Civil Warriors

Was back in Virginia a few weeks ago helping Chris Stowe and the rest of the CGSC teaching team at Fort Lee on the third iteration of an Appomattox Staff Ride. In the time since the first iteration of the ride in April, Chris wisely adjusted the ride to start at Fort Gregg instead of Five Forks. This avoided the problem last time of spending a huge chunk of time (time management is always the biggest challenge on these rides) on the events of 1 April and the whole background and conduct of the Battle at Five Forks. Instead, we simply started out saying, “OK, it is the morning of 2 April, Five Forks has happened, what is the situation?” After discussing this and the events of 2 April that led up to the fight for Fort Gregg, the four groups (led respectively by Chris, Fort Lee team leader Bob Kennedy, Fort Belvoir’s Chris Keller, and myself) did stands at Sutherland Station, Amelia Court House, Hillsman House, Kershaw Ridge, Cumberland Church, Final Battle, McLean House, and ended at the Gordon-Chamberlain salute/Grant-Lee second meeting site.

Some photos from the ride are below, courtesy of Kaysteine Briggs, who belonged to the staff group assigned to me, which proved to be an outstanding one. Although a bit chilly, we were spared the rain that accompanied the recon we did the day before and the April ride.

Sutherland Station

Hillsman House Here, and throughout the ride, a major point of debate was just how much faster Phil Sheridan would have ended the war if not for that punk George Meade. (Boy, wouldn’t it be great, especially at a time when people are trying to figure out how to spend gift cards, if there was a really good recent book out there on Meade–or even just a decent essay? For that matter, wouldn’t a book that discusses Lee during this campaign–especially one that, in the words of one unimpeachable source “shows once again why [its author] is one of the finest Civil War military historians at work today”, also be a great addition to one’s bookshelf? )

Kershaw Ridge

Near Appomattox Court House

(Surely, there is someone out there who can come up with a better caption.)

I guess no matter how hard you try to resist, at this time of year the mind of the Civil War enthusiast invariably turns to that wonderful little crossroads town in Pennsylvania and the great campaign and battle of June-July 1863. Last summer, it was Ted’s program in Chambersburg (discussed here) that ensured Gettysburg would have a prominent place in my mind. This year three events are serving this purpose and keeping me from focusing my efforts outside the classroom on the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign of 1864-65, which is where my collaborator on the staff ride guide and publisher no doubt agree they should be. On the other hand, as illustrated on the right, it doesn’t look like Charles is have any better luck in his efforts to resist the lure of Gettysburg.

Anyway, the first of these events (although I know in mentioning it I run the risk of being banned from Eric’s blog for shameless self-promotion) is a panel discussion Wednesday night at the Kansas City Public Library, co-sponsored by the CGSC Foundation, on Gettysburg, a sequel to the program on Lincoln I moderated at KCPL in February. Two of the other three participants will be familiar to followers of this blog as collaborators in staff rides documented here, here, and here. Here are the details:

A panel of military historians will discuss the significance of the Battle of Gettysburg on Wednesday, July 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Moderator Wilburn E. Meador Jr., an instructor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, sets the scene, explaining the events of the Civil War leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg, which began 136 years ago on July 1, 1863.

Ethan S. Rafuse, associate professor of Military History, U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, and author of Robert E. Lee and The Fall of the Confederacy, 1863-1865, discusses the actions of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the days leading to Gettysburg.

Christopher S. Stowe, associate professor of Military History, U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, Ft. Lee, Virginia campus, is presently writing a history of General George G. Meade and discusses the actions of the Army of the Potomac in the days leading to Gettysburg.

Terry Beckenbaugh, assistant professor of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, historical essayist in the Encyclopedia of the American Civil War and a scholar on the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, discusses the conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg, and why its outcome was more important to the Union cause than many people realize.

Admission is free. A 6 p.m. reception precedes the event. Click here or call 816.701.3407 to RSVP. Free parking is available in the Library District Parking Garage located at 10th and Baltimore.

The event is co-sponsored by the Command and General Staff College Foundation.

The second event that has July 1863 on my mind will be a good follow up to this program, namely a trip to Gettysburg on 9 July with a group of staff riders from Fort Belvoir.

The third is participation in a blogger collaborative project proposed by Brett Schulte a few weeks ago. This deserves a post of its own, which will appear tomorrow.

I’ve begun a Facebook album devoted to photos of the process involved in updating Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide.

Eric Wittenberg at Rantings of a Civil War Historian, Feb. 10:

For the past few days, there has been a lot of discussion about the state and future of North & South magazine. It began with a post on Kevin Levin’s blog. After quite a few comments (including one by me), Ethan Rafuse pitched in. Ethan has put up two posts at the Civil Warriors group blog that also address the situation with North & South.

