Grape & Canister
News, Videos, Books, and an Otis Pic
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News
In case you missed it, here is my latest op-ed at Slate on the controversy surounding the hosting of Moms for Liberty at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
A reminder on this anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg that you don’t have a complete appreciation of its significance without acknowledging the thousands of enslaved men that accompanied Confederates into the free state of Pennsylvania 160 years ago.
Making History at Gettysburg National Military Park
The Southern Poverty Law Center needs to step back and allow the military to continue its work to remove symbols of the Confederacy from its many assets. It has made noticeable progress given that change takes time in the military. In a few weeks I will lead what will likely be my last tour of the Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery.
I disagree with the SPLC that Congress needs to take action to remove the remaining Confederate statues from inside the Capitol Building. Those statues were placed there by individual states and should be removed by state legislatures.
The Boston Globe recently featured an interesting story about a Malden resident who survived Andersonville.
After being released at Goldsboro, N.C., on Feb. 23, 1865, and discharged on June 29, 1865, George Phillips worked as a clerk, traveling agent, and last-maker (creating shoe molds). He lived the rest of his life in Malden, a Boston suburb. According to Phillips, witnessing the site of his great-grandfather’s suffering and survival in Andersonville is even more poignant when considering his eventual fate.
In fact, a Boston Globe article published on Sept. 1, 1890, described George Phillips’s death the previous day while in the line of duty as a volunteer fireman, when his vehicle was struck by a train at Saugus Crossing in Malden en route to a fire. He was buried in the city’s Forest Dale Cemetery.
I disagree with the framing of this story of Harriet Tubman as a military veteran, but this chapter in her life during the Civil War is well worth reading and is briefly discussed in my biography of Robert Gould Shaw.
Videos
Here is a recent talk and discussion with historian Gary Gallagher about the importance of Union to the Civil War generation. Well worth your time.
Descendants of enslaved families from Arlington House in Virginia recently gathered for a reunion.
It’s also the 160th anniversary of the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg. American Battlefield Trust has you covered.
Books
Andrew S. Bledsoe, Decisions at Franklin: The Nineteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle (University of Tennessee Press, 2023).
Rachel L. Swarns, The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church (Random House, 2023).
Otis
On the Gallagher video at some point in the Q&A I tried to make a superficially humorous observation about the question flow and it utterly bombed. Embarrassing. I would have figured that at this point in my career I'd know that GG doesn't suffer fools. [laugh/cry emoji]
How do we sign up for the Arlington Confederate Monument Tour? or can we?