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Author Archives: Cecily Nelson Zander
On The March: Respectfully, Jubal A. Early
Headquarters 2d corps, A. No.–Va. To Gen. Jubal A. Early, Commanding Division: General- Gen. Jackson’s compliments to Gen. Early, and he would like to be informed why he saw so many stragglers in rear of your division to-day. Respectfully, A. … Continue reading
Posted in 160th Anniversary
Tagged Antietam, D.H. Hill, Jubal A. Early, on-the-march, Sandie Pendleton, Stonewall Jackson, Winchester
1 Comment
Fort Abraham Lincoln – Symbol of Civil War Memory on the North Dakota Prairie
When Emerging Civil War asked us all to think about whether we might write something on this month’s theme of “Forts” my instinct was to write about Fort Union, New Mexico. In fact, I told our editorial maestro Sarah Kay … Continue reading
Posted in Memory
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, civil-war-forts, Elizabeth Custer, George Custer
4 Comments
Men to Match My Mountains?
In the summer of 2016 I climbed my first 14,000 foot mountain—Mount Sherman—a peak in the Mosquito Range of the Rocky Mountains. Mount Sherman (14,038 feet) is one of Colorado’s 58 “14-ers,” a sobriquet that designates it as one of … Continue reading
Civilians Under Siege: A Confederate Woman’s Diary of the War in the Trans-Mississippi
I first encountered Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861–1868 in an undergraduate course on the topic of great Civil War writers. Looking at the syllabus at the start of the term, I circled the diary as a text I … Continue reading
Posted in Civilian
Tagged Confederate women, diary, Kate Stone, Louisiana, primary source, Texas, Trans-Mississippi
7 Comments
Braxton Bragg’s Beach Vacation – Pensacola in the Early Months of the Civil War
Even the most casual of Civil War buffs knows that the war began in Charleston, South Carolina – when Confederate batteries opened fire on the Union-occupied Fort Sumter and its 85 defenders. Many may also know that war had an … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership--Confederate
Tagged Braxton Bragg, Confederate women, Florida, Fort Pickens, Jefferson Davis, nationalism, Pensacola
7 Comments
Civil War Savannah: The View from Two Parapets
On June 1 I defended my dissertation in History at Penn State. One week later, I turned my trusty Subaru Crosstrek south from State College and set my GPS for Savannah. What better way to celebrate six years of intensely … Continue reading
Learning Civil War History: The Pandemic Perspective
On January 18, 2021, I began teaching a Civil War history class at Penn State, where most instruction is currently taking place via the (now) ubiquitous Zoom platform. I have been fortunate to teach the department’s Civil War survey in … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging Civil War
Tagged Battle of Gettysburg, Chris Mackowski, emancipation, Emerging Civil War, Glory, online teaching, Penn State, teaching
9 Comments
The William Belknap Impeachment – Some Historical Background
When American author Mark Twain referred to the postbellum United States as living through a ‘Gilded Age’ he almost certainly had in mind the excesses exhibited by men like William Belknap, whose term as Secretary of War in the cabinet … Continue reading
Posted in Personalities, Politics
Tagged Credit Mobilier, Grant's presidency, impeachment, John Rawlins, Ulysses S. Grant, Whiskey Ring, William Belknap
10 Comments
The Civil War in Surprising Places – Emily Dickinson’s Poetry and the Pop Culture Delights of Dickinson
As a high school student I always dreaded our annual Emily Dickinson poem assignment, because, to be honest, the nineteenth-century poet from Amherst, Massachusetts didn’t speak to me. One can only consider ‘Hope is the Thing With Feathers’ so many … Continue reading
Home Libraries: My Civil War Bookshelf – The Macmillan Wars of the United States
While conducting the research for my dissertation I spent more time in one archival collection than any other, a collection that does not appear in a single footnote and provided almost none of the information I had hoped it might … Continue reading