E. F. Comegys: A career worth noting

            Edward Freeman (E.F.) Comegys was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He served in the 43^rd Alabama Infantry Regiment after enlisting as a Sergeant.

            Comegys had a unique career, both during and after the war. Born in Alabama in 1841, he passed away in Gainesville, Texas Jan 26, 1910. Comegys appears to have attended the University of Alabama, completing his college days in 1859.

            He enlisted in the 43^rd Alabama on May 13, 1862 and remained with that command until the final days of the war. The 43^rd played a key role in the Confederate victory at Chickamauga on September 20, 1863.

Comegys was promoted as the war went on, first to Lieutenant and then to Captain of his company. He was captured during the fight at Hatcher’s Run on March 25, 1865 and then released at Ft. Delaware, Delaware on June 17, 1865.

            The remainder of the 43^rd was a part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and surrendered with that outfit at Appomatox a few weeks after Comegys was captured.

            After surviving his long service in a losing cause, Comegys returned home and started his post-war life. He didn’t spend much time at home in Alabama. He married the former Susan Harris and was working in Gainesville by 1876. The marriage produced six children.

            Comegys became the Superintendant of the Denton Public Schools in 1884 and held that position until 1890, when he took the same position with the school system in Gainesville.

            The former soldier was an active member of the United Confederate Veterans. Importantly for historians, Comegys attended a reunion of Confederate veterans in 1907 or 1908 and met researcher Archibald Gracie, the son of Confederate Brigadier General Archibald Gracie.

            The 43^rd was part of the elder Gracie’s brigade when it was part of the dramatic charge up the sides of Horseshoe Ridge at Chickamauga. That meeting at the reunion of Alabama Confederates began a series of communications with the younger Gracie and that eventually generated information that historians can pour over now, giving voice to witnesses of the closing hours of the fighting for control of the Ridge.

            Witnesses whose testimony is generally ignored. Most histories of the battle generally praise the 43^rd’s contribution to the Confederate attack on Horseshoe Ridge of Sept. 20, 1863 but few histories of that attack offer a full retelling of the 43^rd’s movements. The testimony of Comegys and others offers to complete the story.

            So Comegys’ career is valuable in a number of ways: He was an effective soldier (albeit for the wrong cause), an educator and an important contributor to fully understanding some battles during the Civil War.

            E.F. Comegys will probably never have a best-selling book written about his life. He was one of the faceless millions who survived the war, succeeded during Reconstruction and lived a long life.

 

            Thanks for reading.

Answers

          In a previous blog your loyal blogger asked five questions about the American Civil War and asked you readers to read the questions and consider your own answers.

          As previously stated, there are no right or wrong answers here. Your thoughts are as good as anyone’s. It said in the previous post that this blogger promised to post a set of replies and they are below, with the questions.

 

          QUESTION #1: If war had somehow been avoided, how long would the institute of slavery have remained legal in the United States of America?

          ANSWER #1: Given how difficult the struggle for civil rights was in the 1950s and 1960s as it was, it seems possible slavery might be legal in some form today had the Civil War never happened. It is instructive to recall that some states that remained loyal to the Union during the War left slavery legal until the war ended.

 

          QUESTION #2: How different would American society have been during the 20^th century had Abraham Lincoln lived through the completion of his second Presidential term and seen to the start of Reconstruction?

          ANSWER#2: Lincoln wanted to let the South up easy. Much of the punishment-oriented governance that dominated the years during and following Reconstruction would no doubt have been different with a living Abe Lincoln. Carry this thought forward. Using what we know about Lincoln’s ideas for Reconstruction as a baseline, it is very possible that much of the strife that has marked some periods of our history since the war could have at least been lessened.

 

          QUESTION #3: How would your life have been different if the Confederate states had secured their independence?

          ANSWER #3: Your loyal blogger would not have been born had the Confederate States of America won its separation from the Union.

