Grape & Canister

Civil War news, books, videos, and an Otis pic

Looking out on the Frederica River from the Hamilton Plantation on St. Simons Island, GA

Personal News

I am honored to be invited to join the Advisory Council at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. I’ve worked with the education staff for the past seven years and I look forward to supporting the mission at Ford’s over the next few years in my new capacity.

Last week I had a chance to catch up with my friend Stan Deaton at the Georgia Historical Society This week I was the guest for his podcast, Off the Deaton Path. We talked about the difference between history and memory, my current book project about Robert Gould Shaw, and my recent trip to the low country.

News

Erin Thompson, author of the new book Smashing Statues, shares a few thoughts about a recent visit to Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Chris Coates, at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, speaks to Rivka Maizlish, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, about removal of Confederate monuments in Virginia.

Here is an interesting piece about the possibilities and future of virtual museums.

I drove into Beaufort, SC last week on the Robert Smalls Memorial Highway. I heard his name referenced multiple times throughout the town, and I even had the opportunity to stand on the porch of his former home. Never heard of Robert Smalls? Start here.

I don’t read that much historical fiction set in the Civil War era, but this new book by Jayne Anne Phillips looks really interesting.

Videos

Flagler College recently hosted a symposium on the ongoing debate about history education and the challenges of teaching history in Florida. The event was organized by J. Michael Butler and David Blight. Here is Blight’s keynote address. Go to the Gilder-Lehrman Center’s YouTube page for the other sessions.

I really enjoyed this behind-the-scenes tour of the Civil War Flag collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Here is a local news feature out of Missouri about the Salus Populi Pension Project, which is highlighting the stories of African-American Soldiers for the public.

New to the Civil War Memory Library

[Most of these books were purchased during my trip last week to the low country.]

Orville V. Burton, Penn Center: A History Preserved (The University of Georgia Press, 2017).

Russell Duncan, Freedom’s Shore: Tunis Campbell and the Georgia Freedmen (The University of Georgia Press, 1986).

Edward A. Millier, Jr. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls From Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915 (The University of South Carolina Press, 1995).

J. Brent Morris ed., Yes, Lord, I Know the Road: A Documentary History of African Americans in South Carolina, 1526-2008 (The University of South Carolina Press, 2007).

Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (Viking, 2023).

Mart A. Stewart, “What Nature Suffers to Groe”": Life, Labor, and Landscape on the Georgia Coast, 1680-1920 (The University of Georgia Press, 1996).

Laura M. Towne, Letters & Diary of Laura M. Towne (reprint, Palmetto Publishing, 2019).

Otis

Otis is loving the slightly cooler temperatures here in Boston and is looking forward to a cold and snowy winter. His owners, not so much.