Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War

Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War http://www.18thmass.com/blog/ Blogging the Civil War en-us Nucleus CMS v3.32 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.18thmass.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War http://www.18thmass.com/blog/ Happy Birthday! http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=399

Happy Fourth of July, America!

National Parks Service photo

]]> News http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=399 Fri, 4 Jul 2008 04:01:00 -0400 Thoughts On "The High Water Mark" http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=401 Having spent July 2nd at Gettysburg, my thoughts have been consumed by the battle that took place there 145 years ago. I’m not going out on a limb, but some who read this are going to cry sacrilege and probably condemn me to hell. After all, Gettysburg is the holiest of holy Civil War shrines. Please understand, I do not intend any disrespect to the battlefield or the men who fought and who died there. Quite simply, though, I don’t buy into the theory that Gettysburg was the “High Water Mark,” nor do I believe “Pickett’s Charge” represented the Confederacy’s last gallant grasp at military victory.

I believe that the surrender of Vicksburg, announced on July 4, 1863, was probably more important in bringing the Union closer victory than Gettysburg. Vicksburg’s fall effectively cut the Confederacy in half and gave the Union an unimpeded water route from major midwestern cities to New Orleans. Too, the war didn’t end with Gettysburg. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia remained an effective fighting force in the East for well over a year following their retreat into Virginia.

To me the “High Water Mark” is represented by Grant’s strategy following the Wilderness Campaign. Rather than licking his wounds and turning back toward Washington, as previous Union commanders would have elected to do, Grant pushed on. He pushed on at a terrible cost in lives, but each thrust resulted in Lee himself repositioning his forces closer to Richmond, until both armies finally entrenched in front of Petersburg.

That Gettysburg was not the “High Water Mark” is also evident by social unrest and political events in the North that followed and continued unabated almost up to the 1864 Presidential election. Until Atlanta fell, Lincoln believed he stood a snowball’s chance in hell of being re-elected. Would McClellan have declared an armistice and entered into immediate peace negotiations with Jefferson Davis? That’s debatable, but not likely at the outset of his term in office. McClellan, while not invested in emancipation, was supremely loyal to his country and the men who had served under him. As unlikely is the possibility that Davis would have settled for anything less than complete independence for the South.

There’s no doubt as to Gettysburg’s place in our history. The veterans who oversaw the placement of their monuments recognized its significance shortly after the conclusion of the fighting. We, who have had the honor of making the pilgrimage over the past 145 years, are the generations for who the monuments were intended. But the war went on and on and on. Gettysburg, in so many respects, makes the vast majority of Americans lose sight of that fact.
]]> Random Thoughts http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=401 Fri, 4 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0400 Charlestonians in War: The Charleston Battalion http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=397

This is also from W. Chris Phelps, author of the previously mentioned, The Bombardment of Charleston .

In this book, takes a look at one of the many groups formed during the war with men from Charleston. This one would be named The Charleston Battalion and would fight in Virginia, North Carolina and the Charleston Area.

Where one of my big issues was the length of the previous book, this one is twice as big. It is important to note that the last 100 pages are various appendixes. Even so, they seem to be “meaty” ones, with pictures and detailed information, along with the ever needed regimental roster.
I am slightly concerned at where the tone of the book is leading. From the inside flap, “They served with distinction in several campaigns in Virginia and North Carolina and defended their hometown against Union invaders.” It may be just me but the comment seems to scream of The Lost Cause.

One other interesting thing (probably only to me) is the cover. On Amazon (where I got the picture above) it shows in blue, a good Union color. The book I bought, the color is acutally gray. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Charlestonians in War: The Charleston Battalion
W. Chris Phelps
Pelican
Purchased Copy
]]> Book Review http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=397 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:58:00 -0400 Books, Books and more books http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=394
This past week at Sam’s Club, I picked up two books on Charleston and the Civil War. My wife, who thoroughly understands my obsession, went on to remind me (very déjà vuish of what a friend did not too long ago) “You know the war is over, right?”

I’ve got a long list of books that I hope to talk about over the next week or so. No deep reviews, just first impressions, maybe how I like it so far and why I got them.

Maybe this will work out and you will just happen to find a book that you too would like to read
]]> Books and Publications http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=394 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:45:00 -0400 The Bombardment of Charleston: 1863- 1865 http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=395
At a mere $9.62 at Sam’s Club, I figured I could take the plunge, even if it was the wrong book.

The book is not massive, just 152 pages without notes but so far it has been interesting. Flipping through the book I came to a picture of a house I immediately recognized, so perhaps my initial “glee” is like that of a fan of a rock star at a concert when his town is mentioned, “Good Evening Savannah, I mean Charleston.” But the pictures are important, they underline what the city went through and also shows how even as historic as Charleston prides itself in being, it has changed over the years.

Although the pictures are good, the same cannot be said of the maps, which seem very mundane.

With ten years since its first publication, I also have to wonder, what more could be out there for future editions. Although I have not read the full book, there just seems that there has to be more to the story. Perhaps I am looking for something more personal though? I’ll let you know when I am done with the book.

