Announcements for 11/29

1. Don’t forget that the response paper over “13th” is due tomorrow, Wednesday the 30th, at 5pm on Blackboard. This is extra credit, so the assignment is optional.
2. The quiz on Thursday will be multiple choice and a short essay. The essay will address black soldiers in the Union army (use both lecture notes and the textbook to prepare). The multiple choice questions will be pretty basic, but do make sure you know the total number of Civil War deaths (the revised number, not the older number).
3. Most of you need to write your final book review over the Lemann text. If you want me to look at a draft in advance, please email it to me with a couple of days notice. The final review is due on Friday, December 9, at 2pm.
4. If you are coming on the field trip, make sure you print out and sign the waiver form; UCA requires this for liability purposes.

Announcements for 11/17

1. The info about the extra credit film viewing, and the response paper, is now posted under “Assignments.”
2. If you are curious about that Colorado memorial I was telling you about, here’s the inscription and a little info.
3. Here is a more complete list of Mississippi Black Codes, and also an article about some Arkansas laws.
4. Here is the Arkansas State Parks website with details about the Prairie Grove reenactment on December 3. I’ve emailed them to see if they have a more concrete schedule, so we can be sure not to miss the main events; I think the reenactment starts at 1, but they call it a “presentation” so I’m a little confused.

Spotlight On: Missouri/Kansas Border War Network

A depiction of Order No. 11.

If you are interested in learning more about the Civil War in the West, there are some podcasts available on iTunes that may be of interest.  The Missouri-Kansas Border War Network is an organization that seeks to educate the public and preserve the history of the border region.  You can see their website for more details, but you’ll have to go to iTunes to download their podcasts.

These podcasts are short (~6-8 minute) interviews with historians and archaeologists who study this period.  The two described below are the only ones that I’ve listened to. Here are more details:

1.  Historian Donald Gilmore, in the interview titled “Order No. 11,” forwards his conclusion that Order No. 11 was not necessarily a reaction to Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in 1863.  I would be interested to hear your take on the last part of the lecture where he talks about slaveholders and their right to keep slave property.

2.  Ann Raab, who is in the archaeology department at the University of Kansas, is interviewed in the podcast titled “Bates County, Missouri, Archaeology Dig.”  Recently Raab conducted an archaeological dig on a plantation in Bates County, Missouri.  Archaeology of the historic period (when written records have been preserved and can work in tandem with archaeological finds) is called “historic archaeology.”

Spotlight On: Civil War Preservation Trust

The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) is “America’s largest non-profit organization (501-C3) devoted to the preservation of our nation’s endangered Civil War battlefields. The Trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the war’s history and the fundamental conflicts that sparked it” (from their “About Us” page).

There are many different resources on their site that help bring Civil War battles into the 21st century.  In additional to historical images and maps, several key battles have animated videos depicting troop movements (here is the one for the Battle of Fredericksburg).  The website provides statistics for each battle, including casualties, the names of commanding officers, etc.  There are also virtual tours of historic battlefields, photos of these sites as they appear today, bibliographies of recommended readings, information on historical markers, and the steps for becoming a member.  Of course, since their primary focus is on preservation, you can also find information on preservation attempts (from their online newsletter called “Dispatches from the Front“).

Announcements for 11/1

1. We will not have class on Thursday, since I will be traveling to a conference in Kansas City.
2. I am extending the deadline for the project just a few hours–it will be due at 6pm, not 2:40pm, on November 3.
3. The information about the presentations is available online, under “Assignments,” including the rubric. Please let me know if you have questions. All presentations will be on November 8.

Recommended Texts about the Trans-Mississippi Theater

If you are interested in learning more about the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi theater, here are some of the books I recommend:

Best, one-volume text:

Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Civil War in the American West. New York: Vintage, 1993.

Anthologies:

Arenson, Adam, and Andrew Graybill, eds. Civil War Wests: Testing the Boundaries of the United States. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015.

Scharff, Virginia, ed. Empire and Liberty: The Civil War and the West. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015.

Anthologies about Arkansas:

Bailey, Anne, ed. Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

Christ, Mark, ed. Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994.