“Sally had a baby, and the baby had red hair”—part one
We’re pleased today to bring you part one of a two-part piece from guest poster Lance Herdegen, author of The Iron Brigade in Civil War and Memory. The Iron Brigade in the old Army of the Potomac made its own music. Any veteran memory of the long marching columns evoked faint echoes of the soldiers […]
Read more...Making Sense of Chickamauga
I’ve heard the phrase “hot mess” before, but Chickamauga National Battlefield gave it a whole new meaning. The first time I visited, about seven years ago, temperatures soared into the upper nineties with a humidity of about 700%. Because few interpretive markers dot the landscape, I had no idea what I was looking at beyond […]
Read more...The Season of Battles: Perspectives on the 1863 Campaigns
This year marks the 150th Anniversaries of some of the Civil War’s most iconic engagements. The sesquicentennial of Chancellorsville and Stonewall Jackson’s death has just passed, while the Vicksburg and Gettysburg commemorations are in the future, followed by Chickamauga. Yet focusing on any one event over others obscures some of the key historical currents that […]
Read more...Welcome Edward Alexander and Chris Kolakowski
We have a couple pieces of business to pass along to you, including the introduction of two stellar new authors to the regular line up! First, a quick note that Chris Mackowski appeared on the May 17 edition of Civil War Talk Radio, hosted by Gerry Prokopowicz. Chris talked about the book he and Kris […]
Read more...The Stainless Banner at the MOC
In commemoration of the sesquicentennial of Stonewall Jackson’s death, the Museum of the Confederacy recently displayed the second national flag of the Confederacy that had been used to drape Jackson’s coffin. Jack Humphries, a good friend of Emerging Civil War, was kind enough to serve as man-on-the-scene reporter for us and send back a few […]
Read more...A Farewell to Arms
As the victorious Union army began to muster out at the close of the war, veterans now faced the task of assimilating back into civilian life. But what of the weapons they faithfully carried? On May 29, 1865, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant wrote Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, “I understand that great numbers […]
Read more...Remembering the war, the centennial, and the sesquicentennial
Guest-poster Caroline Davis is wrapping up an internship at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Now that the dust has settled from the Chancellorsville sesquicentennial, we asked her to reflect on what she learned from the commemoration. Because her work this year has allowed her to dip into the park’s archives, she pulled together some […]
Read more...Fateful Lightning: Was Sherman’s March To the Sea a War Crime? Part II
On November 15 1864, Sherman began marching south, dividing his army into two wings. On November 22, a large (4,500) group of Confederate soldiers under General Pleasant J. Phillips met part (1,500) of the right wing of Sherman’s troops, commanded by General Charles C. Walcutt. The Battle of Griswaldville ended so badly for the South–94 […]
Read more...Herdegen’s Rock-Solid Study of the Iron Brigade
I first met the Iron Brigade, like so many Americans, as they marched onto the field on the first day of Gettysburg, their black hats announcing their appearance at the nick of time. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels (and the subsequent film Gettysburg) makes much of the Iron Brigade’s timely appearance, in part to add […]
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