471A3--Week 12 Questions/Comments--Thursday

'''NOTE: No questions for Kevin Levin. He won't be able to make it on Thursday. Dr. M''' I was searching through the blog list and came across "Draw the Sword" which is a virtual tour of Gettysburg. This came up yesterday in our class discussion about whether or not technology affects the way students gain a better understanding of history. Obviously if a student can visit the battlefield, see and touch artifacts first hand then it is very beneficial. One argument against the technology was that the younger students are more interested in the technology than the artifact itself. Its actually a very valid opposition. Although today it is getting harder for students to make these field trips with budgetary concerns, so having a site like "Draw the Sword" can be extremely beneficial to these students who might now get the opportunity to visit these battlefields. The blog site says "Through this site the visitor can hopefully learn more about Gettysburg’s monuments — their locations, their symbolism, the men they represent."-- George H I'm assuming that a popular topic of discussion will be the "Pop South" blog. The first blog post has seen a lot of controversy in recent days and that post is the new Brad Paisley and LL Cool J song "Accidental Racist." Where to begin with this one... First off I'm not real into country music, but I am aware that Brad Paisley is a pretty big star in the country music business and LLCJ has been around forever now, so having the two of them collaborate on a new song called "Accidental Racist" is just asking for trouble. The blogger that made the post justifiably ripped Paisley and LLCJ for their lyrics. "Essentially, the song is that of a good ol’ boy who wants to show his southern pride and not have to apologize to the black guy who is waiting on him at Starbucks for doing so." This fits in with a lot of the discussions that we had in the class over the semester. Is it racist to wear the confederate flag? Is it heritage or racism? To me having a song about it is not the right avenue to in pursuing the issue. One of the lyrics that stands out is when LLCJ says " RIP to Robert E. Lee." eesh... I think LLCJ should just stick to acting. The rest of the blog was pretty interesting. Some of the posts were about the future of CW history and rationalizing Duck Dynasty and Honey Booboo -- George H I reviewed the blog titled “Random Thoughts on History” by Tim Talbott. This blog was started in 2009 and is still kept to this day. The tagline reads “My musings on American, African American, Southern, Civil War, Reconstruction, and Public History Topics and books.” The most recent posts include “William Wright, 114th USCI Soldier,” “Just Finished Reading- Faces of the Confederacy,” and Zooming in on the USCT Soldiers in Petersburg’s Earthworks.” This guy has an M.A. in Public History from Appalachian State University. I think that this blog is very credible do to the fact that it is run by a scholar and not some random “history buff.” I think it serves as a good resource for people who may be doing similar research and want the perspective of someone who know what he is talking about. Some of the blogs out there are not as credible, leaving those who are not really familiar with a certain topic to become misinformed. This is the link to the page -Ana Y. Another blog I reviewed is by Bob Pollack titled “Yesterday and Today.” This man has a M.A. in History from Missouri State University and is now a park guide for the National park Service at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. It is evident that he is passionate about American history, especially around the Civil War era. One of the posts he has is titled “Who is Buried in Grant’s Tomb.” In this post, he discusses the tomb, its history, and common misconceptions about it. There are few comments, but the ones that are there show appreciation for the post because it cleared up many of the questions readers previously had. I thought this blog was interesting because it is cool to read about what is going through the minds of some of the NPS workers without having to ask them during a tour. -Ana Y. One blog I reviews was "Cosmic America," by Keith Harris. Harris is a historian from California who received his PhD from UVA. His main goal as a historian is to bridge the gap between academia and the public (he says he's in "digital humanities"). Unfortunately, sometime last month he posted his "final" post and announced that he was leaving the blogging world through the Cosmic America aspect so he could work on some of his other projects. Apparently he is currently working on the Henry A. Allen project, which he wants to use in his quest to bring unpublished Civil War documents to the public at large. Allen, according to Harris, was a Confederate Officer. He also has a book that will soon be published that relates directly to one topic we've discussed in class: Civil War veterans and how they chose to commemorate the Civil War. His most interesting blog post was posted on March 5, 2013 and called "The Civil War- in Living COLOR!" It discusses how people are taking old Civil War photos and adding color to them in order to "bring them to life." Harris argues that adding