Civil War et. al.

19th Century Manners

2010-06-21T19:59:00.001-04:00

Senator Zebulon Vance sailed down Cheasapeake Bay with a group of men and women. He chose to step aside to allow a certain woman to mount one of the ladders on the boat. As the lady climbed, she noticed Vance glancing at her from behind.

She told him,"I can see, Senator, that you are not a gentleman."

Vance retorted,"Madam, beg your pardon but I too can see that you are not."
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Rating Army Life

2010-06-16T20:19:00.000-04:00

A Confederate soldier got an advance notice on army life from his grandfather who fought in the Mexican-American War.

When asked about army life, the old codger told his grandson,"The drinkin' is plumb fine along with the card playin'. Them Mexican women ain't bad but them battles...I tell ya...them battles is mighty dangerous."
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Civil War Vocabulary

2010-06-14T09:27:00.001-04:00

During the Civil War, the troops cooked their own food. Their lack of prior culinary experience gave rise to some interesting concoctions. This situation gave rise to the term "hellfire stew." In other words, the cook made a brew composed of any ingredients he could find.

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, James Myers
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Civil War Vocabulary

2010-06-09T17:40:00.000-04:00

The Civil War soldiers frequently used this instrument to dig trenches. They called it the army banjo. We call it a shovel.
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Stephen Douglas

2010-06-08T09:46:00.001-04:00

Today in 1861, a good American died. I pay Stephen Douglas this compliment because of his conduct during the election of 1860 and afterward. By the summer of 1860, it became clear to him that he would not win the presidential election. Instead of going home to Illinois, he toured the South in an active attempt to keep it in the Union. After Lincoln's election and secession, Douglas gave his former rival his complete support in the war effort.

He was a good American.

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Retreat Etiquette

2010-06-07T18:43:00.001-04:00

A Confederate colonel led his men on a brisk retreat. The Federals followed close behind. A Southern soldier would occasionally pause to fire a potshot at the Union troops.

Finally, the colonel told his men,"Quit firing. It only makes them madder."
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Fort Morgan and BP

2010-06-05T18:19:00.001-04:00

Globs of oil washed up by Fort Morgan, a Civil War fort, in Mobile Bay, Alabama. This is one of the many forms of collateral damage from the BP spill. The damage is human, economic, environmental and now, historical. This is an Olympic-sized disaster.

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Zinger from Abe

2010-06-04T18:19:00.001-04:00

President Lincoln fended off a bit of congressional criticism with this one.

Senator Wade told him,"Mr. President, we will go to the devil if we do not adopt a proposition for the emancipation of the colored man. Right now, we are not a mile away from hell."

Lincoln replied,"That may be but by a curious arrangement of the facts, that is just the distance from where you stand to the Capitol, where you gentlemen are in session."
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The Real Reason the Civil War Continued

2010-06-02T09:53:00.001-04:00

The soldiers in Helena, Arkansas speculated on the true reason for the war's continuation.

When the two presidents Lincoln and Davis grew weary of the war, they met on neutral ground to settle it. After an hour of dickering, they agreed to split the West and the southern and northern states between them.

On the subject of Arkansas, they could not agree. Neither president wanted it and they could not agree to split it. And so the war continued.

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Civil War Joke-War News

2010-05-26T10:22:00.001-04:00

A Richmond woman asked her slave for encouraging news toward the end of the Civil War.

He told her,"Well, Madam, after a day's fighting, them Yankees are retreating forward and we are advancing backward."

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, edited by James Myers
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The Quaker Debate

2010-05-24T07:51:00.001-04:00

Two Quaker women debated on who they thought would win the Civil War.

One said,"Jefferson Davis will win."

"Why?" the other asked.

"Because Davis is a praying man."

"Mr. Lincoln prays too."

"Yes, I know but the Lord will think that Abraham is only joking."
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Civil War Vocabulary

2010-05-21T12:50:00.001-04:00

The Civil War troops used the expression to "bring a brick along." The modern-day equivalent is drunk as a skunk.

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, James Myers
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No Great Loss

2010-05-19T13:12:00.001-04:00

When told of the capture of Brigadier General Stoughton at Fairfax, President Lincoln said,"I don't much mind the loss of the brigadier as I do the loss of the horses. I can make a much better brigadier in five minutes, but the horses cost one hundred twenty-five dollars apiece."

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor
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Zinger from Old Abe

2010-05-17T10:10:00.001-04:00

Lincoln often had to decide where to put his generals. One of them, John C. Fremont, found himself without a command. Lincoln could not find a suitable army for the man.

The situation reminded him of a father who told his son to take a wife.

The son considered the idea and asked his father,"Which wife shall I take?"

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, edited by James Myers
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More Civil War Vocabulary

2010-05-14T12:33:00.001-04:00

The Confederate soldiers in the West showed a contempt for their commanding general, Braxton Bragg. They also had problems with lice. As a reflection of their opinion of the little critters and their commander, they called the lice "General Bragg's Bodyguard."
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Endangered Battlefields

2010-05-13T12:44:00.001-04:00

The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) issued its report on endangered battlefields. It named the Wilderness but also discussed the casino at Gettysburg and a site in Arizona.

Places like Gettysburg and the site in Arizona will only be preserved if the public is involved. Well-known outsiders can sign all the petitions they want. The people who live in the Gettysburg area and the place in Arizona must write to their legislators. For that to happen, organizations like the CWPT must do a public relations campaign in these areas. If the local politicians see that a casino or budget cuts will affect their reelection, they will suddenly become Civil War preservationists. Other efforts will help but eventually prove to be ineffective. Monetary needs will always trump history unless public opinion dictates otherwise.

Let's see if we can mobilize some people power.
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More Civil War Vocabulary

2010-05-12T10:27:00.001-04:00

Like all wars, the Civil War had its skulkers. The soldiers called these men wagon dogs. They received this name because they hid behind wagon trains during times of battle where they could liberate their comrades' military supplies.

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, edited by James Myers
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The Time-Honored Game

2010-05-11T12:51:00.001-04:00

Even during the Civil War, the politicians played their games. Today in 1863, Salmon Chase offered his resignation from the Treasury Department and President Lincoln rejected it. Hoping to keep his rival in the Cabinet where he could watch him, Lincoln kept Chase in his post.

Politicians have been playing this game for centuries. Otto von Bismarck often tendered his resignation during his reign as Chancellor of Germany. In 1996, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (nicknamed "Bibi") allowed his chief rival Ariel Sharon to serve in his cabinet as National Infrastructures Minister. He figured Sharon would be less dangerous on the inside. When Sharon became Prime Minister in 2001, he returned the favor by making Bibi his Finance Minister. What did they say in the second Godfather movie about your friends and your enemies? Well, you know.

The names and the accents change, but the games remain the same.
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Civil War Vocabulary

2010-05-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

The Civil War soldiers gave a creative name for a demotion. They called it the Irish promotion.
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Civil War Vocabulary

2010-05-07T09:44:00.001-04:00

The toughest of woods in America is white oak. The soldiers on both sides ate a breaded wafer called hardtack. The troops called this snack "white oak chips."
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Git!