I think I can lend some insight. By way of introduction, I own a major block of voting stock in the company. I am in the top ten of the group of largest shareholders, and until two years ago, was a member of the company’s board of directors. I was kicked off the board by founder/editor/president Keith Poulter when he realized that I had turned hostile and would no longer approve his actions in managing the company without question. Consequently, I have some inside knowledge and insight that few others have. . . .

Complete post

Over on Kevin’s blog there has been a series of rather rigorous discussions on the matter of North & South Magazine. I began pitching in a few days ago and figured this morning that instead of letting Kevin get all the “dap” for them, would post my contributions, revised and edited, so we could continue the discussion here if anyone wishes to. I have published two articles in N & S, contributed to the round table on guerrilla warfare that will be in the next issue, and have had only cordial dealings with editor Keith Poulter. I also have what I consider to be a very good relationship with Dana Shoaf, the man who edits Civil War Times Illustrated and America’s Civil War, N & S’s main competitors in the field. So, in the interest of full disclosure, that is where I am coming from.

Anyway, my first response after following the discussion at Civil War Memory for a while was to be amazed at how so many of its complaining contributors seemed to be, to quote Lincoln, “blind to the signs of the times.” Any discussion of N & S must take into account that these are not exactly the best of times for a business, and that is what N & S is. To expect its operations, as it seems many did, not to be affected negatively by the current economic climate is just not realistic. After all, CWTI has recently decided to cut back on the number of issues it publishes each year. Is there anyone who does not see in this a reflection of larger forces that are also effecting N & S?

Moreover, there is the question of whether what many see as problems at N&S are not only a reflection of problems in the larger economy, but the fact that interest in the Civil War seems (due undoubtedly in part to an oversaturated market) to have peaked a while ago and has been in steady decline. In fact, we may well look back on the arrival of N & S as the point when it tipped. At that time, we already had CWTI, ACW, Blue and Gray, Civil War, Columbiad, and Civil War Regiments competing for (and no doubt diluting the overall level of quality of) the popular history market, while Civil War History, Lincoln Herald, and innumerable topical, state, and regional journals provided outlets for academic Civil War material. Civil War, Columbiad, and Civil War Regiments (perhaps not coincidentally all works that made the same effort N & S has made to find a happy medium between academic and pop history that may well not exist) all went by the wayside, while the academic journals have benefitted from their not inconsiderable insulation from the market. In this light, I think N & S’s ability to survive as long as it has (undoubtedly benefitting from the diversion of quality material that would have gone into the three aforementioned late outlets) says something positive about the man running it.

Thus, I took exception to some of the shots folks were taking at N & S editor and publisher Keith Poulter. Is the question, as some argued, his “incompetency” as an editor–or simply the consequence of one person trying to do too much because in this economy he can’t afford the necessary staff to assist him? I seriously doubt there is much different between the Keith Poulter of the late 1990s who started the magazine and got it (as all the contributors to the discussion seem to agree) running great and the Keith Poulter of today . . . but it ain’t 1998 anymore. Frankly, that Keith has managed to get the magazine as far as he has in this economy is no little accomplishment, one that I doubt many in the peanut gallery could have pulled off.

More to come.

Part 1 – Part 2

Just got my series editor’s copy of Ethan Rafuse’s battlefield guide to Antietam, South Mountain & Harpers Ferry.  It’s great to see it.  Brooks Simpson and I had planned to write this guide ourselves when we originated the guide series in 1995 (and we spent several days tramping Antietam together).  But professional and personal demands diverted us.  It’s just as well.  Ethan has done a splendid job — I think Brooks would concur with me in saying that Ethan’s done it better than we could have done it ourselves.

Here’s the catalog description from the publisher:

About the Book

In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac conducted one of the truly great campaigns of the Civil War. At South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam, North and South clashed in engagements whose magnitude and importance would earn this campaign a distinguished place in American military history. The siege of Harpers Ferry produced the largest surrender of U.S. troops in the nation’s history until World War II, while the day-long battle at Antietam on September 17 still holds the distinction of being the single bloodiest day of combat in American history.

This invaluable book provides a clear, convenient, stop-by-stop guide to the sites in Maryland and West Virginia associated with the Antietam campaign, including excursions to Harpers Ferry and South Mountain. Thorough descriptions and analyses, augmented with vignettes and numerous maps, convey the mechanics as well as the human experience of the campaign, making this book the perfect companion for both serious students of the Civil War and casual visitors to its battlefields.

About The Author

Ethan S. Rafuse is an associate professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He is the author of several books, including McClellan’s War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union, and is the coeditor of The Ongoing Civil War: New Versions of Old Stories.

