The American Civil War
An Introduction to six essays
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Over the course of the next six months, you will see a series of my essays on the American Civil War.
I penned these essays over perhaps ten years, during which I harried several long-suffering professors, Civil War Round Table members, and other unfortunates with my distinctly contrarian view of the 1861-65 conflict.
In the interests of full disclosure and scholarly integrity, I need to state that I am an unabashed Federal Unionist and admirer of U.S. Grant. I believe that no American institutions, including historians, have ever handled the issues of “race” and racism well, and that the American Civil War was about much more—and a great deal less—than the institutions surrounding chattel slavery in the United States, and its origins reach well beyond the first slaves in Virginia.
In the beginning…
Early in my life, during the centennial of the American Civil War, I had a dream of teaching and writing about nothing other than the War Between the States, and began upon a rigorous course of study to attain that goal.
But life intervened.
As I grew up, I discovered my grandparent’s WWI, my father’s WWII, my step-brother’s Korea, and finally my own Vietnam, and a few others along the way. As life continued to interrupt my studies, there was occasional public interest in the Great Civil Conflagration of 1861-65, which would again fade as soon as the latest movie reached the economy theaters. Now and then, I would come back to the Civil War, read a few books or see a movie, then go back to the rest of my life.
And time passed…
I discovered the French Wars through the historical fiction of Patrick O'Brien and Viking England through Bernard Cornwell. Then, I wrote a novel about the air war over Germany in WWII (another passion). During those years, I would occasionally crack open a Civil War book and again become absorbed in some topic or other, usually something to do with Grant or the western theater. Each time, it was like coming home after an extended absence.
When I went back to college in 2001 for a degree in American military history, it was impossible to not study the Civil War.
When I seriously examined the conflict, I noticed something I hadn't seen before: Americans don't treat the conflict like any other, ever, anywhere. American treatment of the 1861-65 conflict is always an exception to every rule of writing history, and American writers at all levels treat it as their private preserve. Parallels with any other conflict are impossible for many Civil War buffs and not a few scholars, as are any ties with any non-American conflict. (A buff knows how many cartridges were in a soldier's cartridge box; a scholar knows how that number affected tactics.) “Scholars” and other “experts” dismiss with derision those who suggest that the economic and political issues not related to slavery are eerily similar to those surfacing during the 1641-1688 period in England, and that “patriot” was a term attached to those who supported Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Bolyne.
The American Civil War sits isolated in a pristine crystal dome of American history, separate from all other events.
Just writing the name—always with a capital “C” and “W”—endeavors to maintain its elevated status. There are certain ways to write about it that make it acceptable to Civil War scholars and their audiences. Material that does not observe these "rules" gets relegated to the Isle of Broken Essays. Before describing the first shot, Civil War battle studies must examine the origins and slavery-related sympathies of each commander. Before casting the first ballot, each politician must get similar treatment. The institutional silence that has greeted my foray into Civil War book writing, The Devil's Own Day, stems from, among other things, my refusal to see any “color” in battle narrative except red (I don’t use terms like “butternut” or “blue-clad” for instance), its challenge to AS Johnston's “unrealized genius” that really wasn’t, and its direct refutation of the accepted narratives about Buell saving Grant at that savage battle in the Tennessee pine barrens.
If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.
John D. Rockefeller
No one ever tells the Civil War industry what John D. knew, yet the industry thrives.
The distinct position I take in these essays is unacceptable to “mainstream” Civil War scholarship.
“Of Parks and Excuses” explains how Civil War battlefield presentation isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
“Blockade and the American Civil War” shows that the “worthless” Union blockade challenged the very idea of Confederate nationhood.
“Combat Arm of Decision” shows that the Arme Blanche, so celebrated in the South, was the exception in American military tradition, not the rule.
“Unknown Gettysburg” tells that the fight in Pennsylvania has a special place in Civil War lore…but that’s it.
“Forlorn Hope” shows how the Southern Confederacy couldn’t possibly get what she wanted by military means.
“Grant’s Military Legacy” explains why Grant’s military legacy is much deeper and longer lasting than Lee’s.
These essays may make you reconsider your understanding of the American Civil War, its significance in world history, and its interconnectedness with the rest of the world.
The Devil’s Own Day: Shiloh and the American Civil War
Get ready for a Devil’s Own Day ad every month…
That furious battle in Tennessee in April 1862 had more impact on the conflict than that three-day bloodletting in Pennsylvania. Available from your favorite bookseller or from me if you want an autograph.
Coming Up…
Calling Time on BC and AD
Changing the Great Game
And Finally...
On 4 January:
1643: Issac Newton is born at Woolsthorpe Manor House, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. Although known for his white light composition and mathematics discoveries , his formulation of the laws of motion made him famous.
1948: Harper & Brothers publishes The God That Failed. This crucial work contains six essays by important 20th Century writers on their conversion to and subsequent disillusionment with communism.
And today is NATIONAL TRIVIA DAY, celebrating, well, the trivial. For instance, did you know that the word “trivia” stems from the Latin for “three roads?” Roman soldiers would place notes to loved ones on signs where three roads came together, hoping others would carry the messages to their destinations. Speaking of trivia…