Canister!
Small stories that don’t merit individual posts of their own:
- The grave of former Confederate Private Hugh McLaughlin was recently marked in Spokane, Washington, thanks to sleuthing by his great-granddaughter, who started out not knowing anything about his wartime service. That’s neat.
- Are the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War actually agents of intolerance? Are they really as controversial as, say, the New Black Panthers or the American Communist Party? Clint Lacy seems to think so.
- In a whiplash-inducing, 48-hour turnaround, Lynyrd Skynyrd first rejects, then re-adopts, future use of the Confederate Battle Flag at their concerts. The only question remaining is, which are we supposed to assume was their “principled” position on it? I say, neither.
- If you missed my post the other day about the staff layoffs at the Theater at Lime Kiln in Lexington, it’s worth looking at the comments. Flagger extraordinaire Billy Bearden cites federal unemployment stats from Lexington to show the effectiveness of the Flagger-led boycott of local business, which actually show a slight improvement in employment there since before the boycott took effect. It’s episodes like this that explain why we can’t quit you, man.
- One of the first reviews of Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” is out. Ann DeWitt is unhappy because the movie almost certainly doesn’t include a cameo by Bill Yopp.
- A couple of years ago, we noted the discovery of Camp Lawton, a Confederate PoW camp that was the successor to Andersonville. Work at the site continues, with archaeologists now announcing the discovery of sections of the south and west stockade walls, which help define the exact placement of the compound.
- The odious Kirk Lyons is now yammering something about Lincoln “stealing” the election of 1864. I had no idea ACORN had been around that long.
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Five people (right) — and maybe more to come — are facing federal charges for vandalism to a Civil War cannon at the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky. Good.
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I’ve been very critical of Gary Adams in the past (with good reason) but he does have his moments. Susan Hathaway of the Virginia
FraggersFlaggers posted a newspaper editorial letter written by a member of her group about Robert E. Lee that included some blatant untruths — e.g., that Lee “owned no slaves personally” and that he freed all his wife’s slaves when they married. Hathaway, of course, cheers this foolishness on, adding, “way to get in there and get the victory…FLAGGER STYLE!” Adams, in his own passive, long-winded and way-too-polite-to-get-through-their-thick-skulls way, at least tried to correct some of them. Well done, sir, but may I suggest including a selective use of profanity next time? It helps get your point across.
- In a related note, we now know that “FLAGGER STYLE” means getting coverage in the media without regard to the factual truth of one’s message. (But we already knew that, didn’t we?)
- Happy belated birthday wishes to Donnie and Ron Kennedy, who turned 65 a few days ago. Now the Kennedy Twins, Southern nationalist movement celebrities and authors of The South was Right!, can start collecting full retirement and health benefits from the socialist federal government they so despise.
- Dumbass BuzzFeed intern tweets, “Romney motorcade just passed a hill flying a large confederate [sic.] flag in rural SW VA,” as if that’s supposed to mean something. Doesn’t he know that Mitt dissed that symbol years ago?
- Speaking of the Confederate flag and presidential candidates, Green Party candidate Jill Stein goes the Full Godwin. If she keeps talking like that, the Greens might not carry a single Southern state next month.
- Monocracy Brewing Company in Frederick, Maryland has bottled its first batch of beer based on a Civil War-era recipe, the first of nine releases projected for the CW sesquicentennial. “Antietam Ale” is an English bitter, ruby-red in color and relatively low in alcohol content. It’s available on tap at Brewer’s Alley in Frederick; no word on when it will be available for retail sale.
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It’s not really CW-related, but Texas businessman John L. Nau (right) has pledged $8M to the creation of a Southeast Texas history museum in downtown Houston, within a stone’s throw of the George R. Brown Convention Center, the Toyota Center (where the Rockets play) and Minutemaid Park (where the Astros play, sort of). Nau has a long history of commitment to Texas history, having served (among other posts) as Chairman of the Texas Historical Commission from 1995 to 2009. Although I have my doubts about the approach — it sounds more like a Vegas-style theme attraction (above) than a museum — it’s great to see this kind of private-sector commitment to public history. Nau has one of the great personal collections of CW gear, as well, that was featured in the exhibit last winter at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
- U.S.S. Texas (BB-35) is again offering “hard hat” tours of areas of the ship that are usually closed to the public; I highly recommend them. Here’s one I was able to take a few months back.
- And Spanish archaeologists working in Rome believe they’ve identified the exact spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey, where the Roman Senate was meeting. They believe they’ve uncovered a monument placed at the spot by his nephew and adopted son, Octavian, who went on to rule as the first Roman emperor, Augustus. That’s cool.
Got any other news? Drop it in the comments below.
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Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
“Are the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War actually agents of intolerance? Are they really as controversial as, say, the New Black Panthers or the American Communist Party? Clint Lacy seems to think so.”
