Scarlett O’Hara in scrubs…
Confederate Circular asking Southern women to grow poppies for morphine (National Archives) The Faust book is a godsend for my students-they just don’t know it yet. Every year each students pick a...
View ArticleSoldier’s Letters
Every time I listen to a lecture, attend a conference, find new material and new ways of thinking about the Civil War I have to rethink how I teach it. I only have two weeks, maybe three at the most...
View ArticleTeaching the Underground Railroad
When I first started teaching US history six years ago, the questions I always got when I started teaching the Underground railroad were the following: So is the Underground Railroad really a railroad?...
View Article“A strange little document…”
Transcription: This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as...
View ArticleValley of the Shadow
The archives on this sight are unbelievable. My favorite part is the animated battlefield. I was amazed at the number of battles some of these units were involved with like the First Virginia Cavalry...
View ArticleAnother Father and Son, July 6th, 1863 or; 19 year-old sons
Charles Douglass 1864 – F Company, 54th Massachusetts – recruited by his father So sad listening again to the Gettysburg story of Sam Wilkeson writing beside the body of his 19 year-old son. Another 19...
View ArticleMen in Black
No, not Tommy Lee Jones and Johnny Cash. The Bureau of Military Information, the BMI! I am intrigued by them. Did not know anything about these sharp (no pun intended) men who were gathering intel...
View ArticleAbraham Galloway; Slave, Bricklayer, Fugitive, Abolitionist, Spy,…
…(aka BMI-ster), Guide, Recruiter, Organizer, Political Activist, Firebrand, Military Leader, Crusader for Women’s Rights, Senator… and dead before the age of 34. Now that is a life! Abraham Galloway...
View ArticleA necessary journey south
Yesterday, I had to take a necessary journey from Michigan to my 95 year old Mom’s home in Richmond , Virginia. I lamented that I was unable to hear yesterday’s lecture and attend yesterday’s on line...
View ArticleNewspapers and the Civil War
I wonder how dreadful it must have been for Sam Wilkerson to write his story while sitting next to his dead son. Here was a journalist communicating with the most powerful medium available at the time....
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