Our first Memorial Day?

If you are looking for a nice article about our first Memorial Day celebration go to the link below. The site is Gatehouse Press. They publish Civil War books and print the superb Gettysburg magazine. The link below is about our first Memorial Day and how it came about.

http://www.gatehouse-press.com/?p=1470

Now remember, we are talking about our AMERICAN Memorial Day not other Memorial celebrations in other countries. Some smart alec posted a snide comment after the article. He was probably annoyed that the article has the title "The first Memorial Day?" The article is about OUR first. Sheeeccchhhh!

BTW, the site frequently updates the article section with new ones so check it out or subscribe so you get the note that there is a new post. That makes it easy.

Sallie was the mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania. Sallie stayed with the dead and dying of the regiment at Gettysburg while the rest of the regiment fell back to Cemetery Hill. After the battle was over the men of the regiment found Sallie dehydrated but lying patiently with her friends, protecting them. Years later when it came time to erect a monument for the regiment the old veterans chose to have her likeness at the base. People visiting the battlefield today often leave dog treats for her on the monument.

Father Corby of the Irish Brigade blessing the regiments before they went into the fight.

A sad sad day....

Here's a pic from the Gettysburg Daily web site posted in March. It shows the 38th PA near Little Round Top and the soldier is probably very sad today. Here is the caption posted with this photo:

The 38th Pennsylvania Infantry monument is always well-lit in the afternoon light this time of year … This view was taken facing east at approximately 3:40 PM on Wednesday, March 28, 2012.

If you have been reading the Gettysburg Daily as I have over the past few years you will appreciate the sad news posted on their web site today. If you have NOT been reading the daily posts you have been missing some outstanding Gettysburg/Civil War goodness. Every day they post panoramic photos or video blogs/series about a whole host of topics. It is truly the first place I check every morning. Anyway... this morning when I checked I saw the message which I cut and pasted below. Read it and weep with me:

After over four years and thousands of hours of putting up daily posts on things kind of related to Gettysburg, the Gettysburg Daily is going to be taking an indefinite break, starting today. We’ll still be posting some content in the weeks to come, but no longer on a daily basis. Rest assured, everyone behind the scenes is in good health, but other obligations have made this hiatus a necessity.

We have learned an immense amount doing this project and have been amazed by the support we’ve received over the years and at seeing how many people have visited the website — your kind comments, emails, and donations allowed us to become a much stronger site today than we were at the beginning. For now, think of us as “Gettysburg, Every Once in a While.” Please subscribe to our feed if you are interested in future updates.

All the best,
Gettysburg Daily

Well if you like all stuff Gettysburg and Civil War in general you should check it out. Go to the Archive Section on their site to to look at a daily listing OR go to the section that has the Guides listed. They have a whole particular series there. This makes it easier to see what catches your fancy and you can click the links for each episode.

I sure hope they come back soon. Perhaps they just need a break to re-charge their batteries. I know it is a LOT of work. With the 150th anniversary coming up next year they will hopefully be posting many more daily gems. We can only hope. 

Go to the Links to check it all out.

And for all you Mothers out there Happy Mother's Day! Thanks Mom. Even though I know she doesn't have a computer (or "puter" as she calls it) or even know how to turn it on if  she had one, remember to thank your Mom too. Well... call her for sure. 

Don

I just don’t get it

The Coffee Coolers by Edwin Forbes
These guys were notorious for falling out of the march and hiding until they were not missed. After all the fighting had taken place they would find their units again loaded with excuses why they couldn't keep up.

My Civil War library is huge. The amount is a problem of space but the amount of good CW books is NOT a problem. Well, let me back up a bit… it is not a problem for me that my collection is too big, only my lovely wife has a problem with the amount. Like most CW buffs I’d like to see it double today and perhaps triple by tomorrow. There are so many books I’d love to own and I probably will, given enough time and assuming I don’t get abducted by aliens or get hit by a bus any time soon. For the past 3 years I have begun stacking books on the floor and I could be featured on the TV show “Hoarders” soon. *gulp* I don’t have a problem… seriously!

The issue I have is that there are some people who think there are enough books published already. Yeah… they do exist! When I was in Gettysburg last month I spoke to quite a few people (who shall remain nameless) that feel there are… say… enough books about Gettysburg for example. They also will say with a straight face that ‘why do you need a book about so and so? He was only a brigade commander.’ I don’t get that. The people I’m talking about are not just ordinary passersby but CW buffs, Rangers and Guides. It is mindboggling. I’ll give you that we do not need another book about Gettysburg that states the exact same primary material, secondary resources and idiotic theories (the kind of ‘what if’ off the wall stuff that would NEVER have happened) that has been reprinted a billion times. I know these books because I have waaay too many of them. So I’m not talking about these books but who wouldn’t want a book that provides new primary material or greater detail with more accurate maps about the battle?! Well there are some and I just don’t get that.

I had a discussion at Gettysburg when the topic came up about the battle of Antietam. I had told this gentleman that I wished that every battle had a book that described the action with the detail and depth as the book Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle by John M. Priest. I have put this one in my all time best 12 CW lists. The gentleman said he thought that Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam by Stephen W. Sears was a MUCH better book. I told him I wasn’t disputing that the Sears book wasn’t very good, it was just that I have 4 very good books on the battle and loved them but I wanted MORE detail than just an overall “battle book”. (“Battle book” is the term I use to describe a book in which an entire battle is written in a broad over view. These books can have detail but they essentially cover the entire battle evenly as if you didn’t know anything. There is nothing wrong with that of course.) The fact is I have tons of battle books but now I want more and this is why I loved the Priest book so much. If you read this book first you might get very confused and I get that. The book is chock full of antidotes that describe the battle in the eyes of the soldiers themselves, not McClellan’s grand strategy (he had one?!). The gentleman had a problem with the book because of this. I just couldn’t get him to understand that once you read a dozen battle books on one battle you want MORE. Half jokingly I said that if I could I would like to know the name of every soldier that fought in every battle, what he was wearing, how he was wearing it, what he had to eat that day, how/where did he sleep the night before, where did he came from, did he have a family, how old was he, was he wounded or killed, did he suffer, what company/regiment was he from, did he survive the war, did he write down his experiences, where is he buried, are there photos/letters of him that still exist today… etc etc. I want to know it all! Any book that can get me closer to that level of detail is good in my mind.

Okay I do admit I’m a bit over the top here but why wouldn’t you want details if you are really into the Civil War? It is perplexing to see book after book about the Irish Brigade and they all tell the same old story. You might be surprised to know that the Irish Brigade won the war all by themselves! Well… if you read these books that is almost the way the story turns out. It’s like the boring 12,865 books on Gettysburg that never needed to be published. Bring something new to the table or find another subject. You’d be shocked to know how much could still be written yet no one has touched them but of course if you just read battle books or books on the Irish Brigade you don’t need anything else.

Sorry, I just don’t get it.

40th NYSV monument

The Sunken Road at Antietam

132nd Pa, 1 Bri./3 Div./2nd Corps

I thought I'd throw some pictures up that I took last September at the Antietam Battlefield. I spent an entire day driving and walking around the field and all the pictures posted today are from the area around the Sunken Road. If you have never visited the field I guarantee you do not have an accurate appreciation of the undulating hills and broken terrain in general. You must go because it will blow your mind.

Looking towards the right of the Rebel line

Looking to the right flank from inside the Sunken Road

Looking northeast from the Confederate's perspective. The Union 2nd Corps came from that direction. This ground looks flat but it is actually somewhat uphill. The ground slopes off about 200 yards and anyone approaching from this direction is unseen until they rise above the ground below.

Detail from the Irish Brigade monument near the Observation Tower.

Brigade commander of the Irish Brigade.

Looking towards the left of the Reb line from atop  the Tower.

The Sunken Road from the area which the 2nd Corps attacked.

Lydia Leister house

Widow Leister house restored today on the Gettysburg battlefield 

I’m sure you’ve seen the Perry brother’s Civil War styled plastic farm house by now. Many think it is Union General George Meade’s HQ on the battlefield at Gettysburg. It is similar but no way exactly the same. You could use as such but for purists it is NOT the same. I put one together and painted it. I had hopes from seeing the picture on the box that I could convert it but it really isn’t worth the effort.

The house was inhabited by the widow Lydia Leister at the time of the battle. When the Army of the Potomac started arriving in force Lydia Leister took her family and moved south and stayed with friends to ride out the battle. Meade used the abandoned house as his HQ since it was in the center of the Union line on the east slope of Cemetery Ridge, along the Taneytown Road. The house was buzzing with activity throughout the day on July 2^nd and the first half of July 3^rd. The bombardment preceding Pickett’s charge made the house an extremely dangerous place to be. Many Confederate shells over shot the Union defenders along Cemetery Ridge and landed all around the house. The shots whistled through the house and it forced Meade to seek safer ground on Powers Hill to the South east. Gaping shell holes in the house and the farm littered with the bodies of dead house told the story when widow Leister returned to Gettysburg. 

Leister barn just west of the house.

The house is not very typical of the houses around the Gettysburg area and not even further south but it is simple. Simple was common back then to ordinary farms. I painted mine to look the part with no frills which would be appropriate for the period. Houses during the time would actually be raised on a foundation of dirt and stone so it wouldn’t be resting on the ground. I built mine ‘as is’ but if I do another one I’ll raise it up a bit. In retrospect if I do it again I would NOT add the two middle support posts in front until AFTER I finished dry brushing the front of the house. It was hard to get the dry brush in the under side of the overhang. That would save you aggravation.

