As I continue to immerse myself in as much Revolutionary War material as I can, my latest train-companion has been found in a remarkable book titled General George Washington: A Military Life by Edward G. Lengel. According to Booklist, “Lengel is a Washington scholar who chronicles his checkered military career, linking events from Washington's humiliation by the French at Fort Necessity in 1754 to victory with the French at Yorktown in 1781 with evaluations about Washington's ability on every occasion.”  Although the study is presented as a standard, military biography, this author has dug deeper to examine the man behind the uniform.

From the beginning we are introduced to a young colonel named George Washington who is an ambitious and overly-sensitive soldier, somewhat unsure of his ability to lead, but confident in his own convictions. From there we witness his rise to greatness. So far, I have found Lengel’s research to be thorough, and his writing style to be both educational and entertaining. I have really enjoyed learning about Washington’s journey from citizen – to soldier – to supreme commander. I’m only about ¼ through the book and my own assumptions and interpretations of the man have already changed as Lengel has made Washington human.

One facet of the General’s story that has surprised me is the large amount of time that he spent in and around the Pittsburgh area. From land surveying and speculation, to forming alliances and fighting hostiles, Washington and his men traveled to the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania time and time again. Thanks to Mr. Lengel, I must now admit my shame as I apparently paid very little attention to my hometown’s heritage. Growing up, I wasn’t completely oblivious to Pittsburgh’s part in America’s story. As a child, I had visited Fort Pitt and Fort Ligonier and was aware of the ‘role’ the three rivers played in the Revolution and French and Indian War. As an adult, I have visited the Heinz Museum’s exhibits dealing with the earliest settlers and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. That said, I was, and remain, woefully ignorant of the region’s legacy.

As a result I am now planning to make a point to visit and/or revisit as many colonial-era sites as I can in future visits back home. Just as my residence in Fredericksburg leaves me surrounded by Civil War history that has found its way into my work, I am hoping that Pittsburgh will become a similar inspiration. When I made that decision to formally change my period of study, I had no idea it would take me back to where I started. I will be sure to take plenty of photographs and share my observations here in the future.

For my friend (and Patriots of the American Revolution’s new book review editor) Eric Wittenberg, I have agreed to review a new book on Thomas Jefferson. After that I hope to follow-up my Monticello piece with another feature article, perhaps something on General George Washington and his exploits in and around Pittsburgh. I love learning.

…this is the best thing I’ve ever seen.

As promised, here is the highly-anticipated update on the state of the National Civil War Life Foundation. This press release comes following our board meeting last night and was submitted to The Free Lance-Star. In the coming months, several new fund-raising measures will be announced. I will be updating the Foundation's website to reflect the museum's new temporary location later this week. The most significant change is that Fredericksburg is now our intended destination, not Spotsylvania.

For Immediate Release (2/1/2010): On January 31, the board for the National Civil War Life Foundation held their first meeting of 2010. The purpose of this session was to address the changes that had occurred in recent months and to initiate planning for the coming year.

In December of 2009, Terry Thomann, Director of the Civil War Life Soldier’s Museum, relocated his facility from the Massaponnax region of Spotsylvania County to the historic district in the City of Fredericksburg. Currently, Mr. Thomann is displaying a small portion of artifacts within his new gift shop at 829 Caroline Street. The Foundation intends to establish a new museum in the Fredericksburg area that will accommodate Mr. Thomann’s entire collection of over 2,000 items and host a variety of special exhibits including the Civil War in 3D Photography show.

The National Civil War Life Foundation’s mission remains “To operate a national museum and research center that preserves and interprets the human story of the American Civil War and connects the lives of all people of that era to the nation today.” Terry Thomann and Acting Chairman Michael Aubrecht are leading the effort to develop a new business plan for the Foundation to implement in the very near future.

The Foundation continues to focus on supporting education by providing a venue that will introduce students of all ages to the Civil War in an all-inclusive setting. Educating the public through this endeavor remains a top priority of this venture. This unique museum will be designed specifically to engage visitors of all ages in a manner in which they can both relate to and better understand the complexities of the Civil War. The core artifact collection and subject matter expertise is already in place. The need remains for a suitable location to properly present it.

Fundraising, selecting a new location for the museum and increasing the public’s awareness of this project are the priorities of the Foundation in 2010. Several initiatives have been recommended by the Foundation Board and include hosting special events such as “The Angel of Marye’s Heights” documentary film premiere. Rotating exhibits showcasing Fredericksburg’s wartime experiences are also being explored.