 

          QUESTION #4: In terms of action on the battlefields, who was the single most important individual in the fighting? No fair choosing one per side and no fair choosing the individual foot soldier as answers.

          ANSWER #4: Ulysses Grant commanded the victorious army in the most important victories in both the Western and Eastern theaters of the war. This is an easy answer for your loyal blogger.

 

          QUESTION #5: No single event has had a bigger impact on United States history than the Civil War. Study of the War era and the War itself offer educational opportunities on many social and historic topics. Should the War be reemphasized in K-12 classrooms?

          ANSWER #5: Yes. Here is a partial list of topics that could be covered in different ways at different grade levels: Politically correct or not, the war happened, so a bit of study of the War itself; the struggle for racial equality during the century after the end of the War; the importance of addressing major issues in a timely manner (rather than kicking the can down the road, as Congress did regarding the elimination of slavery from the time the Constitution was written until the War started); the cost of the war in terms of money spent and lives lost (among other things, Southern states had to start providing pensions for former Confederate soldiers in the decades after the War); the impact of the war on the non-combatants; the impact of the war on America’s foreign relations and how far behind most of Europe the United States was with the elimination of slavery; the change in the way Americans conducted their politics following the War and whether that impacts us today.

 

       Thanks for reading and answering.

 

5 questions for your consideration

          If you study the Civil War or just enjoy reading about it, you have read about the controversies surrounding the big moments of the conflict. The ‘What if’ stuff.

          Your loyal blogger enjoys debating the ‘What if’ questions although generally speaking, all that really matters is what actually happened. Determining what actually happened is hard enough, even after all this time.

          The traditional what ifs include: What if all of JEB Stuart’s cavalry force stayed with the main body of the Army of Northern Virginia during the entire Gettysburg campaign? What if Robert E. Lee stayed with the Union army instead of following Virginia into the Confederacy? What if the Union army won at the first battle of Bull Run, as it should have?

          The reader is invited to determine on his/her own whether the following questions are traditional what iffers or not. Regardless of that determination, the reader is asked to consider the following questions and develop answers. Your local blogger will provide a set of replies at a future date.

          Before the questions for consideration, your loyal blogger reminds that there are no right or wrong answers here. There are only ideas.

 

          QUESTION #1: If war had somehow been avoided, how long would the institute of slavery have remained legal in the United States of America?

 

          QUESTION #2: How different would American society have been during the 20^th century had Abraham Lincoln lived through the completion of his second Presidential term and seen to the start of Reconstruction?

 

          QUESTION #3: How would your life have been different if the Confederate states had secured their independence?

 

          QUESTION #4: In terms of action on the battlefields, who was the single most important individual in the fighting? No fair choosing one per side and no fair choosing the individual foot soldier as answers.

 

          QUESTION #5: No single event has had a bigger impact on American history than the Civil War. Study of the War era and the War itself offer educational opportunities on many social and historic topics. Should the War be reemphasized in K-12 classrooms?

          Think these questions over and, as you do, we thank you for reading.

The name game

            P. Allen Motes was born in Alabama’s Pike County on September 14, 1832 and started along his way to success.

            Whatever his first name was.  

A farmer, Motes married Mary Alice Godwin on March 12, 1854 and life went along. Things changed when Alabama joined the Confederacy. Presly enlisted in 1862, becoming a member of the 4^th Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion. He originally enlisted in the 4^th Battalion’s Company A, but later transferred to Company D.

            The Legion did not see combat action until September 20, 1863 when the Legion played a central role in the Confederate victory in the battle of Chickamauga. Motes, who was six days beyond his 31^st birthday at the time, was wounded in his left leg. One report has Motes breaking his leg, another says Motes was “shot through,” his left leg.

            Motes’ military career ended with the injury. He returned to Alabama and resumed farming. But Mary Alice died of the measles on May 6, 1870, leaving Presly with four children. No slacker, Presly married again on February 19, 1871. His second bride was Mary Elizabeth Head and she eventually out-lived her husband, although Presly and Mary Elizabeth did manage to have a child together.

