have become lines of communication of the first importance. Washington and Abbeville may become our future base of supply for the army in Virginia,” wrote Col. George Brent on February 6, speaking for his boss in a telegram to the Confederate army’s chief engineer.
The Washington-to-Abbeville line wasn’t the only new project suggested. On January 28, Beauregard sent a message to Adj. Gen. Samuel Cooper saying that it was “essential to military operations that the railroad from Milledgeville to Mayfield be speedily finished.” This line would connect the central part of the state to the Georgia Railroad. Cooper quickly squelched this notion, telling Beauregard to focus instead on the repairs to the West Point Railroad. In March Beauregard ordered the impressment of labor for widening the gauge of a North Carolina track.
A heavy hand was needed to garner the resources for these projects. On January 24 Beauregard authorized Capt. L.P. Grant to “impress for temporary use the necessary transportation to repair Georgia Railroad.”
On February 10 Beauregard authorized a Mr. W.M. Hight “to call upon the citizens adjacent to the Washington Branch, Georgia Railroad, for such lumber, wagons, and labor as they are willing to contribute for the repairs of the road, and for all of which the Government will pay a just compensation.” The message to Hight went on to state that “Capt. L.P. Grant…has been requested to furnish you iron, spikes, &tc., sufficient to place the road…in thorough repair.”
Railroad or no railroad, the men and supplies had to be transported. A message from Beauregard to Maj. Norman Smith on February 4 ordered a heavy-handed approach tempered with tact. The major was instructed to impress
GEORGIA’S CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS In Honor of a Fallen Nation Gould B. Hagler, Jr.
This unique work contains a complete photographic record of Georgia’s memorials to the Confederacy, a full transcription of the words engraved upon them, and carefully-researched information about the monuments and the organizations which built them. These works of art and their eloquent nation’s profound grief, praise the soldiers’ bravery and patriotism, and pay homage to the cause for which they fought.
“wagons and teams to run between Washington, Ga., and Abbeville, S.C….” The order called for 120 wagons and 480 mules and specified the numbers to be obtained from each of five counties along the line. Such action, the order read, “is at all times harsh and calculated to irritate and annoy….” Smith was therefore told to “select for this duty your best officers and instruct them to proceed with all possible delicacy….” The effectiveness of delicacy under the circumstances is not known, but we can guess. The citizens were to be paid with Confederate IOUs.
Let’s not forget, there is a river between Washington and Abbeville. On February 20 Beauregard ordered construction of a pontoon bridge over the Savannah. The pontoon train was en route, but flooring and sleepers would have to be made from material available at the crossing creating more annoyance and irritation, perhaps, for the locals.
On February 17 Beauregard was in Columbia, but leaving that very morning as Sherman approached. He sent a message to his assistant adjutant general in Augusta, advising that forces being gathered to stymie Sherman’s progress would concentrate in Chesterville [now Chester], a stop on the railroad between the South Carolina capital and Charlotte. Beauregard specified three possible routes* to Chesterville. Moving from the first option to the third, the proposed routes bypass Columbia by wider and wider margins, to the north and west, a path shifting as necessary to get around Sherman and unite with a force in his path.
So, as the war entered its final weeks, the Confederates were seeking ways to get supplies to Lee and concentrate against Sherman. We read orders about building one new railroad and repairing existing ones. Pontoon
bridges were built. Lines of march were specified. Rations were ordered for points along the routes.
The books narrating the events of April and May had not yet been written. The men issuing these orders did not know what we know, but they surely understood their situation to be dire. What were they thinking? They must have been thinking that they were duty-bound to soldier on. The government in Richmond continued to function and was giving direction to the military leaders. Telegraph lines and couriers conveyed orders. Men were under arms, men who would follow orders and be led. Railroad trains were yet limping along the worn and shaky tracks to move men and supplies. There were still resources that could be marshalled, furnished by citizens with wagons and mules, citizens irritated and annoyed, but compliant with orders of impressment. The commanders still had hope, they carried on.
