Michigan Civil War Blog

Michigan's week

Today was effectively the kick-off for Michigan Week, which runs from May 17-23. The Governor's awards for historic preservation were presented in the Capitol Rotunda for seven great projects with many participants. It was just great.

This year, Michigan Week has a logo

and a webpage [HAL], as opposed to last year when tuning in resulted in a message saying, 'sorry, there's no money for Michigan Week, and if you want to do something that'd be nice but there's really not much help we can give you.'

This hopeful sign, exemplified by a graphic that shows arms stretched toward the sky combined with an award ceremony demonstrating the power of personal determination, commitment, and devotion to this State, are inspiring. Perhaps the needle on the Michigan History gauge is forward a degree or two, and trending that way with continuity ...

Popeye and the Civil War

No, I don't mean the cartoon character. I was in the car driving to an appointment today when I heard an interview on Detroit radio of Gene Hackman, winner of an academy award for the role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection among other roles.

Mr. Hackman has co-written a novel called Escape from Andersonville, published by St. Martin's Press on May 13th, so it should now be in stores. Yes, it's about that Andersonville. According to the interview, Hackman wanted to write about the River after appearing in Mississippi Burning, and his co-writer knew of the Sultana disaster and thought that, plus a tie-in to the Andersonville prison, would make a good yarn. It'll be interesting to see reviews. Once again, the Civil War is found to be fodder for writing by someone famous.

It made me look to see if I still have Mackinlay Kantor's Andersonville on the shelf, which I don't, along with John Ransom's Andersonville Diary. Also, I found the Richard Slotkin novel The Crater. Should have taken it to the AACWRT meeting last nite.

The interview of the Escape authors can be found at WJR.

BTW, there's apparently a 1909 movie by the same title, of which no copies are extant. Mr. Hackman did not appear in that one.

The Mine

Last nite John Vohlken of the Grand Rapids CWRT spoke at the Ann Arbor CWRT on "The Construction of Doom: the Mine at Petersburg".

Interesting talk for it focused not on the military aspects of the event but on the construction itself, full of engineering details, aided by 'reconstructed' props: model of the mine with a cross-section showing the levels of earth, upward direction of tunnel, surface sloping up toward where the crater was created; notched framing showing the trapezoidal design of the tunnel supports; box to hold excavated soil; powder keg made completely of wood; iron peg to insert into tunnel wall for candle or lantern; bullseye lamp to guide detonation crew into the tunnel on the morning of the blast.

Mr. Vohlken gave us great insight into the engineering marvel that was the Mine. With great resourcefulness, overcoming lack of cooperation from others including the chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, the men in charge (48th PA) pulled off an amazing job. History counts the Battle of the Crater a failure, for it didn't achieve the objective of opening a hole in the Confederate line enabling a quicker end to the siege of Richmond/Petersburg. Lost in the tumult is the fact that the Mine succeeded: undetected, Union troops constructed a 500+foot tunnel that enabled blowing a huge hole in Confederate trenches creating the opportunity for an assault that, properly planned and executed, might have succeeded.

Those who failed were not the miners and men of the 'Mine of Doom'.

Will Spielberg measure up?

Today's Freep has an item on why no final piece in the Shaara Trilogy, as reported elsewhere. Gary Gallagher has a new book out on the War and the movies. Steven Spielberg says he will start on Lincoln next year coincident with the Bicentennial. All that, plus recent comments here, leads me to noodle a list of good-to-great Hollywood efforts (ranked by memory, not quality, and I'm too lazy to alpha). Note how most actors rank pretty high in the pantheon.

Major Dundee (Charlton Heston)

Dark Command (John Wayne)

Red Badge of Courage (Audie Murphy)

Glory (Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman)

Cold Mountain (Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellwegger)

Gettysburg (Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels)

Gods and Generals (Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels)

Santa Fe Trail (Errol Flynn, Raymond Massey, Olivia deHaviland)

Abe Lincoln in Illinois (Raymond Massey)

Young Mr. Lincoln (Henry Fonda)

Gone With The Wind (Clark Gable)

Shenandoah (Jimmy Stewart)

Friendly Persuasion (Gary Cooper)

The Horse Soldiers (John Wayne, William Holden)

Virginia City (Errol Flynn)

They Died With Their Boots On (Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHaviland)

The Tall Target (Dick Powell)

I have favorites but those with Michiganders Daniels and Heston are at the top (naturally).

Michigan in the CW blogs

It's gratifying to do my Saturday morning webcrawl and find mention of Michigan/Civil War items out there...

Yesterday Jenny Goellnitz features the Cavalry monument on the Draw the Sword, mentioning how "it stands on the East Cavalry battlefield at the location where the 1st Michigan of Custer’s brigade clashed with Stuart’s charging troopers." A few days earlier she cited how a U.S. artillery unit was stationed on Mackinac Island at war's inception: 2d US.

Also yesterday, Drew Wagenhoffer mentions (at the end of entry) that the Kalamazoo CWRT will announce the winner of the Albert Castel award next week: CW Books & Authors. Previous winners included Cunningham's Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862. Michigander Albert Castel, as should be known, wrote some great books on the era.

