to take advantage […]

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History in the Making: Interpretive Responsibility and the Teaching of History as Product and Process

One of the many topics of the Civil War Sesquicentennial conversation is (or at least should be) how we, as human beings, construct historical memory and how we ourselves become historians (sometimes knowing, other times not) of our collective past. The recent official opening of the Rural Plains & Totopotomoy Creek unit at Richmond National […]

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