The Great Hanging at Gainesville

Hanging of Union Men in Texas. Frank Leslie's Ilustrated Newspaper.
Prints and Photographs Collection 1993/202-5-4. 

Another fascinating post from the New York Times's Disunion blog (October 16, 2012). . .

On Oct. 12, a cold Sunday morning in Gainesville, the mob had enough of the deliberations inside and stormed the courtroom, demanding a list of the men on trial; the jury complied and handed over the names of 14 of them, chosen at random; all were hanged the next day, under the supervision of Young (coincidentally, three days later he was killed by bandits preying along the Red River).

The Civil War at the Huntington (through January 7)

The Huntington commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with a new exhibition centered solely on its Civil War imagery, complemented by a companion exhibition of manuscript material providing narrative context. Events, lectures, a special exhibition site, articles, audio, videos, and a Living History Day all contribute to The Civil War at The Huntington, a deeper look at the complicated war that took the lives of three quarters of a million people.  

Modoc War correction: not 3 generals' sons. Make that 2 generals' sons and a nephew

About two years ago, I posed a question about something that three Civil War generals had in common. Later, I answered that question with a post about the fourth battle of the 1873 Modoc War, a field preserved today at Lava Beds National Monument as the Thomas-Wright battlefield. In that legendary blog post, I asserted that the sons of three Civil War generals were killed on that battlefield. But Eric Johnson, author of the brand new book pictured at top, informed me that one of those three -- Albion Howe -- was, in fact, a nephew of the Civil War general Albion Parris Howe. I think he's right, and am happy to post a correction.

First installment of Hartwig's Antietam study released

I first heard that D. Scott Hartwig was working on a monumental campaign study of Antietam so many years ago, I had actually forgotten about the project, or assumed it had been abandoned. Not so! Volume one is now available from Johns Hopkins University Press, and sets the stage with an examination of McClellan's return to the Army of the Potomac, the capture of Harpers Ferry, and the all-day fight for control of the South Mountain passes. Can't wait to read this one. 

"Death and the Civil War" -- September 18th

Tomorrow evening, September 18, 2012, will see the debut of a new documentary, Death and the Civil War, an installment of PBS’s outstanding “American Experience” series. It is the work of filmmaker Ric Burns, brother of the more widely known documentarian, Ken Burns. Like many bloggers, I received an advance review copy of the documentary, and like them, I would encourage everyone to make time for this compelling production.

To get some sense of the subject matter, try a little exercise. Imagine if the United States today -– in a four-year period –- were to suffer the same percentage of deaths as the nation endured during the Civil War. In today’s terms, and based on a recently updated death toll from the war, the total deaths would number 7,000,000. Yes, seven million.

The program’s content sprung in large measure from the book, The Republic of Suffering, by Drew G. Faust, one of the most intriguing, scholarly releases in recent years. Fittingly, the film is being broadcast a day after the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Antietam, an epic clash of arms that still stands as the single most costly battle in American history.

The presentation will be familiar to everyone, colored as it is by camera and atmospheric effects that have become more or less an industry standard. As reviewer Megan Kate Nelson pointed out, Apple’s iMovie application actually features a “Ken Burns” button, allowing users to reproduce the effect of panning across or zooming in and out of a still image. Though some would say it's overused, it remains a mesmerizing technique, particularly with the masterful collection of images assembled for this work. 

The scope of the carnage at Antietam is difficult to appreciate from our distant vantage point, and the bucolic landscapes of that battlefield park today belie any tangible sense of the death and destruction visited upon the ground in 1862. But the dead at Antietam changed everything, beginning with the public exhibition of Alexander Gardner’s photographs in Mathew Brady’s New York City studio. Gardner’s graphic Antietam photographs, widely featured in Death and the Civil War, began to bring the war home. Speaking of the photo exhibition, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “The sight of these pictures is a commentary on civilization such as the savage might well triumph to show its missionaries.”

