Michigan Civil War Blog

Lincoln in Michigan

We're almost to the end of the Bicentennial year, and it seems to be winding down with a whimper, not a bang. So it was a nice treat to wander thru a used book store recently on lunch hour to find this little publication:  Published by the "Detroit Fine Book Circle" in 1941, it contains an intro to the 1856 speech, the text, an intro to Lincoln's life story written by the author (Thomas I. Starr), and the short bio itself first published in 1860.

The 63 pages are more than worth the nine dollars it cost in 2009.
 

Grant: hero, myth, and forgotten

Just picked up Joan Waugh's US Grant: American Hero, American Myth. Yet another Grant book?! This one came out Fall 2009, so unlike many books that one prefers to let age a bit before plinking down the coin for it seemed worth a look, since Dr. Waugh attempts to explain how Grant could be so popular in his day and almost forgotten today.

The book caught the eye especially because of the Grant house here in Michigan. It was important 80 years ago when honored with a plaque by the Detroit Art Commission, and 70 years ago when renovated and donated to the people of Michigan by an insurance company, and 50 years ago when rescued from urban renewal by the same company and moved to the State Fairgrounds, and then viewable during the Civil War Centennial. Then, after a short period of renewed interest and reflected glory, it was consigned to utilitarian uses and eventually closed to the public. Would this have happened to a house occupied by a more modern hero, say, John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Perhaps the appearance of the book will coincidentally mark a new chapter for Michigan's Grant connection.

Banners at Shenandoah

Of all the Bruce Catton Civil War books, this is the one that has escaped making it into the personal library. Somehow no one gave it as a gift all those years ago when the passion about this subject was forming. Now, so many years later, why is it that there's almost an obsession with finding a copy and making sure it sits on the shelf next to the other books this Michigander wrote......?

A little book

Ordered The Boy General: Story of the Life of Major-General George A. Custer by Libbie Bacon Custer and Mary Elizabeth Burt. Turned out to be a reprint of the 1901 book published by Scribner's. It was an abridgement and compilation of her books about Custer that focused almost totally on the so-called Indian Wars. Not sure why she didn't really concentrate on the Civil War, but at least some of the writing is about that.

At any rate, there is a definite poignancy in the writing. Her constant references to "my husband" serve to remind the reader that we aren't dealing with some icon or statue. Custer was a real person, who fell in love with a woman and brought her to the Army of the Potomac on honeymoon. They were separated a lot during that final year of the War, and Libbie made sacrifices like all spouses of soldiers. In a dozen years, they spent far less time together than the civilian marriage allowed before he met his end.

A little book, but with a powerful reminder about service to our country.

Looking for Lincoln in Michigan

A neat little book has just come out with this title, authored by Lincoln collector Weldon Petz and Civil War historian Roger Rosentreter. Both have written about Lincoln, but this small publication has much information about Lincoln connections inside the Great Lake State specifically. Can't seem to find it on any of the internet book sites, but perhaps a trip or call to the Michigan Historical Museum bookstore would yield ordering information.

Great Catton article

By a writer for the National Review: MyNorth

"A wonderful history"

Review here of "My Brave Mechanics": The First Michigan Engineers and Their Civil War" by Mark Hoffman, calling it "a first-rate regimental history."

Early shopping

The day after Black Friday, it's past time to have your Christmas list circulating amongst your family. For some items, however, you have to take matters into your own hands.

Like with this book: It's "From Bull Run to Appomattox: Michigan's Role in the Civil War", by Phil Mason and Paul Pentecost. Had never heard of it until coming across a reference recently; went online and, sure as you can spell Appomattox, just a few bucks later it became mine. It contains 16 articles published in various newspapers back in the day, that being before 1961 when this 60-some page booklet was published. The Frederick Williams book has become the classic, though the subject is in need of a fresh and more comprehensive treatment.

But, since that's another topic, suffice that it's great to have another work on "Michigan's Role" in the home library. Now, back to that list...

The Western and the Civil War

Saw Appaloosa last nite, the Ed Harris-directed Western. Pretty good movie...but its opening made me think a bit.

The flick starts with Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) riding into town as Hitch sets the stage with a voice-over that identies their background in Civil War and Indian fighting. Made me mus: unless there had been the War, would there have been a 'Wild West'? The experiences of men who had learned to kill with relative ease and for whom death was a regular fact-of-life surely had an impact on the settlement and lore of the West. How much would have been different had there been no War?

I wanted to see whether the Robert Parker book, from which the movie is derived, described their background this way, but online I can't find anything.

It also made me think of one of Michigan's best writers of this day, Loren Estleman. He's won Spur awards for best westerns and Shamus awards for best mysteries. He's every bit as excellent as Elmore Leonard, who gets more PR. Estleman's Page Murdock series is particularly outstanding, and Port Hazard is one of the best. In that novel, a group called the Sons of the Confederacy pose a threat to law and order, and Murdock must put them down. A very good read. As are virtually every of Estleman's 60 books.

Riding with Autie

Do you have a wish list of Civil War books? I carry one around in my computer case in the event I might need to make a purchase.

'Need?', you ask. Yes, I confess, it really isn't a question of that. More of compulsion. I'd like to go back, ala Albert Brooks in Defending Your Life, and see just where it was that this peculiar and nearly insatiable craving regularly to obtain and devour a new book came from. Was it from the books I saw my father read as he sat in his easy chair, legs crossed, foot wiggling, jaw clenching? Was it from the nursery rhyme books my mother used to read me when I was ill and in need of a flight of imagination? Was it discovering the elementary school library where seemingly endless rows of hardbound books loomed over my small frame? Or was it those Sunday trips in the car to the newstand in Detroit where Dad would buy the NY Times and we'd peruse comic books and other reading materiel for what seemed like an eternity?

Why the trip down memory lane? I've been waiting for a chance to get Riding With Custer, the later edition of the post-war book by James H. Kidd, and finally broke down and did the deed last week. I cracked it open upon its arrival and quickly found several things I wanted to read about in the index. Didn't take long for the enjoyment to be achieved. I'd wanted the book ever since getting a copy of Eric W's At Custer's Side, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Kidd's war experiences and writing set him apart as a great contributor to our understanding of Michigan's contributions. And one only has to start reading the account of how Seward, Chase, Douglas, and Garrison paid visits to Michigan during the 1860 campaign to compare the situation to today and the parade of candidates who came, and are still coming, to Michigan this presidential election year.

Cross one great one off the list...