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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Daffodil Cavaliers
The cavalry of the American Civil War are well known for their dashing appearance. During the 1860s, the horse Soldiers from both sides strove to adopt and emulate the appearance of the Cavaliers of Europe and of the American Revolution. … Continue reading
Warren’s Legacy still asks urgent questions
As a Kentucky-born writer who lived most of his professional life in the North, Robert Penn Warren was deeply conflicted about the American Civil War. That ambivalence, and the tensions that sprang from it, haunt every section of his essential … Continue reading
Burnside’s Bridge at Antietam
See more photography from Kathleen Logothetis
A beautiful, despairing journey with a coal-black horse
There’s a kind of myth-making happening in Robert Olmstead’s novel Coal Black Horse. Published in 2007, I had the chance this past week to journey with the horse once more, and it was a trip well worth taking. Set in … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Authors
Tagged book reviews, coal black horse, Gettysburg, Robert Olmstead
3 Comments
Indiana Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
Posted in Monuments, Photography
Tagged Indiana, Indianapolis, memorials, monuments, soldiers and sailors memorial
1 Comment
A March Through War
This week I was privileged to attend a Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History seminar at Yale University. The topic is “Everyday Life in Early America” which included a fieldtrip to Historic Deerfield, in Massachusetts. Deerfield–rich with history going back … Continue reading
A visit with “Old Kinderhook” on the 150th anniversary of his death
The secession of South Carolina triggered civil war in Martin Van Buren’s house before it ever triggered fighting on the battlefield. After his public career ended, the former president had retired to the quiet life of a country farmer in … Continue reading
The Reconstruction of Billy Mahone
The descriptions of him are priceless. “He looked the image of a bantam rooster or a gamecock,” recalled a veteran. Perhaps it was his odd dress: “He wore a large sombrero hat, without plume, cocked on one side, and decorated … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Confederate, Memory, Personalities, Reconstruction
Tagged Atlantic Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, Battle of the Crater, Billy Mahone, Chancellorsville, Confederate Republicans, Conservatives, Crater, Danville race riot, Democrats, Drewry's Bluff, Fredericksburg, Funders, Hero of the Crater, James Longstreet, Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, Peninsula Campaign, Petersburg, Rappahannock Academy, Readjuster Party, Readjusters, Reconstruction, Reconstruction Virginia, Republicans, Richmond, Salem Church, Spotsylvania Court House, U.S. Senator William Mahone, Virginia, Virginia debt, Virginia Military Institute, VMI, West Virginia, wilderness, William Mahone
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The Grand Austin Flour Sack: An Idea Whose Time May Come Again!
For me, this summer’s reading included Mark Twain’s Roughing It, a compelling account of California and Nevada during the time of the Civil War by a man who did not fight. Legend has it that young Sam Clemens, after a … Continue reading
Experiencing the War, Part II: Battle
Part Two in a Series The experience of battle was a major change for most of these new soldiers. Green recruits wanted to get into the fight quickly, worried that the war would end before they saw combat. Stimulated by … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Common Soldier, Emerging Civil War
Tagged aftermath of battle, battle, battle rage, battlefield death, burial, Casualties of the Civil War, combat, death of comrades, experience-the-war, fear, impact of battle, linkedin, soldier collapse
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