2010-05-05T10:38:00.001-04:00

A Southern cavalry officer ordered his men to mount their horses. He commanded,"Prepare fer to git on them critters."

For his second command, he told them,"Git!"

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, James Myers
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Desertion

2010-05-03T12:53:00.001-04:00

The Civil War soldiers had a special expression for troops who fled their units in the middle of the night. They said,"The owls caught him."
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Zinger from Old Abe

2010-04-30T10:02:00.000-04:00

President Lincoln opined at times about General McClellan's lack of aggressiveness.

He remarked,"General McClellan is an admirable engineer but he seems to have a talent for operating a stationary engine."
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A Makeshift Military

2010-04-29T12:57:00.000-04:00

The military-industrial complex had not yet made its appearance.

Today in 1861, President Lincoln visited the Seventh New York Regiment. He found them in the chamber for the House of Representatives in the unfinished Capitol Building.

You know that the situation is desperate and the military unprepared when a president greets his troops in a congressional building. This is why we need a standing army and a strong military. Emergencies will occur.
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The New Recruits

2010-04-28T20:07:00.000-04:00

Civil War soldiers had a charming name for new recruits. They called them "palefaces."
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Civil War Joke-A Poor Opinion

2010-04-26T09:02:00.000-04:00

A sergeat took a dim view of one of the new recruits.

When a private complained of the pain from a wooden splinter set deep in his finger, Sergeant Patrick O'Toole told him,"You should know better than to scratch your head."

Source: A Collection of Military Humor, edited by James Myers
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Washington Gossip

2010-04-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

Loose tongues ran legion in Civil War Washington. When one of them asked him about where he thought the army would strike next, Secretary of State Seward replied,"Madam, if I did not know, I would be happy to tell you."

Source: A Treasury of Military Humor, edited by James Myers
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Civil War Joke-A Zinger from Honest Abe

2010-04-22T10:06:00.000-04:00

After relieving General McClellan with Fighting Joe Hooker, Lincoln received a message from Hooker stating,"Headquarters in the saddle."

Lincoln promptly informed his Cabinet,"General Hooker's headquarters are where his hindquarters ought to be."
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Civil War Joke-A Civil War Newborn

2010-04-19T11:43:00.000-04:00

Like any war, the Civil War gave rise to new terms.

A child born to a Civil War soldier was called a brown-spit baby. This newborn was considered tough as a mule. Unlike today's children, brown-spit babies received a steady diet of chewing tobacco.

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The End of the Beginning

2010-04-06T18:30:00.000-04:00

Today in 1862, the Battle of Shiloh began. This was the first battle with masses of casualties like those that characterized the battles that followed it. After this one, both sides realized that they faced a long and bloody conflict.

After the Allies had driven the Axis out of North Africa in 1943, Churchill said,"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is perhaps the end of the beginning." In a grim way, Shiloh served as the end of the beginning for North and South.
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Mind vs. Mind

2010-04-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Today in 1862, Confederate General John Magruder brilliantly stalled for time. Facing an enemy army of twice his size, he marched his troops around in a number of directions to make McClellan think he had a large army at his disposal. Due to his clever maneuvers, Magruder induced McClellan to waste time on a siege of Yorktown, Va rather than an attack. In so doing, he bought time for Joseph Johnston's reinforcements to arrive and stand fast against the Union forces.

Magruder's maneuver showed that war is not only about men and material. It is mind versus mind.

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Winston Churchill: McClellan and Grant

2010-03-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

I'm interested in your thoughts on this matter.

In his History of the English Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill says that Grant pursued McClellan's original strategy except he did it in 1864. Though I read that book years ago, the idea stuck in my head.

I am a Churchill admirer but I don't agree. McClellan focused on capturing Richmond with as few casualties as possible. Grant aimed to destroy Lee's army by fighting battles and then besieging Petersburg. Their strategies could not have been more different.

What is your view?
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Take Cover!

2010-03-26T10:17:00.000-04:00

Two men carried a wounded soldier in a stretcher. A shell exploded near them and all three men ran away.

Source: Robert McClernon's website of Civil War Humor
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Gettysburg Tours

2010-03-25T19:03:00.000-04:00

So Gettysburg Tours has endorsed the casino. It's going to be interesting.

Just imagine the advertising,"See the battle site and after that, come lose your money."

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Confederate Heritage Weekend

2010-03-24T12:44:00.000-04:00

The Ekton Historical Society will be hosting Confederate Heritage Weekend on April 10th and 11th. They will be serving Jackson's Stew, a meal served in the Confederate Army.

If Jackson's Stew is anything like hardtack, the visitors to the Society will be going to two places afterward: McDonalds and the dentist. The soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia did not call themselves "Lee's Miserables" for nothing.
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Civil War Joke-Recruitment

2010-03-22T18:47:00.000-04:00

Conscription in the Confederacy did not recruit. It corraled men into service.

No one learned this better than the four Quakers who were conscripted in London, Virginia and brought to Lee's headquarters in Orange Court House. When told to fall in, the men refused, saying that they would follow but not fall in. After the gentle persuasion of several steel bayonets, their resolve evaporated and they fell in and marched to camp.

Source: The Court Jester website
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An Ill-Omen

2010-03-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

A local Pennsylvania newspaper just reported on a poll in which nearly two-thirds of Adams County residents support a casino near Gettysburg.

As I've said before, the struggle will revolve around the opinions of the residents there. Of course, this could be a case of push polling. However, if this poll is to be believed, then the casino will be built. The local politicians will blow with the wind.

For these reasons, the CWPT and other organizations need to engage in a public relations campaign to win over the local people. Only such an effort will keep the casino from getting a permit.
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Casino in Gettysburg-It's All About the Locals

2010-03-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

That's right. The people of the Gettysburg area will be the most decisive factor in whether a new casino will be established there.

Like the situation with the Wilderness Wal Mart, public sentiment will decide if this bit of economic development will go forward. The area has lost many businesses in the past decade and the number of tourists has declined. The people may decide that the economy needs a casino.

The job of Civil War preservationists will be to convince them otherwise. That is where the CWPT and other organizations need to focus.
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This is a change

2010-03-10T19:10:00.000-05:00

How about that? A town that actually wants to preserve a Civil War site. The town of Hartford, New York is working to rebuild the crumbling foundation of a building that once served as a recruitment site for the Union Army. It is the last known Civil War recruitment site in all of New York State.

After the Wilderness Walmart and Gettysburg Gambling, it is heartening to see a municipality that wants to maintain a Civil War site. If only we could ship the local water to Orange County, Virginia and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Civil War Joke-No Complaints

2010-03-08T12:44:00.000-05:00

During a retreat, a slightly wounded man complained that he had to walk to the rear.

A more seriously wounded man told him to hush up and said,"There is a lad over there with his head shot off and he's not making a complaint at all."

