Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures

Julie Holcomb is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in Museum Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.Holcomb received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Creative Writing from Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon; her Master of Library and Information Science, with a specialization in Archives and Records Management from the University of Texas at Austin; and her PhD in Transatlantic History from the University of Texas at Arlington.She is the author of Moral Commerce: Quakers and The Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy and the editor of Southern Sons, Northern Soldiers: The Civil War Letters of the Remley Brothers, 22nd Iowa Infantry. In addition to her books, Holcomb has published widely in a variety of academic and popular venues.

• List of FiguresList of TablesPrefaceObject TimelineCivil War TimelineIntroductionAcknowledgementsPart One: CausesFor Sale – “A Day I’ll Never Forgit”Good Credit, Good Prices, & Good Profits: The Slave Labor EconomyBuy for the Sake of the Slave!: Quakers, Antislavery, and the Boycott of Slave LaborStrike a Blow for Freedom: Black Activism and the Abolitionist Movement“I will be harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice”: The Antebellum Antislavery MovementBleeding Kansas, Bleeding Sumner: Challenges to the Expansion of Slavery in the WestPart Two: Politics“A Man Kidnapped!”: Northern Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850“Honest Old Abe is Bound to Win”: The Election of 1860The Union is Dissolved!: The Secession Crisis “Strike for Your Altars and Your Fires!”: The Fight for the Border StatesSecuring Alliances: The Confederate Government and the Five TribesJohn Bull Makes a Choice: Cotton and International PoliticsPart Three: BattlefieldA Sacred Emblem of the Battle of Glorieta PassSand Creek Massacre National Historic Site: The Indian Wars in the Civil War EraA Terrible Slaughter: The Battle of Gettysburg“We Will Prove Ourselves Men”: The United States Colored TroopsCaring for the Wounded: Nurses in the Civil War“His names was Bidwell Pedley”: Caring for the Dead during the Civil WarPart Four: Officers“Let them surrender and go home”: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court HouseLee’s Right Army: Stonewall Jackson“The Beast”: Benjamin Butler and the Occupation of New OrleansThe “Father of Black Nationalism”: Martin DelanyPart Five: Soldiers“Those d—d black hatted fellows”: The Iron Brigade of the WestLee’s Shock Troops: Hood’s Texas Brigade“What is to be done with the prisoners?”: Union and Confederate PrisonsDays of Infamy and Disgrace: The New York City Draft RiotsThe Evolution of the Union CavalryPart Six: Home Front“The Last Thought of a Dying Father”: The Northern Home Front“Bread or Blood!”: The Southern Home Front during the Civil War“Pounding on the Rock”: African American Families in the Civil War North“I Wanted to Be My Own General”: Guerilla Warfare and the HomefrontOn Her Own: The Texas Home Front during the Civil WarPart Seven: Symbols“The Speechless Agony of the Fettered Slave”: The Symbolism of the Antislavery Movement“The Little Woman Who Made the Great War”: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom’s Cabin“If you want my flag, you’ll have to take it over my dead body”: National and Regimental Flags during the Civil WarSetting the Beat for War: Popular Music in the North and the SouthPart Eight: TechnologyThe Great Locomotive Chaise: Railroads and Military StrategyA Scientific Foundation for Medical Care: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion“A curious marine monster”: Ironclads and Riverine WarfareThe Silk Dress Balloon: Aeronautics in the Civil WarPart Nine: EmancipationFreedom’s Fort: The Beginnings of EmancipationAn Abolition War: The Emancipation ProclamationTroubled Refuge: Contraband CampsA New Birth of Freedom: Thirteenth AmendmentHelp Me Find My People: Reconstructing Black FamiliesPart Ten: Legacy“I Won’t Be Reconstructed”: Southerners and Confederate DefeatMemorializing the Dead: Race, Heritage, and the Lost CauseReconciliation and Reunion: Blue and Gray Reunions in the Post-Civil War EraThe Black Confederate Story: Civil War History and Memory in the Age of the InternetStone Mountain: Confederate Monuments in the Twenty-First CenturyAfterwordIndexBibliographyAbout the Author

At almost no time in our post-1865 history has it been so clear that the Civil War, though settled, has never really been over. This compendium features artifacts from many small museums, examining a wide variety of objects from the origins of the war right up to recent challenges to Confederate monuments. The final artifact included is a mural of George Floyd on a wall in Portland, Oregon. The objects are not presented in chronological order, but a chronological time line of objects and a Civil War time line immediately follow the preface. Artifacts are organized by category: causes, politics, battlefield, soldiers, home front, symbols, emancipation, and legacy. Each entry begins with a clear color photograph or reproduction with information on the collection in which the artifact is found and the accession number. An informed and readable essay follows, giving context (like political and social movements), concepts represented, and relevant historical and biographical detail. The volume ends with chapter notes, including relevant publications and websites, and a lengthy selected bibliography. Certainly timely, this title is worthy of consideration for public and university collections.