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Tag Archives: Lost Cause
Public and Private Recollections of Confederate General Edward Porter Alexander
ECW welcomes back guest author Abbi Smithmyer Nearly fifty years after the conclusion of the American Civil War, Edward Porter Alexander’s book Military Memoirs of a Confederate became available to the public. Alexander’s opening remarks begin with the following passage: … Continue reading
Some Thoughts on the Status of the Lost Cause
The Lost Cause was at first a subject of scholarly inquiry. It then became one of scorn, used at times as a slur. For a serious student of the war, it is a label few desire as its mythology has … Continue reading
Writing About History in a Manichean Age
Given current events, I find myself asking how one will be able to write about the American Civil War now and in the future. This question has been brewing in my mind since 2015 when the debate over statues began … Continue reading
Posted in Memory
Tagged civil war memory, Just Cause, Lost Cause, Manichean History, writing
45 Comments
Aunt Jemima and the Lost Cause
Quaker Oats has just announced they will retire the Aunt Jemima brand name and imagery. The ready-made, self-rising pancake mix got its start in 1889 at the Pearl Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri. The initial owners soon went bankrupt … Continue reading
Gaines Foster and David Blight: Two Views on the Lost Cause
In 1961 the nation celebrated the centennial of the American Civil War with a glorification of battlefield heroics entwined within a narrative of a nation reforged in the fires of war. However, Robert Penn Warren critiqued this vision with The … Continue reading
Posted in Memory
Tagged civil war memory, Confederate memory, David W. Blight, Gaines M. Foster, historiography, Lost Cause
12 Comments
The Hero & The Ghost: An Account of a Divided Family
ECW welcomes David T. Dixon When the Civil War splits a Georgia family, a returning veteran secures his legacy and helps to bury shameful secrets for future generations… Connor Wright remembered that he was eleven years old when he watched … Continue reading
A Conversation with John Coski (conclusion)
Part six of six I’ve been talking with John Coski, historian at the American Civil War Museum and recipient of the 2019 Emerging Civil War Award for Service in Civil War Public History. As we wrap up our conversation today, … Continue reading
A Conversation with John Coski (part two)
Part two of six I’m talking this week with John Coski, historian with the American Civil War Museum in Richmond and recipient of ECW’s 2019 Emerging Civil War Award for Service in Public History. In recounting his “origin story” yesterday, … Continue reading
Posted in Personalities
Tagged American Civil War Museum, Award for Service in Civil War Public History, Baptized in Blood, Before Freedom Came, Berkeley Plantation, Charles Wilson, Confederate Memorial Literacy Society, Conversation-with-John-Coski, Hollins University, Jefferson Davis, John Coski, Lost Cause, Museum of the Confederacy, Ruth Ann Coski, Virginia Historical Society, White House of the Confederacy
1 Comment
Heyward Shepherd Memorialized (Sort Of)
On one hand, it’s fitting that a monument commemorates Heywood Shepherd. A night watchman at Harpers Ferry, Shepherd stumbled across John Brown’s raiders on the night of October 16, 1859. They called to Shepherd to surrender, but he refused, and … Continue reading
Posted in Monuments, Slavery
Tagged Herpers Ferry, Heyward Shepherd, Heywood Shepherd, John Brown's Raid, Lost Cause, monuments
7 Comments
Do We Still Care About the Civil War: Dwight Hughes
The cover story of the newest issue of Civil War Times asks, “Do we still care about the Civil War?” ECW is pleased to partner with Civil War Times to extend the conversation here on the blog. The Civil War … Continue reading
