10,000 Posts: Chris Mackowski Dips into the ECW Archives

Here are three posts by some of my colleagues that have stuck with me ever since I read them:

Battle of Portland Harbor, Part One, Part Two, and Part Three by Ryan Quint, posted on January 14, 2015; February 2, 2015; and February 12, 2015. Ryan typified what ECW was all about at the time he wrote this series of posts: young, talented, and with something worthwhile to say. We both have longstanding ties to Maine, so I was fascinating by this story when he told me about it, and I urged him to write it up. The result was a well-told story about an overlooked action. Ryan really did it justice. I was proud to have ECW showcase the story and Ryan’s skills.

With Sedgwick at Spotsylvania by Edward Alexander, posted on May 9, 2019. Edward’s post combined history, memory, primary sources, long-standing myth, and an interesting cast of characters. He’s one of the best historians I’ve ever worked with, and every time he writes something, I learn something new, even with topics I already know a lot about. He always leaves readers with something worthwhile to think about.

Tracking Down the Wounding of Joe Johnston by Doug Crenshaw, posted on January 18, 2017. Joe Johnston was such a major figure of the war, and his wounding during the battle of Seven Pines proved to be a major turning point in the war’s military story—yet the event has received little attention from historians. The wounding of icons like Stonewall Jackson and Albert Sidney Johnston have received not just intense scrutiny but adoring memorialization; Joe Johnston’s consequential wounding has been neglected by comparison. As a result, Doug’s detective work for this blog post made a really important contribution to the literature (always cool).

As an “honorable mention,” I want to call attention to our 2017 series, “A Monumental Discussion.” During a tumultuous time, it was some of our most important work as a community of historians.

Here are a couple of things I’ve written that I’ve been especially proud of:

Alfred Waud’s Sketchy Spotsylvania, posted September 7, 9, 14, and 22, 2021. This series sprang from my attempt to definitively track down the spot where Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson was killed at Spotsylvania, which has been misidentified but mostly forgotten. One of the key bits of evidence in that hunt was a sketch by Alfred Waud; however, the sketch had been misdated, unbeknownst to everyone. To figure this out, I had the chance to do a lot of research and detective work, which proved fun and rewarding—and which let me make an original addition to the literature (always cool!).

Regrounding at Spotsy, posted on April 4, 2013. To me, this post is the archetypical personal essay-style blog post. Topic-wise, it speaks to the importance of “walking the ground” on both the professional and personal levels. Style-wise, it’s informed by experience and research, but it’s definitely personal in nature. I tried to craft a well-written, thought-provoking piece.

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