The US Army has released a flash-based, interactive look at the Battle of Gettysburg . The page includes a step-by-step depiction of the battle using a topographic map with graphic overlays of the various Confederate and Union forces. Also included are profiles of various participants, weapon analysis, and other statistics. The website has plenty of valuable and interesting information. It requires Adobe Flash Player in order to run.

According to a recent article by the Associated Press, there is a battle being waged between Wal-Mart and preservationists that are trying to stop the retail giant from building a store near hallowed grounds. The company’s plans are to build a store near the site of the Wildnerness Battlefield, the place where Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee fought. Although the plans do not put the store directly on hallowed grounds, it would be located on the site of what was a marshaling area for the Union Army. In response, 253 scholars, historians, and concerned citizens including filmaker Ken Burns and authors James M. McPherson and David McCullough sent a letter to the company asking it to move the store elsewhere. As this conflict indiciates, the struggle for preserving America’s historic places is far from over.

John Stewart’s The Daily Show on Comedy Central recently aired a clip about Obama’s “Team of Rivals.” Many compare this move to the team of rivals Lincoln created during his administration. While the clip may not have as much information as other resources, it certainly is a creative and comical way to introduce the topic to students in the high school grade levels.

I argued yesterday in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that Lincoln’s experience with cabinet-making (the famous “Team of Rivals”) was more of a cautionary tale than a model to follow.

Consider this inconvenient truth: Out of the four leading vote-getters for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination whom Lincoln placed on his original team, three left during his first term — one in disgrace, one in defiance and one in disgust.

The article stirred up a decent response.  The New York Times Opinionator addressed the topic.  Daily Kos offered a poll pitting my interpretation against the more famous one by Doris Kearns Goodwin (I’m losing, by the way).  And there’s been calls and emails from various reporters.

Lincoln is the Great Example and all of us want to try to understand what his experience represents.  Look at the evidence yourself, or with your students, and decide for yourself.  Nothing could be more timely.

In a thought-provoking column today in the New York Times, headlined “Finishing Our Work,” Tom Friedman argues that the Obama victory represents a final act of closure for the American Civil War.  And he finds it particularly fitting that it was Virginia in many ways that provided the key to Obama’s electoral triumph.  Friedman writes:

“A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.”

Amen.

A recent USA Today article provides a good overview of some of the best new Lincoln books upcoming in the run up to the bicentennial of his birth in 2009.   The article features information about James McPherson’s new work, Tried by War, a study of Lincoln as Commander-In-Chief.  Along the way, the story provides some interesting new stories from McPherson about his own career and how he has worked over the years with his wife Patricia or Pat on various historical projects. 

Today I was reading over the House Divided blog, and I came across the Civil War tag. This tag provoked me to search the New York Times website for any interesting articles pertaining to the subject. I landed on a recent article from October 17th entitled, “Two Generals, Still Manuevering”. The article focused on the two prominent generals of the Civil War: Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.

The exhibit entitled, “Grant and Lee in War and Peace,” has raised skepticism about how Grant and Lee will be depicted in comparison to each other. In this famous picture on the right by Leon Gerome Ferris, General Lee is surrendering to Grant, but this is not evident from just looking at the picture. It will be interesting to see if the new exhibit present’s Lee in the same way- it seems to be a common theme for this scene’s illustration these days.

Yesterday at a teacher training workshop at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, I discussed Abraham Lincoln’s use of war powers and his approach to civil liberties with a group of K-12 colleagues from the DC and northern Virginia area. We had an excellent exchange at a forum hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and funded by the NEH. They still have spaces available for qualified teachers who would like to participate. The program offers a monthly series of workshops on topics related to teaching Lincoln and his legacy. Teachers who prepare related lesson plans receive stipends. For more information, contact Scott Ackerman at Scott_Ackerman@nthp.org. Also, if you’re interested in the question of Lincoln’s approach to civil liberties, we have posted an interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Mark Neely in the House Divided video channel that offers a thoughtful assessment of Lincoln’s civil liberties record.

In the summer of 1863, the town of Carlisle, PA became the one of the northern-most posts of the Confederate Army.  An account of the occupation of Carlisle during the Battle of Gettysburg by Richard Edling appears on civilwaralbum.com.  145 years ago this week, Dickinson College became host to General Ewell’s troops.  Edling provides modern day pictures of the Civil War sites in Carlisle.  Check out House Divided for images of Dickinson College from the Civil War.

CivilWarHome.com is a great site with a ton of information on life during the civil war. Their main page is separated in several categories including Medicine, Biographies, and Essays each with numerous links and descriptions for subcategories.