On May 8 (speaking of Shiloh) Nick Kurtz posts about the heroism of the 12th and 15th Infantry and Michigan Light Artillery at Pittsburg Landing, with great pics of the State monument: Battlefield Wanderings. Especially nice is inclusion of the inscription with the final phrase, "More enduring than this granite will be the gratitude of Michigan to her soldiers of Shiloh."

On April 30 Michael Aubrecht posts about his discovery of Michigan having its own "Stonewall Brigade", the 17th Infantry, and its gallant fights at Antietam: Pinstripe Press. As for the copyright/trademark issue, tho not an intellectual property attorney I believe Jackson's brigade did not own/protect the name because (1) it probably expired (see US Copyright Office) and (2) they surely didn't protect it via a federal agency (LOL, as the younger generation would say).

There was a story with Michigan connection from that date on Civil War Interactive. I frequently find Michigan items here that are from non-Detroit area news sources.

On April 20 Brian Downey posts about that same topic, the 17th Infantry, thanks to a diversion to Fox's Gap and touring the markers associated with that important fight: Antietam on the Web. Great pic of the 17th's monument.

Of course, practically one can always find new posts since the last visit about Michigan soldiers at Steve Soper's 3rd Michigan. He's been doing it since 2006 and is up to the "C's".

Not bad 't'all. It can be a great thing, this internet.

Dark Command

See this flick recently on AMC? I found it one morning on our recent trip and tried it, but couldn't stand the commercial interruptions. So hope that TCM, my favorite TV channel--"uncut, uninterrupted, and commercial-free"--will one day. Hadn't seen it before and, like many things in my Civil War experience, stumbled across it by accident. What a fabulous cast!

From TCM comes this summary: "Set in the years leading up to the Civil War and its outbreak, Dark Command tells a fictionalized version of the story of William Clarke Quantrill, the schoolteacher-turned-renegade, whose raids -- ostensibly on behalf of the Confederacy -- turned Kansas into a charnel house. John Wayne plays Bob Setton, a young Texan who arrives in Lawrence, KS, in 1859 on his way west, partnered with George "Gabby" Hayes. He meets Marie McCloud (Claire Trevor) and her younger brother, Fletch (Roy Rogers), and takes a liking to them, especially Marie. His only competition for her is William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), the local schoolteacher, who has big ambitions in life. He is nominated for town marshal and seems a shoo-in, especially as his only rival is Bob Setton, who admits he knows nothing about the law and can't even read, but Setton wins with his honest, unpretentious speech. At the time, Kansas is riven by strife, as settlers from the North opposed to slavery and those from the South supporting it pour into the territory, and Setton has his hands full. His most difficult personal moment comes when he must arrest Fletch for shooting an anti-slavery farmer (Trevor Bardette) to death. Cantrell leads a campaign of terror against the jury, however, which finds the young man not guilty just as the Civil War breaks out. In the months that follow, Setton and his posse go after the raiders who are stealing and destroying huge amounts of property in Kansas on behalf of the Confederacy. He suspects Cantrell is their leader, but can't prove it, and has to tread carefully. As the raids worsen, and the war drags on -- even Marie's pro-Confederacy banker father is murdered during a run on his bank -- their conflict comes to a violent end as Cantrell launches an attack on Lawrence, vowing to destroy the town, with only Bob Setton and Cantrell's own mother (Marjorie Main) standing in his way."

For an article on the import of the movie, see TCM.

Spiritual journey

From today's Freep on the first page of the "Life" section come two Civil War era stories.

One by the title of this blog entry describes a performance this coming weekend of Sing Jubilee by the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. "The play tells the remarkable story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers who, facing brutal social conditions and segregation, introduced white audiences to Negro spirituals, the religious folk songs of African-American slaves." Great story about how their singing soothed the savage beast. You may have read that Detroit high schools have an atrocious graduation rate. So you'd be delighted to know that 95% of Mosaic members graduate. Beautiful sepia-tone picture of the Singers ca.1875 with the story. Here's a link: Mosaic

Next to it was a column by Desiree Cooper, a delightful writer, entitled "Club's name is its goal for 110 years." About the Detroit Study Club, a group of African-American women who have discussed books, traded books, loved books for over a century. Limited to 45 members, by invitation only, it originated with "a group of affluent black women after the Civil War who did what other affluent women did in those days. They studied issues, literature and music." Here's a link: Cooper

Two side-by-side accounts that demonstrate the powerful outcome for good of a terrible Civil War.

Law and Lincoln

The annual issue of the Michigan Bar Journal directory just came out. It features this Alexander Gardner 1865 cover photo:

...and this legend: "200 years   Abraham Lincoln   lawyer and president   1809 2009"

...and on the inside (p.5) is this "About the Cover" text:

Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books and in Almanacs;--let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.  -- Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838

We're approaching the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, our nation's sixteenth president and perhaps its most famous lawyer. Michigan will be celebrating the Lincoln Bicentennial along with the rest of the nation from February 12, 2008 through February 12, 2010.

