Thursday, February 11, 2010

New Blog


A new blog of note and worth for those interested in the Western Theater has recently come along, that being Stuart Salling's Louisiana in the Civil War. Stuart's blog covers all things Louisiana with a strong interest in Daniel Adam's/Randall Gibson's Louisiana Brigade. Stuart's book on that brigade will be released this spring from McFarland Press. I came in contact with Stuart many years ago when he was researching this book and I am looking forward to reading it. So in this Mardi Gras season check out Louisiana in the Civil War, http://www.louisianacivilwar.com/

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

In Memory

I would be remiss at this time if I didnt note the passing of Historian Dr. Arthur "Art" W. Bergeron. Art passed away on Feb 8th after a hard battle with cancer. Although I had never met Art in person he had been of great assistance to me over the years. Art will be best known for his Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861-1865. Art, along with Lawrence Hewitt was working on a new essay series for the University of Tennessee Press, Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, the first two volumes of this series are set for release this spring. Art was of great help to anyone who contacted him and he will be greatly missed.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Cleburne the Movie


Im not going to say much here about it, I think that Kevin Levin has done a more thoughtful post on this over at Civil War Memory, http://cwmemory.com/2010/02/05/patrick-cleburne-and-black-confederates-take-hollywood/, concerning the central theme of this movie adaption of Cleburne: A Graphic Novel, which is Cleburne's proposal to arm slaves in 1864. The few comments I would like to make concern the "other" aspects of the novel that I find troubling. First of all there are some errors that are very glaring, boulders being rolled down Missinary Ridge, It is made to look like Bragg passed command of the army directly to Joe Johnston, Hardee is completely left out, then there is the one that really gets me, the continued character assissination of Braxton Bragg, bet you would never thought you would hear that phrase, Bragg is portrayed as the ultimate villian in this, starting out by wanting to take the distinctive Hardee Corps battleflags from Cleburne as punishment, when it was Joe Johnston that did that in an attempt to have uniformity within his army. Bragg actually gave Cleburne his own saddle when he left the army and praised him in his final report for his actions at Missionary Ridge and Ringgold Gap. But to make Johnston out to be the saint and Bragg the devil it distorts the truth. Bragg is a complex figure with many warts, but no one is all good or all bad. But with that said, even if you still cant stand Bragg, you need to have the history correct. I will leave you with this paragraph from the Flags of the Confederacy website concerning the Hardee Corps flags of 1864,
"In early March of 1864, shortly after Hardee's Corps of the Army of Tennessee had returned to Dalton from its sojourn to reinforce General Polk's Army of Mississippi, General Cleburne petitioned that the four brigades of his division be permitted to retain the distinctive blue battle flags that had been employed by Hardee's Corps throughout 1863. Although General Joseph E. Johston had been attempting to enforce a uniform battle flag upon the Army of Tennessee since his arrival on 27 December 1863, he relented in the case of Cleburne's Division and allowed that command to be recognized by the blue flags with white central discs and white borders that had been their distinctive flags since Bowling Green in the winter of 1861-1862."