behind AotW

I’ve recently read a contemporary letter from Confederate trooper James K. Munnerlyn about what he saw in Maryland as part of the cavalry rear-guard of Lee’s Army on and after 9 September 1862.

Munnerlyn (above, in 1867) was a Private in Company F of the Jeff Davis Legion Cavalry: the Georgia Hussars. They were nominally part of Wade Hampton’s Brigade for the Maryland Campaign, but were often on independent duty, notably on the turnpike from Frederick to Baltimore on 7 and 8 September, and as the sole defense at Turner’s Gap til the afternoon of 13 September.

For your enlightenment, here’s the text of part of Munnerlyn’s letter, as transcribed and imaged from UNC, from their Southern Historical Collection:

I’m having too much fun pulling the string on one of my guys: Moses Luce of the 4th Michigan. I mentioned him in an earlier post about his alma mater, Hillsdale College. I got a great email from Hillsdale’s archivist, Linda Moore, with some quotes, a new photo, and a pointer to the college newspaper.

Hillsdale has digitized and posted online the Hillsdale Herald for the years 1878 to 1896. These are searchable, but displayed as page images (photos of the printed papers) – a digital historian’s dream. I’ve felt like a kid in a candy store.

As a prominent alumnus, Luce is referenced and discussed dozens of times in those years. Social gossip, event records, family history, and biographical information are all here. Tidbits from the paper have also suggested other avenues of reseach for confirmation or clarification. Great stuff.

I’ll be using this material to update our capsule biography soon.

Meanwhile, I have a mystery – take a look and see what you think …

Sharpsburg claims one of the original Memorial Day parades in the United States. Begun soon after the war as Decoration Day, the celebration was to honor the soldiers of the Civil War … Later … the parade drew thousands of people to Sharpsburg to see the many marching bands, dignitaries and costumed school children.

Today the tradition continues … Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.

Had I done my homework, I wouldn’t have this afternoon wandered into the biggest traffic jam Greater Sharpsburg has probably seen all year.

Even with that, it was still the best day in a month, for me, easy.

I began my trip to the Park this morning with a planned stop in Burkittsville to visit briefly with Tim Reese to help him thin his library. I’m afraid I ate up his morning, but we had a great chat, and it was very good to put a face and voice to an online friend.

It was an enlightening drive there, thanks to the route Tim suggested. West from Frederick, I topped the Catoctin Ridge on US340 and was dazzled by the view. South Mountain was clear and sharp from the water gap at Weverton to Crampton’s Gap and a little beyond.

I’m sorry to say I’d never heard of Hillsdale College until last week.

My loss.

In south-central Michigan, Hillsdale was a hotbed of liberal thought, abolitionism, and Unionist sentiment in mid-19th Century America.

Because of its dedication to the principle of equality, Hillsdale became an early force for the abolition of slavery and for the education of black students; in fact, blacks were admitted immediately after the 1844 founding. The College became the second in the nation to grant four-year liberal arts degrees to women …

… Because of its early crusade against slavery, its role in helping to found the Republican party in Jackson in 1854 (President Edmund Fairfield was a leading founder of the party), and its location on the first railroad to pass through Michigan to Chicago, Hillsdale College was a natural site for more than two dozen nationally recognized speakers in the antebellum and Civil War eras … Frederick Douglass, Edward Everett, Governor Austin Blair, Senator Zachariah Chandler, Senator Charles Sumner, Carl Schurz, Wendell Phillips, Senator Lyman Trumbull, Owen Lovejoy, and William Lloyd Garrison …

I’m guessing this tradition, those speakers, and the political bent of the school administration fired-up the students. In 1861, shortly after Fort Sumter, a great number of them enlisted, many in the 4th Michigan Infantry. By the end of the War more than 400 students had served – reportedly a higher proportion of the student body than any other Northern school save West Point. Half were commissioned officers. Among them also were 4 Medal of Honor recipients and 2 general officers. 60 of them gave their lives.

M.A. Luce

It was one of Hillsdale’s MoH winners that twigged me to the school and its Civil War history. Moses A. Luce‘s name came up when I was researching his commanding officer in the 4th Michigan at Antietam, Colonel Jonathan W. Childs. Luce was later awarded the Medal of Honor [citation] for retrieving and returning with a badly wounded fellow Sergeant – and Hillsdale man – under fire near Spottsylvania Courthouse in 1864.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been reading Edwin C. Fishel’s The Secret War for the Union : The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War (Houghton Mifflin, 1996). In particular, I was hoping to gain some insight into how General McClellan arrived at the strength figures he used for General Lee’s forces in Maryland in 1862.

I’m about halfway through, just past The Battle, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to finish.

This is one dry read. You’ve got to be truly dedicated to slog through it. It is a book which could have used a strong editor. I’d say 1/2 to 2/3 of the text is redundant or otherwise unnecessary. There is little structure – the book has been one seemingly endless, chronological string of anectodes and factoids.

There are gems of new and important discovery, but they play hard-to-get. I’m probably going to miss many by not staying to the end.