The National Civil War Life Foundation wishes the public to know that the current Civil War Life Museum and collection has moved to downtown Fredericksburg and that this project will be moving forward. Updates that reflect the changes in the NCWLF’s status and location will be implemented on the organization’s website at www.civilwarlife.org in the coming weeks. All museum-related events will be announced as they become scheduled. Contact: civilwarlife@yahoo.com

“When you’re making a movie, you can’t think anybody will ever see it. You’ve just got to make a movie for the values it has. The greatest films were made because someone really wanted to make them. And, hopefully, the audience will show up, too.” - Clint Eastwood, actor/director.

“All in all, I am hoping this will turn out to be a quality film that is worthy of the story it is telling.” - Clint Ross, director The Angel of Marye’s Heights

Production photos:

The other day another blogger (you can guess who) posted: “The reason I don’t celebrate Lee-Jackson Day is because I don’t celebrate the cause for which Lee and Jackson are remembered.  They are remembered for their service in an army that functioned as the military extension of a government that was committed to perpetuating slavery and white supremacy.  I find it simply impossible to distinguish between the individuals in question, including their many virtues, and the cause for which they attached themselves to.”

Personally, I find that to be a tremendously over-simplistic view. It’s not called “Confederacy Day,” it’s called “Lee-Jackson Day” and both of these gentlemen are remembered for many reasons. Isn’t Thomas Jackson’s pre-war contributions to the Presbyterian Church, as well as Robert E. Lee’s post-war tenure as president of Washington College worthy of our praise beyond their quote: “service in an army that functioned as the military extension of a government that was committed to perpetuating slavery and white supremacy”?

Of course it is. Why? Because the Civil War does not entirely define them. Ironically, this blogger and his peers often argue that the history of the South should not be limited to the four years of the Civil War. So…in their own hypocritical point of view, the South should not be judged through such a narrow focus, but those who participated in a war on its behalf should. (Do these people ever go back and re-read what they’ve posted in the past? They counter their own arguments.)

Now it is perfectly acceptable that this blogger chooses not to acknowledge Lee-Jackson Day, but according to his logic, we shouldn’t celebrate the legacies of any historically significant, slave-owning “white supremacists” including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and most of their peers, because they also perpetuated slavery and white supremacy. Once again, that over-simplistic viewpoint requires a narrow-focus indeed. How convenient.

So what is my point? My point is that most people today are completely OK with these guys being among many things, racists, because they are able to distinguish the reasons why we should admire them, from the ones we should condemn. Our nation’s entire culture, from the portraits on our currency and most magnificent monuments - to our national holidays and children’s history lessons - celebrate imperfect, racially biased white men just like Jackson and Lee. If we all found it quote: “simply impossible to distinguish between the individuals in question, including their many virtues, and the cause for which they attached themselves to” we would more than likely be left without any historical heroes. How sad.

My response to this blogger is simply this...I believe that the majority of every-day Americans are intelligent and mature enough to determine that our times are very different from our forefathers and to always take that into consideration when acknowledging the past. It doesn’t make someone a racist if they admire these men and it doesn’t mean that they support every quote: “cause for which they attached themselves to.”

As usual this blogger is talking out of both sides of his mouth, but I guess we are not as smart as he is. That must be why I choose to celebrate Lee-Jackson Day.

Yes, you heard it here. Kevin Levin over at Civil War Memory has penned an excellent article on Confederate executions in the latest issue of Civil War Times. Despite our intermittent differences, I must give credit where it is due and Mr. Levin’s article is an excellent study in what I believe to be a far-too-neglected subject.

In my own personal studies on Stonewall Jackson, I came upon this subject multiple times. In fact, I dedicated an entire chapter to the subject of camp executions in my book Confederate Campfires at the Crossroads. Titled “Crime and Punishment: Executions, Courts-Martial and Humiliations,” I included photos, an illustration, and several letters from soldiers in the field recalling the harsh dispensing of justice while on campaign. What struck me was the casualness in which they wrote about it. To me, this speaks to the notion that more and more troops became numb to witnessing death (on either side) as the war dragged on – and how utterly desperate some of them had become to risk their lives for desertion. Here is one of the recollections that I quote:

Letter from Spencer Glasgow Welch, a surgeon in the 13th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (McGowan’s Brigade), to his wife:

