Question of the Day: Reenactments?

In reading Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields this week, I came across a passage where author Edward Tabor Linenthal referenced a speech made in 1962 by Civil War historian Bruce Catton. Speaking at Gettysburg College, Catton was previewing the then-upcoming centennial celebrations planned for the battlefield. In decrying the “sentimental haze [that] will cloud […]

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Service in Days Gone By

June 25th will mark the 136th Anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. However, this post is not meant to discuss the tactics, recent archeological findings and conclusions or to analyze the conduct of the senior officers of the Seventh Cavalry. One of the aspects of the Little Bighorn that I find particularly fascinating, […]

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“Damn the Torpedoes…or the Birds”

The Farragut Statue sits in the apporpriately namedFarragut Park in Washington D.C. and was sponsored by Congress in 1872. The statue and memorial park is preserved and maintained by the National Park Service as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. Admiral Farragut, famous for his naval victories during the American Civil War uttered […]

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Up at the Heights

From the Sunken Road, looking up at Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg (Kris and Chris are out on the battlefield taking pictures today for an upcoming book. What a glorious day to be battlefielding!)

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Quote of the Day

?”I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A vet signifies to be, to do, to suffer. I signify all these.” — Ulysses S Grant

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The Wounding of the other “Confederate Steuart”

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Cross Keys. Along with the engagement at Port Republic the following day, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson repulsed two separate Federal forces. This culminated his highly successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862. Information about the anniversary and/or events about these two battles can be found here: […]

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Congratulations to Eric Wittenberg

All of us at Emerging Civil War wanted to send our heartfelt congratulations to our friend Eric Wittenberg. The reprint of Eric’s book Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions has received the prestigious Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award, for Reprint, 2011. The first edition of the book received the prestigious Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award in 1998. Again, our congratulations to Eric! Click Here to […]

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“Kill Your Darlings”: Kris White, Phil Kearny, and a Toast to Papa Hemingway

“Kill your darlings,” Hemingway said. He was talking about revision. Sometimes a writer needs to delete something that doesn’t belong or no longer works, or maybe sometimes he has to rewrite it—and that can all be tough to do because, after all, the writer has put so much time into each story, into each sentence, […]

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The winners write history and have history written about them–the losers get forgotten at the Presidio

Seeing Zac’s post of Sherman’s grave made me think of this image: Irvin McDowell’s grave. McDowell’s grave at the Presidio stands in stark contrast to Sherman’s magnificent grave marker–sort of what happens when you don’t win. I still think it has a quiet dignity, though.

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