That aside, how did McClellan come to a grossly inflated figure for the size of the army facing his at Sharpsburg?

All by himself.

My wife and I attended the World Premiere of the History Channel‘s Antietam last night at the Park Visitor Center. If you get the History Channel, you do want to see this show when it is broadcast this evening at 9/8c. It is very nicely done.

The premiere, a day in advance of the broadcast, was sponsored by the H-WCC&VB and the WMIA – the Antietam Partner folks. Thanks very much to Kurt Redenbo of the WMIA for the invitation. I can’t think of a better place to have seen the film than at the battlefield, with about 60 other guests.

The film was introduced by brief remarks from historical consultant and talking head Dennis Frye (Harpers Ferry NHP) and director Michael Epstein. Mr Epstein came across very well, and was careful to credit his whole team for the film. He was presented with congratulations and lauditory certificates from Governor Ehrlich and the State Film Board by the Visitor Bureau chief Tom Riford [group picture]. After the lovefest, the film was screened.

First and foremost, the photographic effects are stunning. All of the battle sequences were shot with still cameras and made to look like glass-plate collodion photographs of Alexander Gardner – motion being created by “flipping” from still to still. Moving in and out of period photographs, Epstein has also simulated the popular 19th century stereographic effect. Early 3-D. These techniques are extremely effective in keeping us in the period. They are the claim to fame of this film. I’d have been happy to sit thorough an hour of two of them alone.

The usual documentary talking heads, however, provide the sound bites the TV audience will need to tie the story together. These were Frye, historians James Robertson (Va Tech), Gary Gallagher (UVa), Thavolia Glymph (Duke), David Blight (Yale), and Allen Guelzo (Gettysburg College), along with novelist Richard Croker. I heard somewhere that they competed during production for the pithiest phrases, bidding for more airtime. May not be true, but it sounded like it on a few occasions.

The story, necessarily brief to fit the TV time slot, breaks no ground historically. An overview for the newcomer, it ignores significant details of the campaign. Mr Epstein answered a question about this – specific to a Gary Gallagher statement that McClellan just sat, waiting, on September 15th and 16th, skipping past the preceding action on South Mountain – by explaining his time and technical limits, and that he made decisions about what to include based on the fundamantal point he wanted to make: that the Emancipation Proclamation and what it meant to American History was the reason Antietam was one of the HC’s 10 days. He reserved most of his time budget for the action at Antietam and the EP.

This is not deep, sophisticated history, this is television. I am not criticizing. TV does things no other media can. At a brief reception after the film, I heard conversation suggesting that public interest in the battle is rising generally, and that this film may have large impact. I hope that’s true.

After the screening, it was my pleasure to chat in person with internet-friends Tom Clemens and Stephen Recker. These guys are among those doing the very best work on the battle, largely unseen.

Upcoming on the History Channel is a series of ten short films: “10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America”. One of the ten being Wednesday, September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam.

I don’t use cable TV, so I won’t see this, but would like to hear what you think if you do. It’s scheduled to air first in the series on Sunday, April 9th, 2006, at 9:00PM (8:00 Central time).

I received what I first thought was a spam email from the HC a couple of weeks ago touting this series. Offered me $100 in online gift cards to put a banner up on my website. I dumped it. I don’t do ads.

Then I visited the HC promotional website for the series. It is nicely done, and the films look lush. They may not, strictly speaking, be doing Pure History over there, but it is Art. Lovely.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have trashed their offer so fast – if only in the spirit of reciprocity. They’ve linked to AotW as a resource on Antietam from their site.

Good on them!

I know this kind of thing goes on every day, but I’m struck by it this evening – there’s something not-quite-right.

There’s a letter for sale on an upcoming eBay live auction. Written by a soldier of the 90th (later 11th) Pennsylvania Infantry, Nathaniel B. Dilhorn.

I can make out the first page, but that’s all that’s posted …

I’d love to read the whole letter, but can’t buy it.

A recurring theme in the study of George McClellan’s record with the Army of the Potomac is his apparent propensity for overestimating the size and mettle of the opposing force. I really don’t have a good understanding of why this was or what his sources of information were. Except for a nodding acquaintance with Pinkerton (below), I don’t understand his intelligence apparatus at all.

I’m now reading Edwin Fishel’s The Secret War for the Union [more at Amazon], and I think there might be some help there. I have to admit I skipped ahead when I first got the book, Sunday last, looking for tidbits on the Maryland Campaign. Fishel has some very fine specifics on events of early September 1862 that I’d read of in summary elsewhere. I appreciate well documented details, though it doesn’t make for light reading in this case. Now that I’ve got a good feeling from the author in my small area of expertise, I’ll go back and begin at the beginning of the book. I promise.

Side note: I went to school and played music with a Fishel in the early 70’s in Arlington (Va). Great trumpet player. I knew his father, slightly, as a Dixieland bandleader and jazz musician. Had no idea he was a spook. Now I know “the rest of the story”.

There has been a discussion recently on H-CivWar about Antietam. About whether it was a draw or victory, and some of the common “what-ifs” have made their appearances: if only McClellan had insert cliches here … the usual suspects.