Month: September 2017

Amerikan Rambler: Podcast 7: Graham Dozier and Civil War History

From March 2016: “Graham is the author and editor of ‘A Gunner in Lee’s Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter’ “

The book contains 100 letters written by Carter, an artillery officer in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Graham is also the editor of the “Virginia Magazine of History and Biography” at the Virginia Historical Society.

via Podcast 7: Graham Dozier and Civil War History — Amerikan Rambler: Everybody Has a Story

Amerikan Rambler: ‘A Great and a Terrible Day’: The Battle of Antietam

From Nov. 2013: “The story of the Army of the Potomac from late-1861 to late-1862 is the story of an internal battle between the ‘Young Napoleon’ and the Lincoln Administration.”

Lee got lucky to have fought the North to a draw in Maryland. However, despite being outnumbered 2:1, Lee held a psychological advantage over McClellan that allowed him to fight a better battle tactically. McClellan always thought Lee had more men, and it was this delusion that gave Lee confidence that he could carry the day.

via “A Great and a Terrible Day”: The Battle of Antietam — Amerikan Rambler: Everybody Has a Story

Amerikan Rambler: New Documents Shed Light on Nation’s Seventh President

From Feb. 2016: “Perhaps most disturbing are the passages dealing with cannibalism, particularly the cannibal feasts Jackson had in the White House during the Blizzard of ’31.”

Jackson’s “Secret Diary,” which was written in code, provides grim details of the president’s decision to dine on White House staff when food ran out in the nation’s capital. The blizzard of January 17-20, 1831 was the worst in Washington D.C.’s history. The storm left six feet of snow in the nation’s capital. Many people were house-bound for weeks. Some, such as Jackson, resorted to eating fellow Washingtonians.

😉

via New Documents Shed Light on Nation’s Seventh President — Amerikan Rambler: Everybody Has a Story

Amerikan Rambler: Historians and the Do-It-for-Free Trap

From Feb. 2016: “Perhaps the best example of the do-it-for-free trap is the book review.”

Teaching can be a very rewarding job — financially and personally. Unfortunately, however, many academics, especially aspiring ones, do far too much for free. Often, it’s part of their job. Other times, it becomes a kind of borderline bad habit. And yet, it’s easy for historians to get into the habit of writing or talking too often for free. Perhaps the best example of the do-it-for-free trap is the book review.

via Historians and the Do-It-for-Free Trap — Amerikan Rambler: Everybody Has a Story