Dmitri has weighed in on the Washington Post’s panel of historians and their thoughts on the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Check it out here and here. As a reminder, I wrote about it here.
Considering that much of the country will experience the Sesquicentennial at one of our National Parks, it would have been nice if at least one representative of the NPS had contributed to this series.
There’s an interesting series of opinion pieces over at the Washington Post’s House Divided site in which historians of various stripes expound on how they feel the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War should be observed. I’m linking here to this article by Mike Musick, who has been a friend to Bull Runnings. Links to the thoughts of other contributors can be found at the bottom of each article (I’d post each link, but it’s late and I’m tired). I’m making my way through them and am finding a mixed bag, both in variety and quality. One writer made the unusual declaration that any reenactments “must” include both black and white soldiers, while stressing that the “true histories” also “must” be presented. Hmm…I’m trying to imagine how a First Bull Run reenactment could pull those two things off.
Here’s a list of contributors:
Chandra Manning
Brent Glass
David Blight
Mike Musick
Joan Waugh
Waite Rawls
Harold Holzer
John Marszalek
Here’s another article about the above 150th Anniversary Manassas logo and the artist who designed it.
Here is a site dedicated to events scheduled in and around the park to commemorate the Sesquicentennial. Check it out.
The above artwork, or logo, is for the Manassas and Prince William County Civil War Sesquicentennial. According to this story, the logo will be used to promote events and also appear on such places as t-shirts. Now, I love a good t-shirt, if it’s a nice heavy material and a dark color and so long as large pieces are consigned to the back of the shirt where they belong – small logos in front over the breast are good. If my stringent requirements are met I just may have to pick up one of these next time I’m down that way.
Note that the logo includes the First National Confederate flag, not the battle flag. I think that’s appropriate for a number of reasons, including the fact that the latter banner did not exist at the time of the First (and most important) Battle of Bull Run. The fact that the Georgia soldier depicted was not present for either battle at Manassas doesn’t bother me.
Hat tip to Kevin Levin. Also, Facebook fan Tim Ferry passed along this article on the plans for the 150th Battle Anniversary events.
The Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission’s Mobile Museum will be in Manassas on July 21, 2011. See details here.
On this the 149th anniversary of First Bull Run, we keep in mind that it’s never too early to make plans for celebrating the sesquicentennial in 2011. Here’s an article with some info on planned events in Manassas next year.
A brand new Barnes & Noble opened up next to my gym. So naturally I had to check it out after I was done with my workout tonight. It’s a very nice, very big store. Twenty-six thousand square feet, according to the Cat in the Hat who was greeting visitors (he told his interpreter who told me, of course). I made a B-line for the history section. Thankfully, there was a sign on the Civil War section, which I took as a good omen – the Civil War selection at the old area B&N store (which is closing) had been shrinking steadily over the past two years. But when I got there, I found that a total of three shelves was it. And only one book was a new release: the rest were paperbacks (a small consolation: the store carried the magazines for which I write). With the sesquicentennial looming, I’m not sure what this says about the state of things. Is it more indicative of lack of specific interest, or of the state of publishing, or of the social philosophy of the corporation, or of the economy in general? What do you think? Ultimately, it’s about the bottom line. If $40 McFarland paperbacks were flying off the shelves, I’m sure B&N would find room for them.
Here’s more info on the planning going on in PWC.
[Update: I've been informed that the blog to which this link leads is one of a modern political bent. I apologize for that, but it's really the links in the post I wanted to point out. If anyone is offended with the nature of the blog, please know that it was not my intent to endorse or otherwise comment on it.]
Kevin Levin has posted this article over at Civil War Memory. I have no dog in this fight: I am not nor have I ever been a re-enactor or “living historian”, whatever that means. And I don’t attend – purposely, anyway – re-enactments. I was vaguely planning to be in the area for the 150th anniversary of the battle, in part because I’ve been considering joining the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and friend Robert Moore tells me the national convention of that organization is planned for 2011 in Manassas. $350,000 ($100,000 from Manassas, $250,000 from the State of Virginia) seems like a lot of scratch, even in these times when government dollars are basically Monopoly money.
Harry Smeltzer
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