American Civil War Flags: Documents, Controversy, and Challenges- Harold F
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AMERICAN STUDIES jOURNAL Number 48/Winter 2001 The Atnerican Civil War ,.~~-,~.,.... -~~'-'C__ iv_ i__ I _W:.........~r Scho!arship in t4e 21st Cent ea Confere . ISSN: 1433-5239 € 3,00 AMERICAN STUDIES jOURNAL Number 48 Winter 2001 The Atnerican Civil War "Civil War Scholarship in the 21st Century" Selected Conference Proceedings ISSN: 1433-5239 i I Editor's Note Lutherstadt Wittenberg States and the Environment." Since the year 2002 marks November 2001 the five hundredth anniversary of the founding of the University of Wittenberg, the Leucorea, where the Center Dear Readers, for U.S. Studies in based, issue #50 will be devoted to education at the university level in a broad sense. Articles It is with some regret that I must give notice that this on university history, articles on higher education and so present issue of the American Studies Journal is my forth are very welcome. For further information on last as editor. My contract at the Center for U.S. Studies submitting an article, please see the Journal's web site. expires at the end of 2001, so I am returning to the United States to pursue my academic career there. At AUF WIEDERSEHEN, present, no new editor has been found, but the American Embassy in Germany, the agency that finances the Dr. J. Kelly Robison printing costs and some of the transportation costs of Editor the Journal, are seeking a new editor and hope to have one in place shortly. As you are aware, the editing process has been carried out without the assistance of an editorial assistant since November of 2000. A search has been made for a new assistant, but now requires the approval of the board of directors of the Stiftung Leucorea. It is hoped that the American Studies Journal will continue to be published without any interruption. Therefore, I would like to remind all of the readers, especially those who are interested in submitting articles for publication, that the theme for issue #49 is "the United lmpressum Herausgegeben im Auftrag des Zentrums fur USA-Studien, Stiftung Leucorea an der Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg von J. Kelly Robison Druck: Regional Printing Center, Manila ISSN: 1433-5239 Redaktionsadresse Zentrum fur USA-Studien, Stiftung Leucorea an der Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg, CollegienstraBe 62, 06886 Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Fax: (03491) 466223, ZUJYLS E-Mail: asj @zusas.uni-halle.de Homepage: http://www.zusas.uni-halle.de/-asj/ The American Studies Journal is published semi-annually. The subscription rate is 6 Euro, plus 3 Euro for postage and handling within Germany. If you would like to receive more than one copy, add 1 Euro for each additional subscription (national rates). Prepayment is required. Please transfer your remittance to Zentrum fiir USA-Studien, Account Number 26212, Sparkasse Wittenberg, BLZ 805 501 01. Payment by check cannot be accepted. 2 ASJ 48 (WINTER 2001) AMERICAN STUDIES jOURNAL Number 48 Winter 2001 "Civil War Scholarship in the 21st Century:" Selected Conference Proceedings 2 Editor's Note 5 Guest Editor's Note Articles 6 Overflowing and Half-Full: Achievements and Gaps in Recent Civil War Military History - Timothy Mulligan 20 Union and Confederate Biography: Where Do We Stand? - John F. Marszalek and Craig L. Symonds 27 Exploding the Myth: American Civil War Novels at the End of the 20th Century - Ursula Baumann 32 American Civil War Flags: documents, controversy, and challenges- Harold F. Mailand 39 Military Justice Makes Rattling Good History: Ethnicity & the Role of the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery - Kathryn Lerch 44 " ... to strive for loyalty": German-Confederate Newspapers, the issue of slavery, and German ideological commitment - Andrea Mehrlander 52 The Linguistic Legacy of the Civil War: How the Civil War Changed American English - Gregory Weeks Teaching Resources 57 To What Extent Did The American Civil War Affect Civil Liberties? -Kathryn Lerch 60 Civics Education in Central Europe - David Jervis Book Reviews 64 Jeffrey W Helsing,]ohnson's War/ Johnson's Great Society: The Guns and Butter Trap - Peter J. Ling. ASJ 48 (W!NfER 2001) 3 64 Jacqueline Bobo, ed. Black Feminist Criticism -Barbara Ryan 65 Robert A. Burchell (compiler), World Bibliographical Series, Vol. 16: United States of America - Charles C. Kolb 66 Elizabeth Reis, ed. American Sexual Histories- Tiffany McKirdy 67 Wolfgang Hochbruck, hrsg. Achtundvierziger/Forty-Eighters: Die deutsche Revolution von 1848/49, die Vereinigten Staaten und der amerikanische Burgerkrieg - Andrea Mehrlander 68 Marianne S. Wokeck, Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings ofMass Migration to North America - J. Kelly Robison 4 AS] 48 (WINTER 2001) --- ------- Guest Editor's Note Lutherstadt