Source: Patrick O'Flaherty, History of the Sixty Ninth
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New Jersey

2010-03-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

On this day in 1865, New Jersey rejected the 13th Amendment ending slavery. The state had a grand total of nine slaves. That institution needed an economy of scale to be remotely useful. What were those slaves doing that they had to be kept in bondage? As I last recall, New Jersey grew no cotton or tobacco. That was a serious case of misplaced priorities.

As a New Yorker, I am mortified over the fact that they currently have a better hockey team. In any conversation, I can now hold this historical fact over a New Jerseyan's head. That and the bad road signs.
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Civil War Blooper-Damn the Torpedoes!

2010-02-22T13:12:00.000-05:00

Lieutenant Commander Thomas Selfridge of the Union Navy had a unique method for removing torpedoes encroaching toward his vessel. He moved his ship and disposed of the torpedoes by placing his vessel over them.

Source: Civil War Blunders by Clint Johnson
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Totally Burst my Bubble

2010-02-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

I just read that the Ashokan Farewell from the Civil War documentary was not a period piece. It was written in the late 1980's. It sounded like an authentic piece of music from the Civil War. I thought so all these years. What is a Civil War buff to do now? Life will never be the same.
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Civil War Joke-Retreat Song

2010-02-18T07:03:00.000-05:00

The experience of battle produced a variety of reactions, among them retreat. This parody of the song Just Before the Battle expressed the rush to the rear:

Just Before the Battle, Mother
I was drinking mountain dew,
When I saw the rebels coming,
To the rear I quickly flew.

Source: A Collection of Civil War Humor by Robert McLernon
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Conscription Day

2010-02-16T14:08:00.001-05:00

Today in 1863, the U.S. Senate passed its version of conscription. The South had already had a draft for over a year. Previously, the North had relied on volunteers. It shows that the weaker side always has to be more innovative in fighting a war.
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Reflection on Lincoln

2010-02-12T09:43:00.001-05:00

On this birth anniversary of our great president, I'd like to reflect on one of Lincoln's key personality traits: his lack of ego.

In his pursuit of victory in the war, he was willing to absorb blows to his pride and even his position. When George McClellan snubbed him on a visit to the general's house in Washington, Lincoln said,"I will hold McClellan's horse if he will get me victories." In a letter to Joe Hooker, who had proposed a dictatorship in order to win the war, the president told him,"I will risk the dictatorship if you will get me victories." Lincoln stood ready to sacrifice his own pride and even risk his position as president on the altar of the Union.

In our age of selfish and self-aggrandizing politicians, Abraham Lincoln is a lesson in leadership.
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Abraham Lincoln-Fireman?

2010-02-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

On this day in 1864, Abraham Lincoln dashed outside the White House to fight a fire that broke out in a nearby group of stables. He joined a District of Columbia fire brigade. When it was over, a total of six horses and donkeys died. Already upset because of his son's typhoid fever, tears filled Lincoln's eyes.

The president not only fought fires, but tested weapons. When new armaments came to his attention, he tried them himself. He allegedly inspected the Gatling gun, which eventually led to the machine gun.

At that time, the Presidency was a hands-on affair.

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Civil War Story: A Donkey's Love

2010-02-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

Monsieur Chillon, a veteran of the French army, decided to throw his lot with the Confederate cause in 1861. He walked across the country through Indian territory accompanied by his donkey, Jason. He reached the French-speaking Third Confederate Louisiana Confederate regiment and enlisted. Unfortunately, the regimental colonel looked very similar to Monsieur Chillon. One night, Jason entered the colonel's tent and tried to curl up next to him.

Source: Robert Burke, Our Incredible Civil War
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Lee's Ascension

2010-02-09T09:38:00.000-05:00

On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee became General-in-Chief of the Confederate armies. He did not want the job. A theater commander at heart, he said that he would be guided by the judgments of the field commanders. Until that point, the Confederacy's only supreme commander had been Jefferson Davis. For most of the war, the South did not have a general-in-chief like Halleck or Grant.

I think that fact highlighted one of the Confederacy's great errors: the lack of an overall military strategy. Much of what Lee or Johnston or Bragg did was tactical. Davis had a political strategy but not a military one. The generals seemed to do their own thing and no military staff in Richmond gave them true dictation. This fundamental weakness hurt the South throughout the war.
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A Modest Proposal

2010-02-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of Jonathan Swift, I have a modest proposal for the North Carolina Board of Education. In case you haven't heard, the Board is proposing a change to the teaching of history in the state. Under the rationale that events before that year are too distant for students to remember, the Board has proposed that American history be taught from 1877 onward.

Since certain key events occurred before that year, I propose that those events be redated. I think the Declaration of Independence should be recalibrated to 1876. I think the kids wouldn't mind one extra year of rememberance. As for the Civil War, we could move that period from 1861 to 1961. Yes, the surrender at Appomattox occurred in 1965. The troops must have been singing "Satisfaction" and "Hard Day's Night" as they went into battle. We could lop a hundred years off our country's existence, but a little liposuction never hurt anyone.

I hope the North Carolina Board of Education will adopt my suggestion. I hope and pray that the kids' brains will remain free and uncluttered.
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The Wilderness in Gettysburg

2010-01-29T17:58:00.000-05:00

It's deja vu all over again. Someone wants to develop the land on the periphery of a battlefield. We have seen this movie before. It is called the Wilderness Wal Mart.

The CWPT and other preservationists will go through the hearing process again. When it does, it should do a public relations campaign to win the support of the people in and around Gettysburg. They should focus more on them than on getting well-known outsiders to oppose the project. Ultimately, the local politicians will do what all politicians do: follow the poll numbers. We have to influence those numbers.

And if the hearing process doesn't go our way, we should find the preservationist-minded people in the area and sign them up to be ready to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit. Without them, we will not have legal standing. We better be ready to do some serious litigation. As a lawyer, I do not find that prospect unappetizing.

We know the playbook and we know how to play it. Jim Lighthizer will be our quarterback (it is Super Bowl season after all).

Like the Civil War, this will be a protracted conflict.
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Civil War Joke-Confederate Pride

2010-01-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

Even when the military situation went against them, Confederate pride ran strong. During a Union offensive, a Yankee soldier spoke with a group of Southern women as masses of Union troops moved toward the front.

The soldier asked,"Have you ladies seen so many Yankee soldiers?"

One of the women replied,"Not at liberty, sir."

Source: Noah Andre Trudeau, Bloody Roads South
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A Gettysburg Term

2010-01-23T13:37:00.001-05:00

It's amazing how the Civil War can invade your daily speech.

It was the day after the election in Massachussetts. The people there just elected a new Senator last Tuesday.

I spoke with a colleague about the result. We discussed the election's effect on the health care bill being advanced in Congress.

I said,"We've been spared the monstrosity."

My colleague said,"For now."

I shook my head. "The Dems have reached their high water mark."

Once again, you see how an expression from the Civil War can apply to our lives.
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Lincoln's Prerogative

2010-01-20T20:56:00.001-05:00

On this day in 1864, President Lincoln exercised his executive prerogative and suspended the death sentences of five soldiers found guilty of desertion.

Naturally, this act and others like it annoyed his generals to no end. They saw them, perhaps justifiably, as a slackening of military discipline.

