Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic on my doorstep

California has been following me since I started my project in Virginia. First there was the August 23rd earthquake in Mineral, Virginia, about 10 miles west of my work location and 35 miles from Richmond. Now, Steven Spielberg comes on my heels for his biopic about Abraham Lincoln.  It is my understanding the film will focus on [...]

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Post Cards from the Road: Late September

The weather is changing here in central Virginia; a few trees are starting to show a little color, but it will be a few weeks before the real show begins. For now, the roadsides are flanked by lush green forests. I took a side trip south of Richmond along State Route 5, which angles southeast of [...]

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Battle of Bull Run Commemoration Held at Manassas

Ed Ayers, President of the University of Richmond, gave the keynote speech at the first major event of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.  The Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas as it was known to the Confederate side, was fought on July 21, 1861. Doctor Ayers is a historian who is noted for his work on southern [...]

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Was April 12, 1861 the start of the Civil War?

April 12, 1861, the date Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard ordered his batteries to fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, has long been recognized as the start of the American Civil War. However, wars do not always begin with a shot – hostile action can take different forms, for example, the occupation of territory or a [...]

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Part Five of the ACW Sesquicentennial Series: Kentucky

“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.” – Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps the most significant event in 1861, aside from secession itself, was the role played by Kentucky. Picture if you will the Bluegrass State’s location.  It stretches from Western Virginia clear across to the Mississippi River.  Kentucky did not secede.  It simply [...]

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Digitization preserves Civil War history

Newspaper articles provide the next best thing to eyewitness accounts of past events. That is why I am fascinated by a project that digitized many articles from  newspapers published during the Civil War.  You can visit the site and browse countless articles. To give you a sense of the content, read this article written in January [...]

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Part 4 of the ACW 150th Anniversary Series – 1861: The Search for Leadership

In World War II, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Nimitz and Marshall held key positions from the start to the finish. There was no such continuity in the American Civil War.  Leadership evolved, especially during the first two years of the conflict. Considering the U S Army in 1860 numbered  only 16,000 men, many of them spread across the continent, few officers commanded [...]

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Civil War’s 150th Anniversary Begins with a Shot

A cannon was fired at the Manassas Civil War battlefield on New Year’s to officially start the four-year commemoration of the conflict’s sesquicentennial.  The war still causes controversy to this day over the role slavery played in the run up to secession. The overwhelming majority view recognizes slavery as the war’s primary cause, but there are groups [...]

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Time in a Bottle

I will be publishing the fourth segment of my Civil War Susquicentennial series in January. However, I thought my readers might be interested in this recent find.  A message to the Confederate General commanding the besieged garrison at Vicksburg was removed from the sealed bottle, where it was contained undisturbed for 147 years, and decoded. It [...]

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Civil War Series: Part 3 – The Big Four and Slavery

It is impossible to provide a comprehensive summary of the key figures who played critical roles in the Civil War, much less touch all the issues they faced. Instead, this segment will focus on the people most would agree represent the big four of the conflict: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson F. Davis, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. [...]

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