Showing results for "Chancellorsville"

My Life as a Black Civil War Living Historian—conclusion

final part in a series Going forward, I know that I have two more years of many events to go before the end of the Sesquicentennial. I have two main objectives that I want to accomplish:

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My Life as a Black Civil War Living Historian—part six

part six in a series As I continue in my tale, I must tell you what two moments that gave me the most pride and what event gave me the most excitement. At the first Gettysburg Remembrance Day programs that I attended on November 19, 2011, I experienced my first moment of great pride.

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A Nature Trail Through a History Park

Although I’ve done a fair amount of hiking in the past few months, I haven’t had my hiking shoes out of their box since I wore them to Uganda back in January. Flecks of Uganda’s rust-colored clay still line the crevices of the shoes’ treads. The shoebox I pull them from says “Keen,” a reminder […]

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My Life as a Black Civil War Living Historian—part two

Part two in a series As a Park Service historian, I give tours on all four of the Park’s battlefields: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. I loved talking about the military history but never said much about the civilians until I started to work with the Chief Historian of the park, John Hennessy. […]

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My Life as a Black Civil War Living Historian—part one

part one in a series As a young boy, I was always been fascinated by military history. I had toy soldiers of all kinds: Civil War, World War II, Revolutionary War, and even the Knights of the Round Table. I used to buy the toy soldiers from the Marvel Comic books that I read as […]

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Prelude to a Star: The Urbanna Raid

part two in a series The Army of the Potomac was in disarray when George Custer returned from Washington on May 5, 1863. Early that morning, the army began their retreat to the north bank of the Rappahannock River. This maneuver effectively brought an end to the Chancellorsville campaign and notched another defeat in the […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Laid to Rest in Lexington

On May 15, 1863—150 years ago today—Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was laid to rest in his beloved Shenandoah Valley. He had died five days previously and, since his death, his remains had traveled from Guinea Station down to Richmond to rest in the Confederate capitol before beginning the trek westward. Jackson was brought home […]

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