Civil War Times June 2021

THE OLD BALL GAME Civil War reenactors re-create the national pastime the way soldiers used to play it. http://bit.ly/OldBallGame IMAGES OF WAR From portraits of common soldiers to battlefield images of the dead, Civil War photographers brought the war home. http://bit.ly/ImagesOfCivilWar ‘NOBLE UNION GIRLS’ The horrible explosion at the Allegheny Arsenal rocked the city of Pittsburgh and its families. http://bit.ly/NobleUnionGirls 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 historymagazinearticles.com CIVIL WAR TIMES JUNE 2021…

MAJOR “HOWDY” Susannah J. Ural’s February 2021 article, “Texas Tough,” was an excellent look at how difficult it is to gain the trust and respect of the citizen soldier. The independent nature of the American soldier has been its hallmark of success, while also frustrating those in authority to mold these citizen volunteers into a cohesive fighting unit. Officers like William “Howdy” Martin and John Bell Hood exemplify the qualities needed to successfully gain the trust and respect of the rank and file. Certainly, greeting soldiers with an informal “howdy” was a splendid way to let the men know that, “I am no better than you.” Mark Grimm North Royalton, Ohio MURDER ON THE B&O After reading Dana Shoaf’s War in Their Words article, “Shoot and Be Damned” in the February issue, I have to…

Some exciting new preservation efforts are underway at Manassas National Battlefield Park, including a prescribed burn conducted on March 9. It was the fourth prescribed burn for the park in as many years, and covered 75 acres near the Deep Cut, the scene of fierce fighting during the Second Battle of Manassas. The expanded landscape view around the unfinished railroad bed offers a dramatic new perspective of the soldier’s experience of battle in August 1862. A prescribed burn reduces the build-up of hazardous debris and vegetation, while maintaining or restoring the battlefield’s wartime appearance. “Building off the great success we had with prescribed fires in 2018 and 2019, this is another opportunity to continue our efforts to return a significant segment of the battlefield back to its Civil War appearance,” said Manassas…

A RARE LINCOLN BANNER dating from 1860 sold at Hake’s Auctions in York, Pa., for $143,104, the highest price ever recorded for a Lincoln textile. Hand-painted and hand-stitched, the banner bears the single-eye icon of the “Wide Awakes,” a group of young men devoted to the Republican goals of promoting opportunity and westward expansion of free labor. Wide Awakes became known for their nighttime rallies where members carrying whale-oil torches shielded themselves from drips with distinctive oilcloth capes. Lincoln, with his message of self-improvement and upward mobility, was their champion.…

IN MARCH, Bomb technicians from Maryland’s Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) safely disposed of an unexploded 12-pounder cannonball found near the 1864 Monocacy battlefield in Frederick County. The projectile was in the possession of a homeowner, who had been given the round by another family member who found it. When yet another member of the family suggested it might be live, the bomb techs were called in, and determined it was, in fact, still armed. Be careful out there in Civil War country!…

SAMUEL COLE WRIGHT of the 29th Massachusetts Infantry poses in his regiment’s early war uniform, which evoked the Revolutionary era and reflects a naive notion that the war would be a short adventure for young men. The long war, however, did its best to destroy the Bay Stater, but somehow he survived. Wright was wounded at White Oak Swamp, Va., during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and shot in the left knee while helping to remove a fence at Antietam, as his regiment, part of the Irish Brigade, charged the Sunken Road. He recovered, but became ill with typhus in 1863 and spent time in the hospital. After his discharge, a mule team ran him down, and he had to recover from that battering. He suffered another wound at Bethesda Church,…