Lacy must have a lot of grace and mercy in his heart to only find six groups he considers hateful. Because somehow, the Southern Poverty Law Center found 26 groups. Very good that both he and the SPLC identify the Nation of Islam as a hate group. But how could he not see all of the neo-Nazi, KKK, racist skinhead and White Nationalist groups in that state? Is a murderous, terrorist, criminal organization like the KKK somehow not hateful enough for Mr. Lacy? That’s a scary thought.
http://splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=MO
Lacey’s very angry in his own way, but he’s also sometimes unintentionally funny, in an over-the-top ridiculous sort of way, which is why I check in on him periodically. A while back he totally lost his shit when Juan Pablo Montoya was in that big, fiery wreck at Daytona, using that to explain why NASCAR was explicitly a proper sport for white Southerners. You gotta laugh at something like that.
I consider it a small success that he’s no longer claiming his blog to be “your voice in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.” The SCV has enough of its own baggage not to be saddled with the rancid ranting of a guy like that, too.
Let me also point out that Lacy and folks like him will claim, with a straight face, that the SPLC is itself a hate group, bent on “cultural genocide” of white Southerners. So there’s that.
That’s interesting about the Frederick, Maryland, brewery bottling beer made from a Civil War-era recipe. I’m not sure I’m crazy about the name, though. According to the label on Antietam Ale: “The Battle of Antietam changed the course of the Civil War, helped free over 4 million Americans and still ranks as the bloodiest single day in American history.”
Although I’m certainly no historian, I believe only the third claim is true. More importantly, slapping the name of a battle on a beer seems rather crass, but maybe I’m overreacting.
Having spent much of the past year researching South Carolina Confederate soldiers, I’ve come across innumerable examples of both lives cut short and men who suffered hideous wounds that they bore for the remainder of their existence. That doesn’t even consider psychological issues or how their families suffered. Sometimes I wonder just how many people today really understand the horror the war brought to the people of both the north and the south.
I imagine that was written by marketing folks, as opposed to history folks.
Still, that stuff has to be better than the beer made with yeast collected from the brewer’s beard, right?
“Still, that stuff has to be better than the beer made with yeast collected from the brewer’s beard, right?”
You mean, like the large majority of mass-produced American beers? You got that right.
Concerning Mr. Nau, it may be worth noting that among his benefactions is the endowment of the John L. Nau III chair in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia, currently held by the immensely productive Gary W. Gallagher (Ph.D., M.A., University of Texas).
Yep, I recall reading that. Thanks for stopping by — you’ve been missed.
You know Andy, in reading your posts, I have to wonder….
When I was still fairly young, I realized that we are all of us prejudiced. Some of us like Chevrolets, others like Fords. What I discovered it was a matter of not allowing that prejudice influence us in making our decisions.
I read your articles and the first thing that comes to my mind is ‘Yellow Journalism’. I’m beginning to think you are a wolf in sheep clothing. Normally you seem to ‘dis’ the South. You do so in indirect ways normally, as though you thought it was some kind of an art. I had thought you were content to levy your wrath at the South, but not so, I read here recently that you would entertain the idea that the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War may have an undesirable agenda. Frankly, I have to draw the line there.
I would highly recommend you consider taking a more favorable outlook on life in general and stop dealing in this ‘Yellow Journalism’. If I’m wrong, I will stand and correct myself – else you should consider my suggestion and maybe even adopt it.
Warm regards,
Donald Patrick
Mr. Patrick:
Thanks for your note. Let me address this part first:
Actually, I was trying to call out a foolish statement by Clint Lacy, who has a long history of making foolish and offensive statements in what he considers to be defending Southern heritage. I consider Lacy to be an obnoxious fool, but one whose rancid blurts are sometimes entertaining. (He doesn’t like me much, either.) I apologize if I seemed to be endorsing Lacy’s view of the SUVCW — or pretty much anything else he believes. Trust me, I have no beef with the SUVCW.
Regarding the notion that I am dissing the South, I don’t believe I do. To the contrary — I am a Southerner, after all, and a descendant of more Confederate veterans on both sides of my family than I’ve been able to count. What I do, and have done, is call out folks (like Lacy) who, in my view, do a real disservice to the South and to an accurate remembrance of its history. It’s folks like Lacy, and Edgerton, and the Flaggers, and others who, in my view, are embarrassments to the South and its history.
As for practicing “yellow journalism,” I always understood that to mean publishing damaging stories about someone with little regard to the truth. I flatly reject that; everything I write and present as factual information, I source. You may not agree with my opinion, but I don’t just make up stuff for the hell of it.
Now, if you want to label my writing as gleefully iconoclastic, then I’m guilty as charged. I have a strong streak of that.
Best,
Andy Hall
If you have not done so, you may also want to look at “About this Blog” and my initial posting, “We Cannot Know Their Minds,” both of which sort of stake out the terrain for this blog.
AH
Andy, if I may address you as such,
I read your “About this Blog” and “We Cannot Know Their Minds”. ..and find I respect your right to explore your feelings/thoughts in the matter. I would attempt to go ahead and answer you, but find that I would like a night to think on it. I think I can answer your premise and probably in a way that you may be able to consider and respect.