While Antietam can be said to be a microcosm of the war as a whole, this film ambitiously examines the effect on the nation of the exponentially larger casualties resulting from a four-year bloodbath. The United States was ill-equipped -– emotionally, and in terms of infrastructure or policy (even policies regarding such basic things as notifying the next of kin)  -– to handle casualties of such magnitude, and Ric Burns has given us a powerful look at how Americans of all stripes coped with widespread mortality.
 
Burns opens the film with a heart-wrenching, blood-splattered letter from a Mississippi soldier who was mortally wounded at Spotsylvania Court House – a boy writing a final farewell to his father. History is especially gripping when told through the words of those who lived it, and this boy’s letter memorably sets a somber tone for a film exploring how the nation – the government itself, and the citizenry, wholly unprepared -- was transformed by loss of life on a scale previously unimagined.

A preview and other information can be seen here. 

A crossroads near the farm of Charles Monroe, deep in the heart of Fort Bragg

Last March, a number of regulars from the CompuServe Civil War Forum made a visit to the North Carolina battlefield of Monroe's Crossroads for a tour with historian Mark Bradley (who also conducted a tour of Bentonville the following day). Access to Monroe's Crossroads is complicated by the fact that it is situated deep inside the grounds of Fort Bragg, and subject to overshot from live fire ranges. Each of these photos needed to be reviewed and approved by the U.S. army before permission was given to post them on my blog, and at the Forum website.

Mark Bradley secured permission for our bus, and enlisted Charles Heath, an archaeologist with Fort Bragg's Cultural Resources Program, to escort us and aid in interpretation of the site. From a preservation standpoint—because of its location—Monroe's Crossroad's remains more or less unchanged from its 1865 condition. It is the final resting place for cavalrymen on both sides of the fight.

For quick reference, there is a compact narrative of events and archaeological report, along with excellent maps, online here. For in-depth reading, you can do no better than Eric Wittenberg's, The Battle of Monroe's Crossroads and the Civil War's Final Campaign, and Mark Bradley's, The Battle of Bentonville, Last Stand in the Carolinas (which treats Averasboro and Monroe's Crossroads in good detail).

Mark Bradley, right, gives us our bearings.

Charles Heath and Mark Bradley

Broderick-Terry duel, 1859

The last duel in San Francisco occurred 153-years-ago today, when anti-slavery Senator David C. Broderick squared off with former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, pro-slavery firebrand David S. Terry, along the shoreline of Lake Merritt. Broderick became the first sitting senator to die in a duel.

There’s a great article with some cool illustrations on the Anchor Steam blog today. I wrote about it in a blog entry three years ago (read that here). The Broderick-Terry duel occurred a full month before John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and illustrates the trans-continental nature of what William Henry Seward in 1858 called the "irrepressible conflict."

Does the governor of New Mexico hate The Boy General?

Col. George Armstrong Custer (Courtesy Wikipedia.org); Pat Rogers, Republican National Committee leader (Courtesy Modrall.com); Gov. Susana Martinez, R-N.M. (Courtesy governor.state.nm.us)

It's almost too bizarre for words. Pat Rogers, a leader in the Republican National Committee, complained to the staff of the governor of New Mexico that by meeting with representatives of some Native American tribes (she is required by law to attend the annual state-tribal leaders summit), the governor has "dishonored Col. Custer."

Read all about it.

BBC America's, "Copper" series

From a New York Times review:

"Ostensibly the new series is about a former boxer and Civil War veteran turned police detective, Kevin Corcoran (played by Tom Weston-Jones), an Irish immigrant who returns to the Five Points after serving in the Union Army’s 71st Regiment to find his daughter dead and his wife missing. New York is really the main character."

 I heard about this program at the last minute, after seeing mention of it on a Facebook history page, and tuned in just in time for the premier episode. I found it rather gripping, and the atmosphere of the lower Manhattan, 1863 ghetto to be powerfully presented. It's a dark and dreary place, with a frontier feel, as suffocating, dim, and polluted as Ridley Scott's magnificent portrayal of a futuristic Los Angeles in Blade Runner. And so far, so good on the acting and writing. I hereby declare Copper to be "very promising."

WKUK: The American Civil War on Drugs

Taken from season 5 of The Whitest Kids U' Know, a full movie
is constructed about the American Civil War on Drugs.

