It's that time of year again when men dressed in blue (and gray) and women dressed in period attire will invade Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit to reenact the Civil War experience for interested visitors. Great article in today's daily on it: Freep. Hats off to writer Christina Hall for another great piece.
Going there this weekend is well worth the time, and the cost is only $5 for parking (unless you want a tour, which is $3).
When business necessitates a trip to downtown Detroit, the location where this laptop sits is typically a small conference room on the 40th floor of our office near the foot of Woodward. Today, the space available was a large conference room, still perched high above the city on the 40th floor, but with a viewscape much larger than usual. It was amazing.
The wide view was southwest, overlooking the Detroit River as it flows underneath the Ambassador Bridge and makes a turn to the left (south) toward the downriver communities, Grosse Ile, and eventually Lake Erie. The water was a spectacular blue, with small craft plying up and down the waterway leaving a temporary footprint in what was just an amazing azure pathway. The sky was sky blue (surprise) with wisps of bright clouds. In the near ground stood the Riverfront Apartments, followed by the green space where the Detroit Free Press printing plant once hulked, then the few remaining train tracks that not long ago were used as an embarkation point for travel across the river on barges, and then the bridge. Beyond it, around the bend, stood the stacks and other accoutrement of the downriver industrial spaces. A freighter with its rouge red hull was tied up at one of these sites, near to the Rouge River entry to Ford's complex. Another was parked across on the Windsor side. Mid-morning a flotilla of five small craft lined up in formation made their way east, leaving behind five v-shaped wakes. The mail boat joined up with an southbound freighter just west of the bridge and made its delivery before heading back to shore. Traffic climbed the bridge and then descended toward land in each direction.
In the foreground out these windows waved the American flag on the top of the Guardian Building, standing out strong toward the southeast in a regular breeze.
To the north, Comerica Park in its ballfield beauty, marked by the brilliant checkerboard green grass of the infield and outfield and foul ground, attracted attention. Next door, Ford Field's rooftop logo stood out in the sunshine. The view all the way up Woodward toward the Mackinac Bridge and all the way out Grand River Avenue toward Lake Michigan was amazing. Actually, the horizon cut off the eventual ending of these thoroughfares, but it was fun to imagine.
What a great day from 400 feet up.
Used to think that every other place talked more about their connections to the Civil War than Michigan. Been disabused of that notion a bit lately, what with several publications having stories about the era in their current issues:
Surviving that "Dismal Hole" in Georgia is an excellent article by historian and writer Roger L. Rosentreter (Andersonville) in the current May/June issue of Michigan History Magazine.
The Chronicle, a quarterly publication of the Historical Society of Michigan, features an article on Zachariah Chandler's role in the 1864 election.
Perhaps the most challenging of these articles is in the Spring 2009 edition of The Michigan Historical Review, Vol. 35, No. 1, under the title Civil War Recruiting and Recruits from Ever-Changing Labor Pools: Midland County, Michigan as a Case Study, by Robert E. Mitchell.
Great to see the triumvirate of Michigan historical publications treating CW subjects.
From MIRS:
On This Day In Michigan History
On July 1, 1863, a Michigan infantry suffered the greatest loss of any northern regiment in Civil War fighting.
The Twenty-Fourth Michigan Infantry regiment of the Iron Brigade engaged advancing Confederate forces at Gettysburg during the Civil War.
In savage fighting, the Twenty-Fourth Infantry suffered 80 percent casualties (400 of 500 men) on the first day of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg.
Source: Michigan History magazine
From MIRS:
On This Date In Michigan History
On June 29, 1863 George Armstrong CUSTER was appointed to command the Michigan Cavalry Brigade.
Raised in Monroe, Custer graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1861. Serving as a junior officer for the first two years of the Civil War, Custer -- and two other junior officers -- were promoted to brigadier general in late June 1863. The unique move was intended to instill élan in the Army of the Potomac's cavalry command, which was often bested by Rebel cavalry.
Custer received command of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, which consisted of four regiments of Michigan cavalrymen. Several days later, Custer and his command played a key role in stopping Rebel efforts to break the center of the Union line in the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Source -- Michigan History magazine
Critics unfairly say we don't care about history here in the Great Lake State. Bah! Traverse
That should be the headline after today's House Subcommittee hearing. To the delight of those in the history community, a substitute for the Senate bill was approved and moved to the full Committee that effects a 10% cut, due to the revenue hits the State continues to feel, but maintains the Michigan Historical Center intact, as a unit, to continue safeguarding and promoting our heritage.
For numbers conscious folk, the '08-09 budget is $52,874,200 (and includes "Arts" and "Libraries"). Subcommittee voted out $47,892,800, nearly a $5 million reduction. But Michigan's core history programs are kept intact.
All three members of the Subcommittee said good things about the importance of Michigan history and culture. Tough time with tough decisions, but, eg, when a certain Department budget that is a background service provisioner is over $400 million (yes, we need computers and systems, but we need quality of life around here as well), it sure says that we can the right thing here. And, no, I am not in favor of any new mandatory taxes.
Hats off to Chair Shanelle Jackson, who clearly understands the value of history to our State's future. Rep. Lee Gonzales also spoke to the value of the State Historic Preservation Office programs and their link to the federal historic preservation review process that aids rebuilding Michigan cities and renovating historic structures all across these beautiful peninsulas.
Let's hope the full Committee follows suit. Keep the Center together. After all, nearby states -- eg, Illinois -- aren't breaking up their history agencies despite their budget problems.
The Michigan Legislature is working on the '09-'10 budget earnestly this week. Tomorrow features a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommitee on History, Arts & Libraries. Chair Shanelle Jackson said some great things a month ago when testimony was offered. It will be interesting -- instructive -- to see what the Subcommittee does, given a huge revenue shortfall, in its action on a budget bill.
Michigan is remaking itself, painfully, and some budget decisions this week that have made the headlines include reductions in college scholarship programs. Some criticize this step as "eating our seed corn."
Our heritage is precious, and the State has a role to play in a new public-private partnership to reinvent how Michigan history is preserved and promoted. What will happen tomorrow morning.......?
The car radio yesterday morning reported on the funeral to occur later in the day of 5-year old Nevaeh Buchanan of Monroe MI. The reporter mentioned that the little girl used to enjoy visiting one of her favorite sites, the immense equestrian statue of Custer that sits just north of downtown across the River Raisin. A murderer had put an end to that.
Today's daily mentions a similar idea, that "the mile-long funeral procession [went] past the parks where she loved to play and a statue of George A. Custer sitting atop his life-size horse, a landmark she admired." Freep
Here's that landmark:
The statue commemorates his Civil War service, as the nearby State Historical Marker says:
So much that is heartbreaking about little Nevaeh -- "heaven" spelled in reverse -- and a life cut short.
David Blight, formerly of Flint MI, wrote an interesting piece (HigherEdChronicle) on what he sees as an important difference between the Virginia kick-off to the Sesqui and the Centennial observance a half-century ago.
I must (again) point out that Michigan's first event on March 12 is on all points with Dr. Blight. The Michigan Civil War Sesquicentennial began with a seminar examining the visit of John Brown to the City of Detroit to meet with Frederick Douglass and the local African-American leadership. The seminar, organized with excellence by Dr. Martin Hershock, featured an examination of important antebellum issues relating to race, the coming fury, and Michigan.
Glad to see that the first two Sesqui events have gotten the commemoration off on the right foot.