The Bombardment of Charleston1863- 1865
W. Chris Phelps
Pelican
Purchased Copy
]]> Book Review http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=395 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:30:00 -0400 It's only two days away.... http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=392 state/community is doing?

]]> General http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=392 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:37:00 -0400 A new to me blog http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=391
Today, I found a rather neat blog that I was very impressed with and wanted to highlight, Student of the Civil War by the almost one namer Josh M. from Rutgers University.

Often when a new blog comes around, I tend not be too impressed. No, I am not a Blog Snob, just that most go through some growing pains before they hit their stride. Unfortunately just as they hit said stride, they tend to disappear off of the blogosphere.

Josh has already had a blog and found he needed a separate one just for his Civil War thoughts. This helps tremendously in the fact that he has already hit his stride. In this blog he uses “YouTube” to its finest and gives a “fresh” approach to the Civil War.

I spent a good part of an hour watching the clips he has culled from throughout the web. Do yourself a favor and head over there right now and take a look. Make sure you watch the ones on SCVers down in Florida and their ridiculous stand on showing the Confederate Battle Flag and Stephen Colbert’s Word of the Day clips.

Since I’ve been gone for so long, this site might have been highlighted by many sites already, if so, take this as a reminder to go check it out!

]]> Random Thoughts http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=391 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:30:00 -0400 Goodbye to a very old friend http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=390
One of the things Donald and I have a very hard time in doing is self promotion. You wouldn’t know it by our subliminal advertising for The Civil War Research Guide (still the best guide ever written) but it’s true.

I once chastised Donald for commenting on other blogs without mentioning our blog. In classic Tom style, I proceeded to do the exact same thing. We could be doing a bunch of stuff that would make the site more known in the blogosphere but I tend to be too lazy. So instead we have relied heavily on the fine folks at CWI to do it for us.

I’ll be honest that there were several times that I would eagerly await their weekly review. When they were kind enough to review us in a North and South article on Civil War blogs, I was on cloud nine – we had taken our slightly (maybe more than slightly) skewed look at the war and made it to the big time. Of course sometimes we didn’t agree with what they thought of our world but they were always kind and pretty funny.

I will miss them greatly. I can only hope they will be able to find a way to restart the reviews at a later date.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all of the great work you did not just for Touch the Elbow but for the entire Civil War blogosphere.
]]> General http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=390 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:45:12 -0400 So Long, And Good Luck http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=389
I discovered the message from the Civil War Interactive Web site yesterday, which announced a decision had been made to put to rest their weekly summaries of Civil War related Blogs. I honestly didn’t know they had been at it for over twelve years and honestly didn’t know Blogs had been around for twelve years. By that measure Touch the Elbow came to the Blogosphere fairly late, in June of 2006, but we can’t claim we’ve been around for two years, because we had a five month hiatus, during which time we were dropped from the CWI Blog roles. Publish or perish. We did perish in July, resurfaced in January, and got back into the good graces of Laurie Chambliss, who wrote most of the reviews. Forgiveness and second chances are wonderful things.

I just want to thank Laurie and CWI for directing a wider audience to our little portal on the Web than we would have probably achieved on our own. Thanks to their efforts we can now count on two faithful readers, little Jimmy Quackenbros of Muscatine, Iowa, who, I remind you, reads very well for a seven-year-old, and Valerie P., who reminds me to repeat this mantra before I make any supposedly factual statements, “check your facts…check your facts…”

I recently lamented the need for a thirty-six hour day, so I sympathize with Laurie’s statement that the Blog roundup was eating up too many hours in the day, week, month, and year. I have to say though that I’m going to miss reading what she had to say on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, not only about Touch the Elbow, but other offerings from the Blog roll. I thought she was fairly objective and always tried to find something positive to write, sprinking each review with a dash of humor, although in some cases there’s nothing funning to say about dead people. I do have a suspicion that she hated a lot of my stuff, but, hey, I don’t have much of an ego left anymore and I figured I wasn’t writing the material for her personally.

So, whereas, CWI is closing up one part of their shop, Tom and I will continue on for the sake of little Jimmy Quackenbros of Muscatine, Iowa and to keep Valerie wondering why someone would buy a book they didn’t intend to read it. I’ll give her one hint. It’s called clumsy and it’s called accidentally spilling coffee on my latest commuter book this morning; the same commuter book recently autographed by its author Walter McDougall. And you want me to trust myself with a rare and expensive book? Not on my life you don’t.]]> Random Thoughts http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=389 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0400 The Flow Of An Idea From Mind To Book http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=388

Brooks, who cherishes Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” was intrigued by the idea that the book, which was set during the Civil War, made so little mention of the conflict. Aside from the first page, which mentions the father, Mr. March is at war as a chaplain, a later reference to the mother traveling to a Philadelphia Hospital to visit her ailing husband, and the father’s subsequent return home, there’s no exploration of his wartime experience. Brooks sought to delve into that possible experience, using Alcott’s own father Bronson as the model for her character. Bronson Alcott, according to the Brooks, was “the dark matter from which Emerson and Thoreau drew their energy.”

