Grape & Canister

My roundup of Civil War News, Books, Videos, and an Otis pic.

News

The city of New Orleans has apologized for the 1866 Mechanics Institute Massacre. On July 30, roughly “200 Black men, reportedly unarmed military veterans, paraded up Canal Street to show their support for Black suffrage. As they approached the Mechanics Institute [where the state legislature convened], they were immediately met with violence by a white mob of former confederates, police officers, and firefighters who were sent by then-New Orleans Mayor John Monroe, who was also a Confederate sympathizer.”

Between 40 and 50 African Americans were killed that day.

The ceremony also included the dedication of a new historical marker.

(Photo by Matthew Perschall/Times-Picayune)

I served as a historical adviser to the Atlanta History Center for a project focused on the reinterpretation of the Margaret Mitchell House, located in downtown Atlanta. I am pleased to see that the home is now open to the public along with a new exhibit focusing on Gone With the Wind. Looking forward to seeing it for myself during my next visit.

Two African-American students attending Shenandoah County schools in Virginia are suing the school board over the decision to return the names of Confederate leaders to three public schools.

[Briana] Brown, one of the rising seniors on the lawsuit, said some of her peers felt hopeless during the renaming process and after the decision. She said she’s pleased that she’s gained support following her decision to speak out against the board’s decision.

I would really love to know what these students are taught about the Civil War and the Confederacy throughout this school district.

Dwayne Yancey is looking forward to the dedication of a statue honoring Black Union soldiers in Floyd County, Virginia, but wants to know why his community doesn’t also commemorate the many residents who refused to support the Confederacy and remained loyal to the United States. Good question.

Books

Frank W. Garmon Jr. A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era & Gilded Age (Louisiana State University Press, 2024).

Tom Huntington, Maine Roads to Gettysburg: How Joshua Chamberlain, Oliver Howard, and 4,000 Men From the Pine State Helped With the Civil War’s Bloodiest Battle (Stackpole Books, 2018).

Anthony Kaye with Gregory P. Downs, Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History (FSG, 2024).

Tiya Miles, Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People (Penguin Press, 2024).

Videos

I am pleased to see that a short documentary has been made about Wallace Turnage, who escaped slavery in Mobile, Alabama and made his way to the Union navy in Mobile Bay in 1864. It is a dramatic story and the reason we know about it is because Turnage himself told it through his own written account. It’s one of two accounts featured in David Blight’s book, A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom. Blight, along with Holly Pinheiro, Jr. and Chris Graham provide helpful commentary along the way.

Ever wonder how Gettysburg National Military Park restores its cannons and monuments?

In late 1864, the correspondent of a Georgia newspaper, the "Southern Confederacy" of Macon, described the situation and condition of the "first negro soldiers ever captured by the Army of Tennessee." The prisoners, all members of the 44th U.S. Colored Infantry, were surrendered at Dalton, Ga., on Oct. 13, 1864. Here's the story.

Here is historian Fergus Bordewich discussing his new book on the Klan, which I highly recommend.

Otis

I know we live in Boston, but it’s been really hot here this summer. As you might imagine, Otis is having a tough time, but he’s making the best of it. He spends most of the day sleeping and dreaming of snow.