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky. He visited Michigan only once in 1856. The "Lincoln at Kalamazoo" historical marker in Bronson Park describes his visit:

On August 27, 1856, here in this park, Abraham Lincoln, then an obscure lawyer, spoke to a rally for John Fremont, the Republican presidential nominee. This was the only time that Lincoln addressed an audience in Michigan. The event was almost unnoticed in the press. Some Republicans felt the speaker was too conservative on the antislavery issue. Four years later, Michigan's vote helped put Lincoln into the White House.

For more Michigan-Lincoln connections, Lincoln facts, and details about Lincoln bicentennial celebration events planned in Michigan, please visit www.MILincoln.org, which is the home of the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee.

...and it does this Michigan lawyer proud to open his office mail to find this.

Due process

As a follow-up to the 'fantasy' post about being NPS director, here's one additional thing. The head of the National Park Service should have authority to commence an action against any person who appears to have committed a violation of federal law involving a national asset. Authority, on his/her own, without having to run thru any other federal agency or official.

Why? It has been over 20 months--since August 19, 2006--since news accounts appeared about how developers, without authorization, for two days, used heavy machinery on the Perry Orchard Tract at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park to dig two 1,900-foot trenches and lay utility lines through part of the School House Ridge battlefield where Stonewall Jackson made his attack on September 15, 1862. As I recall, it occurred during a commemoration of an event at the park. The developers worked during the night , using generator-powered lights, to set up a fait accompli and steal a march on the NPS.

An apparent violation of federal law? Sure. Has an enforcement action been commenced? Nope. Why? Likely the bureaucracy. That needs to end. Unless, that is, the federal government has adopted a policy of allowing anyone to do anything on park land. During recent visits to several parks, signs were conspicuously posted warning about conduct that was inappropriate. I'm sure, had an attempt been made to take an artifact out of Chatham, or remove a book from Tredegar without paying, yours truly would have found those signs are not advisory only.

In Michigan, as pointed out here previously, a bill has been introduced to increase the penalties for defacing historical locales. It passed one chamber and awaits action in the other. Although not subscribing to the imprisonment part of the concept, this blogger has supported the notion to discourage the kind of anti-heritage behavior that was reported at Harpers Ferry.

Perhaps, then, dual enforcement should be the approach. If the feds don't act within a certain time period, then the State could. I believe Michigan would be more than willing to protect heritage assets if another level of government won't.

Kudos CWPT

A fairy tale...let's pretend I've just been appointed NPS director. I've accepted the appointment on one condition.

That first order of business is that the President will issue an executive order directing all federal agencies, departments, employees, contractors, and anyone else receiving federal dollars to apply to the NPS director (remember, that's me) for written consent before any construction project having any potential impact on a historical site can be commenced. I would grant such approval only when no impact occurs.

Thereby, we take care of DOE using the NIETC designation to approve transmission routes within eyesight of Civil War battlefields. We end the prospect of a cell tower adjacent to Antietam. We take care of DOT approving expansion of I-81 to eight lanes through the Shenandoah Valley. Ditto for I-270 expansion at Monocacy; in fact, NPS will work with DOT to reroute the interstate around the battlefield and correct a monstrous travesty. We work with Congress to pass a bigger and better Battlefield Preservation Act, with loads more money and incentives for state/local units of government to maintain proper zoning of battlegrounds and their vicinities. We stop the madness.

Nice little fantasy; too bad it's just that. But there is one entity out there trying to do what my imaginary NPS director and the federal government should be doing in defense of our Civil War heritage, and that's the Civil War Preservation Trust. They're taking action on things mentioned above, and I support them.

Let me say I'm not just a blind follower. When the Slaughter Pen acquisition news came out, I was skeptical about such a large purchase. On April 26 '08 I was in the vicinity, driving up US-17 from the south. To get to Fxburg you make a right at an intersection and start north up the road into town, with subdivisions on the right and light industry on either side when, all of sudden, you see the familiar CWPT logo on a sign to your left, near a farm building, with woods paralleling the road way to your left across the field, and as you drive by--with busy traffic in front, back, and passing southward next to your vehicle--it dawns on you that this is indeed that site, that you are actually driving on ground that was battlefield, for you saw the video of this site when the plea for support came out. And it shocks you that this tract house and that airport and this store have been allowed to be located where soldiers fought, were wounded, and died, on behalf of the Nation.

So I applaud the vision of the CWPT-ers. I applaud their dedication to rectifying the huge historical oversight of the federal government. Hallowed Ground mentions (p.7) a whopping $3M was appropriated for the CWBPP for FY 08. Slaughter Pen cost $12M. Your government in action. Without CWPT, even this puny sum wouldn't likely exist.

I also am sending page 4 to my congressperson with a note: "I want to see your pic in Hallowed Ground next year as recipient of the CWPT National Preservation Leadership Award."

That's no fairy tale.