Noted blogger (and teacher) Kevin Levin recently had a feisty post about Abraham Lincoln on the president’s 202 birthday that complained about a BBC plug for yet another a forthcoming Lincoln documentary.    Quoting from the press materials –“150 years after the war his reputation is being re-assessed, as historians begin to uncover the dark side of his life and politics” — Levin responds, in mock disgust, “Give me a break.”  He points out that Henry Gates did the same sort of video a few years earlier and “did a much better job.” The next day in his “Civil War Memory” blog, Levin asked the provocative question:  “Should Descendants of Confederate Soldiers Celebrate Lincoln’s Birthday?” His answer … yes.

Ted Widmer provides an elegant account of Lincoln’s actual 52d birthday on February 12, 1861 in the New York Times blog “Disunion.”  President-Elect Lincoln began the day in Indianapolis and ended up in Cincinnati where he received “a magnificent ovation.”  Widmer calls it a “good day,” before noting poignantly that on that same day, Lincoln friend and political advisor Norman B. Judd received a letter from detective Allan Pinkerton warning  that there was “a plot on foot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln” in Baltimore.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum has a relatively new blog about Lincoln and his times called, “From Out of the Top Hat,” and while they somehow skipped an entry on Lincoln’s birthday (huh?), scholar / bloggers Richard Wrightman Fox and Tom Schwartz had two excellent posts this past week about Lincoln’s “boyishness” and a little known sketch from the pre-inaugural train ride.

We were proud here at House Divided Project on Thursday when another image from that ride appeared in the Washington Post‘s Civil War blog series.  They used a vivid Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper image of Lincoln meeting New York politicos on February 20, 1861 courtesy of our research engine.

On a less scholarly note, many blogs devoted to Hollywood noted this past week that actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead (pictured above) has signed on to play Mary Lincoln in the forthcoming feature film, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”  No doubt, Todd family descendants are pleased.  Not sure how Lincoln himself would have responded.

News coverage of the Civil War anniversary spiked this week as various groups commemorated 150 years since Jefferson Davis’s swearing-in as Provisional President of the Confederacy on February 18, 1861.  USA Today offered a thoughtful overview of the tensions underlying the impending anniversaries in a piece entitled, “Across the South, the Civil War in an Enduring Conflict,” February 17, 2011.  After noting that Davis’s parade route in Montgomery, Alabama in 1861 was also near the spot where Rosa Parks refused to accept segregated bus seating in 1955 and thus helped spark the modern-day civil rights movement, USA Today correspondent Rick Hampson calls the area, “the Jerusalem of Southern memory.”  Hampson then solicited a wide range of provocative comments from scholars such as David Blight and James Loewen and activists such as Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Tom Strain from the Sons of Confederate Veterans before reaching the startling conclusion that, “In some ways, Americans are more divided by the war on its 150th anniversary than they were on its 100th in 1961.”

Bob Martin, editor of the Montgomery Independent, provided a commentary on this division in a column that was published online by a local newspaper in Alabama.  In the column, “We can’t change history, but can attitudes,” Martin argues against what he calls attempts in the South to ignore the painful conflict, pointing out, “those who want to honor the history of their ancestors who served their country from 1861-65 are due the same respect as those in the union states who wish to do likewise.”

From the other side of the country, the Colorado Statesman, a weekly non-partisan newspaper, launched a sesquicentennial column this week by amateur historian Patrick Teegarden (and self-described “expatriate of the Border State of Maryland”).  Teegarden also commented on the ongoing divisions over commemoration and announced his plans to sketch out the history of the conflict on a regular basis.

The BBC provided their own summary of this unfolding debate in an online feature from February 18, “Civil War: Southerners Remember Confederate President,” that quotes historians such as Eric Foner and Joshua Rothman, analyzing the continuing arguments over slavery and its role in causing the war.

On a local level, the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday evening, February 16.  Former mayor Steve Reed received an award from The Pickett Society for his “devotion to historical correctness” and the Patriot News reported that the “media came loaded with questions.”  The focus, however, was not on the historical Civil War, but rather on the modern-day conflict that has ripped Harrisburg apart during the previous year as the city teeters near bankruptcy.  Reed refused to comment on the struggles of current mayor Linda Thompson, trying his best to steer the attention to the wonderful museum which he helped found.

James Oakes and Matthew Pinsker will lead a seminar called “Lincoln and Emancipation” at New York University this summer from July 10 to July 16. The seminar will “will explore Lincoln’s evolving views on slavery, from his earliest anti-slavery expressions in the 1830s and 1840s to the development of his presidential emancipation policy during the Civil War.” Other information about this seminar is available here. If you want to attend, check this page for details on applying . The deadline is February 1, 2011. Oakes is a Professor of History at The City University of New York and received the Lincoln Prize for The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics in 2008. Pinsker is the Pohanka Chair for Civil War History at Dickinson College and Director of the House Divided Project. You can watch Oakes discuss Lincoln and Race and Pinsker lead a discussion about Lincoln and the election of 1860 for a class at Dickinson College. The Gilder Lehrman Institute also offers a number of other seminars this summer, including The South in American History (June 26-June 30, 2011), The American Civil War: Origins and Consequences (June 19-25, 2011), and Reconstruction (July 17-23, 2011). A complete list of seminars is available here.

To help honor the start of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and to publicize the launch of a wide-ranging effort to help America’s classrooms learn more about this pivotal conflict, the House Divided Project at Dickinson College will host a weekend of entertaining and educational events, free of charge to participants:

1. Documentary Film Festival – Friday April 15, 2011, 7pm to 9pm

• Watch a fascinating collection of short documentary films about the Civil War and its impact on ordinary Americans and small communities such as Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  Open to the public.

2. Teacher Workshop – Saturday April 16, 2011, 9am to noon

• Learn about the extraordinary range of free resources available online through the House Divided Project and other leading digital content providers.  Advance registration required –open to K-12 educators and home-schooling parents.

3. Civil War Tours – Saturday April 16, 2011, 1pm to 3pm

• Experience Civil War walking tours as never before. Students and staff from House Divided will lead visitors around Carlisle using the latest digital tools to help create a truly unique glimpse into the past.  Reservations encouraged.

4. David Blight Lecture – Saturday April 16, 2011, 7pm to 8:30pm

• Yale historian and author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001), David Blight will explore the meaning of the conflict at the beginning of its 150th anniversary.  Book signing to follow.  Open to the public.

All events are free

Questions? Contact Don Sailer at hdivided@dickinson.edu or 717-245-1525

Charles Hammer recently wrote a new novel entitled Of Love And War: 1864: A Civil War Novel For The North. As Hammer describes,

“The typical Civil War novel usually features a Confederate cavalier, often served by a loyal slave sidekick, who battles gallantly—for what? Actually, battling gallantly is all the South requires in such a book. Forget why we fought. “Of Love and War: 1864” strongly counters that view. It sends up the South of that era with, among accurate historical facts, a little-known verse the U. S. Colored Infantry sang in marching to war:

Away down South in the land of traitors,
Rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, Dixie land!
Where cotton’s king and men are chattels,
Union boys will win the battles….

In my story a peckerwood Georgia Militia deserter searches for the escaped slave girl he loves. He blunders into a firefight and gets captured by her. Now disguised as a man and enlisted as bluecoat sergeant in the U. S. Colored Infantry, she leads a wildcat black squad on one flank of Sherman’s march from Atlanta to the sea. They aim to emancipate slaves at plantations the army itself will not reach.”

You can learn more about this book on Amazon.com.

Thaddeus Stevens, one of the most powerful and controversial congressmen of the nineteenth century is the central figure of a large restoration project conducted by the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Stevens was an adamant opponent of slavery and helped runaway slaves escape, even going so far as to employ spies to watch for slave-catchers.  He was also a leading attorney in several fugitive slave cases, most notably the Christiana Treason Trial (1851). Stevens also shared his home with Lydia Hamilton Smith, a mixed race woman who managed his household affairs and also proved to be an enormously successful businesswoman herself.

The Stevens & Smith Historic site is a $20 million educational and interpretive complex, integrating the restored 19^th century properties of Stevens and Smith located in historic downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania featuring an original cistern discovered in 2003 believed by historians and archeologists to have been used by Stevens and Smith as a hiding place for escaping slaves along the Underground Railroad. A cistern is an underground storage tank used for holding water.