color, perhaps, fails at enhancing the life in the photos and, rather, distracts the people looking at them. I thought it was an interesting way that the modern world is trying to add their own touch to Civil War memory. --Carly W&gt; The second blog I explored is called "The Strawfoot" and is maintained by Keith Muchowski. Muchowski is a reference librarian at CUNY and started his blog in oreder to be more involved with the Civil War sesquicentennial. His main focus is, basically, any information about New York Citys's and New York's roles in the war, but he's also simply interested in the war in general. His posts about the Civil War are varied. Some are specifically about the war, some aren't about the Civil War at all. I can't seem to find any comments on his posts either. --Carly W. I expect a lot of people to be drawn to the Pop South blog. So it’s by this history professor, Karen Cox, who studies the South and wrote Dreaming of Dixie: How the South was Created in American Popular Culture. One of her recent posts, “Pop South Goes North to Clark University in Worcester, MA,” describes her experience talking about the South in the North. She comes to the conclusion after a lecture that “northerners still don’t quite understand the South. It is still regarded as a region of ‘others.’” She also writes on other things—not just academic happenings. In another post, “Double Divas or Our Cups Runneth Over with Southern-based Reality TV,” Cox writes about southern-based reality shows. She discusses the heavy accent that seems to be required by all these shows like Double Divas and Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta. Another post is about the stereotyping that goes on in Southern TV shows, such as Duck Dynasty and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Of course, there’s got to be a post about the Confederate Flag! Cox discusses the backtracking that Lynyrd Skynyrd (Hope I spelt that right…) did after disassociating itself from the Confederate Flag. -- Brooke One of the blogs that I looked at was “Civil War: Day by Day” The concept is that to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the Civil War, so for the next four years, they will present documents from the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. When I first clicked on the blog, I thought that it was going to be just “this happen on this day...” sort of thing. But when I started looking at the posts, I realized that it is honoring the documents that were left behind. Each post gives a picture, a citation and a transcription. It’s really interesting and it does not seem to matter what side the document is from, just as long as it is posted on the correct date. This was a really interesting blog and something that can be used in a classroom but also can spark people’s interests in the Civil War. It certainly sparked mine! I think that it was interesting to see documents that I had never even heard of and I thought this was an interesting way to present it. -Kayle P The second blog I looked at was “901 stories from Gettysburg”. The link that was on Kevin Levin’s site stopped on February 20th…and after some clicking around I found out they switched sites I really liked this blog too! (Also who knew Gettysburg college had a Civil War Institute?...well maybe it was just me that didn’t know… ) This blog is written by college students and I get the impression that it is similar to something that we might have done for this class. The blog serves as a way for the fellows at the institute to share their work about the Civil War. Each post is something different relating to the Civil War, like lecture reviews, book reviews or just topics but they are all written by students. I think that this site is great because once again it can be used to spark people interests in the war. It is telling stories that have been researched but they are not well known stories. Also they are being told by people and, make them more relatable and make the audience want to learn more about the war. –Kayle P I wasn’t originally going to pick Cosmic America  as my second blog to look at. Civil War Day by Day seemed more interesting. But I started browsing the Cosmic America blog and noticed that he’s talking about a lot of what we have been talking about all semester. One post in particular struck me: “The Grant v. Lee Twitter Experiment”. He asked on Twitter “Who would you rather have on your side, Grant or Lee… and why?” Guess what happened? Something you wouldn’t expect—at least I didn’t: All of the people who replied said Grant. Keith Harris, the author, said that the responses seemed to say that Lee was “overrated” or that “northern leaning sentiment” has taken over the internet—given that most of the people on Twitter and other websites are younger generations. It’s a pretty interesting perspective. I also appreciated his rant on historians ranting about Spielberg’s Lincoln. Poor guy seems exhausted by his own job. -- Brooke I came across “Jubilo, The Emancipation Century” and was struck by the difference in perspective that it gives. The blogs (articles) cover a vast array of topics from the black perspective. They include articles about the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation stamp