Social History Commons^™

Hopkins And Anthony: A Struggle Over Freedom, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

This piece is the original draft of a piece I wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which appeared last week as part of the paper's Gettysburg sesquicentennial coverage. Here's the full, uncut piece for your perusal.

“A Great Weight At My Heart:” A Personal Reaction To Pickett’S Charge, Rebekah N. Oakes

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

“When our great victory was just over the exultation of victory was so great that one didn’t think of our fearful losses, but now I can’t help feeling a great weight at my heart. Poor Henry Ropes was one of the dearest friends I ever had or expect to have. He was one of the purest-minded, noblest, most generous men I ever knew. His loss is terrible. His men actually wept when they showed me his body, even under the tremendous cannonade, a time when most soldiers see their comrades dying around them with indifference.”

When twenty-one year old Henry …

To My Great Great Grand Uncle - On The Occasion Of The 150th Anniversary Of Your Death, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Dear William Henry,

I'm writing this standing near the spot where you died, exactly 150 years ago nearly to the second. I'm typing on a tiny screen, a technological marvel that lets me share the stories of men like you with the world instantly.

They've put up a monument to you and the 17 other men who died along with you along the banks of Plum Run creek. We call this place "The Valley of Death" now. I think you among all people who have walked this green earth would understand why.... [excerpt]

A New Birth Of Freedom, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The president of the United States had been more than usually agitated ever since the news of a major collision of the Union and Confederate armies around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, first flew along the telegraph wires to the War Department on July 1, 1863. For days, he was clouded with “sadness and despondency” until the message arrived, announcing a great victory for the Union. That was followed almost at once by news from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: another dispatch had come in, “communicating the fall of Vicksburg [Mississippi] on the fourth of July.” At once, Abraham Lincoln’s mood changed, …

Just Fields: 30 June 1863, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

South of Gettysburg as midnight chimed on June 30th and the calendar flipped over to July, a quiet peach orchard sat at the corner of a narrow lane and the road to Emmitsburg. It was just a peach orchard. [excerpt]

There Is Still Time: Contingency And History, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

"...and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave..."

William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust has that beautifully evocative passage that anyone worth their salt contemplating a Pickett's Charge program has considered including in their ebb and flow. Faulkner was a master of language, and his passage about, "every Southern boy fourteen years old," is a particularly artful. …

Stormclouds Gather On The Horizon, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

The first few stanzas of a poem by Howard Glyndon from the folds of The Lutheran and Missionary from late August of 1863:

The days of June were nearly done;The fields, with plenty overrun, Were ripening 'neath the harvest sun In fruitful Pennsylvania!

[excerpt]

George C. Wallace: Schoolhouse Door To Gettysburg, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

In the days after his famed stand in the schoolhouse door, Alabama Governor George C. Wallace attended to the business at hand on his desk in Montgomery. Wallace served as chief executive in an office in the first home of the Confederacy. One of the things awaiting Wallace on his return from Tuscaloosa was a letter from Paul L. Roy of Gettysburg. [excerpt]

Memory And Meaning: Civil Rights In Lee's Backyard, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I walked up the long winding path named for Mary Custis and her family home. As I ascended the steps I stopped to quickly pay my respects to Robert Todd Lincoln. But he wasn't my quarry for the day. As I came to the top of the steps, Robert E. Lee's home hove into view. I've been inside Lee's house a few times. Each time has been interesting, but relatively hollow. Those four walls lack the raw power that the surrounding acres seem to ooze. [excerpt]

Meanings: Where This Is All Headed, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Human tragedy, human triumph and continuing struggle, each of its own epic proportions. One convoluted war holds inside the tripartate meanings of sorrow for 620,000 lost, joy for 4 million saved and the uneasiness that the struggle for freedom would still continue 150 years later. [excerpt]

Inside The Resource: Interpreting Is Pointing At Things, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

We preserve the places of the past for a very specific reason: they are places. They are physical manifestations of the past, either landscapes where that past was played out or the remnants of the people who made that past happen.

