From the Editor May offers a wealth of riches for any student of the Civil War The weather finally got good enough for campaigning, which unfortunately meant new seasons of slaughter. In 1863 and 1864, in particular, there was so much action going on east and west th it can be hard to keep track of. In my own front yard, Chancellorsville erupted on May 1, 1863. Along the Mississippi River, meanwhile, Ulysses S. Grant crossed to the east bank a began his overland campaign for Vicksburg. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, while worried about events in his home state, was too distracted by the urgent nearby events in Virginia to give the situation in Mississipp the attention it needed. Modern students of the war often find their own attention split and ho to pay attention to both. Then a the events of early May 1864. Grant launched anoth overland campaign, this one
Confederate General Joseph E. Jo action, but few victories, in Ma
through Virginia that became intense enough to earn its own capital letters: The Overland Campaign. He marched into the same Wilderness, the “dark, clos wood,” where Chancellorsville had taken place the year before; this time the fighting and maneuvering lasted for six straight weeks. Meanwhile, out west, William T. Sherman began
maneuvering against Joseph E. Johnston to open the Atlanta Campaign. Farther west, there is the Trans-Mississippi’s tail end of the Red River Campaign. That is a tremendous amount of activity to study, east and west and that’s not even considering the many smaller actions all across the map. Nor does it include the many compelling stories found on the homefront. If we rewind back to May 1862, we get the battle of Williamsbur on the James Peninsula. On May 8, Stonewall Jackson begins zipping around the Shenandoah Valley with the battle of McDowell. In Charleston Harbor, Robert Smalls and a crew of escaping slaves stole The Plante on May 13. We get Seven Pines/ Fair Oaks at the end of the mont Most Civil War buffs know all this, but I call it out as a way invite you to really think about how much material we really have to study and learn and understand, even in just this sh span of the calendar, because, a the end of May, we’re called to commemorate the losses from this and other wars. When you pay your respects at Memorial Day, I hope you call to mind these “seasons of slaughter” and
appreciate what they meant. — Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief
Can Help ECW Each Monday mornin we feature a Question of the Week. We’d love to have your participation in that weekly conversation. Make a point to check in on Mondays and add your thoughts, either as a repl the question or as a reply to t answers others provide. (And, o course, as always, help us keep the conversation civil!)
We have only a handful of tickets left for the Seventh Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, which will be held August 5-7, 2022, in Spotsylvania, Virginia Our theme this year matches up with our newest book release, Great What Ifs of the American Civil War. Join keynote speaker Garry Adelman for “The What Ifs of Gettysburg.” We’ll also hear fr Gordon Rhea and Brian Matthew Jordan, plus ECW’s Sarah Kay Bierle, Neil Chatelain, Sean Michael Chick, Phill Greenwalt, Kevin Pawlak, Jon Tracey, and Kris White. We’ll have panel discussions on “The What Ifs of the Antietam Campaign” and “Favorite What Ifs of the War.” We’ll also have a Sunday mornin tour of the Slaughter Pen Farm Fredericksburg. Tickets for all three days
information or to order, visit h t t p s : / / e m e r g i n g com/2022-symposium.
Chris Mackowski (left) and Kris company of legendary football c his wife, Barbara, on a bus tou
The forty-third book in the Emerging Civil War Series is no available: Dreams of Victory: General P.G.T. Beauregard in the Civil War by Sean Michael Chick. Beauregard was one of th most controversial Confederate generals and he remains so to this day. Sean’s biography looks at the pros and cons of t Creole general and offers new insights for readers to conside Signed copies are available from publisher Savas Beatie:
dreams-of-victory-general-p-g-t beauregard-in-the-civil-war.