presentation by President Kennedy, an article about the slave-holding presidents, the civil rights movement, the African American Civil War Memorial, Jefferson Davis’s take on the Emancipation Proclamation, a lengthy article on the history of gun rights for blacks, and so on. The articles are certainly skewed to the left, but provide a wealth of information that is typically not seen elsewhere. - Jason Emerging Civil War,, is focused on the future of Civil War historiography. They are currently tackling the issue of how to deal with the sesquicentennial and how to move forward after those celebrations. There are fifteen different authors listed as contributors so there is quite a bit of dialogue. There are many articles about Fredericksburg area battlefields and sites. The articles run the gamut, from General Custer’s love of dogs to a safe haven for runaway slaves in North Carolina to the great-great granddaughter of Stonewall Jackson. - Jason The first blog I explored was Eric Wittenberg's "Rantings of a Civil War Historian." Wittenberg's blog focuses on many different aspects of the Civil War, ranging from "the Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Brandy Station" to the "the Army of the Potomac's high commands" consideration of "throwing a pontoon bridge across the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry." There is a wide variety of topics Wittenberg discusses throughout his entire Civil War blog. However, in his blog he primarily discusses his opinion regarding Fleetwood Hill. According to Wittenberg "Fleetwood Hill is without question the most fought over, camped upon and marched over real estate in the entire United States." He proceeds to analyze the history and importance of the Fleetwood Hill, providing ample evidence to why the land was so vital and necessary to both opposing sides during the Civil War. There are many interesting pieces Wittenberg addresses in his blog and for the most part I enjoyed it. -- Donald P. The second blog I explored was Andrew Duppstadt's "Civil War Navy, the History Profession, and Other Historical Musings." Duppstadt's blog for the most part is sparse. There are few update blog posts, but when he does blog, it is interesting. Some of his more recent posts focus on the book reviews and the War of 1812 Bicentennial. Although these posts do not relate to the Civil War, Duppstadt mentions the importance of other historical events in the US, especially the War of 1812. As the title of the blog states, it centers around the Civil War navies. He discusses the importance, one which most people do not realize, of the navy during the Civil War. One of his more interesting posts in his blog is the moving of Confederate ironclad gunboat CSS Neuse. Duppstadt states the importance of preserving the ship and the intricacies of doing so. Despite Although the blog was rarely updated, the posts on it were for the most part enjoyable. I felt when he actually discussed the aspects of the Civil War navies, the blog was at its best. Duppstadt provides insight into a realm of the Civil War most people are unaware of, which makes this enhances the blog. -- Donald P. I read the "Civil Warriors" blog and found an interesting article warning against the oversimplification of history. The author was at a conference and he was asked to rate the army of the Potomac Generals and the army of Northern Virginia generals against each other. He declined to and in the post he explains that he finds that exercises like that tend to allow for oversimplification of complicated issues. I felt this was pertinent to what we've talked about recently in terms of whats entertaining and whats accurate. This writer sacrificed entertainment for accuracy and he defended his decision.-Sean The first blog I came across that grabbed my attention was of course “Pop South” but once I opened the link and saw that the most recent post was on one of the many sorry excuses for a TV show, I decided to pick another solely because I would have nothing academic to say about that link. One blog that I did find extremely interesting is “Rantings of a Civil War Historian” its main focus is on areas of the war that haven’t been overly explored and are more obscure. It’s very educational without being bland, and it discusses important aspects of the war that have been over looked or not much is known about. The second blog that grabbed my attention was “Interpreting the Civil War.” When I opened the link and saw that the sub title was “Connecting the Civil War to the American Public” I was sold. His post titled “We’re not important: Historian in an Operating Room” is really interesting as he breaks down how historians fit into society. –Mary O. I looked at the blog titled “Irish in the American Civil War.” The particle post on that site that I looked at was called “The Losses of 21 Irish Regiments during the American Civil War.”  