            The Motes holdings grew to include 395 acres (200 improved, 195 wooded) with a cash value of $2,000. They had farm equipment valued at $50 and livestock worth $400 (1 horse, 2 mules, 2 milch cows, 2 working oxen, 3 other cattle and 15 swine).

            Presly Motes died October 30, 1908 at age 76 in Crenshaw County, Alabama. He was probably unaware that his name would one day leave researchers confused.

            Motes’ military service cards list his first name as Presly, but a report from the Adjutant General’s office decades after the war mentions in passing that some muster rolls for the Legion also have Motes’ first name spelled ‘Prisly.’

            It appears neither spelling was accurate. His tombstone spells his name ‘Presley.’

            No matter how his name was properly spelled, you’d have to agree that P.A. Motes had a busy life. And just think: He did it all without the internet.

 

            Thanks for reading.

FOR HEADLINE, SEE BELOW

It is shocking to me to see what has happened to headline writers. Even today, where the web is without the space limitations we had back in the day when newspaper editors had to make things fit, headline writers still can't get things right.

Hurricane Fay brushed some islands and began weakening over the weekend. It was downgraded to a tropical storm and drifted away from land, its power lessening as it went. So the most obvious headline of the year sat waiting...and went unused.

The headline should have read:

FAY DONE, AWAY

Remember you saw it here first.

It's the people, stupid

                Your loyal blogger recently finished Susannah Ural’s excellent book, “Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades,” an outstanding research piece about the impact of war on the lives of people living during the Civil War era.

          The book is very good but this is not a book review. Perhaps this is a reflection prompted by reading the book.

          The Civil War is a people story. All wars are the same in that respect. In the case of the War Between the States, the people are fascinating. Ural’s book is a classic example of that simple fact.

          When we forget that it was people who had to fight the war or otherwise live through the era, we forget what really mattered: People were freed from enslavement because of the war. People fought, bled and died on the battlefields. People died of disease in the army. People had to rebuild shattered lives and live with battered minds and bodies after the war. People lost loved ones in the fighting and many people lost their livelihoods.

          Of course, it was people who started the war and people who went to war eagerly, expecting a short war with plenty of glory to go around.

          This writer took a history class in college a few decades ago. Two fellow students, big fans of computerized war games (such as they were at the time), approached the professor after a lecture and gleefully explained how they had fought the same battle in their game that the professor lectured about that day.

          The losing general, they explained to the professor, could have won the day by making some sort of movement. “He’d have only lost a few thousand more men,” the war gamers said.

          A few thousand lives, thought yours truly. A few thousand lives.

          Your loyal blogger is fond of studying the battlefield. What happened? Who made the key decision? Why was the decision reached? And how did those men, the ordinary grunts, keep moving in the face of mortal danger?

          When you have the answers to those questions, you have a story about people. If you miss that central fact, then you simply don’t understand history.

          And you’ll never learn from it.

 

          Thanks for reading.

JEB Stuart: Lots to think about

          Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi produced a book about JEB Stuart’s contribution to the battle of Gettysburg titled, Plenty of blame to go around, Jeb Stuart’s controversial ride to Gettysburg.

          There will be no discussion here of Wittenberg and Petruzzi’s conclusions about Stuart’s ride around and sometimes into the Union Army in late June/early July of 1863. Interested readers of this blog can read the book themselves and reach their own conclusions. The book was published by Savas Beatie.

          The book does give a reader plenty to think about as it covers Stuart’s ride and the difficulties his cavalry encountered along the way. If you begin reading with a negative opinion of Stuart or just think poorly of the decision to go marauding at the beginning of Lee’s invasion of the North, you’ll find plenty of ammunition in this book.

          If you lean toward a more positive opinion of Stuart’s ride, you’ll find plenty of chances to resupply your ammo, too.

          This book is more about the controversy than it is the event itself, which makes it a fun read. Bring your opinion with you when you begin to read this book. Keep it right by your side.