That was clear to me last week as I watched David Fox, one of Harpers Ferry's premier interpreters, twiddle a shaving mirror in the sunlight and shine a twinkling beam on the gravestone of Rev. Alexander Morrell in the cemetery at the end of Fillmore Street. [excerpt]

Gettysburg College & The Battle Of Gettysburg: A Civil War Walking Tour, John M. Rudy '07

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Originally compiled by John Rudy as a student project in 2007 at Gettysburg College, this new, revised edition of the Civil War Walking Tour booklet guides a visitor on a truly unique campus tour. Visitors can walk among buildings from the war era and learn how they were pressed into service during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Likewise, many college figures such as President Henry Baugher, John "Jack" Hopkins (janitor), and many students are part of this complex and heroic story of Pennsylvania College's story in July 1863.

Born In Slavery: One Grave In Chambersburg, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

A simple epitaph with amazing impact: "Born in Slavery, Died Feb 15 1908." Those words speak and speak loudly. Thomas Burl wanted it to be known for eternity that he was a slave. And he wanted it to be known that he wasn't when he died. That label defined his whole life. It defined who he was when he had the name "slave" forced on him when he was born. And it again defined him through its absence after 1863. [excerpt]

Fire On The Mountain: A Forest Fire Ignored?, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

There was a massive forest fire on the South Mountain at the edge of Adams County. It ripped through thousands of acres of woodland along the crest of the ridge. The undergrowth went up like a match. The spring up to this point had been unusually dry. And a fire started. [excerpt]

Rewind: Good Morning To The Night, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Today is a special day, a momentous day. It's a day I've thought about for a long time. A day for beginnings and a day for looking back. So I'm looking back for today's blog, to one of my favorite posts. It's simple and meaningful to me. It's about a place that has changed my life so much. And today the ripples from that place are changing it again. And it's wonderful. [excerpt]

Hearing His Voice: What Does "War" Have To Say?, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Lee is formulating his plan to move northward, to invade Federal territory once again and lean on the United States' popular will to fight. And War will see the fruits of that decision. He'll see it all. And we're still working to tell his tale, bit by bit. [excerpt]

Sockdologizing: Finally Laughing At The Lincoln Assassination, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I've taken solace in the fact that Abraham Lincoln died laughing. Sarah Vowell, in her riveting and powerful Assassination Vacation, speaks about how, "it is a comfort of sorts to know that the bullet hit Lincoln mid-guffaw. Considering how the war had weighed on him, at least his last conscious moment was a hoot." [excerpt]

From A Place Of Fear: Death, Slavery & Stonewall, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Earlier this spring, I sat in Gettysburg at the "Future of the Civil War" conference and listened to an intern talk about how he had been scared to interpret. He was afraid of his visitors, afraid to tell them about a place. [excerpt]

The Semester Ends, The Semester Begins, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

It's finals week at Gettysburg College, but in another time, it was just the beginning of the oddest session of college just over 100 students would ever experience. Some would join the 26th PEMR, some would run home from the oncoming rebel hordes, and others would remain in Gettysburg, sitting in the cross-hairs of the war as the slowly rested on Adams County. [excerpt]

Virtual Sesquicentennial: #Invasion63 Goes Live, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I teased this project a short while ago, and now that May has arrived history has begun coming back to life. Over the next three months, the men and women who walked Gettysburg's streets and crossed the Pennsylvania College campus will reenact their lives in the last few moments before Gettysburg changed irrevocably. As May creeps along, more characters will rise from the grave and begin reliving the past. [excerpt]

Pennsylvania At Chancellorsville, But Headed Back Home, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

With the anniversary of the battles around Fredericksburg this week, the Civil War world's eyes seem to be turned toward Chancellorsville and the battles there. Almost as a reflex, my mind has gone there too. I've been thinking about Simon Stein Wolf, the Gettysburgian who faced death at Chancellorsville only to find it terribly displayed in the days after. So today another excerpt from my manuscript, to start re-conceptualizing Chancellorsville through the eyes of a Pennsylvania College dropout. [excerpt]

Gettysburg's Other Unknown Soldier, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

We all know the name Amos Humiston. We know he was found on the first day's field. We know he clutched the image of his three children, an unknown soldier until his wife Philinda Humiston saw her children peering back at her from a copy of that picture. We know his drama and the agony of Philinda, we know the heartbreak and horror.

