Civil War Times December 2020

LEGENDS ON HORSEBACK Mosby’s Partisan Rangers played a big role in bringing the ‘Gray Ghost’ plenty of glory. http://bit.ly/MosbyMen TEMPLE OF TOLERANCE The cruel irony of a segregated Lincoln Memorial dedication ceremony has given way to reverence and rallies. http://bit.ly/LincolnTemple WAR ON THE DOORSTEP How Gettysburg’s Spangler Farm was transformed into an 11th Corps hospital for the wounded and dying. http://bit.ly/SpanglerHospital HISTORYNET Now Sign up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter at: historynet.com/newsletters LET’S CONNECT Like Civil War Times Magazine on Facebook FOLLOW US @CivilWarTimes GO DIGITAL Civil War Times is available on Zinio, Kindle, and Nook A Complete Civil War Times index from 1958 to present is available at aferguson.net…

Steven Stotelmyer’s account of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan “on the move” at Antietam in the October 2020 issue calls for a bit of updating. On September 17, McClellan posted at the Pry House only briefly. As the fighting advanced, McClellan shifted to 5th Corps headquarters near the John Ecker House, just south of the Middle Bridge and almost due east of Sharpsburg. McClellan left there twice. First, crossing Antietam Creek in the afternoon to counsel the demoralized Maj. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner. Second, a late-day start toward Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside to counsel him, but he was intercepted by Burnside’s courier. McClellan sent the courier back with the edict, “If the bridge is lost, all is lost.” He returned to 5th Corps headquarters and, finally, to army headquarters at Keedysville. Some of…

A Confederate memorial joins the displays at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, despite objections by the Houston chapter of the NAACP. The 12-foot bronze statue, named “The Spirit of the Confederacy,” portrays a winged man holding a sword and a palm frond. First erected in a Houston park in 1908 by the Robert E. Lee Chapter No. 186 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, it was dedicated: “To all heroes of the South who fought for the principles of states rights.” Removed from its original site in June based on a task-force recommendation from two years ago, the statue will be installed in a museum courtyard not visible from the street. Viewing will be via online or through a window at the museum by appointment. During a…

Saving the Oldest Civil War Monument. On December 17, 1861, Confederates attacked elements of the 32nd Indiana Infantry that were protecting construction parties repairing the vital rail bridge crossing Green River at Munfordville, Ky. After the fight, most Union dead were interred on a small knoll just north of the Green River near the bridge. Within weeks of the burials, Private August Bloedner, a native of Altenburg, Saxony, Germany, created a beautiful monument dedicated to his lost comrades that was placed in the small cemetery just before the troops moved on to more costly battles. During the summer of 1867, as part of the effort to reinter all Union dead in national cemeteries, those 14 men of the 32nd Indiana were removed to Cave Hill National Cemetery along with Bloedner’s heartfelt…

As Americans approach another presidential election this fall, it may help to consider how the nation did this in the Civil War era. The results of election of 1860 led to the secession of seven states, soon to be followed by four others. In 1864, the nation faced an unprecedented challenge—holding a presidential election in the midst of a civil war and when one-third of the nation considered itself a separate country. In 1868, new African American voters had the opportunity to voice their opinions on the national scene as they had been locally. And in 1876, the presidential election was so contested there were fears that the nation would divide again. Newspapers are a fantastic way to study the topsy-turvy nature of presidential election years, and one of the best…

WAR DRUMS WERE BEATING, and Rhode Island was eager to do its part to defend Washington, D.C. In April 1861, the 1st Rhode Island Detached Militia departed Providence to defend the capital in two contingents. The first, consisting of 45 men from each company, left with Colonel Ambrose Burnside on April 20. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph S. Pitman led the second detachment out of the state on April 24. At 2 p.m. that day, the second detachment formed up opposite the railroad station in Exchange Place prior to embarkation aboard the steamer Empire State at Fox Point. After being wheeled into platoons, the Rhode Islanders remained in position for a few minutes while this daguerreotype was taken from the roof of the Gorham Silver Manufacturing building on Canal Street, probably by…