The issue of civil liberties during wartime is as crucial today as it was during the Civil War. The detention of suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay prison has led to endless debate and confusing equivocation regarding the rights of detainees and civil liberties during war time. The confusion is nothing new. Curbing civil liberties during war time is something the United States experienced not only in the Civil War, but also in World Wars One and Two. Is the introduction of internal securities measures curbing civil liberties ever justified? Is it necessary? Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mark Neely took some time to answer these questions for the House Divided project at our June 13th workshop.

Mark Neely on Civil Liberties

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative political think-tank, examines Lincoln’s restrictions of civil liberties during the War. The Hon. Frank J. Williams uses his article to examine also the restriction of civil liberties enacted by the Bush Administration as a part of the War on Terror. Williams acknowledges the unique situation of the rebellion faced by the Federal government during the 1860s, and draws a parallel between the uniqueness of that era and that of our current war.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties in Wartime

History Net is an online collection of history magazines that has daily posts of the latest articles from history magazine.  The site also features images, videos, and daily quizzes from all periods of modern history.  Under features for today there was an article about Confederate discontent following their defeat at Gettysburg.  The History Net also provides an RSS feed so you can be notified when updates occur.

The Civil War was not without political wrangling and electioneering. 1860-1865 saw two presidential elections, a number of congressional elections, and a great many local elections. Politics carried on, despite the war. The press is a great resource for viewing the politics of the era. Certainly not sources for cool, fact-based analysis and commentary, Civil War era press outlets were unabashedly partisan and sought at every turn to advance the platform of their particular parties. While partisanship is readily experienced in the writing of the time, editorial cartoons provide some of the more striking examples. Harper’s Weekly, a popular illustrated news weekly of the last half of the 19th century, provided a wealth of these cartoons to its readership. These cartoons can be revisited today through a new online database and website. HarpWeek is a digital collection of all Harper’s Weekly materials, but also includes biographies, glossaries, images, and even advertisements of the era. Although the database is only available through subscription, HarpWeek’s website includes a number of free feature webpages that are fine, free sources for biographies, overviews, and most importantly, editorial cartoons.HarpWeek’s Elections Homepage is a most useful source for political cartoons from the national elections of 1860 to 1912.

The Library of Congress has a number of interesting image collections that students might like to see. One I might use in my class next semester is on President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. They have pictures of Ford’s theater, the conspirators, the funeral, and a wanted poster. I’ve only included the top half of that poster, but you can see the full image here.

At the recent unveiling of the House Divided project, held June 13th at Dickinson College, Pullitzer prize-winning author and Civil War historian Mark Neely spoke on party politics during the 1850s. He also allowed us a brief interview, during which time we were able to get his impression on Sherman’s March to the Sea and its implication as an example of ‘total war.’ While Professor Neely does not agree that the March was ‘total war’ in a modern sense, Sherman used some of the fiercest tactics yet seen during the war. Indeed, Sherman hoped to have the South “…begging for mercy…” at the conclusion of his march.

This History Channel website provides an interactive map, complete with audio and images, detailing the three campaigns of Sherman’s march. Principal battles of the campaigns and other events are explained, and factoid boxes provide information on little known tactics, events or other interesting things about the March to the Sea.

An interesting, thoroughly 21st century tech exploration of this crucial military movement.

I was reading Mark Neely’s The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era and thought the first chapter had a very interesting story that can be used to provoke discussion among students about politics of the 1864 presidential election in comparison to the politics of the 2008 presidential election.
Neely tells the story of Walt Whitman and his return from Washington D.C. to Brooklyn in order to vote. While at a bar, he noticed the barmaid wearing a McClellan pin. He asked the girl about the pin and she said that all the barmaids who worked at this bar supported McClellan and those that didn’t were not tolerated. Whitman describes how this was “one of those places where the air is full of scent of low thievery, foul play, & prostitution gangrened”*–not a place one would expect much political involvement. Neely uses this anecdote to introduce his point about the high level of involvement of the general public in politics during the Civil War Era.

Some points to take away in order to lead a discussion among students include the fact that barmaids would be so involved in politics when they did not have the right to vote and how that reflects the prevalence of politics on all levels of society. How does this compare to the current election?

There are several points made just even in this first chapter that present a range of ideas and points that can easily create a discussion among students. Neely will be presenting at the House Divided workshop on Friday, June 13 on the Politics of the 1850’s. Look on A House Divided YouTube Channel for an interview of Neely from this workshop.

*Mark E. Neely Jr., The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era (Chapel Hill:The University of North Carolina Press, 2005), 2.

The Smithsonian Institute presents an online review of its Civil War collections at its CivilWar@Smithsonian website. The site contains a number of smaller pages offering brief over views and accompanying images. The topics covered range from Slavery & Abolition to Life & Culture of the period. Images include portraits of important characters in each topic, photographs of artifacts, and postage stamps from the Confederacy. Drawings and paintings by Winslow Homer are also included, many of these depicting the Civil War from the battlefront. A sampling of Matthew Brady’s photography is also included. This includes images of the major players of the Civil War and other popular characters of the day.

Certainly a useful site for further illustrating the Civil War era. A virtual field trip to the Smithsonian Institute’s Civil War collections.

I was looking around on American Memory and found two pictures of “contraband” camps that were in Harpers Ferry. As I have not seen pictures of these types of camps before, I thought I would point them out. See them here and here.

I ran into a great site today with tons of transcribed documents from the civil war. There are several categories to choice from including Soldiers Letters, Battle Reports, and Diaries. Its a great place to gain an insight on everyday life throughout the civil war.

I found on the Civil War Preservation Trust website an animated map of the first day of the Battle of Chancellorsville. The site also has a page geared towards teachers, but I found the animated map to be most interesting. I searched a little more for animated maps and found a few videos on Britannica Encyclopedia Online ( Gettysburg, Battle of ). This kind of map is great for people, like me, who are visual learners.