Top Ten Posts of 2020: 6-10
/Counting down the top ten posts of 2020!
#10: Review: Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North by Sarah Handley-Cousins
“In Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North, Sarah Handley-Cousins brings the reader past the medical fascination and bare statistics of Civil War casualties and injuries to look at Civil War disability from a more social and cultural view. The amputated leg or empty sleeve were prominent symbols of Civil War disability and the sacrifice of Union soldiers, but Handley-Cousins moves past that more visible and often used disability to examine those injuries less visible and more hidden. In doing so she gives the reader a fuller and more human perspective on the lasting impact of the Civil War. As she states, “Disability is a necessary by-product of war, and without coming to terms with that reality, we will never understand the full experience of this conflict…” (135).” Read more…
#9 Debating Confederate Monuments at the Federal Level
“The conversation over Civil War memory and Confederate monuments is rapidly evolving this year. While many states and communities are making decisions about local Confederate monuments, there has been a lot of discussion recently about proposed legislation now being considered in Congress. H.R. 7608 “State, Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2021” contains three sections which deal with Confederate flags, Confederate Monuments, and Confederate names. Many in the Civil War community have been particularly concerned with Section 442…” Read more…
#8 Interview with Sarah Handley-Cousins, author of Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North
This is an interview with historian Dr. Sarah Handley-Cousins about her book Bodies in Blue. Read more…
“The War Went On is the latest in recent scholarship to look beyond the American Civil War of 1861-1865 and instead examine how wartime service affected veterans in the years and decades beyond. Topics run the gamut from political to social history, with inclusions of the fields of economics, memory studies, race, and others. Though not comprehensive, this excellent book explores a range of experiences and offers insight into complicated and diverse groups of veterans.” Read more…
#6 Historic Site Review: Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site
“The Battle of Perryville was fought on October 8, 1862 by troops under Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Union Major General Don Carlos Buell (primarily his I Corps under Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook). The battle resulted from a Confederate campaign meant to bring Kentucky into the Confederacy. While Confederate forces did win a tactical victory in the battle, they ultimately retreated to Tennessee and Kentucky was securely in Union hands for the rest of the war. While Perryville gets buried under more “famous” 1862 battles such as Antietam and Fredericksburg, it was the largest battle to occur in Kentucky and it was a key part of the fight to control the border states. About one-fifth of the combatants became casualties, making Perryville one of the bloodier battles of the war when looking at that ratio. And when examining the battle as part of a larger picture of the war, the retreat from Kentucky combined with Lee’s retreat south after Antietam had political significance in foreign policy, northern elections, and Lincoln’s move toward the Emancipation Proclamation. Put together, Lee’s push into Maryland is not isolated because other Confederate armies were pushing north as well.” Read more…