Jefferson Davis’s Birthday as an Official Holiday

Today is the 200th birthday of Jefferson Davis, which is being celebrated in areas of the South; Alabama in particular. The state government in Mongomery has declared Davis’s birthday an official state holiday. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are planing to hold various ceremonies celebrating the event on June 14.  

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Have Civil War Re-enactors Created a Cottage Industry?

This article was published in the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky on May 25.

“Rooted partly in a 1960s centennial commemoration, Civil War re-enacting… across the nation has grown to include hundreds of battles and roughly 40,000 hobbyists — some of whom will spend $30,000 on a working cannon, spend hours practicing how to look dead and crash-diet to resemble a starving rebel.”

“”People think we’re strange. I guess because you do things like sleep outside with a blanket when it’s 17 degrees,” said Tim Hubbell of Alabama, who came to the Kentucky battle dressed in a hand-sewn surgeon’s uniform and carrying 1860s syringes, bone saws and castration scissors. Re-enacting is big business for outfitters, including some in Kentucky, selling everything from 19th-century toothbrushes to 2,400-pound cannons. They even sell condoms packaged as period “French envelopes.””

“Its popularity has helped fund and preserve historic battlefields.”…

full article.

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Commericals from the Confederate States of America

These commercials are from the film The Confederate States of America, which is a movie that tackles this question: what may have happened if the Confederacy won the civil war? It is an interesting film and would recommend it for anyone interested in the Civil War.

The Shackle:

Passing:

Runaway:

Confederate Family:

 

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Dispelling the Dispellers of Lincoln Myths

Since historians, as well as other writers, started writing about Abraham Lincoln, there have been those who have worked hard to give us a well-rounded image of the 16th president. Lincoln is the most written about figure in American history and hundreds of books about him are published each year. Our historical knowledge of Lincoln is pretty great and there are numerous scholarly and popular works examining various aspects of his life, political career, presidency, and political and racial views.

Over the past few years various writers, most of them hold no professional historical credentials, have set out to take on the Lincoln myths, which they believe are being passed off as historical fact. These ‘myths’ have already been researched and written about in great detail by real historians and these writers are giving the American reading public pseudohistorical trash. The historical equivalent of a John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy or any other modern day dime novelists who are trying to pass as serious writers.

These dispellers of Lincoln myths seem to focus on a few key aspects of Lincoln’s life or political career. And they get everything horribly wrong.

Here are some of the key issues:

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Bugs Bunny does the Civil War.

I found this video on the Civil Warriors blog and I thought it was a great example of how the Civil War is remembered. So, enjoy

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Civil War Battlefields

Earlier this week the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) released its annual report on the country’s most endangered Civil War sites. Here is the list of the 10 most endangered sites in America: Antietam, Md., Cedar Creek, Va., Cold Harbor, Va., Hunterstown, Pa., Monocacy, Md., Natural Bridge, Fla., Perryville, Ky., Prairie Grove, Ark., Savannah, Ga., and Spring Hill, Tenn.

The CWPT also named 15 sites that are at risk. Among the at risk sites are Brandy Station, Va., Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., and Petersburg, Va.

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That other 200th birthday…Jefferson Davis

All the hoopla surrounding the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln has led some to ask how should we, as a society, remember the 200th birthday of his Confederate counterpart, Jefferson Davis (1808-1889). A recent AP story reported on the struggles encountered by the Confederate president’s descendents in their attempt to comemorate his legacy. (read the story here) At the heart of this issue is the topic of memory. How do we, as a people, remember the past.? It’s not just about remembering, but how people construct the meanings and symbols they apply to history. What average peole say history means is usually much different than how historians explain and assign meanings to the past. Over the past decade or so, professional historians have started to examine historical memory. The most famous example of this scholarship is David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion, which examined the historical memory of the Civil War.

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