          The decisions made by Confederate leadership at Gettysburg have been debated for 151 years now. There is plenty to debate. However, whether you revere the memory of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee or dismiss him a defender of slavery, one thing is clear: The fight at Gettysburg was not his finest military performance.

          Allowing Stuart to attempt a ride around the Union army at a time when Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was committed to an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania seems foolish today. Depending upon Stuart to stay in contact with the main Confederate force appears to be a colossal mistake today.

          And separating his army from the main portion of its cavalry arm at a time when he was leading his army into an all-or-nothing invasion of largely unknown territory? Hummmmm.

          Discussions of Stuart’s failure to be in the Gettysburg area on June 30 when his troopers were really needed must start with the decision to send him on a rompish ride to begin with and that permission came from Lee.

          Before you can opine that Stuart failed Lee, you must agree that Lee failed himself by not restraining Stuart’s desire for a ride around the Union army.

 

          Thanks for reading.

The Speedyleeway list of Civil War books

          Typically, this blogger looks for ways to reference yours truly without using the word I. Writers never want to be accused of having an ‘I’ problem. It is a challenge when writing something as potentially personal as a blog to avoid using the first person.

 

          Challenges, they say, help writers and this writer needs all the help he can get.

          So it is with an abundance of joy that I disregard the normal practice for this specific blog. I want to list my 10 favorite Civil War books.

          Before I do so, be warned that there are lots of Civil War books I have not read yet. There are a very few that I wish I had not read. There are some sitting around the house waiting to be read.

          There are no works of fiction on my list. Please feel free to put fiction on your list of Civil War faves, but my list is non-fiction works only.

          There is an Honorable Mention honoree: The Truth About Chickamauga by Archibald Gracie. The writing style makes this one difficult to read in spots, but it is a research classic. Be warned: Some experts refute some of Gracie’s conclusions.

          My list:

10. The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference. There are several editors. I use it as a reference. Pretty smart, huh?

9. National Geographic Atlas of the Civil War, Neil Kagan and Stephen G. Hyslop.

8. Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson. This is a classic among Civil War books. Everyone should read it, if for no other reason than the understanding one can glean from it about our society.

7. After the War, David Hardin. An elegant look at the lives of some of the most interesting personalities of the war’s era.

6. Mosby’s Memoirs, John. S. Mosby. Obviously the battlefield information is engaging, but his post-war career and his relationship with U.S. Grant are fascinating.

5. Stand Fast Ye Boys From Maine, Thomas A. Desjardin. Just a well-written book about the Union’s far left on Little Round Top.

4. The Chickamauga Campaign, edited by Steven E. Woodworth. This is actually a compilation of papers about Chickamauga and Chattanooga. One very interesting paper is Bull of the Woods? about James Longstreet. An outstanding essay in a group of excellent papers.

3. Decisions at Gettysburg, Matt Spruill. For me, this book stands above others written about the controversies at Gettysburg. A very enjoyable read.

First runner up: Chancellorsville, Stephen W. Sears. This book gets a wow. Obviously, the story is well told. The writing is outstanding. This is a neat, neat work on an important battle. This was a fight full of interesting characters that were important in the narrative of the war. I’ve never been to Chancellorsville, but that is not a handicap when reading this excellent book.

1, 2: Yep, a tie. I cheated. First among equals is Carol Reardon’s brilliant work, Pickett’s Charge in history and memory. The title tells you the subject matter but it can’t give you a feel for the excellence of the writing nor the fascinating way the research is presented. Read this book.

The next equal is Gettysburg: A test of courage, by Noah Andre Trudeau. Think you know Gettysburg? Read this one, which includes plenty of maps with approximate time notations. Gettysburg was the Civil War’s battle royal and Trudeau gives it the royal treatment, a tremendous work.

The statisticians among you have counted and discovered 11 books on the list of 10. That’s because I now live in Big Ten country, where there are 14 member schools. Well, the idea is the important thing, right?