I started mine with a black undercoat spray. I then gave the entire house a heavy medium gray dry brushing. Once dry I added more and more white paint to the dry brushing in order to bring it up to the color of the period white-wash paint. The roof I left grayish since the brown wooden shingles would naturally gray over time. The chimney was made out of red bricks like the original one. I painted that bricks all white and very carefully dry brushed red over it so the paint only stuck to the raised brickwork. The door was painted green which seems to be a common color back then.

The real Leister house after the battle

Giving a Tour of the Gettysburg battlefield

14th Brooklyn near the Rail Road Cut

So it is confirmed, I'm giving a battlefield tour in April for friends. I can't wait. The bummer is that they will only be there for 2 days so I can't really get into it as much as I'd like. *sniff sniff* I'm told they are really excited to go which makes me happy. The guys have never been there before and I came highly touted so it is quite an honor for me. Now I just have to pray the weather will be nice. There is nothing worse than going to Gettysburg in the rain. It's the kind of location that you want nice weather so you can hike around and REALLY see what it is like. Travelling about on a tour bus is for tourists, not a history buff. For Civil War fanatics like me it is a huge let down.

Strike the tents!

The Union Soldier In Battle by Earl Hess... a good read

I started reading Earl J. Hess’ book The Union Soldier in Battle. This is a real keeper. Hess says the book is, “…an attempt to understand how the Northern soldier dealt with combat in the Civil War”.

Hess uses oodles of statements from the soldiers themselves and he also includes the post war period to wrap it up and bring closure for some which is just about as fascinating as the war itself! It is interesting because these guys went through the same problems that many soldiers go through after the shooting stops. Their problem was that it wasn’t as widely talked about as today and it is probably why the GAR was such a tight knit fraternal organization. It gave an opportunity to get together with comrades that are going though the same thing in their lives.

Another point Hess brings up is how the “Myth of the Lost Cause” almost increased the amount of books and memoirs written by Northern vets during the post war period. The “Myth” began to shift the true store of the War and the Northern vets felt compelled to have their story heard to bring the story back into harsh light of reality. The War was a painful time for everyone and painting a rosy and distorted picture of what happened did not sit well with the Northern vets.

Having said all this don’t get the impression the book focuses on this too much. Much of the book (8 of 9 chapters) deals with the war itself and you might get a different perspective on the war and them men who fought it. Read this book and I’m confident you will not be sorry. It’s well written and moves fast.

The 12 Best Civil War Books

If you read American Civil War books and love them what would you do if you lost them? Would you replace them immediately or just replace a few that you love most of all? Which ones would you replace? Which ones do you need or love the most? I have been thinking about this recently. I’ve created my own list of the top 12. Why 12? Well… these are the ones I would buy ASAP. There are another 25 or so that I’d reacquire but they would be in the second tier of ‘next in line’ books, they can wait. The top tier are books I leaf through frequently, sometimes mindlessly while doing nothing important or I read bits or completely re-read all the time. I have the fondest memories of these so I’d need to replace these old friends first and foremost.

While trying to eliminate the wheat from the chaff I had to make some very tough choices. I figured 10-15 books would be the max on the list. I was hoping to stay at the top 10 but that didn’t work so well. With this in mind it was agonizing to cut some really good books. To be honest if I had to shorten the list further Battle and Leaders would go next… with sadness. I haven’t picked up any of the 4 volumes in years but I used to sit and read it all the time way back when. I also was hoping to add Gettysburg: The First Day by Pfanz but… I’d certainly buy the Second Day first so… I don’t know. Also on the chopping block was the Photographic History of the Civil War and Echoes of Glory. Both of these are great books but they are mostly pictures so they got cut.

The books below made the list most of all because they are very readable and are NOT bland and dry. They read like great historical fiction in the best sense apart from Battle and Leaders. So… in no particular order of preference (because I don’t feel I could do that) here is my list. What’s on your list?

A Stillness at Appomattox – Bruce Catton

Gettysburg: The Second Day – Harry W. Pfanz

Gettysburg: A Journey in Time – William A. Frassanito

Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle – John Michael Priest

Hardtack & Coffee – John Billings

Battles & Leaders of the Civil War – Various

Corporal Si Klegg and His "Pard" - Wilbur F. Hinman

Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage - Noah Andre Trudeau

Reminiscences of the Civil War - John B. Gordon

The Artillery of Gettysburg - Bradley M. Gottfried

Shiloh Bloody April - Wiley Sword

Campaigning with Ulysses S. Grant - Horace Porter