Wittenberg/Berlin outstanding studies have focused on the ethnic October 2001 dimensions of the war, tightly connected with issues of ethnic leadership, race, and politics. In Dear Readers, both countries, however, there are still topics that lie fallow. That was the reason why the Center for The sectional conflict of the mid-nineteenth U.S. Studies decided to hold a conference at century was probably the greatest crisis in the Lutherstadt Wittenberg, March 29 - 31, 2001, history of the United States. Consequently, courses entitled '"War makes rattling good history' : Civil on this momentous event have become a necessary War Scholarship in the 21" Century," For the first and much needed feature in American and German time 30 German and American Civil War scholars, history curricula. No field of American history has both established and young, met outside the United been more transformed by recent scholarship than States to discuss, evaluate, and analyse the findings the study of the Civil War. Despite this outpouring of recent research in the field. of written history that has shaped our The current issue of the American Studies understanding of Northern and Southern attitudes Journal, "The American Civil War, 1861- 1865" in this conflict, there seems to be no diminution features a selection of the papers presented at this of interest in the subject. conference, that we felt you would enjoy most. Since 1865, more than 50,000 books have The articles included, therefore, range from been published on this most crucial event in ethnical participation to historiographical analysis. American history. In addition, an average of 800 Hopefully, you will agree with Thomas Hardy after Civil War books are still being published annually, the perusal of this issue, who once said: "War and Civil War roundtables, military enactments makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor and Hollywood movies are increasingly high in reading." 1 popular favor. · While the immense interest of American 1 The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations scholars in this field needs no explanation, it was (Oxford, 2 1955), 236. only recently that Germany has witnessed the emergence of wide scholarly interest in the era of Dr. Andrea Mehrlander, Guest Editor the American Civil War. Naturally, a number of COVER PICTURE German-born forty-eighter Colonel Louis Blenker (May 12, 1812- March 31, 1863) and his staff of the 8th New York Infantry in 1861. Source: National Archives and Records Administration AS] 48 (WINTER 2001) 5 I I OVERFLOWING AND HALF-FULL: ACHIEVEMENTS AND GAPS IN RECENT CIVIL WAR MILITARY HISTORY In his too-thin study of General George Pickett's role describe the principal trends, identify the most significant in the hanging of 22 North Carolinians for desertion works, and note some gaps where work might be done. 8 following their capture as Union soldiers in 1864, Civil In so doing we shall consider the question raised by War writer Gerard A. Patterson concludes that the William W. Freehling, whether a social analysis of the dashing Rebel general's harsh decision "has, deservedly war can replace battlefield suspense as a plot for a or not, faded deeper into obscurity, disregarded by dramatic epic. 9 generations far more attracted by glorious deeds. "1 With Before addressing the principal areas of military this observation he characterizes a long-standing, but no history literature, it is necessary to note the more limited longer valid, state of Civil War military hist number of studies that examine Civil War military oriography: The "glorious deeds" of battlefield actions history as a whole or in highly specialized fields. At and personalities continue to dominate the field, yet a the "macro" level, the most influential single-volume broader portrait of a society in ever-deepening conflict treatment in recent years remains James B. McPherson's is beginning to emerge, with an emphasis on disruption Battle Cry ofFreedom, a Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative and conflict within the wartime South. Such a dichotomy that combines military, political and social history but signifies more than an academic debate, it touches on emphasizes the military dimension of the conflict. 10 several key issues: the use and purpose of history in Almost simultaneously Edward Hagerman produced a American society, the nature and extent of military thoughtful and detailed examination of the war's military history, and indeed the universal questions of Geschichte aspects and lessons, particularly in field fortifications and Vergangenheit, the difference between historical and logistics.11 While these works were in preparation study and historical memory. several historians jointly produced a two-volume Since the mid-1980s Civil War history has flourished, thematic study of the war that concluded a lack of fueled by the popular interest aroused by Ken