Thanks for reading.

 

The Toledo Mud Hens

          Remember the old television show MASH? The Corporal Klinger character’s back story was that he was from Toledo and he loved the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team.

          If you grew up in California, you didn’t know for sure whether the Mud Hens existed. A script from the make believe world of sitcom TV is not generally a credible source of accuracy.

          Minor league baseball was a big part of the sporting landscape in California before the Dodgers ever made it west. No mystery there. But who knew if the Mud Hens really existed?

          Turns out they do. The Mud Hens are the Triple A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and Thursday they played the Columbus Clippers, an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Toledo won 2-1, a high-quality, professional baseball game that was completed in roughly two hours, 25 minutes. There were no television timeouts, not many pitching changes and no manager replay challenges.

They just played baseball.

Well, okay. Between innings there were all kinds of activities. They threw balls into the grandstand, had contests for kids, had KissCam on the scoreboard and had mascots running around making people happy.

Fifth-Third Park in Toledo seats 9,806 and the game with the Clippers was Toledo’s 14^th sellout of the year. Simply put, the people of Toledo like their Mud Hens.

Most of the Mud Hens fans stayed after the game to watch the huge fireworks display, so if you scooted out you could watch the fireworks from the parking lot and still beat the traffic to the highway. Call that California Training.

A single seat in row H of section 106 puts you three rows behind the home dugout and cost $10. There is a charge if you call and order on the phone with a credit card, but when you do that, you speak to an actual person who helps you find the seat you want. This is a very helpful organization.

Parking directly across the street costs $10, but you can park a block away for $5. Two hot dogs, a large soda and a bag of peanuts is a package deal that costs $7. Programs are free and score cards are free. If you happen to forget a pencil or pen, that’ll cost less than $2.

The entire evening cost $32 and could be cheaper by parking a block away and remembering a pen or pencil.

The park opens at 5:30 p.m., food sales start at 6 and the game starts at 7. You can watch batting practice, although you probably will not be able to watch infield practice.

This is a high-quality, family oriented, fun place to be. Try it, you’ll love it.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Parting shot at Gettysburg

 

          The final two days at Gettysburg were spent wandering the battlefield, Nikon in hand.

          This year the mystery that had been Culp’s Hill became a great deal clearer (to one particular person) and the Nikon availed itself to recording the areas of the Hill where your favorite blogger finally has a working understanding of the fighting.

          After walking in the dark for six years, a small spec of light finally made itself visible to this human’s eyes. One of the images here came from Culp’s Hill, while others came from elsewhere.

          No exaggeration here: It was a great deal more satisfying to walk on the Hill with the ability to record an image and know what happened in the pictured location. Yes, the weather was miserably hot and humid. Yes, the Hill was a steep climb in places. But understanding the Hill’s story made all the physical effort more worthwhile.

          And, truth be told, that basic understanding of the Hill’s unique place in the Gettysburg story could not have happened for this blogger were it not for the Civil War Institute and the tours planned for Gettysburg each year.

          You can laugh at this next part. Mrs. Leeway sure did.

          The remnants of the trenches dug by the Federal defenders of Culp’s Hill evaded this blogger for six years. It was one of those situations where the forest was hard to see because all the trees were in the way. Of course, it helps to look in the right place if you want to see something.



Look where the ground slopes to the left
and look at the tree line. The trenchs
were on the spot where the ground seems
to level out.

         

Tour guide: You can see what remains of the Union trenches right here.

          Blogger (peering closely in the indicated direction): Really? Where?

          Tour guide: You’re standing on one.

      

 

         The other images came from locations around the battlefield and are offered as a mini tour for the reader.

          Some of the images here were captured as part of a project. Others are locations seen in this blog space before, but this time in an attempt to capture a fresh viewpoint. One thing Gettysburg does not lack is interesting opportunities for the camera.