I went into this class really only knowing the basics of the Civil War and so I had no idea that there were a significant number of Irish regiments fighting for the Union and also that there were significant losses in their regiment. I was not completely surprised to read that more of these men were killed from diseases as opposed to combat just from some of our other readings. Even so, it shows the impact of disease during this time and something that I had not really thought about. When you think about people dying during war, my first thought would be that they died in combat and then I would assume maybe a small percentage died from a disease. These statistics, say over 50% of those that died in the 21 Irish regiments were due to disease. That’s a lot more then I would have expected. &lt;a href="http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2013/03/11/the-losses-of-21-irish-regiments-during-the-american-civil-war/"&gt;http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2013/03/11/the-losses-of-21-irish-regiments-during-the-american-civil-war/&lt;/a&gt; --Kelly F. I read through Dead Confederates (http://deadconfederates.com/) for my first blog. It was interesting because it focused on a lot of the more military history/history nerd aspects (for example, the blogger, Andy Hall, includes dozens of modern computer-drawn renderings of Civil War naval ships). The site doesn't appear to be very inflammatory, but it may be that the blogger has a strict comments policy. For example, one post is about the USS Monitor and it's exact specs. The comments are pretty much uniform in discussing the exact amount of space behind the turret, among other very specific but fairly unimportant debates. (http://deadconfederates.com/2013/04/02/how-crowded-was-monitors-turret/) - Carly B. The Dead Confederates blog author, Andy Hall, includes an interesting comment regarding the Lost Cause he posted in his bio section. He writes: "I have no use for the Lost Cause. I grew up with it; I learned early on that Grant was a drunk, and Sherman was a monster. The pervasiveness of slavery, which tainted all, was rarely discussed. We were never actually defeated, I was told; “they starved us out.” I don’t think my late-20th-century family actually bought into this foolishness much, but felt obligated to pass it along, as it had been to them. But in my family, at least, it ends with me. There’s far too much good history out there to ignore for the sake of romanticism and hagiography." - Carly B. Like alot of others in the class, I found the pop south blog to be really interesting. I'm guilty of watching Here Comes Honey-Boo-Boo and being obsessed with Duck Dynasty (Si has the BEST one-liners) and this blog made me realize the implications of the shows' popularity. Does me being part of these shows' audience make me an enabler of this Southern stereotype- that we all have thick accents, horrible hair (or absolutely awesome hair in regards to the duck dynasty beards) and rusty manners? I think the owner/author of this blogs does a good job presenting these shows and how they may or may not be accurate and sometimes takes a defensive tone. -Cameron F.

I also really liked the "Soldier Studies" blog because I think it could be really helpful for anyone doing research on the military aspects of the Civil War because of its amount of primary sources. Unlike alot of the other blogs it has links, excerpts, etc., to actual diaries and accounts of the war by soldiers. The blog also features book reviews and interviews, along with some of the authors' own experiences. I also like how he posts about both Union and Confederate soldiers, which makes his blog alot more objective. -Cameron F.

"Cenantua's Blog" I didn't like the appearance of the blog or the writing style. I was confused about the name, so I clicked on the tab, "Cenantua- What and why?" I felt even more confused about what an Indian tribe had to do with the Civil War blog. I also thought it was strange that he put what I think is his family tree. I guess it shows the importance southerners place on ancestry and knowing where you come from? Clicking through some of the articles, they weren't very reader friendly. I think his blog is more about mid-19th century southern culture than the memory of the Civil War. -Hannah

"Civil Warriors" I thought this blog was more visually appealing. It had color and pictures. But it wasn't easily navigable. All of the posts are on one endless page where you have to keep scrolling. Also, they talked about their trips too much, like the one to Washington state. What does that have to do with Civil War in memory? The posts that were relevant were interesting to read, although I don't think they provided any new arguments to the table, like "Answering the question... or not". -Hannah

I read "Rantings of a Civil War Historian" http://civilwarcavalry.com/ I thought this blog was interesting because it shows many different sides of the Civil War, and nothing is left out of reach in this blog. No matter what it is Eric Wittenburg does not seem scared to cover it. He talks about different anniversaries of battles and really looks at different primary sources to show different points and aspects of the Civil War. - Meg O

I also read "The Gettysburg Compiler" http://gettysburgcwi.posterous.com/ And I really liked the layout of the site. I was originally drawn in by the look of the site and thought that it had a really good feel to it. I really liked the different links to the Gettysburg Post from through out the years and thought it was a different way to look at the past of Gettysburg. - Meg O