Emerging Civil War

On The Eve Of War: Los Angeles, California

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Sarah Kay Bierle

1862 Pony Express Stamp

On April 24, 1861, a Pony Express Rider carried the news into San Francisco, California: Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina had been fired upon. The account was not unexpected and released a flurry of activity along the coast and through the inland communities of the Golden State.

Los Angeles, a growing port in the southern part of the state, faced a particular crisis. The southern portion of the state had significant sympathies for the Confederacy. Talk swirled about dividing California, with the northern half staying loyal to the Union and the southern half joining the Confederate cause. Continue reading →

Introducing “My ECW Story” Series

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Emerging Civil War

Since our founding in 2011, the genesis of Emerging Civil War has been identifying and spotlighting the next generation of Civil War historians and the fresh ideas they bring to the historical conversation. To that end, we have always tried to encourage a diversity of perspectives in the scholarship presented on our blog. It has been gratifying to watch so many of our young and young-at-heart historians use ECW as a platform to promote themselves and their work to a wider audience. Continue reading →

Posted in My ECW Story | Tagged My ECW Story | Leave a comment

Symposium Spotlight: John Pelham

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Emerging Civil War

In this week’s Emerging Civil War Symposium Spotlight Sarah Bierle previews her presentation on fallen leader John Pelham. Continue reading to see what Sarah will be examining during her presentation in August. Continue reading →

Posted in Symposium | Tagged 2021 ECW Symposium, John Pelham | 2 Comments

On The Eve Of War: Little Round Top & Devil’s Den

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Sarah Kay Bierle

“Colonel,” Chamberlain said. “One thing. What’s the name of this place? This hill. Has it got a name?”

It’s a line from Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels, and it was later translated into film for the movie, Gettysburg. Of course, most Civil War buffs know that Chamberlain and the 20th Maine were defending Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, at that point in the Gettysburg saga, but it brings up a good reminder that the military men didn’t always know the names of landmarks or positions on their fighting ground. Sometimes, locals and soldiers gravitated toward the same name for places—like “Sunken Road.” Other times, the military gave new names to locations or made infamous a traditional name.

Little Round Top and Devil’s Den, located south of the town of Gettysburg, were already part of local lore and legend before the battle horrors and memory now associated with the locations. So, how were these two places viewed “on the eve of war” and in the years before the armies came?

Continue reading →

Posted in 160th Anniversary, Battlefields & Historic Places | Tagged 160th Anniversary, Devil's Den, Gettysburg battlefield, Little Round Top, on-the-eve-of-war | 1 Comment

The Post-Shiloh Musings of General Sherman

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Derek Maxfield

William Tecumseh Sherman

There is little doubt that the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, changed not only the nature of the American Civil War, but also the trajectory of William Tecumseh Sherman’s career. Going into the battle Sherman was working diligently to throw off the reputation for being insane. After Shiloh, the red-headed commander enjoyed newfound fame and would gain a promotion.

A nice window into Sherman’s post-Shiloh views is found in a letter the Ohioan wrote to his wife about a week after the battle. Continue reading →

Posted in Battles, Primary Sources | Tagged Battle of Shiloh, Henry Halleck, Newspapers, Primary Sources, William T. Sherman | 2 Comments

Henry Adams on Rooney Lee

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Chris Mackowski

Henry Adams

As the grandson and great-grandson of American presidents, Henry Brooks Adams came from one of the most distinguished of all New England families. Yet, as a student at Harvard University from 1854-8, this scion of the Yankee-est of all Yankee families befriended an unlikely trio of classmates from the South. At the time, Adams didn’t know that one of his close friends, “Rooney” Lee, and his father, Col. Robert E. Lee, were destined for important things in the near future any more than Rooney knew Adams would become one of America’s preeminent men of letters. But in 1907, when he wrote The Education of Henry Adams, Adams had the opportunity to reflect back on his old friendship. The lens of hindsight, though clouded, offered a view of Rooney—and of “Southern manhood”—that’s interesting even now. Continue reading →

Posted in Personalities, Primary Sources | Tagged Albert Sidney Johnston, Charles Francis Adams, Harvard University, Henry Adams, Pulitzer Prize, Robert E. Lee, Rooney Lee, William "Rooney" Lee | 3 Comments

On The Eve of War: Florida

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Phill Greenwalt

Florida Capitol Building, 1845

Euphoria gripped the capital of Tallahassee, Florida on the afternoon of January 10, 1861. Inside the state capital, sixty-nine delegates, in convention for a week, had voted sixty-two to seven in favor of removing their state from the United States of America.

“The cannon opened their fiery mouths in honor of the fifteen slaveholding States and announced that Florida had become an independent republic” one reporter jotted down when the announcement was made.

Inside the convention the delegates were witnesses to inflammatory oratory outlining the reasons for removing Florida from a Union that could not protect their rights and property.

Continue reading →

Posted in 160th Anniversary | Tagged 160th Anniversary, 1861, Florida, Florida secession, on-the-eve-of-war, Phill Greenwalt, secession, Slavery: Cause and Catalyst of the Civil War | 4 Comments

The Proviso and the Man

Posted on April 19, 2021 by ECW Guest Post

ECW welcomes back guest author Katy Berman.

Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania

Provided: That as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use of the Executive to the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted. – David Wilmot, August 8, 1846

Unexpected historical discoveries delight the historically-minded traveler. Two such happy accidents befell me on a recent trip to Towanda, Pennsylvania. To be sure, the north-central town is not a typical destination for a winter get-away, but I was familiar with the region and needed to get out, out, out of the house. Continue reading →