          The general idea for Speedyleeway Research Month was for your loyal blogger to research something every day or listen to an expert in a field each day during the month of June. Whether it was getting tips on ways to conduct more research or stumbling into something most of the world already knew about, this month was a success for Speedyleeway.

 

Look above the artillery piece. The tallest hill in the distance, to the right, is Round Top. To the left
you can see Little Round Top. The image was captured from the spot where General Lee met the troops
as they returned from Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863.

Shot from the same spot as the previous image. The bigger bunch of trees to the right is the Copse of
Trees, the target of the Confederates charge on the final day at Gettysburg.

 

The flank marker for the 20th Maine. Look at the small
change across the top.

Memorial to the Irish
Brigade.

General Warren on
Little Round Top.

 

          There were a few days when yours truly had to put aside research and go to work. It seemed possible, even probable, that no research would be done. But, with the mental dexterity developed as a graduate from a great American university, the hurdle was overcome with a simple question: “Hey, what was the fastest Pro Stock run ever made here?”

          That, my friends, is research.

          Whether it is your own family tree or something to do with your favorite athletic team, this writer hopes you find something to research and that the result gives you joy.

          Thanks for reading and happy Speedyleeway Research Month!

2014 CWI: Final talks and tours

          Speedyleeway Research Month continued with the final days at the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College.

          Sunday opened with Keith Bohannon discussing Federal General William T. Sherman and his campaign for Atlanta. Bohannon highlighted the differences between Sherman and the Confederate commanders he faced, Joseph Johnston and John B. Hood. Bohannon explained that Sherman had the support of his military superiors and his civilian superior, which Johnston did not. Hood had the support of the Confederate civilian leadership but he really faced an impossible situation.

          Bohannon threw out a fact that your loyal blogger did not know, that the set from the film The Wizard of Oz was burned during the filming of Gone with the Wind.

          Emmanuel Dabney delivered a terrific address about the US Colored Troops at the Battle of the Crater. Union soldiers dug a mine under the Confederate lines with the idea of using a massive explosion underground to open up a gap in the Confed defenses. Dabney talked about the terrible massacre during that engagement and said white US soldiers killed their African American comrades when it became obvious the attack was a failure.

          Your favorite blogger talked to Dabney later on during the day. He’s a great young guy and he’s very passionate about history.

          Next came a series of breakout sessions and yours truly took in Jonathan Noyalas’ outstanding presentation about the Battle of Cedar Creek in one of the really snazzy classrooms at the College. The net result of this battle was the end of Jubal Early’s campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Noyalas took us through this event very nicely.

          Then it was back to the main meeting room for Crystal Feimster’s address about the rape and mutiny at Fort Jackson, Louisiana. The event, as detailed by Feimster, was particularly ugly. Federal officers raped a group of African American women who worked in the camp laundry. Six of the guilty officers were dismissed from the Army but President Lincoln revoked the dismissals and the officers returned to the same regiment they’d been dismissed from.

           K. Stephen Prince discussed The Burnt District: Southern Ruins and the Problem of Reconstruction. Photographs of the ruined cities in the South, Prince told us, generated a great deal of intellectual commentating in the immediate post- war period. We now term the discussions of the period Ruin Talk. Northerners saw the ruins of the South as 1) visions of the guilty South, 2) the end of what the South had been before the war and 3) the South reborn. The ruins of the South were frequently compared with the ruins of Pompeii, according to Prince, but Ruin Talk ended at the end of 1865.

          Prince’s address gave your loyal blogger the idea that there is a strong similarity between the still images of post-Civil War Southern United States and the newsreel visions of Japan after the Second World War. In both cases, photography brought home the brutality of armed conflict. Cultural and economic changes were demanded by the winners in both instances. We could argue about which rehab project worked best.

          Barton A. Myers gave us a great talk, Controlling the Chaos: The Guerrilla Wars of 1864. There were guerrilla fighters in every Confederate state, according to Myers, but the Confederate States government enacted a law making it legal. But the groups probably hurt the Confederate war effort more than they helped. Guerrillas hurt Confederate command and control of the war effort for one thing and Myers added that many of the darkest hours of the war involved guerrilla forces.