These suspensions were part of the Lincoln we know. Mercy and magnanimity were key parts of his personality. After a defeat in one of his elections, he went to the winner's victory party. After the capture of Richmond, he gave the famous advice about how to treat the defeated Southerners,"I'd go easy on 'em."

These commutations were in sync with his character.

I think Lincoln would have agreed with Churchill's four-part maxim about war and its aftermath.

"In war-resolution, in defeat-defiance, in victory-magnanimity, in peace-goodwill."
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Did He Say It?

2010-01-15T18:18:00.001-05:00

When I traveled to Tennessee in the summer of 2007, I met a man who provided me with an interesting quote by General Lee. The man worked in a Civil War relics shop near Shiloh National Park. He told me that Robert E. Lee, bemoaning the results of Reconstruction, had said,"If I had known it would be this way, I would have kept fighting."

Last Wednesday, Noah Andre Trudeau, the author of a recent book on Lee, came to speak at the New York Civil War Roundtable. During the question time, I asked him if Lee had made the above-mentioned statement. Trudeau said no, though Lee had expressed his misgivings about Reconstruction.

That should have settled my mind but it didn't.

A fellow member of the Roundtable commented on this blog and gave me an account and a cite of a similar quote by Lee in 1870 (thank you for the information). Lee apparently stated that he would have preferred to die fighting at Appomattox than see the results of Reconstruction.

So now I'm confused. Who's right?
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The Rebel Yell

2010-01-14T09:35:00.000-05:00

Shelby Foote was wrong. In Ken Burns's Civil War documentary, he claimed that no one really knew what the rebel yell sounded like.

At the New York Civil War Roundtable meeting yesterday, we heard a recording of the yell. In the 1930's, recordings of it by different Confederate veterans were made. I and my dinner companions listened to the recordings of the individuals. It sounded like the high-pitched squawking of a mad chicken.

The Museum of the Confederacy then did something amazing. They combined the sounds of the individuals and duplicated them many times. First, the sound of a platoon was played, then a brigade and finally, a corps. The final recording sent chills up my spine. It was a cascade of high-pitched, never-ending squawks. They continued and crowded out all other sounds. Imagine having to repel that with only one or two combined shots with smoke billowing around you. One woman grimaced. I paused in eating my dessert. I could not digest. I now understand why the Union troops at Gaines Mill broke and ran. I would've on hearing those terrible sounds.

When the moderator offered a copy of a CD with the rebel yell, there were no takers. We needed no vicarious terror in our lives.
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The Frustrations of Being Commander-in-Chief

2010-01-13T09:58:00.001-05:00

On this day in 1862, President Lincoln telegraphed his generals in the West and urged them to attack the Confederate armies. He also grew frustrated with General McClellan's unwillingness to move the Army of the Potomac against the Confederates in Virginia. He faced the eternal problem of presidents urging and asking with few results.

The problem remained almost a century later.

In 1952, Harry Truman made a prediction about his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Reflecting on Ike's status as an ex-general, Truman said,"Ike is going to find it hard to be president. He'll have to suffer the experience of giving orders with nothing happening." If he could, Lincoln would have sympathized with Truman's plight.

As the French say,"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
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Robert Hicks's A Separate Peace

2010-01-12T14:14:00.001-05:00

This post is in response to an article in Civil War Interactive about Robert Hicks's new book. The headline bills the book as a novel about the Civil War. As I've mentioned in this blog, A Separate Peace largely deals with the Civil War's aftermath. If one could put a percentage on it, the novel is 5% Civil War and the rest concerns Reconstruction. I think it is important for people to be aware.
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The Perils of Coalition

2010-01-11T09:13:00.001-05:00

Today in 1862, President Lincoln accepted the resignation of of his War Secretary, Simon Cameron. The man had a corrupt aura to him and rumors had tainted his tenure. Lincoln had taken him on because he had been a powerful Senator from Pennsylvania and he gave that important state its representation in the Cabinet.

Every Administration is a coalition of different interests and regions. To keep a faction happy or at least quiet, a president sometimes has to pick unsavory characters to keep his coalition stable. That is what Lincoln had to do. Every president probably wants decent, honest people serving under him. However, the exigencies of coalition politics can militate against that desire. Lincoln had to make that concession. Fortunately, he did not have to compromise for too long.
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Stonewall's Eccentricities

2010-01-08T12:51:00.001-05:00

Today in 1862, Stonewall Jackson ordered a halt for his "foot cavalry" so that his men could take a bath. They stopped at Unger's Store, Virginia and bathed in water he had ordered to be heated.

Stonewall had beliefs on health that were considered strange for his time. To aid his eyesight and disgestion, he sucked on lemons and ate other fruits. He also believed in baths. These were minority views at that time. Today, they are commonplace.

The prevalence of Stonewall's views today show one essential thing: a majority view is not always right.
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New Year for President Lincoln

2010-01-05T12:47:00.001-05:00

I'd first like to explain for my lack of posts in the past month or two. Let's just say life got in the way, big time, and a lot of it has not been good.

However, it was a new year for President Lincoln in 1865. With his new and incoming Administration, he had to attend to the part of the job he hated: the officeseekers. At that time, the President had to interview the men seeking that postmaster job or this judgeship. Lincoln had to serve as his own Human Resources department. Imagine that you could march into the White House and have a fifteen-minute interview with the President. Nowadays, you have to waltz past layers of lax security, like the Salafis recently.

Times were different then.
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Grant's Insight

2009-12-19T12:21:00.001-05:00

As a Jew, I try not to get too excited about dead anti-Semites. I read Dostoevsky and listen to Wagner. I make an exception for Hitler. Which brings me back to Ulysses S. Grant.
He had a great insight at the beginning of the war. During his first engagement with the Confederate army, he noticed that the Southern commander was as afraid as he was. It made him think of the enemy as less than invincible. As he told his staff in 1864,"Let's stop thinking about what Lee will do. Let us think about what we will do." He took that knowledge and used it to accomplish his victories in the West and later to final triumph in Virginia.
Grant seemed to do few things well (being President wasn't one of them). Waging war was definitely one of his skills.
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Civil War Blooper-God Bless Those Tiny Feet

2009-12-18T10:17:00.001-05:00

Confederate Colonel Alfred Rhett suffered capture by the Union Army. His exquisite pair of boots became an immediate subject of interest to his captors. They pronounced the boots an immediate spoil of war. Unfortunately for them, no one could use them since they were too small for Yankee feet.
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Grant's Order-A Date of Infamy

2009-12-17T19:12:00.001-05:00

On this day in 1862, Ulysses S. Grant did little to cover himself in glory. He issued his Order No. 11 expelling all Jews from his military department by the Mississippi River. The order caused a great deal of suffering among the Jews who had to leave the area before it was rescinded by President Lincoln.

