I’m still thinking about the historian Kent Gramm’s comments about myth-making and the Civil War. Re-reading that post, I notice that one word especially jumps out—buff, as in, “As a Civil War buff, [Gramm] explains, you can vicariously march with the indomitable veterans of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia . . .” It’s unclear whether [...]

Click to continue →

In the previous post, I was pleased to quote a fine historian quoting a fine historian arguing that our idea of the Civil War as a “beautiful” war is “fantasy, myth, and entertainment.” It is, in other words, the work of retrospection, as opposed to history. This may be true. But last night I was [...]

Click to continue →

Via Mark Grimsley: In the introduction to a recent book on Civil War combat, historian Kent Gramm opens with a surprising comment: “One of the most harmful consequences of the Civil War results from our very interest in the war, and our attraction to it.” As a Civil War buff, he explains, you can vicariously [...]

Click to continue →

Driving to work this morning, I got behind that car—the one wallpapered in bumper stickers: End the War, Give Peace a Chance, et alia. And I’m programmed to assume that such sentiments are simply a product of the sixties. They’re not, of course, and I was reminded of this while editing our entry about, of [...]

Click to continue →

I love this particular story about him perhaps because it is at once so remarkable and also so familiar. So modern. Anyway, turns out that this future political boss enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington in 1864, during the Civil War. On May 15 of that year, VMI cadets were called on to [...]

Click to continue →

This is apropos only of the difficulty but also, let’s face it, the extreme coolness of sitting down and editing an encyclopedia entry about Thomas Staples Martin. Who is Thomas Staples Martin? you ask. Exactly. Martin was a longtime U.S. Senator (1895–1919) and the Democratic Party poo-bah in Virginia before the legendary Harry F. Byrd [...]

Click to continue →