Anxious for secesh; not so anxious to fight

No, it wasn’t a standard feeling of those who voted for “secesh,” but I do think it’s worth mentioning (especially in the wake of the quick analysis of the referendum numbers) that some who were anxious for secession and likely voted for it in the referendum, weren’t so eager to defend the very “cause” [...]

A pause in the data-flow regarding thoughts about Civil War sentiments in the Shenandoah Valley

Since I’m unable to find the next set of stats that I had planned to post today, I figured that this was a good opportunity to pause a bit and reflect on what I’ve put online and what is yet to come.
About two years ago, when I was compiling data for my thesis, I looked [...]

Southern Unionist Claims for the Shenandoah Valley

While the referendum vote on secession for the different counties of the Shenandoah Valley may reflect one thing (most especially to someone who doesn’t look beyond raw numbers), deeper probing into other numbers brings about a need to investigate even further. That said, the following is submitted for consideration in combination with my post from [...]

Valley of the Shadow Project and Civil War Memory

I had planned on posting about something to do with Southern Unionists today, but in the course of deciding exactly what I wanted to write about (and after a little Web navigation), I came across something that I wanted to pass along. Most in Civil War era studies are probably aware of the Valley [...]

“Do you love this country?!” - disturbing reflections on Civil War “memory”

Just last fall, I was at a reenactment where I encountered one of my old friends. Now, I need to set the scene, so bear with me.
Historically (funny word to use in this context considering the nature of Civil War “memory”), I have worn gray at reenactments. I reenacted Confederate maybe once or twice [...]

Southern Unionists in the Union army… “sans” enlistment bonus

In reading through the website for the 1st Alabama Cavalry, USV, I ran across an interesting page that made reference to a Grant administration veto. What it boils down to (at least my take on it) is that because these Southerners (Southern Unionists) enlisted to seek refuge (at least that was President Grant’s take on [...]

More evidence to chip away at the myth of Confederate nationalism

After exchanging a couple of e-mails with a friend last night, I mentioned a genealogical website that I thought looked like it had potential. I gave the trial version of Footnote a try about a month or so ago, but it seemed to have slow response time (it may have had something to do with [...]

A “grave case” of mistaken identity… I mean loyalty

In late October, I received an e-mail announcing the illegal removal of a Union veteran’s headstone (in Madison County, N.C.) by a direct descendant (but even more surprisingly, he is also a deputy of Gaston County, N.C.). Apparently the Union veteran had prior service with the Confederate army. Like some of the people with whom [...]

Comparing Civil War memory to Revolutionary War memory

In one of my classes last spring at William & Mary, I had the opportunity to examine how former Loyalists and Tories from the American Revolution had been treated in historic memory. Now, some think that the two are one in the same, but even I came to realize that this is not the case. [...]

Fading “memories” of the Civil War

While I have been a student of the American Civil War for a number of years, within the last few years I have become fascinated with the memory of the Civil War. It became a focus of my masters thesis, “Flaws in the Armor of the Grand Illusion: Dissent, Reluctance and Disaffection for the Confederate [...]