Infantry resting from drills. National Archives Catalog, NAID: 524639. I came across this article from Professor Lesley J. Gordon: "When I began my research for Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War, my starting point was historian Bell I. Wiley. His works, dating from more than eighty years ago, offer some of the most detailed accounts of the soldier experience, not only in battle but in camp, on the march, and in prison. Wiley left very few topics untouched, and his archival research is still impressive.

In this episode of the Emerging Civil War podcast, Chris Mackowski talks with Jeff Harding and Jon Nese, authors of The Weather Gods Curse the Gettysburg Campaign. The episode's description reads, "If you knew it was hot during the Gettysburg Campaign, a new book by meteorologist Jon Nese and historian Jeffrey Harding give 'hot' a whole new meaning. The Weather Gods Curse the Gettysburg Campaign provides fascinating new detail about the weather in June and July 1863." You can access the podcast at this link.

This is a great interview on Civil War Talk Radio between host Professor Gerald Prokopowicz and his guest, Wil Greene. You can access it at this link.

In this presentation, Professor Hilary Green discusses how African American families passed down memory of the Civil War, using her own family's experiences. The video's description reads, "Davidson College professor Hilary Green talked about how the African American porch and other communal gathering places allowed Black communities to remember the Civil War in complex ways. The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg hosted this event."

Cabins for enslaved workers on a plantation, Port Royal, S.C. Timothy H. O’Sullivan/Library of Congress I saw this article by Professor Howard French. "Much of the power of the Declaration of Independence rests on Thomas Jefferson’s opening line: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' For all of its high principle, there is a dark side to this statement. In the century of the country’s founding, British colonies in the New World imported 1.5 million enslaved Africans.

A Confederate memorial stands on the lawn in front of the Florida Historic Capitol building on April 27, 2022.(Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Florida Phoenix) Since the Mango Mussolini took office in 2017 Republicans, especially in the South, have been more openly racist. As this article from Florida tells us, it is continuing. "A Florida Republican has re-filed a measure to penalize local governments attempting to remove or destroy Confederate monuments and other historic memorials. HB 496 by Sen. Stan McClain, an Ocala Republican, demands the state protect 'each historic Florida monument or memorial from removal, damage, or destruction.' It’s the fourth time this bill has been introduced in successive legislative sessions as part of a broader conservative response to the nationwide movement to down or rename Confederate statues.

This is a pretty good conversation between Dr. Nathan Prevost and Dr. Jonathan Steplyk on Dr. Steplyk's book about soldiers killing in the Civil War.

As this article tells us, this year's Fortenbaugh Lecture, sponsored by Gettysburg College, features a panel of three distinguished historians. "Since 1962, Gettysburg College’s annual Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture—jointly sponsored by the Civil War Institute and the Department of History—has commemorated the Nov. 19 anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with a lecture or panel discussion, offering insight into cutting-edge conversations in the field of Civil War history. From the inaugural invitation to Bruce Catton in 1962 to today, the Fortenbaugh Lecture has brought generations of eminent historians to Gettysburg to explore the Civil War era and its legacy from multiple angles, prioritizing big ideas and dynamic presentations.

This is an excellent lecture on the Mexican War by Professor Aaron O'Connell of the University of Texas. The video's description reads, "On September 14, 1847, Winfield Scott's Army marched into Mexico City, marking the final stages of the Mexican-American War. University of Texas professor Aaron O'Connell chronicled the war's causes, the divisions it inflamed, and its aftermath."

The Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1903) from Baltimore, during installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in September. Credit...Awol Erizku for The New York Times This week we look at this New York Times article from Los Angeles, California. "In the fall of 2023, at a foundry outside Virginia, a team of welders in protective gear dropped pieces of a Robert E. Lee statue into a 2,250-degree furnace. An arm disappeared into the heat, then a leg. It took many multihour sessions to liquefy the monument of Lee astride his horse.

The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College announced a tentative lineup for its 2026 summer symposium: I'm looking forward to it. If you haven't attended, consider doing so. It is outstanding.

YouTube video by Mister Fitzgerald