Like so many Northern idealists, Alcott became disillusioned by his war experience, much as Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr. In fact she opened her book by setting it at the battle of Balls Bluff, where Holmes was seriously wounded and because, as Brooks stated, it was the battle in which Massachusetts troops first “saw the elephant.” Idealism crumbling in the grind and reality of war and “the huge gulf of experience” that separates husbands and wives are voiced in the narratives of both Mr. and Mrs. March, particularly when hostilities cease and Mr. March returns home.

Brooks said that her favorite question about the book came from a Cambridge, Mass. reader, who quipped “I don’t get it. Are we supposed to like this guy?” Brooks answered, “It depends on where you stand on impracticable idealists.” “Idealists,” in Brooks opinion, “move our moral quest forward” even though they are not the easiest people to get along with. According to Brooks, who has been a war correspondent in Bosnia, Iraq, and Somalia, we’re “all subject to idealize military adventures, but horrified when our troops commit atrocities. " That is the question facing idealists like Mr. March, “How do you deal with your moral code when horrified?”

Brooks acknowledged that two Harrietts were influential in the writing of her book, Beecher-Stowe and Jacobs. Commenting on “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” she said “You think you know what’s in it until you read it.” Like Beecher-Stowe she tried to find a convincing voice for her 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and realized she needed to have two, husband and wife, to tell her story. Jacobs was a historical influence who helped her find an authentic voice for slaves.

McDougall’s "Throes of Democracy," a sequel to 2005's "Freedom Just Around the Corner," is an exploration of the American character between 1829 and 1877 and “the power of pretense to bond a sprawling people together.” What dawned on him from reading early European accounts of the American experience, such as de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," was “how pretentious Americans were.” He came to this opinion after approaching “an era of history he had never written about or previously studied.” The entire fifty year history examined in the book can be viewed as a romantic era, as evidenced by the arts, the writing, and the idealism of its young people. The era was “excessive,” everything taken to an extreme. Too, the politics of the Jacksonian era “were theatrical in many respects,” when slogans such as “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” ruled. Politics were, in the absence of organized sports, the national past time. Campaigning was built solely on posturing rather than given to debate on serious issues of the day. There was more focus on which party was most corrupt, or which presidential candidate was bravest in battle. Politics never involved the truth and voters cared less about truth. Truth was reserved for the circus and satire, where “inconvenient truths,” that politicians didn’t admit could stand the light of day.

According to McDougall American’s love history, but they are future oriented, not interested in the past, and have a tendency to throw away the past. Prior to the 1960’s the standard history in schools was an “exercise in flag waving.” Since then our history has become somewhat “hypercritical and might strike many as negative.” McDougall implied that in a sense its revisionist based on our modern concepts, in which we, as a people, wring our hands over every perceived indiscretion.

The idea for “This Republic of Suffering” drew inspiration from an earlier Gilpin Faust book “Mother's of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the Civil War.” That book was based on diaries and letters written to the Confederate government. What preoccupied the women was not war strategy, or the threat of emancipation. What they wrote about was death, the fear of death, the reality of death, and the cost of death to their society. Death was central in so many lives that Gilpin Faust concluded it transcended both the North and South.

With a death rate that claimed two per cent of the American population, equivalent to six million killed based on our current census, Gilpin Faust was quick to point out that collateral deaths, i.e. civilians and those killed in guerilla operations did not get figured into the estimates of those killed during four years of warfare. But the magnitude of the killing and deaths from disease raised numerous questions that she sought to answer in her book. Questions like how did the nation cope, how did people adapt to and understand the level of destruction, and as importantly, how does it impact and transform a nation? That, in turn, led to other questions such as the duty of the soldier, the meaning of loss, how to remember those who were lost, or how civilians dealt with their own bereavement.

Most historical change, according to Gilpin Faust, occurs over the course of decades or even centuries. The Civil War quickened the pace of those changes, including the assumption the national government bore responsibility and had an obligation to the dead. Following the war, the Federal government began a massive re-burial project of over 300,000 Union soldiers. But what was different about the new national cemeteries, that set them apart from Victorian prescriptions for park like settings in which to contemplate death, were the rigidly ordered placement of the headstones. Death in “a fundamental sense created the American nation by preserving it.”

Gilpin Faust related that her book responded to historical literature that we are all familiar with from an early age; the meaning of citizenship and liberty. We have “never really understood the price of war,” something we must do in order to understand when its "worth paying that price." Too often we are caught up in the immediacy and excitement without thinking about the consequences. Combatants on the other hand have always had to “grope with the realities of loss and commitment to a cause and hold that in balance that with their belief system. Society needs to contemplate what a war means and the price we pay when we make that decision. “Those who experienced war don’t let go of that experience.”
]]> Book Review http://www.18thmass.com/blog/index.php?itemid=388 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0400