Beauregard sometimes displayed an attitude that went beyond hope and entered the realm of fantasy. On February 3 he asked for re-enforcements from Virginia, with which he “would defeat, if not destroy Sherman’s army.” Later that month he wrote about crushing Sherman, concentrating against Grant, and then marching to Washington “to dictate a peace.”
That was Bory. Others were more realistic and, for that matter, not all the men were soldiering on. On February 4 an officer in Augusta, ordered to take his command of guards to the Savannah River crossing upstream, was told not only to protect the pontoon bridge but also to “arrest stragglers and deserters from the armies in South Carolina and Virginia.”
When the plan for the Abbeville-to-Washington railroad was dropped, Ferdinand Burdell soldiered on to Newberry, S.C., where the engineers threw a pontoon bridge across the Broad River, used by troops on their way to North Carolina and the battle at Bentonville. After this work, he rushed to Hillsboro, N.C., to survey roads leading to Virginia, “the Evident object being to make a clear way for Lee & [Johnston’s] army to connect.”
When he wrote his post-war account Ferdinand knew what we know now. By early 1865, he wrote, “we were about crushed out by the strength of overwhelming numbers and resources of war.”
In April he encountered some of Lee’s paroled men as they returned home. “They told us that
‘the war was over & to make for home’ – which we were not slow in doing.”
Ferdinand returned home to Augusta, where he and the others of his party surrendered and were paroled. “Thus Ended my bitter experience of 4 long weary years,” he wrote, “wrecked on the Shores of Defeat.”
*Route 1: Augusta, Edgefield, Newberry, and Chesterville. Route 2: Augusta, Edgefield, Ninety-six Depot, Huntsville, Unionville, and Chesterville. Route 3: Washington, Abbeville, Laurensville, Unionville, and Chesterville. (See map for the
online at
significance of this detail.)
Sources: All the correspondence referenced is found in the Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 47, Pt. 2, Sec. 2.
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The February 2020 issue of Civil War News featured a frontpage story that listed Civil War books published in 2019. Onehundred and sixty one books made the list, although the paper suggested its list was probably incomplete. “If someone has a closer estimate or known quantity, let us know,” the paper apologized. Still, 161 is no small stack of books. I wanted to take a second and, as the saying goes, “run the numbers.” The article listed works by 39 publishers (plus a few self-published authors). Among the academic publishers, Louisiana State University Press led the way with 14 titles, followed by the University of North Carolina Press with 13. Our partners at Southern Illinois University Press also had 13 titles, including one in the Engaging the Civil War Series that SIUP publishes with ECW. We highlighted that book, The Spirits of Bad Men Made Perfect: The Life and Diary of Confederate Artillerist William Ellis Jones by Constance Hall Jones, in our December 2019 ECW newsletter.
Leading the charge among publishers overall was Savas Beatie, with 17 titles on the list, including five titles in the Emerging Civil War Series, plus a great hardcover by ECW contributor Dave Powell that’s not part of the series, Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah. Of ECW authors, Dave had two books out during 2019, as did our colleague Steve Davis.
The very first name on the entire list, which was organized alphabetically by publisher, was ECW’s own Kevin Pawlak and his book Antietam National Battlefield. All told, ECW authors published 10 books during the year, and we can’t forget about Edward Alexander’s map.
Books are a huge part of the Civil War world culture, and they’re certainly a huge part of the culture here at Emerging Civil War. Twenty-six of our regular contributors have published books in the course of their careers, including seven contributors who published their first books because of their affiliation with us; two more first-timers are about to see print this spring.
I think of this robust list in the context of discussions earlier this year that ruffled the Civil War community in the wake of a controversial May 2019 Wall Street Journal article: Does the Civil War still matter? We explored that question in a series on the blog in conjunction with Civil War Times: https://emergingcivilwar.com/tag/do-we-still-care-series/.)