But who's buried next to him? [excerpt]

Loyalty: Democracy And Gettysburg's Union League, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

"The ball is rolling," the Sentinel crowed, "and it is no time now to faint or falter in the good and noble work of crushing rebels and traitors abroad and at home, and bringing back to its original glory our time-honored Union."

The Union would be saved, the Sentinel was sure, by the pure and sustained love and loyalty of her people. Gettysburg was showing her mettle in that department in the waning days of April 1863, as citizens gathered to follow the lead of others to the east in forming a Loyal Union League in the Adams county seat. …

Building The War One Brick At A Time, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I've been waiting for this moment since 1996. Back then, when I was 11, My favorite toy came out with figures from my favorite era. The LEGO Western line was an amazing crossover of my love for history and my love for tiny ABS building blocks. [excerpt]

Big Interp: Processing Massive Meaning, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

There's been this term bandied about in the historical circles I've been running in of late: Big Data. As far as I've gathered, it's the byproduct of our information age, when more and more data gets fed into more and more machines and is accessible at the fingertips of more and more inquiring minds. [excerpt]

Dark Town's Wealth: A 150-Year-Old Rock-And-Roll Concert Review, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I have a lot of odd things scattered around my house, weird ephemera and bric-a-brac that I've picked up here and there as I've studied history.

Some of them are treasures, like CDVs of long-dead College professors and original pieces of decking from the USS North Carolina. Some are less treasures and more, well, junk. Most folks toss old newspapers within a few days of reading. In the Civil War Era, I'm sure many a page of newsprint went to start an honest mother's hearth in the morning or a pile of moist kindling in some godforsaken camp. [excerpt …

On The Battleground At Gettysburg: A Journey To Remember, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I was very pleased to be one of the two speakers at Sunday night's inaugural "Journey to Remember" event sponsored by Gettysburg College. A group of students and community members trekked up the hill from the campus, resting on Oak Hill at the base of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial to hear myself and Janet Riggs, the college's President and a fellow alum. The student organizers asked me to place that place into historical context. [excerpt]

We're Not Important: Historian In An Operating Room, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Sometimes, historians (both public and academic) seem to have this oddly overblown sense of self-worth. I'll admit that I'm prone to this every so often. I'm wont to note that historic sites are temples of democracy, that interpreters ultimately are in the business of creating citizens and saving America and that in defining the past we find the present and chart the course for the future. [excerpt]

Wilmington: A World Turned Upside Down, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

There's an old myth that, as he ordered the flag brought down and the post at Yorktown surrendered, General Cornwallis ordered his fife and drum corps to play The World Turned Upside Down a traditional British Christmas song written in protest of the aristocracy outlawing raucous celebration. In its lyrics, the paupers are made kings and the kings made paupers. The song was more than likely not played during the surrender. But myths are often potent and always telling.

Jeff Davis, A Sour Apple Tree, And Treason: A Case Study Of Fear In The Post-Civil War Era, Brianna E. Kirk

Student Publications

The end of the Civil War raised many questions, one being how to piece back together the violently torn apart Union. With such an unprecedented war in American history, the exact course of how to do so was unknown. Would the country survive through Reconstruction, and how would sectional reconciliation be achieved? An even larger question was who to blame for the four long years of violence. In the minds of many northerners, that man was Jefferson Davis. Davis had not only led the secessionist movement, but was a traitor to the Union. By analyzing the calls for and against …