Monthly Archives: June 2023
Myth America
This book, edited by Professors Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer, contains twenty essays by leading scholars, each taking on myths about American history. They write in the Introduction, “Crises never have a single cause, but in this instance a good deal of blame can be attributed to the political campaigns and presidency of Donald Trump. […]
Black Soldiers in Blue
Professor John David Smith edited this collection of fourteen essays discussing African American soldiers in United States service in the Civil War. He begins his Introduction telling us, “African Americans of the Civil War era understood what historians understand now–that emancipation and the use of blacks as armed soldiers were defining moments in the history […]
African Americans in Hampton Roads, Virginia
In this presentation from Virginia Tech’s Civil War Weekend, Professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander of Norfolk State University discusses the role African Americans played in Hampton Roads, VA. The video’s description reads, “Norfolk State University professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander talked about African Americans in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia during the Civil War. She described how escaped slaves found refuge and […]
John Breckinridge’s Escape to Cuba
Here’s William C. “Jack” Davis giving an excellent talk on John C. Breckinridge’s journey after the Civil War to Cuba and then on to Canada. The video’s description reads, “Historian William ‘Jack’ Davis talked about former Vice President and later Confederate General John Breckinridge’s escape to Cuba after the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865. […]
While Cannons Roared
This book by John M. Taylor consists of twenty-one essays Mr. Taylor wrote, fifteen of which were published in various historical magazines, most of them being published in Civil War Times. The essays were written from 1978 through 1997. The essays don’t plow any new ground, nor do they provide any new insights into known […]
How a Grad Student Uncovered the Largest Known Slave Auction in the U.S.
I found this article about a grad student who made an important discovery in the history of slavery and of the United States. “Lauren Davila scoured digitized old newspapers for slave auction ads. A graduate history student at the College of Charleston, she logged them on a spreadsheet for an internship assignment. It was often […]
Testament
This book by Benson Bobrick tells the story of Benjamin Baker of the 25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The first two chapters introduce us to Baker and give a short synopsis of the events that led to the outbreak of the Civil War. The anchor of the book consists of the letters Baker, who fought in […]
A Diary of Battle
This book contains the personal journals of Colonel Charles Shiels Wainwright. Commissioned as a major of the First New York Artillery on October 17, 1861, Wainwright had been in charge of a New York militia artillery battery before the Civil War and became Chief of Artillery for Joseph Hooker’s division on January 25, 1862. When […]
Student of the American Civil War 
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