However, I think it's important to put the order in perspective. It was the first and perhaps only act of overt anti-Semitism by an arm of the U.S. Government. In our country, most of the anti-Semitism emerged from private sources and entities. In Europe, the anti-Jewish actions were overt and explicit. Anti-Semitic political parties emerged in the late 19th century. One of the mayors of Vienna, Karl Lueger, was reelected multiple times on an anti-Semitic platform. There was the Dreyfus Affair in France. Then of course came the Nazis and the Holocaust. Though America has a strong anti-Semitic past, the U.S. has not been too bad in comparison to what Jews suffered elsewhere.

Let's put down General Grant's order to an excess of drink, shall we?
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Miscellaneous Joke

2009-12-15T06:23:00.001-05:00

A member of Team Tiger came to Mr. Woods's desk and showed him pictures of the women who have admitted and those who have claimed to have slept with him. Tiger Woods took one look at those who claimed it and said,"Damn, I wish I'd slept with them."
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Civil War Blooper-Retreat

2009-12-14T10:18:00.001-05:00

Union Colonel Edward Baker informed his eager men that they could find the war if they followed the plume of his hat. They took his admonition seriously when he led them over a cliff during a retreat.
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The Dubious Joys of Civilian Oversight

2009-12-09T14:08:00.000-05:00

Today in 1861, Congress passed the legislation creating the Committee on the Conduct of the War. Set up as a reaction to the defeat at Ball's Bluff, the body remained in existence for the rest of the war. This was an early example of Congress asserting its oversight power over the Executive and the military. On its face, it must have seemed like a good idea. In reality, the Committee played little constructive role in the war. Congress, in general, was largely a nonplayer in the Civil War.

Civilian oversight can play a constructive role in wartime. This was especially true for the Truman Committee during World War II. General George C. Marshall told then-Senator Truman, "Your committee was worth two divisions to me."

So civilian oversight can help a war effort. It just depends on who does the overseeing.
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The Portable Bible

2009-12-08T20:59:00.001-05:00

Today in 1861, the American Bible Society produced a noteworthy report on its activities. Funded by private donations, the Society had sent 7,000 copies of the New Testament each day to the soldiers. It became noted that the most of the troops carried two objects: their Bible and a deck of playing cards. That is one combination of the sacred and the profane. However, upon the onset of battle, the soldiers dropped their decks on the ground on the theory that the gates of Heaven would narrow if their Maker found the cards on them. What would have happened if the Lord somehow stumbled on the incriminating evidence?
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Civil War Screw-Up: Missing Vital Gear

2009-12-06T11:38:00.001-05:00

Clint Johnson's Civil War Blunders chronicles the lack of judgment that some leaders displayed.

Confederate General Felix Zellicoffer wanted to show himself to the enemy. To accomplish this goal, he wore a white raincoat. However, he forgot a vital piece of equipment that would allow him to see the Federals: his eyeglasses.
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Civil War Joke-One Big Man

2009-12-03T09:04:00.001-05:00

David Van Buskirk of the 27th Indiana Regiment was the Union Army's tallest and largest man. At a height of 6 feet, 11 inches tall (NBA point guard potential) and weighing in at 380 pounds, he towered over them all. Confederate forces captured him in 1862. A Richmond businessman put him on display. The Richmonders came out to see him, including President Davis. Van Buskirk gave Davis an account of his family of giants. He said that when he left for the army, his six sisters saw him off and had to bend down to give him a kiss.
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Intelligence Analysis in the Civil War

2009-12-02T09:07:00.000-05:00

Edwin Fishel's The Secret War for the Union illuminates how the first intelligence analysts in American history emerged during the Civil War. Hired by George McClellan to analyze the intelligence gathered by his spy chief Allan Pinkerton, our first intelligence analysts were not Americans. They were French.

This team consisted of a family of Bourbon pretenders to the French throne, from the royal family deposed by the French revolutions of 1789 and 1830. Louis Philippe d'Orleans and his brother, Robert d'Orleans, lived in exile in Britain. They served without pay under McClellan. They were joined by their uncle, the prince de Joinville. The two brothers turned laborious intelligence reports into summaries used by the general-in-chief.

In the present time, long delays in security clearance are required to be an intelligence analyst in any of our spy agencies. The director of National Intelligence, Mitch McConnell, once joked,"We are improving our security clearance process. We've whittled it down to eighteen months." I have a feeling that McClellan's security clearance of the Bourbon brothers consisted of a five-minute interview. Intelligence was a truly ad-hoc arrangement during the Civil War.

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Loose Lips in the Civil War

2009-12-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

Edwin Fishel's The Secret War for the Union discusses how the press during the Civil War routinely reported important military information. With the arrival of Union Army regiments in July 1861 to protect Washington DC, the National Republican listed the regiments in the area with their numbers and names of the officers. In a later report, the New York Herald listed only nineteen of those regiments. The paper later decided to report the army's total strength.

Confederate leaders arranged for the delivery of Northern papers to Richmond. General Lee routinely consulted them.

If you think the press today sinks ships, the newspapers in those days fell over each other to report state secrets.
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Civil War Joke-Stonewall Jackson and Music

2009-11-30T07:40:00.001-05:00

For all of Stonewall Jackson's talents, music was not one of them.
A female singer came to entertain the men in his brigade. After a performance of several songs, Jackson asked her to perform Dixie.
She replied,"Why General, I already did."
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Intelligence Failures and Civilian Contractors

2009-11-29T10:20:00.001-05:00

As part of the research for my third novel, I have been reading Edwin Fishel's The Secret War for the Union. It is a book about the role that intelligence gathering played in the outcome of the Civil War.

In the initial parts of the book, Fischel makes a persuasive case that an intelligence failure contributed to the Union defeat at First Bull Run. A spy attached to General Patterson's Federal army in the Shenandoah Valley learned that Joseph Johnston's army in the same region had left its positions to reinforce General Beauregard's forces at Manassas. Patterson failed to pass on the information in time to help General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Union Army at Manassas. The information that McDowell did have about Johnston's approaching army was not processed by his staff because he had no intelligence officer. In the end, Johnston's reinforcements played a decisive role in defeating Union forces at First Manassas. Even in the Civil War, intelligence failures played an important role in victory and defeat.

The Civil War also gave us among the first civilian contractors in our history. Allan Pinkerton, the Scottish-born head of a Chicago-based detective agency, was hired by George McClellan to do counterintelligence in Washington, DC and to spy on the Confederacy. Pinkerton arrested Rose Greenhow, the Confederate spy in Washington and sent agents to Richmond. However, he remained a civilian and never acquired a military commission. Though Fishel doesn't give him the label, Pinkerton was a civilian contractor. The CIA after 9/11 was not the first to subcontract its work to outside civilians.

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Book Review-A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

2009-11-28T10:01:00.001-05:00

A Separate Country is really a novel about Reconstruction, not the Civil War. In many ways, it's a follow-up to Robert Hicks's first novel, The Widow of the South.

Nevertheless, the book provides some insight into the psychology of the fighting men. By describing the inner life of John Bell Hood, the author writes about how it was necessary to forget those who died in previous battles. Harsh as it was, it served as the only way for the survivors to keep going. In addition, the psychology of generals is also described. After the Battle of Franklin, Hood wonders how his men could let themselves suffer so many casualties. It never occurs to him that he could have had any role in his men's disaster.

