Emerging Civil War Newsletter
Originally published September-October 2024 · pp. 38–41
From the Editor
From Little Round Top, the view across the Valley of Death toward Devil’s Den and the Wheatfield remains as splendid and sublime as ever: a one-time landscape of violence juxtaposed against a panorama of modern natural beauty. It’s a beautiful spot to watch a sunset. Of particular interest to my seven-year-old son, though, was the sprawling wetland that has now spilled across the valley floor. Once upon a time, Plum Run ran without incident through the bottom of the valley. During the battle of Gettysburg, the water ran red with soldiers’ blood, earning it the appropriately grim nickname “Bloody Run.” Today, folks call its waters “Lake Crawford”—at least informally. Lake Crawford gets its name from Federal Brig. Gen. Samuel Crawford, the Philadelphia surgeonturned-soldier whose statue stands near the north end of the wetland. A few years ago, a family of beavers moved in behind him, dammed up the run, and they have been living large ever since. The beavers have become controversial, and there’s tension between history-minded purists who want the landscape returned to its wartime appearance and natureminded folks who say the beavers have a right to be there. If I had to guess, I would suspect there are Federal wetland protections involved somehow, plus there’s just the general idea that we need to share the world with the furry and feathered creatures who were, after all, here first. When my son and I finished our walkabout on Little Round Top, he asked to visit the beaver pond. We drove down and parked, and we walked over to the pond’s edge. The muddy grass marking the former high-water mark was
Lake Crawford at Gettysburg National Military Park. Little Round Top is in the distance.
easy to see, but the week’s hot weather and lack of rain had dropped the water level. About twenty feet away, a family of mallards sat on a rock. A second family sat atop a second rock about twenty feet beyond. Five or six red-winged blackbirds skittered about from cattail to alder to shrub. Frogs croaked, and some kind of slimy brown thing surfaced in the water near shore before vanishing. It might have been a muskrat—or a small lake monster—but I saw no telltale V-shaped wake. “Where are the beavers?” my son asked. I pointed to the large green mound in the middle of the pond. “That’s the lodge, right there,” I told him. It had been there long enough that grass grew on its exterior, making it look more like a knoll than a pile of sticks. I pointed to the short mud dam the beavers had constructed downstream; there might be a stereotypical dam of sticks and twigs somewhere among the bushes, although I couldn’t see it from where we stood. It looked as though foot traffic had worn a path along the front edge of the dam, but I didn’t think we should go trekking through the wetlands. We had a lovely time admiring the beaver flowage and wondering about the secret life of beavers. Perhaps Lake Crawford is not part of the historical or cultural landscape of the Valley of Death, but it has imprinted itself indelibly as part of the sublime experience this battlefield has to offer. — Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War
ECW Welcomes Joshua Frye
In May, Emerging Civil War (ECW) was pleased to welcome Joshua Frye as the organization’s new Executive Administrator. As the Executive Administrator for ECW, Josh will aid in many different areas of the organization’s day-to-day operations. “Bringing on Josh, who is an ‘emerging voice’ in the field, is a big step for us, but a natural, necessary part of our evolution and growth,” said ECW Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski. “Most of our historians get involved with ECW because they love history, not because they have backgrounds in administration. Josh’s involvement will allow our contributors to focus more on the history they love, knowing they now have a strong presence tending the organization’s infrastructure.” Josh brings an extensive background in the field of historical film production. His main areas of historical interest are the American Civil War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812. As the owner of Foxhole Film Productions, Josh has worked extensively in the film industry with companies such as The Hallmark Channel, Lionsgate Films, and the Smithsonian Channel. “Working with Emerging Civil War is a dream come true,” Josh said. “To have the opportunity to work with my personal favorite historians and individuals that I have looked up to for so long is the opportunity of a lifetime. I have been a huge fan of the organization and its purpose since it was first founded, and I am grateful and eager to offer my services and learn from the best history professionals in the field.” In addition to his duties and responsibilities with ECW, Josh also operates a YouTube Channel, History Savior 1941,
where he travels the country to historic sites and battlefields to help educate the general public on a wide array of historical topics, including Civil War and Revolutionary War battles. Josh is also working on his first book, which focuses on the history of Native American involvement in the Civil War. He currently resides on the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation, fifty miles north of Mobile, Ala.