The westernmost casualties of Vicksburg?

Downieville is one of the best preserved of the enduring California Gold Rush towns, and one of the northernmost of the Mother Lode mining camps, situated on Highway 49 at the confluence of the Downie River and north fork of the Yuba River. It is the seat of Sierra County, and was named for Major William Downie, a Scotsman who was the town's first mayor (a historic marker in town claims that Downie promised to throw a bag of gold dust into the street if they would name the town for him).

Upper Sardine Lake, and Sierra Buttes
(photo Aug. 5, 2012, by DW)

My first Sierra camping trip was on the North Yuba, just south of Downieville, and for the first time in many, many years I returned to the area last weekend for a brief visit. Nearby Sardine Lakes and the Sierra Buttes are even more beautiful than I remembered.
I had forgotten about "Cannon Point," however, a memorial to Company K of the Sixth California Infantry (National Guard), formed in 1863 and headquartered in Downieville. Last Sunday I made a point to photograph the spot.

This cannon arrived in Downieville on July 1, 1862 (the same day as the culminating battle of the Seven Days Campaign, at Malvern Hill outside of Richmond), purchased by a Downieville surgeon. The 12-pounder was hauled out for ceremonial occasions, and sadly was the source of some casualties among the Sixth. A "premature discharge" (already you're wincing) killed two men in May of 1863. I've read at least two sources now (no doubt one copying the other) which have described the occasion of the accident as a celebration of the capture of Vicksburg, but the fact that it occurred on May 27, 1863, over a month before Vicksburg surrendered, indicates that someone published an error that has subsequently been perpetuated on the internet (and will continue to be until the end of time, or the end of electricity).

All sources I've encountered thus far, though, are in agreement that two men were killed. To wit, this source, quoting a newspaper account:

"By the premature discharge of a cannon fired in honor of the capture of Vicksburg, from the bluffs below town, Lieutenant M. M. Knox and Second Lieutenant William A. Donaldson were horribly mangled and killed. Knox was blown down the declivity two hundred feet, while Donaldson had his eyes blown out, his wrists torn off, and was otherwise mutilated.” 

 The account of the accident is related in, History of Plumas, Lassen and Sierra Counties, California, Fariss and Smith, 1882, page 461.

Boonsborough Museum of History

Ranger Mannie, on his blog, My Year of Living Rangerously, has posted an interesting photo gallery of some of the treasures in the local Boonsborough Museum of History, located a short distance from the Antietam National Battlefield.

The Confederate Invasion of Iowa

The "invasion"? Really? The text of a historical marker in Bloomfield, Iowa, just above the Missouri border, reads:

Site of the Confederate Invasion of Iowa, 12th Day of October, 1864. This monument marks the northern most point of incursion into Iowa by Confederate Forces. On October 12, 1864, Lieutenant James “Bill” Jackson led twelve heavily armed Missouri Partisan Rangers dressed in Union uniforms in a raid through Davis County, Iowa, resulting in the murder of three local citizens. • This Plaque Dedicated in 2005 • Davis County Civil War Guerrilla Raid Society.

An associated plaque, installed by the SCV, makes the claim that: "Confederate Partisan Rangers came from Missouri to this point, the Furthermost North of any Confederate Incursion During the Civil War."

The incomparable Historical Marker Database records the Bloomfield marker at 40° 44.5′ N. The good folks near Salineville, Ohio have a marker, too. And though it's only as far north as 40° 37.228′ N, they claim the northernmost distinction as well. The Ohio marker reads:

Here, on July 26, 1863 occurred the northernmost engagement of Confederate forces during the Civil War. In this immediate area, troops under Major General John H. Morgan, C.S.A., and General James Shackelford, U.S.A., met in full engagement. After evading Union troops, Morgan’s forces were re-formed at Norristown, from whence they proceeded to West Point, where Morgan surrendered his command.

I think you have to give the nod to Salineville, since Morgan's Raiders were full-fledged CSA units detached from a Confederate army before making their monumental raid. The Iowa incursion, by contrast, sounds more like a gang, even resorting to the use of disguise. We won't even entertain notions about the St. Albans, Vermont raid (bank robbers!), or naval actions.