Hood's alleged remorse is where the fiction comes into play. Hicks portrays Hood as a man wracked by remorse over his role in that battle. Hood even calls himself a murderer. I did a bit of research and consulted with others online. There is little evidence that he felt such self-revulsion. There may have been some regret but there seemed to have been little mea culpa on his part. Well, it is a novel after all.

As a work of fiction, A Separate Country is very good. The characters are vivid and real. The portrayal of the killer Sebastien LeMerle is excellent. His crimes, though reprehensible, can be understood. You don't agree with them but you see why he did them. The prose is brilliant. Hicks's description of Hood's marriage is accurate and interesting. You feel that Hood and his wife Anne-Marie are truly in love despite the baggage that marriage can gather.

Though it is lightweight as a Civil War book, A Separate Country is worth reading for itself.
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The Effects of the Civil War on West Point

2009-11-27T11:14:00.004-05:00

A little while ago, I attended a talk on the Civil War's effect on the West Point military academy at the New York Civil War Roundtable. Ty Seidule, a colonel in the 82nd Airborne Division, and a teacher at the academy, gave a wonderful lecture on the subject.

He described how the onset of the secession crisis divided the Academy and its cadets. Prior to the war, the cadets became politicized. Several Southern cadets wore blue ribbons called the South Carolina cockade. One pro-Union cadet, Morris Schaff, said it took more courage to vote for Lincoln than to participate in Picketts Charge. With secession, Southerners gradually left the Academy and the men suffered the traumatic experience of companies splitting between the North and South.

After the war, any mention of the graduates who fought for the Confederacy was expunged. Though the Academy accepted Southern cadets when their states were readmitted to the Union, post-war monuments only noted the contributions of Union officers. In 1897, West Point erected the memorial to the Regular Army. The Battle Monument listed 2,230 names, all of them from the Union Army. Southern cadets called it "the monument to Southern marksmanship." The leaders of the Academy gave the motto "duty, honor, country" to the institution in 1898. They meant it as a rebuke to the men whom they saw as repudiating the oath they took upon graduating the Academy.

The exclusion has continued into the 20th century. In 1971, President Nixon visited the Academy and as part of his Southern strategy, demanded that a Confederate monument be erected. The commandant of West Point, General Knowlton, searched for a way to avoid this Presidential directive. Knowlton asked Percy Squire, the leader of the black cadets, how his men would react to the monument. Squire replied that the graduates who left for the South violated their oath and that black cadets would boycott a Confederate monument. From Squire's answer, Knowlton told Nixon's officials that a Confederate monument would hurt minority recruitment and cause dissension at the Academy. That ended any nascent effort to build a Confederate monument.

The only exception to that rule has been Robert E. Lee. Due to Southern political pressure, a portrait of Lee in Confederate gray was placed in the USMA Library.

To this day, the Civil War is contested at West Point and no Confederate monument has been erected.

It was an excellent lecture on what seemed would be a dry subject. Colonel Ty Seidule gave an excellent talk.

Missionary Ridge

2009-11-26T09:13:00.001-05:00

Though it occurred yesterday in 1863, I cannot help but comment on it.

At the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Grant ordered the Army of the Cumberland to take the Confederate rifle positions at the bottom of the valley and then wait for additional orders. The troops assaulted those pits and took them. Facing enemy fire from the top of the ridge, Union officers and the soldiers themselves disobeyed Grant's orders and attacked the Confederate positions at the top of the ridge. They took those positions, sending Braxton Bragg's Army of the Tennessee into retreat.

Like many successes, this one laid the seed of trouble down the road. Among the officers who disobeyed Grant's orders was Lieutenant Arthur MacArthur. For his part in the successful assault, MacArthur received the Medal of Honor. He later fathered Douglas MacArthur. One lesson Arthur imparted to Douglas was the occasional need for a military man to disobey orders to achieve his objective. The younger MacArthur would follow this lesson as commander of UN forces in Korea, leading to his climactic confrontation with President Truman.
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Civil War Joke-Abe's Furlough

2009-11-24T07:04:00.001-05:00

President Lincoln received the following request for a furlough from a Union Army private. It shows the difference one word can make.

"Mr. President,

I have been in the service for a year and I request permission for a furlough of fifteen days to remove my family to the poorhouse."

Abraham Lincoln carefully pondered the request the request and granted it.
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Civil War Joke-Gettysburg

2009-11-21T23:09:00.001-05:00

On the eve of Picketts Charge on Day 3 of the Battle of Gettysburg, the division of Confederate general George Pickett rested in Spanglers Wood before being given the order to attack the Union lines in front of them.

Just before he rose from his resting place, a Confederate soldier saw a hare running to the rear.

The soldier commented,"If I was a little rabbit, I'd run away too."
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Civil War Joke

2009-11-20T12:36:00.001-05:00

A soldier made the mistake of losing his bayonet. To compensate, he made one of wood until his next battle, where he hoped to get one off a dead soldier. Unfortunately for him, his commanding officer ordered an inspection. When confronted by his sergeant, he protested handing his new and improved bayonet over saying,"I swore to my father that I would not unsheath it unless I planned to kill with it." The officer demanded that he hand it over. The soldier gave it but looked toward the sky and intoned with a solemn voice,"May God turn this bayonet into wood for having broken my vow."
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Military Rules Broken

2009-11-18T20:58:00.001-05:00

Today in 1864, Sherman's army marched through Georgia toward Savannah. Instead of the traditional four man column on a road, Sherman's two wings stretched out widely over sixty miles. The force was spread thin and vulnerable to attack. Fortunately for Sherman, no formidable Confederate force was in the vicinity to oppose him. He violated not only marching procedure but that key military axiom: concentration of mass.

Lee joined Sherman in breaking the rules taught in the academies. Lee's famous division of his army at Chancellorsville defied all military logic yet it succeeded brilliantly.

However, only masters like Sherman and Lee could successfully pull off these violations of the rules. In 1879, Lord Chelmsford divided his forces when his British colonial army marched into Zulu territory in South Africa. The result was the Battle of Isahndlwarna, the first engagement where a non-European force defeated a colonial army. The American Army's spreading itself thin in Iraq partially led to the unraveling of that country by late 2006.

Only the best can break these rules. To paraphrase a French saying, even with technology, the more things change, the more they tend to stay the same.
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How the Civil War Inspires Me

2009-11-17T20:34:00.001-05:00

I have begun submitting my novel again to literary agents. I emailed several query letters on Sunday and received my first rejection email this evening. I've been down this road before so I expect it.

I have even designated words to myself when I get a rejection. They are, of course, from a mortally wounded Civil War soldier.

On his deathbed, the man said,"We will never give up."

I remembered those words when I first heard them in Ken Burns's Civil War documentary. As you can tell, they still ring in my ears. I will remember them during these hard times ahead when I look for an agent.
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The Power of Civil War Memory

2009-11-16T09:45:00.001-05:00

My grandfather told me an interesting story the other day.