Praise

“Excellent guides at a reasonable price, written by experts on the battle.”—James Durney, Suncoast Civil War Society Newsletter

“A refreshing and original study of America’s bloodiest day that is free of the clichés found in some previous works on this subject. Using original sources and consulting the latest scholarship on Antietam, Rafuse has written a superb battle and campaign study.”—Ted Alexander, chief historian of Antietam National Battlefield

“Insightful and informed, written in a graceful style, with excellent maps, Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide will be an invaluable resource for the Civil War aficionado, as well as the casual visitor to the battlefield.”—Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service

“Teems with incisive narratives, telling vignettes, and astute analysis. First-time visitors and seasoned students of the Civil War alike can learn much by consulting this work before, during, and after they tour the site of the costliest single day in American military history.”—Carol Reardon, professor of military history at Pennsylvania State University

Congrats, Ethan.  I’m just tickled as hell to see this.  Now for a quick trip downstairs to the Army War College book store to get them to order a few dozen copies!

. . . is now available for purchase wherever fine history books are sold. Here is the description:

The generalship of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy’s greatest commander, has long fascinated students of the American Civil War. In assessing Lee and his military career, historians have faced the great challenge of explaining how a man who achieved extraordinary battlefield success in 1862-63 ended up surrendering his army and accepting the defeat of his cause in 1865. How, in just under two years, could Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Confederacy have gone from soaring triumph at Chancellorsville to total defeat at Appomattox Court House?

In this reexamination of the last two years of Lee’s storied military career, Ethan S. Rafuse offers a clear, informative, and insightful account of Lee’s ultimately unsuccessful struggle to defend the Confederacy against a relentless and determined foe. Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy describes the great campaigns that shaped the course of this crucial period in American history, the challenges Lee faced in each battle, and the dramatic events that determined the war’s outcome.

In addition to providing readable and richly detailed narratives of such campaigns as Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Spotsylvania, and Appomattox, Rafuse offers compelling analysis of Lee’s performance as a commander and of the strategic and operational contexts that influenced the course of the war. He superbly describes and explains the factors that shaped Union and Confederate strategy, how both sides approached the war in Virginia from an operational standpoint, differences in the two sides’ respective military capabilities, and how these forces shaped the course and outcome of events on the battlefield.

Rich in insights and analysis, this book provides a full, balanced, and cogent account of how even the best efforts of one of history’s great commanders could not prevent the total defeat of his army and its cause. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in the career of Robert E. Lee and the military history of the Civil War.

Now I am sure some of you are saying: “I have an interest in the career of Robert E. Lee and the military history of the Civil War. But why should I get a copy of this instead of, say, saving up for the admission fee to Gettysburg?” Well, word on the street is:

“Controversial and compelling from first page to last, Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy achieves a trifecta. It affirms Lee’s stature as a perceptive strategist who understood Confederate independence could only be achieved by breaking the Union’s will in battle. It demonstrates the Army of the Potomac as a fighting force and its successive generals as competent commanders and it establishes Rafuse in the front rank of a new generation of scholars applying fresh perspectives to the Civil War.”—Dennis Showalter, Colorado College

“Combining lucid writing, judicious analysis, and refreshing common sense, this new study of Robert E. Lee’s generalship shows once again why Ethan S. Rafuse is one of the finest Civil War military historians at work today.” – Mark Grimsley, The Ohio State University; author of And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May-June 1864

What are you waiting for?!? Get clicking here or here to order your copy . . . today!

My contributor’s copy of the long awaited Grant’s Lieutenants: From Chattanooga to Appomattox arrived yesterday. (How long-awaited? Three of the essays were presented as a panel at the Society for Military History’s 2000 Annual Meeting and one served as my job talk at West Point in 2001.) I see it is already ranked 40,268 on Amazon, which is no doubt attributable largely to the blurbing power of Brooks Simpson.

Here is the list of contributors and subjects:
Steven E. Woodworth, Editor and George Thomas
John F. Marszalek, William Sherman
Mark Grimsley, Benjamin Butler
Ethan S. Rafuse, George Meade
Benjamin F. Cooling, David Hunter, Lew Wallace, and Horatio Wright
Earl J. Hess, Franz Sigel
Steven Nash, Phil Sheridan
William Feis, Edward Ord
Mark Grimsley, Henry Halleck

In line with the mission of this blog to give us an opportunity to blow our own horn when the chance arises (or “sell our children”, but in this case no money is involved), I call readers’ attention to the just-published July 2007 issue of The Journal of Military History, which contains my essay “Still a Mystery? General Grant and the Historians, 1981-2006”. The abstract reads:

In 1879 General William T. Sherman remarked that, although he had known Ulysses S. Grant for years, “to me he is a mystery, and I believe he is a mystery to himself.” Over the last quarter-century many authors have claimed to have solved or at least shed fresh light on the mystery of Grant. For the most part, these works have portrayed Grant as a great general and good man, dissenting strongly with the highly negative portrayal of Grant contained in William S. McFeely’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning study. This essay traces the evolution of Grant scholarship since 1981 and suggests possible lines of inquiry for future Grant scholars.