ECW Celebrates Little Round Top Reopening
In June, ECW congratulated the rehabilitation and restoration team at Gettysburg National Military Park for their successful completion of work atop Little Round Top! After a two-year project, LRT reopened to the public on Monday, June 24. The restored landscape looks fantastic. The rehabilitation project was made possible by major funding from the American Battlefield Trust, the Gettysburg Foundation, and the National Parks Foundation.
News & Notes
The semester closed out for Neil P. Chatelain down in Texas. He had a break of a couple of weeks before summer classes began. Civil War related, on April 27 he spoke at the Baton Rouge Civil War Symposium about the Mississippi River as an independent actor and the river’s annual freshet impacting 1862 riverine campaigning. Neil spent the last part of May touring Miami, Key West, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. His highlight would have to be visiting Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas National Park. He was also recently interviewed on the American History Gazette podcast and had an article published in the latest issue of North & South Magazine about his latest book, Treasure and Empire in the Civil War.
Neil P. Chatelain visiting Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas National Park. He is standing in front of a U.S. 15-inch Rodman cannon.
Kris White snapped this photo (top) during rededication ceremonies on Little Round Top in June.
Chris Mackowski’s photo gives a before and after view of renovations on Little Round Top.
Bert Dunkerly is currently hard at work on his next book project, about Antietam. He and Patrick Schroeder are also editing Chris Calkins’ Final Bivouac for reprint by Savas Beatie next year. He also did a book tour through New Jersey for his “Unhappy Catastrophes” book, with stops in Trenton, Princeton, Perth Amboy, Morristown, and Plainfield. He managed to avoid left turns the entire time. Phill Greenwalt and Pat Kelly-Fischer met up in Denver to discuss the war’s most impactful campaign. Chris Kolakowski had an article appear in the latest issue of the Air Force Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs. Dwight Hughes visited the Montgomery County (Maryland) Civil War Round Table to present on “The Naval Civil War in Theaters Near and Far.” History is not dead; we are history. Dwight also spoke to the Western North Carolina CWRT in Cullowhee, NC, and to the North American Society for Oceanic History Annual Conference, Ontario, both on “The Sailor and the Soldier at Vicksburg: Unprecedented Joint Operations.” From Chris Mackowski: “I’ve been hard at work on a hardcover book about the battle of Spotsylvania. It’s in, at 117,000 words. To paraphrase one of the soldiers at the May 12 fight at the battle of the Bloody Angle, finishing the book was clearly a matter of bravery and endurance!” The book, A Tempest of Iron and Lead: Spotsylvania Court House, May 8–21, 1864, will be available later this year from Savas Beatie. “I hit the Spotsy battlefield in early May with the Harrisburg
and Hershey Civil War Roundtables. I also spoke this month at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg, PA, to the State College (PA) Civil War Roundtable; the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable in Manassas, VA; the Southern Maryland Civil War Roundtable in Newburg, MD; and the Hampton Roads Civil War Roundtable in Virginia Beach. My talks focused on the 160th anniversary of the Overland Campaign and my Emerging Civil War books Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (with Kris White), and Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River.” In May, Evan Portman graduated from Duquesne University with a master of arts in history. On June 17, he spoke to the Greater Pittsburgh Civil War Roundtable about The Seven Days Battles. In June, Evan also traveled to Valley Forge National Historical Park to help with an American Battlefield Trust Generations Event. Stacy Allen, chief ranger/historian at Shiloh National Military Park, wrote a wonderful review of The Civil War on the Water, co-edited by Dwight Hughes and Chris Mackowski, for LSU Press’s Civil War Book Review. Allen shared tales from his own deep trove of experiences which also helped illustrate a number of points from the book. “With The Civil War on the Water the editors of the Emerging Civil War’s 10th Anniversary Series have once again compiled a fine collection of relevant collaborative public history,” Allen wrote. “This compilation of nearly four dozen, fascinatingly fresh essays, many mere pages in
length, are authored by a distinguished group of eighteen public historians. . . . The book is an enjoyable, educating read, which should interest anyone seeking greater understanding into this unique and pivotal period in the American experience.” You can read the full review on Emerging Civil War’s website. Jon-Erik Gilot has been busy preparing a slate of speakers for next year’s 2nd Saturday Civil War Lecture Series at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie, PA. Ticket sales will open later this summer for their April 11-12, 2025 symposium, featuring an outstanding lineup of eight historians, raffles, book sales, and tours of the Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post. More information is available on their website at carnegiecarnegie. org. June turned out to be quite a busy month for Tim Talbott. He attended a fantastic Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College (June 7-11) and the Society for Civil War Historians biennial conference in Raleigh, NC (June 21-22). He also guest-hosted an episode of “The Road to Now” podcast with Dr. Ben Sawyer by interviewing Dr. Robert K.D. Colby about his fantastic and recently released book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South. He will be ending the month by leading a “Summer Sunset Tour” (June 29 at 6 p.m.) of the Battle of Jones Farm, which occurred on March 25, 1865. The tour is in conjunction with Petersburg National Battlefield and the Petersburg Battlefields Foundation.