In the 1930's, (he is ninety-nine, God bless him), he made a trip to visit a cousin in Virginia. He is my maternal grandfather, descended from Polish Jews, who came to this country at the turn of the 20th century. His family came in dribs and drabs and one branch ended up in Virginia. My grandfather was born in Boston and raised largely in Brooklyn.

My grandfather kept up with that part of the family and made a visit. When his cousin introduced him to people, he told them,"This is my damn Yankee cousin from New York."

Think of it. These were first-generation Americans and sons of immigrants whose families had no connection to the Civil War. Yet, the memory lived on.
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Civil War Joke-Robert E. Lee

2009-11-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

This joke says a lot about the South's great general.

A man in Memphis goes to the top of a building and threatens to jump off.

A police negotiater is sent up to try and talk him down.

The negotiater says,"In the name of your wife and family, you should come down."

The man says,"I have no wife and family."

The negotiater tries another tack. "Then in the name of your church, you should come down."

"I have no church."

The negotiater sighs and tries a final gambit. "In the name of Robert E. Lee, you should come down."

"Who is Robert E. Lee?"

Incensed, the negotiater tells him,"Jump, you damned Yankee! Jump!"
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I Salute You

2009-11-11T07:19:00.002-05:00

First, tell me if you can guess who the Civil War soldier is. I'm sure there are many of you out there who can.

Since today is Veterans Day, I think they deserve a tribute. To the veterans past and present, I have only four words: thank you for everything.

Confederate Captain Enters Friendly Territory

2009-11-10T07:59:00.001-05:00

On this day in 1862, Commander Maury of the Confederate Navy entered friendly territory...in Canada. The captain took his ship from Bermuda to Halifax, Nova Scotia. When he brought his vessel to port, he discovered the Confederate flag being flown from a seaside hotel for an entire day in his and his crew's honor. He never knew he had such good allies.

The Canadians must have wished the North much ill. We had only invaded them twice before.
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The President and the Actor

2009-11-09T10:24:00.000-05:00

Today in 1863, President Lincoln went to the theater tonight with his wife. Despite his wishes, they saw a melodrama called "Marble Heart." One of the stars of American theater played one of the lead roles. His name was John Wilkes Booth.

Don't you just love the irony in that situation?
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New York Civil War Site-Home of the New York Confederate

2009-11-08T11:23:00.005-05:00

This is the home of an ardent New York Confederate. His name was Roger Pryor and he served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. Prior to the war, he served as a diplomat to Greece in 1854 and later founded a newspaper called The South in which he advocated an ardently pro-secession position.

When the war came, he was elected to the Confederate Congress but left politics to serve as colonel in the 3rd Virginia Infantry. He earned a promotion to brigadier general and fought in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Manassas. During Antietam, he took command of Anderson's Division inside Longstreet's Corps when Major General Richard Anderson suffered a wound.

In an action duplicated by several Confederate generals, he quarreled with Jefferson Davis over his wish for higher command. He resigned his commission and his brigade was dismantled. In August 1863, he rejoined the army as a private in General Fitzhugh Lee's Virginia cavalry regiment. Union forces captured him on November 28, 1864. Lincoln released him on parole and he came back to Virginia.

In 1865, poverty compelled him to move himself and his family to New York City. Using his prior law degree, he established a prosperous law firm with the hated "Beast" Benjamin Butler. Becoming a respected member of the bar, he was appointed as a judge of the New York Court of Common Pleas from 1890 to 1894 and then later served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1894 to 1899.

The picture above is on 157 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. A quick subway trip across the East River will get you there. Pryor's home looked like the brownstones across the street. The apartment complex you see above is of more recent construction but come and see the home of New York City's Confederate. Pryor was a symbol of how some people truly reconciled with their enemies after the war.

Command Changes

2009-11-07T09:05:00.001-05:00

During the Civil War, 'tis was the season for command changes. Like a baseball team in the off-season, it was time to hire or promote new management. Since the armies were generally in winter quarters during this time of the year, the timing was appropriate.

The North and the South both made some big changes. Yesterday in 1862, Lincoln replaced McClellan with Ambrose Burnside to lead the Army of the Potomac. Today in the same year, Longstreet became a lieutenant general and head of the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Stonewall Jackson also rose in the ranks to head the Second Corps of Lee's army.

Of course, we all know the results of the change in the Union's command. Winter was the season when the civilian leadership hoped to get the commanders in the right places. Unfortunately, Lincoln felt the need to change his head coach many times. Even when he found a good general manager (Grant), it could be argued that he did not find a dynamic coach for the Army of the Potomac until Phil Sheridan. It took four winters and the beginning of the regular season for that army to reach the necessary level of leadership.
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Civil War Joke-Definition of Bravery

2009-11-06T12:51:00.000-05:00

Obviously, the experience of war altered peacetime views about courage and bravery.

After suffering the hardships of battle, a Civil War soldier said,"A brave soldier is a compassionate enemy."
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Civil War Joke-Fixing the Bugler

2009-11-03T09:12:00.001-05:00

During the winters, Civil War soldiers, possibly to sleep later, would play a trick on the bugler. During the nights, they would fill his bugle with water. By the morning, it would freeze and the bugler would not be able to wake them up until the instrument thawed out.
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New York Civil War Site: Abe Lincoln's Anti-Slavery Church

2009-11-02T08:07:00.005-05:00

Yes, Lincoln visited here. He came to New York to deliver his Cooper Union speech except, as I mentioned in a previous post, he was originally invited to speak in Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. Above is a picture of the pew where he sat on February 26, 1860. He delivered his speech at Cooper Union and returned to sit and worship in the balcony two weeks later.

The church itself has an interesting history. Built in 1849 in Brooklyn Heights, it seated over 2,000 people. Its chief preacher was Henry Ward Beecher, depicted in a statue above. Though not an abolitionist, he was anti-slavery. He held fourteen slave auctions in which money was raised to free bondsmen in the South. The church was also a way station on the Underground Railroad. From here, church members ferried slaves up to New England by ship or overland. It is speculated that slaves were hidden in the church basement. In addition, church members concealed slaves in storerooms inside their own homes.

As mentioned before, though Brooklyn was not yet officially a part of New York City, the two cities were closely linked economically. New York was pro-slavery due to its close ties with the South. The city shipped goods southward and held the mortgages and loans made to many Southerners. Hence, being anti-slavery in Brooklyn in the years prior to war was anything but popular. The churchgoers also defied the Fugitive Slave Law in hiding and transporting bondsmen.

Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church can be visited by a quick hop on the subway across the East River into Brooklyn.

New York Civil War Site: Our Most Valuable Swede

2009-10-31T09:34:00.002-04:00

During the Civil War, a Swedish inventor saved the Union from disaster. His name was John Ericsson and he designed the ironclad ship, the Monitor.

A statue of him lies in the midst of Battery Park in downtown Manhattan. You can see it on your way to visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Being the weaker side in raw power, the Confederacy more readily adopted technological advances in military weaponry to nullify the Union's clear strength in numbers and armaments. To counter the Federal Navy, the South developed the CSS Virginia, an ironclad naval vessel. The Confederates unleashed this new weapon and it soon sunk two wooden naval ships in the Federal blockading squadron off Hampton Roads, Virginia.