McPherson on The Rock

I borrowed this from the Alacatraz Facebook page (yes, of course they have a Facebook page). Here's a letter from James McPherson -- a great favorite of Grant and Sherman -- six years before his death, while commanding the Army of the Tennessee, at the July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta.

____________________

On December 31, 1857 James Birdseye McPherson was put in charge of the fortifications on Alcatraz. At the end of his first month he wrote to a friend in Wilmngton, Delaware, describing his lonely assignment:

Alcatraces Island
San Francisco Harbor Cal.
Feby 4th 1858

My dear "Major,"

Perched upon. a little rock Island the summit of which is One hundred and forty feet above the water and while watching the sun as he dips into the broad Pacific, or listening to the never ceasing roar of the breakers dashing against the rocks, I often think of my position one year ago, and instinctively draw a comparison between it and my present one--Candor compels me to state that in everything appertaining to the social amenities of life the "Pea Patch" (Fort Delaware) is preferable to "Alcatraz" and were it not, that being here in charge of this work is very gratifying to my professional pride I should regret the change deeply, as it is all my pride is scarcely sufficient at ties to keep my spirits up--though I am determined to make the best of the matter, looking forward joyfully to the time when I can return to the Atlantic States.

I have made but few acquaintances as yet in San Francisco, though I go over every Saturday evening and remain until Monday morning, and frequently at other times during the week when I get tired of playing the hermit--Fate or circumstances, or perhaps both combined have arranged it so that I am doomed to live on Islands, and though it may sound very poetical in the distance to speak of the "Gems of the Pacific" and all this manner of thing, I have not attained that sublime height of sentimentality, which places me above the practical unromantic incidents of every day life, and consequently hear something besides music in the deep sea's roar, especially as I get a good wetting about every third tie I go over to Town--San Francisco beats all the cities I have ever been in, in the way of Drinking Saloons, Billiard Tables, Cigar Stores and idle men "loafers" genteelly dressed, and if you happen accidentally (sic) to make the acquaintance of one of them, before you are aware of it, you will be introduced to any number more--for they have the greatest way of introducing folks I have ever seen-- I often congratulate myself when I am in Town, that I have a place to flee to, where the air is pure and where I can avoid meeting people whom I do not care to know-- for the more of them you know the worse you are off . . . .

Antietam from an Oktokopter

. . . found at Brooks Simpson's Crossroads blog: This video of Antietam National Battlefield was acquired on July 5th, 2012 using an Oktokopter XL and dual GoPro cameras (click on the image to go to the video). 

Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield

A very worthwhile organization. I attended the annual meeting last month at the battlefield, and the highlight of my trip was the Friends-sponsored walk down Deep Ravine Trail with Dr. Richard Fox. Please consider supporting them -- they're making a tangible difference at an understaffed, and underfunded national monument.

Little Bighorn Battlefield, 136th anniversary

Some select photos from my recent Montana trip. These, and quite a few others (46 total) can be viewed here.

Looking down to the scene of the valley fight from Reno hill.

Water Carrier's Ravine, Reno-Benteen Defense Site, where so many earned the Medal of Honor.

Weir Point -- Last Stand Hill is at the right edge of the trees on the horizon (trees in the Nat'l Cemetery and aound the Visitor's Center)

Look west from Weir Point toward the river, and village site.

Mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee

Where Lieutenants Calhoun, front, and Crittenden fell.

Keogh Sector. Keogh fell where the cluster of markers is on the far right.

Last Stand Hill

At sunrise on the 136th anniversary.

Spirit Warriors Sculpture, Indian Memorial

Dr. Richard Fox leading a walk down Deep Ravine Trail.

Author signing: Left to right, Jeff Barnes, Paul Hedren, Neil Mangum, Richard Fox.

Many red granite warrior markers now grace the field.

Hey, it's the Georgia flag. From about 10 years ago. Hardin Reenactment.

Real Bird reenactment at near Medicine Tail Ford, Crow Reservation.

Real Bird reenactment.

Real Bird reenactment.