Needless to say, I am interested in hearing from those who get a chance to check out the full essay and find my observations worthy of comment or critique—especially regarding works published in, say, 1991 or 2000.

Brooks, Steve, and I edit a battlefield guide series for Bison Books, an imprint of University of Nebraska Press. The first two books in the series, on Chickamauga/Chattanooga and Gettysburg, came out in 1999, and have since been joined by guides on Shiloh (2006), and Wilson’s Creek/Pea Ridge/Prairie Grove (2007). Here’s the latest to appear:

The Peninsula and Seven Days
A Battlefield Guide

By Brian K. Burton

View the Table of Contents and read an excerpt

“[The Peninsula and Seven Days], which uses the battlefield itself as a tool for analyzing what took place there, will be of great value to those seeking to understand this pivotal epoch of the war.”—Steven E. Woodworth, author of Shiloh: A Battlefield Guide

Often cited as one of the most decisive campaigns in military history, the Seven Days Battles were the first campaign in which Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia — as well as the first in which Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson worked together. In this guidebook, the acknowledged expert on the Seven Days Battles conducts readers, tourists, and armchair travelers through the history and terrain of this pivotal series of Civil War battles.

Maps and descriptive overviews of the battles guide readers to key locales and evoke a sense of what participants on either side saw in 1862. From the beginning of George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, which culminated in the Seven Days, to the bloody battles that saved the Confederate capital from capture, this guide unfolds the strategies, routes, and key engagements of this critical campaign, offering today’s visitors and Civil War enthusiasts the clearest picture yet of what happened during the Seven Days.

Brian K. Burton is a professor of management, associate dean of the College of Business and Economics, and MBA program director at Western Washington University. He is the author of Extraordinary Circumstances: The Seven Days Battles.

The guide retails for $21.95 but is available at Amazon.com for $14.93, a savings of 32 percent.

Here’s the latest addition to the battlefield guide series edited by Brooks, Steve, and myself:

Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove
A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road

By Earl J. Hess, Richard W. Hatcher III, William Garrett Piston, and William L. Shea

From the This Hallowed Ground series

“This is the only practical guide to three of the most important Civil War battle sites west of the Mississippi River. Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove will, therefore, fill an embarrassing void in our practical knowledge of the war, provide a better understanding of the three battles, enhance our ability to analyze early military strategy in the West, and promote a deeper appreciation of the trans-Mississsippi war.”—Daniel E. Sutherland, author of Seasons of War: The Ordeal of a Confederate Community, 1861–1865

Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove were three of the most important battles fought west of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. They influenced the course of the first half of the war in that region by shaping Union military efforts while significantly contributing to Confederate defeat. Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove, the first book to provide a detailed guide to these battlefields, takes the visitor step-by-step through the major sites of each engagement. With numerous maps and illustrations that enhance the authors’ descriptions of what happened at each stop, the book also includes analytical accounts explaining tactical problems associated with each battle as well as vignettes evoking for readers the personal experience of those who fought there.

An indispensable companion for the battlefield visitor, this guide offers not only touring information and driving tours of sites associated with the campaigns that led to the battles, but also a brief history of each battle and an overview of the larger strategy and tactics of the military action in which these battles figured.

Earl J. Hess is Stewart McClelland Chair of History at Lincoln Memorial University and the author of eight books, including (with William L. Shea) Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West.

William L. Shea is a professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and the author of several books.

Coauthors of Wilson’s Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It, Richard W. Hatcher III is a historian at Fort Sumter National Monument and William Garrett Piston is a professor of history at Missouri State University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yk4YZFAlCQ

It takes all kinds. 

If you decide to sell your books at meetings of CivilWar Round Tables, pick CWRTs that meet at posh country clubs.

At least, that was my experience at last evening’s appearance at the Outer Banks CWRT.

In all seriousness, my hosts were very gracious, and I had a terrific time.

Off in a few minutes to begin a two-day drive to the North Carolina Outer Banks.  I’m going mainly to visit friends, but I’ve also been asked to speak at the Outer Banks Civil War Round Table.  That’ll be Tuesday night.  Per the CWRT’s request, I’ll be giving an overview of the Virginia campaign of May-June 1864; i.e., the Overland Campaign plus the various subsidiary operations, especially Bermuda Hundred.  Which will give me a chance to talk a bit about the Grant-Butler relationship.  Oh, and maybe sell a few copies of And Keep Moving On.