The relationship between that question and Civil War publishing is a rabbit hole too deep for us to get into in this limited amount of space, but remember, we as readers have a role to play in that dynamic, too. I often hear people lament, “If I bring one more book into the house, my wife will kill me....” However, if we stop bringing books into our houses, publishers will stop publishing and then maybe we will be asking ourselves, “Does the Civil War still matter?” with a bit more urgency.
If nothing else, Civil War News list shows us that we live amidst an abundance of readable riches. Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War
Have you been following our Symposium Spotlight on the blog? We’re profiling the presenters who’ll be on the docket for our Seventh Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, Aug. 7-9, 2020. Tickets are $175 each. This year’s theme is “Fallen Leaders.” You can find out more details on our symposium page: https://emergingcivilwar.com/2020-symposium/.
Steward Henderson will be busy in February. On Feb. 22, 2020, from 1 to 5 p.m., he will present a program titled “From Enslaved to Soldier” in Fredericksburg, Va. This is an African-American history tour of the Fredericksburg area that Steward created for Fredericksburg Tours (https://www.fxbgtours.com/). The tour discusses slavery in the area, the escape of 10,000 enslaved during the first Union occupation, and the presence of a USCT division, featuring the 23rd USCT that comes back to fight in the Overland Campaign. Cost $45/ person for the tour and bus ride. Steward will deliver the tour, mostly on the bus, but there will be some walking.
Chris Kolakowski and his wife Alice relocated to Madison, Wisc., just before Christmas, and on Jan. 6, 2020, Chris became the new director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (www.wisvetsmuseum.com). An educational activity of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, the museum tells the story of Wisconsin veterans of all branches from the Civil War to the present. It is the custodian of many Civil War-related artifacts, including the battle flags of Wisconsin units.
We’re especially excited about the release of our newest book from Southern Illinois University Press as part of our Engaging the Civil War Series: Entertaining History: The Civil War in Literature, Film, and Song. Twenty-one historians and writers contributed twenty-seven essays to this collection, edited by Chris Mackowski. According to SIUP’s website: “Popular media can spark the national consciousness in a way that captures people’s attention, interests them in history, and inspires them to visit battlefields, museums, and historic sites. This lively collection of essays and feature stories celebrates the novels, popular histories, magazines, movies, television shows, photography, and songs that have enticed Americans to learn more about our most dramatic historical era.” We’re supplementing content in the book with a slew of online content, as well, so there’s plenty to explore.
We have books on the brain this month! For our 10 Questions, we’re speaking with ECW Book Review Editor Ryan
Read any good books lately? Hampton Newsome’s The Fight for the Old North State. It’s extremely well-written, and covers a topic that hasn’t received much attention by historians before. I’m working on a review of the book to run on ECW. When I need to step back from the 1860s, I’ve been making my way through Roy and Lesley Adkins’ Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History. Also very well-written. It’s a great book to reveal the scope of how extensive fighting went on in the name of the American Revolution.
With so many books out there, how do you go about deciding what to read and what to take a pass on? I like reading books on new topics, or new approaches. I’ve grown tired of reading the same story over and over again. Being the book review editor for ECW, I also try to ask myself if I’m even qualified to review a certain book that may come my way. If I don’t think I’m the right fit, I’ll send an email out to our cadre of reviewers. I think that’s a great part of the stable of people we have here; everyone’s got their own specialty so they can really look at a book and evaluate its merit.
You’ve been working at Historic Williamsburg. What have you been doing there? I work as part of Colonial Williamsburg’s Military Programs staff. During our programming season, generally March-November, that means daily demonstrations of musket or cannon firings. I also help interpret the Powder Magazine in town. Military equipment was stored there, and Virginia’s Revolution essentially got kickstarted there when the Royal Governor removed the gunpowder to prevent it from falling into the rebels’ hands. That’s simplifying the story to a degree, so I guess people will just have to come on down for the full version.
You spent an earlier part of your career in the Fredericksburg area, where there’s a lot of colonial and Civil War history. Now you’re in the middle of Virginia’s “Historic Triangle” on the Peninsula. What’s it like living in that landscape? Similarities/