Kit Carson’s Civil War: The 1864 Battle of Adobe Walls
Today, we are please to welcome back guest author Ray Shortridge Conclusion of a series Earlier pieces in this series described how Kit Carson learned important aspects of the art of command — administration and training (Kit Carson’s Civil War: Learning to Command, Administration and Training); commanding combined arms (Kit Carson’s Civil War: The Navajo […]
Read more...Author & Nurse: The Woman Who Wrote “Hospital Sketches”
With the new PBS series Mercy Street starting last weekend, there is a new heightened interest in Civil War medicine and nurses. We hope you enjoy this blog about a real woman who travelled to Washington D.C. and volunteered as a nurse in a Union hospital. You might notice some similarities between this real hospital […]
Read more...A Lee-Jackson Postscript
I received a note this week from a reader, Frank “Skip” Shaffer, who felt moved to write after reading my account from Lexington’s Lee-Jackson Day commemorations. He shared an interesting story of his own that offered some additional context for our recent culture wars. His note literally made me go, “Wow.” I asked Skip if I […]
Read more...Book Review: The Second Day at Gettysburg: The Attack and Defense of Cemetery Ridge, July 2, 1863.
In 1889 Joshua Chamberlain proclaimed, “In great deeds something abides On open fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls.” He was speaking of Gettysburg, and course he was correct. As the war’s bloodiest and well-known, the three-day action will forever attract attention […]
Read more...Happy Birthday, Stonewall Jackson
Today is Stonewall Jackson’s birthday—his 192nd. If he were here to witness all this Lee-Jackson hoopla, no doubt he’d say, “Wow, I’m really old.” We’ve had quite the Lee-Jackson Lovefest this week here at ECW. We’ll round out our week’s coverage with a recap of some of our favorite Stonewall Jackson stories from the ECW […]
Read more...“The New Nurse” – Review of Mercy Street, Episode 1
In case you haven’t heard yet, PBS is featuring a new historical mini-series set during the American Civil War! It’s called Mercy Street and the first episode premiered last Sunday. In this beginning presentation – The New Nurse – the viewers are introduced to the cast of characters who are interacting at a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, during […]
Read more...Time to Lay the Lost Cause to Rest, But Let’s Not Overreact
Every year about this time I expect to hear about the Lee-Jackson Day events in Virginia and normally I roll my eyes, take a deep breath, and forget about it—hoping that the Lost Cause will soon draw its last breath. It appears that will not be happening any time soon. The recent controversy surrounding the […]
Read more...Robert E. Lee’s 209th Birthday – An Annual Visit to Stratford Hall
Every year for the past 15 years on January 19, I find my way to Stratford Hall. As many of you know, January 19, 1807 was Robert E. Lee’s birthday and Stratford Hall commemorates the occasion with free admission and sometimes cake. It has become an annual ritual for me, one that many of my […]
Read more...North of the Tweed and South of the Potomac: A Tale of Two Roberts and Two Prayers That Changed the Course of History (part two)
In commemoration of Robert E. Lee’s birthday, ECW is pleased to present the second of a two-part piece by guest author Richard G. Williams, Jr. Robert E. Lee had given his whole life to the Union for which his father, Henry Lee, the famous, “Lighthorse Harry Lee,” had fought. Robert was born at the Lee […]
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