Major General Wesley Merritt and staff. Graham (Spreadbury) is standing second from right. (Library of Congress)
ECW Bookshelf
Tonya McQuade hosted a Zoom Book Talk on May 30, where she discussed her new book, A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri. She also shared some photos and Missouri history as well as read excerpts from the letters and book. In June, we announced that the latest Emerging Civil War book, The War in the Western Theater, is now available! Often relegated to a backseat by action in the Eastern Theater, the Western Theater is actually where the Federal armies won the Civil War. In the West, Federal armies inexorably advanced, gobbling up huge swaths of territory in the face of ineffective Confederate opposition. By war’s end, General William T. Sherman had marched the “Western Theater” all the way into central North Carolina. War in the Western Theater: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War revisits some of the Civil War’s most legendary battlefields: Shiloh, Chickamauga, Franklin, the March to the Sea, and more. Co-edited by Chris Mackowski and Sarah Kay Bierle, War in the Western Theater is available from Savas Beatie.
You can listen for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or at https://emergingcivilwar.com/the-emerging-civil-warpodcast. You can also find video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube page. We also had a bonus video from Darren Rawlings, who visited Arthur Freemantle’s gravesite.
Shrouded Veterans
On May 13, 1907, Henry Finkelstein, a pawnbroker, offered Gov. Edward C. Stokes of New Jersey a presentation sword he discovered in the garret of his Trenton, New Jersey, pawnshop when he purchased the building it was located in. In a way, the tale of Judah’s presentation sword, left to languish in the attic of a pawnshop symbolized his legacy. Find out how Judah’s sword ended up in a pawnshop and more about the general in our monthly Emerging Civil War column here: https://emergingcivilwar.com/tag/shroudedveterans. In June, ECW featured the story of Captain Lorimer L. Graham, brevetted for gallant and meritorious service during both the Mexican and Civil Wars, who turned to crime during peacetime. This hero in war and swindler in peace died impoverished roughly four months before the outbreak of World War I in England. Find out more about Graham (Spreadbury) and his life in our monthly Emerging Civil War column here: https://emergingcivilwar.com/tag/ shrouded-veterans.
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Since 1978, we have collected or handled over 80 of the “Big Six” Confederate Notes to include nearly 10% of all known surviving Montgomery Notes.
War in the Western Theater: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War is now available!
ECW Multimedia
In May, Chris Mackowski discussed the Army of Northern Virginia’s B-Team on the Emerging Civil War podcast. He was also joined by Neil Chatelain to discuss his new book, Treasure and Empire in the Civil War. In June, on the Emerging Civil War Podcast, Chris Mackowski discussed counterfactual thinking with Dr. Joel Bennington and Dr. Doug Douds. He was also joined by David Powell to discuss the Atlanta campaign. Chris also welcomed Yael Sternhell to discuss her new book, War on Record. In addition, Mike Gorman from Richmond National Battlefield and JoAnna McDonald from Emerging Civil War, joined Chris to discuss leadership lessons Robert E. Lee learns (and doesn’t) from the hot mess of the Seven Days Battles in June–July 1862.
Greg Ton
901-487-5944 • gton1@aol.com • Franklin, TN
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Photographs from the Original Article
Captions and credits appear in the article text as originally printed.