The planning for the Stevens & Smith Historic site overcame several obstacles before its approval, specifically the original plans for a new downtown convention center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania calling for the demolition of the historic sites previously owned and managed by Stevens and Smith. The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County possessed protective easements on the properties and were successful in developing a strategy for the preservation of Stevens’ Lancaster city law office and residence from the antebellum period within the new Lancaster County Convention Center.

For more information check out the Stevens & Smith Historic Site online for a full overview and updates on the project. The site also features a video on the story of Stevens & Smith and images of the proposed historical site.  Fergus Bordewich’s article, “Thaddeus Stevens and James Buchanan – How Their Historic Rivalry Shaped America” is a great source for historical background on Stevens’ and Smith’s contributions and connections to the abolitionist movement in Lancaster.  Further information can be found on the Thaddeus Stevens Society website including an overview of the archeological dig of the cistern conducted outside Stevens’ residence and law office. The address for the site is located at 45-47 South Queen Street Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

On the morning of June 19, 1864, before the naval battle with the USS Kearsarge Captain Raphael Semmes of the CSS Alabama, in an impassioned address, spoke to his crew:

• “you have been all over the world and it is not too much to say that you have destroyed and driven for protection under neutral flags one half of the enemy’s commerce which at the beginning of the war covered every sea This is an achievement of which you may well be proud and a grateful country will not be unmindful of it The name of your ship has become a household word wherever civilization extends Shall that name be tarnished by defeat The thing is impossible Remember that you are in the English Channel the theatre of so much of the naval glory of our race and that the eyes of all Europe are at this moment upon you The flag that floats over you is that of a young Republic who bids defiance to her enemies whenever and wherever found Show the world that you know how to uphold it.”

Semmes recorded his personal experiences as the captain of CSS Alabama and Sumter in his personal memoir My Adventures Afloat … (1869), available on Google Books. Captain Semmes’ stirring speech did not stop the USS Kearsarge on June 19, 1684 from sinking the Alabama and putting an end to her formidable record. In less than two years the CSS Alabama, a Confederate ship that engaged in commerce raiding by destroying Union merchant ships, sunk 62 ships including the USS Hatteras. The Naval History & Heritage Command, an agency of the Department of the Navy, outlines the history of the ship in an educational website that includes a wide range of resources for classroom use. Students can view images of the battle as published in contemporary newspapers, read excerpts from the official reports of both the Union Captain John Winslow and the Confederate Captain Semmes, or explore recent press releases about the underwater archaeological work being conducted on the wreck since its discovery in 1988 off the coast of France. For other resources, see Historyofwar.org , where they provide maps of the CSS Alabama’s routes and of the battle with the USS Kearsarge.

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Lt. Alonzo Cushing, who died on July 3, 1863 during the Battle of Gettysburg, will be awarded the Meadal of Honor for his actions during that battle. As the Associated Press explains, Lt. Cushing “commanded about 110 men and six cannons” and this “small force…. stood their ground under artillery bombardment as nearly 13,000 Confederate infantrymen waited to advance.” Lt. Cushing served in Battery A, 4th Artillery, United States Army. You can read the full article here. Also,both Alonzo Cushing and his brother (William B. Cushing) have profiles on House Divided.

This article from the Washington Post describes “Discovering the Civil War,” a new exhibit that will open at the National Archives in Washington D.C. on Friday. This exhibit, as reporter Michael E. Ruane explains, “seeks to explore more of the little-known aspects of the battle and glimpse some of the dimmer corners of the conflict that remade the country and that so many Americans think they know so well.” You can watch the exhibit teaser on YouTube and learn more about this exhibit here.

Update – Read the Washington Post‘s review of this exhibit.

The New York Times recently published a review of two new exhibits on John Brown – one from the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond and another from the New York Historical Society. (The New York Historical Society’s exhibit draws on material from the Gilder Lehrman Institute and some of it is online, as I noted in previous post). Both exhibits may tell a similar story, but they have different perspectives on Brown. Edward Rothstein explains that the New York exhibit “suggests” that “Brown’s legacy…finally found fruition in the 1960s civil rights movement.” As for the Richmond exhibit, the focus is Brown’s decision to sue violence as a means to end slavery. “We hear the clamor of the debate more clearly” as Rothstein notes that this exhibit asks visitors to consider whether “an individual [has] the right to carry out violent acts based on conscience.” While different views on Brown are not surprising, it is interesting to see them reflected in exhibits open at the same time.