The Midwest Book Review included a nice review of The Great What Ifs of the American Civil War. “Far from presenting alternative or counterfactual history, the volume examines some of the key pivotal moments of the Civil War and analyzes their importance,” explained reviewer Robin Friedma Although cast in terms of “what if's" most of the book is squar within the responsible practice of history. . . . Each of these essays encourages the reader to look closely at the complexity of determining what happened before speculating on what migh have happened.” You can read the full review here: http://ww
may_22.htm#robinfriedman The American Battlefield Tru featured a slew of ECW talent at its early May conference in Chantilly, Va. Sarah Kay Bierle Dan Davis, Phill Greenwalt, Chris Mackowski, Mark Maloy, Rob Orrison, and Kris White all assisted with various programs and tours. Steve Davis has not one, not two, but three pieces in the Ju
Civil War and Revolutionary War sites, and went to his first hor race! Chris Kolakowski will be the keynote speaker for the rededication of the Hans Heg monument in Madison on May 29. (The original was destroyed by vandals in June 2020.) On June 8, just after the 80th anniversary, Chris is lecturing about the Battle of Midway online for the Commemorative Air Force. Details are at: https
org/events. Jon Tracey recently delivered a program on the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry as a part of a lecture series by the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation that supports restoration of an historic structure. He will also be attending the Society of Civi War Historians conference from June 2-4. He'll be presenting some of his research on wounded Civil War veterans as a part of panel titled “Civil War Bodies, Past and Future.” Dan Welch is heading back to Gettysburg as a seasonal Park Ranger beginning Memorial Day weekend. If you're in Gettysburg over the summer stop in and say hi! ECW was pleased in May to welcome new regular contributor Max Longley. “The Civil War is like a real-life Iliad,” he s “a source of life-or-death drama that authors can recur to again and again while still uncovering new information and new perspectives.” Based in North Carolina, Max loves to focus on lesser-known personalities of th Civil War, and he likes to write about the intersection between the war and religion. Max is available for roundtable talks o the following topics: • The Reaper Man – Cyrus McCormick and the Civil War • Conscientious objectors in the Civil War • Was Lincoln right about the July 2022
• North Carolina’s Northern “governors” on p Cape Hatteras and the coa
• The death throes of the Fugitive Slave Act in the
Civil War North • J. Williams Thorne: An antislavery Quaker wartime Pennsylvan and Reconstruction North Carolina
with Steve Davis For our “Five Questions” feature, we’re focusing on the work being done by some of our stalwart ECW “staff.” We have an outstanding cadre of contributors at ECW, but many of them go above and beyond their writing duties to help
run the organization. We’re an all-volunteer crew, so we’re spotlighting some of those gre folks. ECW wouldn’t be possibl without them. This month, we’re talking with Steve Davis, ECW’s book review editor. You can read Steve’s full ECW bio here:
author-biographies/editors/ steve-davis. You’ve been a book review
ECW Book Review Editor Steve Davis loves to stay
editor in various capacities for a few decades now. Can you please outline that histor July 2022
for us? Dave Roth got Blue & Gray going in 1984, I think. His first BRE was Rowena Reed (Combined Operations, 1978). When she quit in 1985, Dave called me and asked if I'd take the “job.” Of course I agreed. I served in that capacity for twen years, retiring in 2005. Then ea last year, when the ECW Board wanted to ramp up ECW’s book reviews, I accepted the invitati to step in. How did you become interested in serving as a book review editor as opposed to just
a book reviewer? I get to keep up with the major publishers
and their releases. It's a way o staying informed on what's of current interest in the Civil Wa
the book review editor for ECW? I try to send out a book, on average, a week. We don't impose deadlines on our readers so I pretty much have to rely on them to finish up and either pos their reviews or to send 'em to me. Then I ask Chris or Sarah to
post them. What’s your favorite part of the job? Working with enthusiastic, talented reviewers like, just to name one, Meg Groeling. Why do you think book reviews are such an important part of the Civil War culture? I used to work for
medical organizations, and saw that the physicians were very proud of their commitment to continuing medical education; a.k.a. “keeping up in the field” and a lifetime of learning. We Civil Warriors can take even more pride in keeping up with the literature. It's our passion not our profession. So staying informed on what's out there is a proud trademark of Civil War enthusiasts’ identity. ECW Multimedia
On the Emerging Civil War Podcast in May: Chris Mackowski and Dan Welch, co-editors of Grant
Anniversary Series, talked about the book in conjunction with
the launch of the 1864 Overland Campaign We also spoke with Darren Rawlings of American Civil War & UK History and Gina Denham’ of the Monuments for UK Veterans of the American Civil War Association an initiative
underway to honor Civil War veterans who died in Great
Britain by providing them with new headstones. Check out the Emerging Civil War podcast on places like Apple
r podcast through Patreon, ere we are now also offering clusive bonus content for bscribers. Along with episodes our podcast, in May we also fered: • An interview with Ben Kemp of Grant Cottage for the U.S. Grant Bicentennial • An interview with ECW’s Phill Greenwalt about his trip earlier this year to
visit sites in the far Trans Mississippi Theater
• An original Edward Alexander map, “Capture of The Planter, May 13,
oceeds go toward defraying the oduction costs of the podcast.
Meanwhile, on our YouTube annel, we offered” • A Red Badge of Courage battlefield tour o
Chancellorsville from Chris Mackowski • An overview of earthworks around Dalton, Georgia, with historian Bob Jenkins • Recaps of the action at Rocky Face Ridge and Resaca with ECW Chief Historian Kris White • An overview of Dug Gap
with ECW’s David Powell • An exploration of the
Middle Tenn Civil War Show Decemb MK Shows presents the 35th ann Civil War Show and Sale at the
artifacts and memorabilia from around the country and encompa history from the Revolutionary Appraisers are always on hand value your military collectibl on Sat., 9-3 on Sun. Free Park adults and children under 12 a
implications of McPherson’s cau Snake Creek Gap A roundtable ta Chatelain, the Arteries of The Mississippi Squadron”
don’t forget to l ibe! You can also Facebook and Twitt
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