The Civil War Podcast

I’m so excited to see this Adalbert Volck exhibition, which I mentioned in a previous update.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, of all papers, has this excellent biography of the man. (But, surprisingly, none of his cartoons.) Volck lived nearly 50 years after the war’s end, dying in Baltimore in 1912. In a letter to the Library [...]

If – like me – you’re planning a visit to DC during this 1862 sesquicentennial year, be sure to add the National Portrait Gallery to your must-sees.  In addition to an exhibition of Brady’s portraits of the Union generals, there’s a collection of Adalbert Volck etchings on display. A Volck lithograph was reproduced in the [...]

The New York Times’ “Disunion” feature keeps presenting essays on topics I considered for my podcast!  Luckily (unluckily?) I couldn’t find a gap for the story of this master counterfeiter, whose story is notable. (Ahem, little money-printing joke, there…) Upham didn’t look like a counterfeiter. He didn’t hide out in the woods or perform daring [...]

Another fine Disunion piece, this one on the importance of the telegraph in disseminating war news to the nation. There is plenty of documentation of Lincoln’s time spent in the Telegraph Office, but I hadn’t realised the genesis nor the explanation for this habit. We have McClellan to thank for the many anecdotes relayed (ahem [...]

I was looking for the source of Walt Whitman’s war reminiscences, and happened upon the Walt Whitman Archive. Not only does it have the published anecdotes, it also offers all his poetry and a trove of letters, too. Whitman’s writing is very readable. I planned to leaf through some of the Memoranda, and wound up [...]

Noting this was a small press story, I wasn’t prepared for a deep, detailed narrative of the flight of Confederate cabinet member Judah P. Benjamin. Well done, New Port Richey Patch! And, while Judah was well-liked, he was very reserved when it came to both his private and professional matters, perhaps a trait that Confederate [...]

Another free book added to The Library; Fred Seward’s Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat. Fred was the son and wartime administrator of William H. Seward, Secretary of State. He was gravely injured in the assassination attempt on his father, as part of the plot that killed Lincoln. I have no idea if this [...]

Another Civil War personality who has changed in my estimation is Clara Barton. Unlike Vallandigham, Lincoln, Joe Johnston et al., though, she has pretty much entered my personal pantheon of saint-like tough broads – a rare combination. She’s famous, of course, for starting the American Red Cross, but during the war, Barton was a one-woman [...]

(Apologies for the title – I couldn’t resist a little Copperhead joke.) I’ll be covering Clement Vallandigham in more detail in the long-delayed podcast, but for now it’s worth taking a look at this very controversial personality. Survey histories, such as the Ken Burns documentary, have little time for complex character portraits, and in most [...]

The more I learn about Clara Barton, the more in awe of her I become. She went from being a clerk at the outbreak of the war, to being a one-woman clearinghouse of information for families desperate to know what had become of their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands. What a little force of nature! [...]