          Susannah Ural talked about the incidents where the Texans fighting under John B. Hood refused to go into attack until Robert E. Lee, who seemed intent upon personally leading them from the front, got out of the way. The Texas Brigade was, by 1864, among the best fighting units on either side of the war and Lee frequently counted on them to perform the most difficult tasks.

          One of the great opportunities offered by the CWI is the dine-in program where members of the Institute faculty have dinner with a small number of attendees. This year, yours truly and a few others had dinner with Ural. We discussed portions of Ural’s book, Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades and what reactions we had to the selections. It was interesting to share ideas in such a comfortable setting with a cross section of CWI attendees and one of the leading researchers and authors in the Civil War field.

          Two tours were part of the CWI experience for this attendee. Brooks Simpson led a group of us to the Wilderness and Spotsylvania battlefields. Both locations have excellent remnants of Civil War trenches. Yours truly had never before visited either location. It was interesting to see the tangled woods of the Wilderness and realize that the area was equally difficult to pass through at the time of the battle. It was exciting for this writer to stand in the Mule Shoe salient of the Spotsylvania battlefield.

Simpson is an outstanding professor and author. It became obvious that he is also a terrific tour guide. Your loyal blogger is now reading his book, Let Us Have Peace about U.S. Grant during the period immediately before and after the end of the war.

The second tour was at the Culp’s Hill positions at Gettysburg. This tour was conducted by Jennifer Murray and Murray did an excellent job. It was the first time your loyal blogger began to understand the fighting on that key hill. Civil War historians ignore Culp’s Hill, for reasons that make little or no sense, despite the fact that it was the key to the Union defense for all three days of the fighting.

This was a terrific conference. The only bad thing is waiting for 360 more days for the next edition of the conference.

 

Thanks for reading and Happy Research Month!

CWI 2014: The conference continues

          Speedyleeway Research Month continues. When last we looked, our hero was preparing to attend the first day of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College…

The first full day of the 2014 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College was mostly carried live by the cable television network CSPAN. The presenters were all very informative, leading us through the questions surrounding the theme of this year’s Institute, the Civil War in 1864.

          A day earlier, Brian M. Jordan started the event with a big picture look at 1864. Jordan made a complicated question easier to understand, linking events and people together. That keynote address set us up for the things to be discussed throughout during this year’s CWI.

          Later on Friday, Peter Carmichael and author Gordon Rhea discussed the campaigns of 1864. Carmichael heads up the CWI team.

          Saturday, we got deep into matters. Carmichael opened the day by discussing the generalship of Robert E. Lee. Lee’s aggressive approach to the war, Carmichael said, led to heavy Confederate losses.

Carmichael suggested that Lee should have retreated to Richmond and Petersburg earlier than the Army of Northern Virginia eventually did. Such a move would have saved 20,000 Confederate lives, Carmichael told us, making the defense of Petersburg and Richmond easier jobs.

 

Some clown, easily recognizable to readers of this blog, stood up and asked how falling back to the Petersburg/Richmond area earlier would have made a difference for the Confederates. Some people will do anything to get on television.

Brooks Simpson talked about U.S. Grant and the problems Grant faced in attacking Virginia in 1864. Simpson, who is among the most entertaining Civil War speakers, discussed Grant’s difficulty with his subordinates in the Union’s Army of the Potomac and the fact that Grant was basically fighting on Lee’s home turf. Simpson said, during the question and answer session following his presentation, that Grant did not give the order for the final Union charge at Cold Harbor.

Ari Kelman discussed the massacre of a group of Native Americans at Sand Creek in Colorado. Kelman argued the event was a part of the Civil War, since it happened in 1864. Whether you agree with that idea or not, and your loyal blogger does not, it was still an outstanding presentation. Kelman’s look into the event does allow for a discussion about how myth and memory about history can differ, depending on your point of view. That point resonates with any audience interested in the study of the Civil War.

Next on the schedule was a group of breakout sessions. Attendees were free to select the sessions of their interest. Brian C. Miller offered a look at CSA General John B. Hood and his ill-fated period as commander of the Army of Tennessee. Hood’s performance is easy to pick on and many historians have used his performance at the head of the AoT as a chance to make jokes. Miller, it seemed to this observer, avoided that temptation and instead studied the man and his career, the pluses and the minuses.

The next session was Megan K. Nelson’s look at the burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania by Confederates. Drawing from the material generated while writing her book on the subject, Nelson managed to put a lot of information into her presentation. Chambersburg was just one city of many to suffer major damage during the war but Nelson brought this particular event to life with some tremendous images from the period, along with a few others from the present day. It was interesting to learn the towns people were tipped off that the Confederates were coming and the people managed to send their valuables away, including the money from the local bank. The story of rebuilding the town is interesting. This was an excellent talk.

Susannah Ural was the final speaker of the day and her presentation mirrored the title of her latest book, Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades. Ural discussed how soldiers and non-combatants back home coped with the issues we Americans know all too well today, starting with family separation. Ural quoted letter after letter from the battle front and from the home front and pointed out changing viewpoints that are obvious from the letters. But this was more than a letter reading party. Ural told the stories of everyday people in various walks of life before the war and how the war impacted them. To understand the war, you have to understand the era and Ural’s talk gave terrific insight.

Every speaker joshed with Carmichael on a wide range of topics, giving all of us in the audience the joy of humor in the form of unexpected jesting at opportune moments.

The CWI continues through Tuesday.

          Thanks for reading and happy Research Month!

Gettysburg: Heat, rain and ground-bound bees

          Speedyleeway Research Month continues with yours truly arriving in Gettysburg two days ahead of the 2014 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. It is a standard policy to arrive a few days ahead of the conference so as to spend a few days on the battlefield, Nikon in hand.

          This year there is the added goal of grabbing a few images for an old pal and fellow Civil War enthusiast, Buck Weber.

          Upon arrival, Mrs. Leeway and I noted the ambient conditions: 91 degrees and very humid. Mrs. Leeway, observing in some depth the atmospheric idiocy, headed for the air conditioned hotel room while your loyal blogger headed out toward the battlefield.

          Hmmm.

          Generally speaking, it was a successful afternoon. By that, the sharp-minded reader will assume there were no automobile accidents and, in this, the sharp-minded reader would be correct.

          The conditions were very hazy, which is common this time of year here, so no images were collected. Both legs suffered sore muscles from climbing the steps in the Pennsylvania Monument and a steep trail on Culp’s Hill.

          Today’s wanderings included some images collected while dodging raindrops.

          This image shows the spires atop the Codori barn. This barn, with its three spires, is among the most recognizable structures on the entire battlefield and I tried the old back-lit trick against the morning sun. I confess to enhancing the contrast with the Photoshop program.

          The next two shots also come from the Codori location, one showing the Copse of trees the Confederate army aimed at during the third day’s charge and the other to the south of the Codori farm area. These images were collected in the early afternoon.

        

 

  Just to give the reader a frame of distance, there is an image of the Virginia Memorial from across the road from the Codori area, nearly a mile away. The Virginia Memorial is a very tall structure but undulations in the ground make it look short in the distance,

          Next is an image of a Union general, William Wells, who eventually was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This image is near the base of Round Top, not far from Little Round Top.

       

        Once heavy rain started, the Nikon went under cover and your loyal blogger started driving around, looking for several markers on Culp’s Hill. None of the markers in question were found, but there was a eye-catching sign warning of swarms of ground-bound bees in the immediate area.

          The inside of the car seemed to be the better option.

          Day 1 of the CWI is Friday. I can’t wait.

 

          Thanks for reading and Happy Research Month!