The Federals had received prior word of this threat and through Lincoln's intervention, the Ironclad Board in Washington gave John Ericsson a contract for $270,000. The Board provided it on a monthly basis and told him that he would have to return the money if he disliked the terms (imagine trying to set such a contract today). In addition, since it was during a war, time was of the essence.

Ericsson developed the ship in a record 100 days at the Continental Iron Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. He and other engineers placed two guns on a revolving turret. With the ship ready in such a short time, it sailed down to Virginia to join the beleaguered blockade squadron in southern Virginia.

On March 6, 1862, ironclad met ironclad. In a day-long battle, the ships fought to a draw. A round from the CSS Virginia hit the hull of the ship and blinded the Monitor's captain. A falling tide also compelled the Virginia to withdraw.

Without the Monitor, the Virginia might have sailed up to Washington and begun a bombardment. The Monitor saved the Union from military disaster. That is why John Ericsson was our most valuable Swede.

New York Civil War Site: Cooper Union

2009-10-30T08:17:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, I visited the Cooper Union hall with a number of other Civil War buffs. It was here that Lincoln gave his famous speech that made him a candidate for President.

The tour guide related a number of interesting facts. First, the college had not invited Lincoln to speak there. He had originally been invited to speak at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. Cooper Union is located across the East River in downtown Manhattan. Brooklyn was a separate city at that time. The Brooklyn Bridge had not yet been built. The organizers feared that it would snow, causing the river to freeze. At that time, the only means to Manhattan from Brooklyn were steamboat or foot. Contrary to most accounts, our guide pointed out that it did not snow. There was fear of snow.

Lincoln stood on the stage and delivered his speech with 1,500 people in attendance. The audience members paid a sizable sum, twenty-five cents, to attend. You know that the audience must have been composed primarily of middle class and well-off individuals.

Though he was a wealthy attorney at the time, Lincoln wore a rumpled suit. He had not given sufficient attention to his grooming.

He also thought little about the speech after delivering it. He wrote to his wife that he had no trouble delivering the speech. It reminds one about Lincoln's reaction after delivering the Gettysburg Address.

As a midwestern lawyer, he was little known in the East. After the Cooper Union speech, he acquired a national reputation.

The most famous phrase in the speech is "right makes might." However, Lincoln also made an interesting statement about the South's attitude prior to the war.

He said,"Your purpose, then plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events." (emphasis added)

Whether you agree with that view or not, that is what happened. The South ruled over itself and then suffered ruin. The Cooper Union speech not only created a presidential candidate. It was prophetic.

Civil War Joke-The Rooster on the Hill

2009-10-27T08:32:00.000-04:00

As many of you may know, The South won most of the battles in the beginning and middle of the Civil War.

To use a sports analogy, the Southerners enjoyed a home field advantage. They fought for their own country and on their native soil.

Southerners described this situation by saying,"A rooster fights best on his own hill."
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Civil War Joke-Too Much To Do

2009-10-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

I'm sure there are some of you who have had too many duties thrust on your shoulders.

Civil War officers faced the same problem.

When a commander gave an officer too many duties, the poor man would tell his friends,"I have too many buttons on my coat."

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Civil War Wit-Abraham Lincoln

2009-10-25T09:32:00.000-04:00

And now, another zinger from the President.

Abraham Lincoln was generally a patient man. However, certain events, mostly the actions of his generals, caused his temper to flare.

General George McClellan seemed to specialize in irritating his President.

After the Battle of Antietam, McClellan concerned himself with the administrative details in his army. In one telegram to the War Department, he lamented that the horses in the Army of the Potomac suffered from fatigue and endured sore tongues.

In exasperation, Lincoln fired back,"General, what have the horses done since the Battle of Antietam to fatigue anything?"
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Latschar To Go

2009-10-22T07:52:00.003-04:00

I feel like playing that music from the tail end of the The Wizard of Oz, "Ding Dong, the Witch is dead." Except in this case, the Witch is going to be reassigned.

On Monday, John Latschar will be leaving his position as Superintendant of Gettysburg National Park. He will be given a desk job in the National Park Service. I guess this is what passes for accountability in the federal government. I wonder if his "desk job" will pay him his current $145,000 salary. If so, I want his new job. They could pay me $200 per sheet. I'll ask for $100 a page to print from the computer.

You get a sense of the vanity of politicians and federal officials from Latschar's departing statement. "Strangely enough, right now, in addition to the sorrow for the grief I've caused friends and family, I'm feeling almost a sense of relief. I've spent the last 21 years of my life in the public arena, where everything I say or do is considered fair game."

Oh please. Running Gettysburg National Park is important. Being the Gettysburg superintendant matters because that individual safeguards a vital part of our national heritage. However, it's not as if he's the president or an electoral officeholder. No one searched his trash for a piece of his private life. Pundits on cable TV did not scrutinize his every policy move. Comedians on late night TV did not write jokes about his sex life. It is because he imported his sex life, or the lack thereof, into his working hours that he is out of a job.

My advice to him is to confine his Internet porn search to his private hours.

Why John Latschar Should Go

2009-10-21T07:05:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I posted, in my own sarcastic way, about why John Latschar should go. I've read the opinions of some who think he should stay and I simply don't agree.

His behavior is simply unacceptable in any job. If he surfed the Net for porn at a private sector job, he would have been axed. Some have mentioned that he's done a wonderful job at preserving Gettysburg National Park. That is true. However, if I were the top trial attorney at my firm and I was caught looking for porn or doing online trading, I would still be fired. It would be excusable if he made a nonprofessional Internet search like looking at the news or booking a hotel reservation once in a while. That would be understandable. He downloaded no less than 3400 images. That is a pattern of behavior and it should not be tolerated.

In addition, Latschar should face a higher standard because he is working at a government job. We are paying for his follies. The man is making $145,000 a year. We the taxpayers should be subsidizing his extracurricular activites during his working hours? I say no and I'm sure most people would agree with me.

John Latschar should resign or be dismissed. Even in the federal government, there should be some accountability for personal behavior.

John Latschar-The Defenses

2009-10-20T11:38:00.004-04:00

If John Latschar, the superintendent of Gettysburg National Park, needs a defense, it's right now. The man was just cited for downloading over 3,400 pornographic images on his work computer.

If this case went to trial, let's try to imagine what his defense lawyer would say. This is where creative lawyering comes into play.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, yes, my client downloaded Internet porn. However, it was Civil War Internet porn. That's right. He downloaded those images to help us understand a little-known aspect of the conflict. How can you fault my client for attempting to make the Gettysburg viewing experience even more meaningful?"

Then, we get to his attorney's second line of defense.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution has introduced evidence that my client actually downloaded contemporary porn. That is also true. Nevertheless, once again, his conduct goes back to the Civil War. He was doing a comparative study of contemporary and Civil War pornography."

Sounds a bit absurd, but sometimes a lawyer has to protect the guilty. Folks, I sincerely hope the recession will end at Gettysburg National Park and a superintendant's job will open up very soon.