Civil War Times August 2011

Inside this issue:

Inside cover – a picture of John David Hoptak’s great big giant head.

Letters:

• Praise and criticism of Kim O’Connell’s photo-essay of monuments at Gettysburg in the June 2011 issue.
• Praise and criticism of Gary Gallagher’s article on James Longstreet in the June 2011 issue.
• A little more artillery info provided by Craig Swain and prompted by David Schneider’s article on “Lee’s Armored Car” in the February 2011 issue.

Blue & Gray

• Gary Gallagher asks, Did the Fall of Vicksburg Really Matter?

Collateral Damage

Your host discusses the stories behind the homes of two Pemelias – Higgerson and Chewning – on the Wilderness Battlefield. Thanks again to Noel Harrison of F&SNMP and author Josef Rokus for all their help.

Field Guide

• The staff show us the Civil War sites of Frederick, MD.

Interview

• Repeat Lincoln impersonator Sam Watterson (I like to think of him as Michael Moriarty’s fill-in on Law & Order).

Letter from the Editor

• Editor Dana Shoaf says let’s refer to the observance of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War as something other than a celebration. Commemoration sounds good to me.

Features

• The Winter that Made the Texas Brigade – Susannah Ural and Rick Eiserman on Hood’s Brigade and the winter of 1861-62.
• Yankee Super Gun – Craig Swain wonders if the big guns of the 1st CT Heavy Artillery could have ended Pickett’s Charge before it began.
• The Boy Brigadier – Iconoclast William Marvel challenges the long recognized answer to a favorite Civil War trivia question – Who was the youngest general of the war?
• WWII Comes to Gettysburg – Jennifer Murray on the ‘Burg in the Big One.
• “The South Was My Country” – Douglas Gibboney gives us a glimps of John Singleton Mosby’s life after the war.

Reviews

• Film – The Conspirator – Harold Holzer points out flaws and gives warning
• Ural on URLs features the NPS site for Manassas National Battlefield Park
• The Union War, Gary Gallagher
• A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee’s Triumph, 1862-1863, Jeffry D. Wert (see interview here)
• The Battle of South Mountain, John David Hoptak
• The notorious “Bull” Nelson: Murdered Civil War General, Donald A. Clark
• The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles, John Ballard