Author Archives: Matt Stanley

Monumental Discussion: Matt Stanley

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Matt Stanley

Part of being an historian is changing your conclusions in light of new evidence. Just days ago, on the anniversary of the U.S. dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, I explained to a colleague how my views on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Memory, Monuments, Ties to the War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

1870s Politics: When a Presidential Election’s Outcome Was Contested with Threats of Violence

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Matt Stanley

This commentary originally appeared on Oct. 21, 2016, in the History News Network’s daily newsletter and is reposted here with permission. The aftermath of the 1876 presidential election saw an uncommon moment of electoral pandemonium. Coming after over a decade of … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet, Websites & Blogs, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Cosmopolitanism of the Union Army: What Did It Mean?

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Matt Stanley

I was recently assessing the demographic makeup of Union and Confederate armies in my Civil War and Reconstruction class when one of my students asked a thought-provoking question: “What percentage of the Union Army was northern, white, English-speaking, and native-born?” … Continue reading →

Posted in Armies, Common Soldier, USCT | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Kayaking to “Glory” Island

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Matt Stanley

During a recent visit to the Charleston, South Carolina, area, my father and I kayaked to Morris Island, an uninhabited and completely undeveloped island on the south side of Charleston Harbor.  I thought I would share a few photos (taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Emerging Civil War, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rethinking the Civil War Dead

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Matt Stanley

It seems particularly topical as the United States commemorates the Civil War sesquicentennial that one of the most steady and recognizably tragic numbers in American history – 620,000 – has been called into question, and perhaps invalidated.  Although historians have … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Civil War | 7 Comments

Albert R. Parsons: Confederate Veteran, Labor Activist, Radical Martyr

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Matt Stanley

In considering future research endeavors, I find myself coming back to the topic of Albert R. Parsons, an activist and newspaper editor best known for being one of the five “Haymarket martyrs” executed by the state of Illinois in 1887 … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Civil War | 7 Comments

Race and Reunion 10 Years Later: “Reconciliationist” Memory Trumps “Emancipationist” Memory

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Matt Stanley

Part one in a series With a decade of perspective on which to draw, it’s clear that David Blight’s Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001) represented both a culmination of and shift within Civil War memory … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Memory, Reconstruction, Slavery | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Civil War, Civil Rights, and Thoughts on the MLK National Memorial

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Matt Stanley

In late August 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and conjured the Union war leader in envisioning a new America: “Five … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Civil War | 13 Comments