I wonder how dreadful it must have been for Sam Wilkerson to write his story while sitting next to his dead son. Here was a journalist communicating with the most powerful medium available at the time. He illustrated courage and…
Civil War & Reconstruction Online Course
Dickinson College / Gilder Lehrman Institute
Blog Archives
A necessary journey south
Yesterday, I had to take a necessary journey from Michigan to my 95 year old Mom’s home in Richmond , Virginia. I lamented that I was unable to hear yesterday’s lecture and attend yesterday’s on line class. To my great…
Posted in Discussion, Primary Sources
Abraham Galloway; Slave, Bricklayer, Fugitive, Abolitionist, Spy,…
…(aka BMI-ster), Guide, Recruiter, Organizer, Political Activist, Firebrand, Military Leader, Crusader for Women’s Rights, Senator… and dead before the age of 34. Now that is a life! Abraham Galloway, born enslaved, freed himself and was an important figure in the Union…
Men in Black
No, not Tommy Lee Jones and Johnny Cash. The Bureau of Military Information, the BMI! I am intrigued by them. Did not know anything about these sharp (no pun intended) men who were gathering intel long before the CIA made…
Another Father and Son, July 6th, 1863 or; 19 year-old sons
So sad listening again to the Gettysburg story of Sam Wilkeson writing beside the body of his 19 year-old son. Another 19 year-old son wrote to his father that day. Charles Douglass’s letter to his father, Frederick Douglass, reports his…
Valley of the Shadow
The archives on this sight are unbelievable. My favorite part is the animated battlefield. I was amazed at the number of battles some of these units were involved with like the First Virginia Cavalry they must have been in 20…
“A strange little document…”
Transcription: This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election…
Tagged with: Abraham Lincoln, Blind Memorandum to Cabinet, Civil War
Posted in Discussion, Primary Sources
Posted in Discussion, Primary Sources
Teaching the Underground Railroad
When I first started teaching US history six years ago, the questions I always got when I started teaching the Underground railroad were the following: So is the Underground Railroad really a railroad? Why was it all underground? My biggest…
Soldier’s Letters
Every time I listen to a lecture, attend a conference, find new material and new ways of thinking about the Civil War I have to rethink how I teach it. I only have two weeks, maybe three at the most…
Scarlett O’Hara in scrubs…
Confederate Circular asking Southern women to grow poppies for morphine (National Archives) The Faust book is a godsend for my students-they just don’t know it yet. Every year each students pick a Civil War topic to research and every year…
Tagged with: Civil War, Confederate Nurses, Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara
Posted in Discussion, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources
Posted in Discussion, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources
