Book Review: Walt Whitman’s Drum Taps, The Complete 1865 Edition

Book Review: Walt Whitman’s Drum Taps, The Complete 1865 Edition

This new volume, published at the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the original publication of Drum-Taps, seeks to restore the original Civil War volume for readers.  By reconstructing the original work, editor Lawrence Kramer, intends to recapture the original voice and intention of Whitman’s poetry.  With an excellent introduction and annotations within the poems, this new edition is an excellent resource for those interested in poetry, American literature, or the Civil War.

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The Importance of an "Angel": Kirkland at Fredericksburg

The Importance of an "Angel": Kirkland at Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg is a largely unmonumented battlefield.  The most prominent monument on the southern end of the field is the “Meade pyramid” largely inaccessible to most visitors; besides that the remains of earthworks stand as a testament to what once occurred there ornamented by a few cannon the park service has placed to represent their use.  There are a few small monuments scattered through the town and up to the heights which mocked the efforts of Union soldiers in 1862.  The only large monuments to a body of troops, like those you would expect to see at Gettysburg or Antietam, stand in the National Cemetery, and there are only three of them. But there is one monument so large and prominent that is captures the attention of every visitor who walks down the Sunken Road, and that is the monument to Richard Kirkland.

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Roundtable: The Civil War's Most Influential Event

Roundtable:  The Civil War's Most Influential Event

In Civil Discourse's first ever roundtable question, we asked five of our writers a classic, yet undeniably important, question:  what event most influenced the outcome of the Civil War?  Our authors diverse answers (and non-answers!) may surprise you!

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Calls to Arms: "The" Confederate Flag in American Culture

Calls to Arms: "The" Confederate Flag in American Culture

When asked why the American Civil War still holds such power over the American imagination, author Shelby Foote once observed, “because it’s the big one.  It measures what we are, good and bad.  If you look at American history as the life span of a man, the Civil War represents the great trauma of our adolescence.” More recently, at the 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox, historian David Blight reflected, “The Civil War is a place we go to ask who we are and what are we becoming…it is our oracle.” The debates that tore the nation apart for four bloody years are eternal questions of the American condition, Blight explained. It is no small wonder then that the symbols of those conflicts remain contested as well, suspended in our national consciousness without a singular definition that holds true over time.

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When Battlefield Killing Becomes Murder: Antietam and Fredericksburg

When Battlefield Killing Becomes Murder: Antietam and Fredericksburg

Marching in column after column upon the enemy’s works, only to be mowed down and driven back—again to re-form and close up their broken ranks, and once again, with steady step to face the storm of death.  And thus over and over again they repeated their noble, but alas, fruitless deeds of valor, until divisions assumed the proportions of brigades, brigades of regiments, and regiments ofttimes had but a handful of brave fellows left, with but one or two commissioned officers remaining able to lead.  And so the tide of battle ebbed and flowed until generous night covered the blood-stained field with her sable mantle.

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Surrendering to "Genl Intoxication"

Surrendering to "Genl Intoxication"

In studying the Civil War, we often remark about the youth (sometimes the extreme youth) of the men who fought it.  Yet while these men were engaged in a serious and deadly endeavor, they did not cease to be young men...capable of all the mishaps, shenanigans, and vices to which people of a young age can be suspecible.  This is, of course, reflected in our own lives as well.  We’ve all had our college parties or midnight soirees or one glass of wine too many. Young soldiers most certainly did, too. These are stories, both light-hearted and somber, of men surrendering to “Genl Intoxication.”

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The “great battle which would naturally decide the contest”: John Badger Bachelder and the Creation of Gettysburg

The “great battle which would naturally decide the contest”: John Badger Bachelder and the Creation of Gettysburg

The creation of Gettysburg as legend and central turning point of the war and the creation of Gettysburg as a field of monuments centers on one man: John Badger Bachelder.  Bachelder was not a Civil War veteran, nor did he ever serve in the military, yet he is the key to answering the question of how Gettysburg came to be what we know today.

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The Creation of Gettysburg National Cemetery

The Creation of Gettysburg National Cemetery

On July 4th, 1863 Meade’s Union army rejoiced as the sights and sounds of a Confederate army in retreat ensured them of their victory.  For the North, Independence Day 1863 was a day of rejoicing and confirmation with victory at both Gettysburg and Vicksburg.  But in the midst of victory, July 4th was also sobering for the men who fought around that Pennsylvania town for it was the first chance they had to inspect the battlefield and attend to the dead...The Union soldiers and Gettysburg civilians that looked over the battlefield on July 4th saw a level of death and destruction that was overwhelming and seemingly impossible to take care of.

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Memories of Hazel Grove: The III Corps at Gettysburg

Memories of Hazel Grove: The III Corps at Gettysburg

Daniel Sickles was an infamous figure even before the war began.  Sickles is notorious for his role in the Battle of Gettysburg, a role that was debated between generals and officers after the war, a debate that continues today.  The III Corps under Sickles arrived at the battlefield over a period of time from the evening of July 1 after the fighting had calmed for the day into the morning of July 2.  Meade intended the corps to extend his line along Cemetery Ridge, attaching themselves to the end of the II Corps line and ending at the base of Little Round Top.  Whether Sickles misunderstood his orders or willfully disobeyed them, the III Corps ended up in another position entirely.

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