I acknowledge that I may sound rather gung-ho in the matter, but I ask you to understand – it comes with my own legacy. Tomorrow.
Warm regards,
Donald Patrick
Gary messaged me about the paper editorial. He said that Susan said, “Not to worry about the facts.”
Case closed. Only surprising thing is that Hathaway would actually admit to not worrying about mere factual accuracy. After all, they’re the ones who habitually claim that those who disagree with them are the ones pushing “lies.”
On a lighter note, “The Skirmish at Island Mound” (Bates Co. Missouri) will be remembered at the end of this month with the dedication of a State Historical Site. I found this description of the event by Chris Tabor on “The Kansas in the Civil War Message Board”:
The Island Mound State Historical Site will be dedicated the weekend of Oct 27-28, 2012, in Bates County, Missouri.
That weekend marks the the 150th Anniversary of the “The Skirmish at Island Mound”, the first engagement of the Civil War fought by an African American Regiment – the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
I know that a series of events are being coordinated during the weekend as part of the dedication and expect details to be forthcoming.
The success of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers on the field at Island Mound definitively settled any lingering debate regarding the use of African Americans as soldiers by the Union. Accounts of the fight were widely reported on in contemporary newspapers (even as far away as New Zealand).
One week after the fight, James M. Williams, Commander of the 1st KCV issued an order that stated in part, “The commanding officer desires to return his thanks to the officers and men of his command for the meritorious part they performed in the action at Island Mound on the 29th ult. It is always pleasant to pass the customary gratulations upon the success of friends, and particularly so on this occasion of the triumphant success of our cause, i.e., to show to the country that the heart of our colored men is fired with the same patriotic impulses, honorable ambition and martial courage that in all countries and in all ages have in peace animated the spirits of the industrial classes who have in war filled the ranks of armies with courageous, loyal soldiers.”
Just a few weeks after the engagement Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy personally brought an account of the engagement to the attention of President Lincoln who responded in part with, “My Dear Senator – I wish you would express to your young friend, Lieutenant Hinton, and to the gallant officers and men associated with him, my gratification at the report which you have read to me today.”
Harper’s Weekly dedicated the centerfold engraving of its March 14, 1863, edition to Thomas Nast’s depiction of the fight, which was the first graphical depiction of a former slave turned Union soldier striking down the enemy. This engraving was effectively a recruiting poster for subsequent African American regiments.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, when Williams and others were working in Washington for back pay and proper acknowledgement of the officers and men of the regiment that fought at Island Mound, the US Senate stated, “The discipline acquired and the courage displayed by the First Kansas Colored Volunteers in camp and on the field during the last months of 1862, influenced the action of President Lincoln in issuing his proclamation of New Years Day, 1863,… and forecasted the freedom and citizenship of persons of African descent.”
When I began my research into Island Mound and the officers and men of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers some 15 years ago, I could only image that someday this historic action would be so commemorated!
It’s going to be a special weekend and hope that there is a tremendous turnout.
Semper Fi,
Chris Tabor
Katy, TX
Jeff, thanks.
Here’s the Haroper’s Weekly illuatration:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1863/march/first-black-troops-combat.htm
Chris Tabor and Andy,
Thanks for another interesting sliver of CW history. I didn’t know much about Mound Island.
And I think the Harper’s Weekly illustration would make an interesting topic for discussion all by itself. I have no doubt it helped memorialize a pivotal event in the evolution of the Union army and the integration of African-Americans into the military, and probably energized a lot of volunteers.
But at the same time, it’s interesting how Nast had trouble drawing convincing faces for the Colored Troops. It’s as if he could only draw a fierce or valiant CT face as a variant on typical 19th-century minstrel-show type caricature faces (for example, see the three large figures in the right foreground).
On the other hand, Nast is Nast, and perhaps always more of a caricaturist than a portraitist. And some of his “Negro” faces here are not that far from his (unflattering) “Irish” drawings of the same era. I wonder, did Nast’s “Negro” drawing style change over the course of the war (and beyond)?
Overall, a minor point, but perhaps some of your readers know more?
That’s really a problem wit a lot of (white) artists of that era — if they drew African Americans at all, it was often either in the context of being a savage brute or as a comic figure of derision. I think it has as much to to with prior experience as it does with ingrained attitudes or biases.
One contemporary illustration I like is this one of a Union army cook by Edwin Forbes, because it really captures the texture and folds of the clothing, the young man’s posture — note how he’s turned his left foot in, as some people do when idly standing around (or posing) — but it, too, comes close to seeming like a caricature.
Does Chris have an email contact to get further information about Williams by chance?
Mary, I can be best reached via email at crtabor01@gmail.com. I’ll be more than happy to share what information I have that may be of interest. Please note that Robert Lull, descendant of Col. James M Williams, has published an excellent book on his ancestor available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Civil-General-Indian-Fighter-Williams/dp/1574415026
The dedication of the Island Mound Park last October as truly an amazing event… one that I could only have dreamed of when I started my research into the 1st KCV some 15 years ago.
All the best,
Chris Tabor
-Katy, TX