Camp near Rappahannock River Va
March 5, 1863

Edwin Jim Allen and Ben Strother took dinner with me yesterday and I think I gave them a pretty good dinner for camp. We had biscuit, excellent ham, fried potatoes, rice, light bread butter, stewed fruit and sugar. They ate heartily as soldiers always do. Edwin is not suffering from his wound, but on account of it he is privileged to have his baggage hauled. A man was shot near our regiment last Sunday for desertion. It was a very solemn scene. The condemned man was seated on his coffin with his hands tied across his breast. A file of twelve soldiers was brought up to within six feet of him, and at the command, a volley was fired right into his breast. He was hit by but one ball because eleven of the guns were loaded with powder only. This was done so that no man can be certain that he killed him. If he was the thought of it might always be painful to him. I have seen men marched through the camps under guard with boards on their backs, which were labeled “I am a coward,” or “I am a thief,” or “I am a shirker from battle” and I saw one man tied hand and foot astride the neck of a cannon and exposed to view for sixteen hours. These severe punishments seem necessary to preserve discipline.

Spencer Glasgow Welch

Last weekend some good friends of mine from Lee’s Lieutenants participated in a very special ceremony at the U.S. Capitol commemorating Robert E. Lee’s birthday. Al Stone portrayed the guest of honor and members of his staff accompanied him. The observance was organized by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (District of Columbia Division) and featured a salute to the CSA flag, the singing of “Dixie,” a wreath placement at the statue of Gen. Lee, and a guest speaker.

Of course there were some folks who took offense, but I applaud the conviction of the organizers as well as the government officials who authorized this event. One article stated that Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was the one who OK’d it, yet another piece said that the UDC had been doing this since 1909.

I find it incredibly offensive that people continue to argue against any commemoration of this sort in the same week as Martin Luther King Day. In Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day is now held on the Friday before MLK Day and the fact that Lee and King’s birthdays are a mere 4 days apart is the cause for the “crossover.” It is NOT what one poorly-informed critic called “an annual event that normally attracts a number of white supremacists and neo-Nazis, meant to slight the memory of Dr. King.” On the other side of extremism, I have read people complain about honoring our greatest civil rights leader and refer to him as “a domestic terrorist and an architect of insurrection.” These types of ignorant assertions are ridiculous and soley meant to instigate.

I firmly believe that BOTH of these tremendous individuals deserve our gratitude and acknowledgement - and what better sign of equality than to celebrate them equally? If either of these great men were around today, they would frown upon these blanket criticisms and tell us all to get along.

At the risk of sounding boastful, I wanted to share an excerpt from a wonderful email that I received today. I am posting this to show my comrades that one can indeed step completely out of their comfort zone and not only have that decision validated, but also have it lead to new things. (Some of you have emailed me in private saying that you too are thinking about making a change. Today I say do it!) 

A few weeks ago I had announced my decision to move my focus from the American Civil War to the Revolution. This was a big risk for me as I had published zero material on the subject, nor had I any working-relationships in that genre. In fact, the closest I had come to formally writing about America's fight for independence was the origin studies that I included in my book on Fredericksburg's historic churches. As I stated in my post, I was essentially starting over as I had no credibility, no experience, and no connections in this period of study. My plan (which I have been following) was to simply immerse myself in the subject matter.

A generous editor from Three Patriots Publishing named Benjamin Smith extended an open invitation for me to submit something for Patriots of the American Revolution. I decided to take him up on his offer and penned a 7-page feature on race and remembrance at Monticello. I also introduced Ben to Eric Wittenberg who has quickly taken a very active role in PAR as their new book review editor.

After Ben sent me a PDF of the finished Monticello article I was fairly pleased, but still nervous about what readers would think. I likened this feeling to the first time I ever submitted an article, a combination of anxiousness and nausea. For the last week or so, I've been cringing at the thought of my first offering being panned. Perhaps I had made a mistake. Maybe I should have stayed in my comfort zone after all?

Well...this weekend I received both my complimentary PAR copies and a congratulatory email (below) from noted historian and writer Hugh Harrington. Hugh and I share publishers and I loved his book on the Civil War in Milledgeville. He too had been a contributor to PAR and his words filled me with a great sense of relief. They also initiated a new friendship that will continue to grow as he, Eric, and I continue to grow - not only in this new genre and in the pages of Patriots of the American Revolution - but also as students of America's fight for liberty and freedom. Change is good.

...As for your article. The first thing I have to say is your photography is outstanding. The article is perfect. Not so deep that people get bogged down but not fluff, either...You cite sources (I don't read articles without sources/footnotes) and tell a compelling story. In fact, it would be hard to read - and look at your photos - and be anywhere near Monticello and not drive over to go over the ground in person. Well done, Sir! I hope to see you again in the Patriots and elsewhere - perhaps even in person. Best regards, Hugh T. Harrington