Echoes From The Past: An Interview With Photographer A. J. Meek

Civil War Book Review (cwbr):What first drew you to these sites? A. J. Meek (ajm): When David Madden, founding director of the Civil War Center, invited me to serve on the board, I thought I should learn something about the Civil War. My expertise was in photography and especia...

CIVIL WAR TREASURES:Planter\u27s Progeny

New Acquisitions in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries\u27 Special Collections Dixie Rebel Details Routine Collection: Jacob Alison Frierson Correspondence and Minutes, Mss. 4209, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries,...

Re-Examining The Red River:Interview With Gary Dillard Joiner

An instructor of history and director of the Red River Regional Studies Center at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Gary Dillard Joiner is also the founder of Precision Cartographics. He serves as a member of the U. S. Civil War Center\u27s On-Site Advisory Board. He is the President of the ...

The body politic: burial and post-war reconciliation in Baton Rouge

Historians typically agree that reconciliation between the white North and South took place between the period of 1898 (Spanish-American War) and 1913 (before World War I). To test this hypothesis and identify when reconciliation took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I will use the burial of R. L. Pruyn in the Baton Rouge National Cemetery. Pruyn served as a U.S. soldier during the Mexican War and a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. Anthropologists have studied rituals, beliefs, and practices associated with death since early in the discipline. Archaeologists, in particular, have focused on this aspect of culture, in large part because in many cases remnants of burial ritual are all that remain of a culture in the archaeological record. Scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, have, in recent years, taken on the study of public memory and its implications for national identity. The study of burial practice and identity are inextricably intertwined: the death of a member of a community is often a time of re-assertion of shared ideas and identities, an opportunity to pass important cultural information to younger, and future generations. Confederate post-war memorial activities in Baton Rouge speak to the attitudes of white men and women regarding reconciliation and national identity. Newspapers, personal papers and the papers of local organizations, including the United Confederate Veterans, St. James Lodge No. 47 (masons), and the Historical Society of East and West Baton Rouge, will be used to help pinpoint those attitudes. Opportunities for reconciliation have been identified as 1886 with the burial of local Revolutionary War hero Philemon Thomas in the Baton Rouge National Cemetery; 1898 and the Spanish-American War (local men joined the U. S. war effort); and 1917 with the deaths and burials of Confederate veterans J. W. Nicholson (in Magnolia Cemetery, adjacent to the Baton Rouge National Cemetery) and R. L. Pruyn, and U.S. involvement in World War I. Ultimately, Pruyn’s 1917 burial in the Baton Rouge National Cemetery denotes a change in perception by local white citizens regarding national identity and establishes the date of post-war reconciliation in Baton Rouge

All Is Fair? Lonnie R. Speer Shatters Myths With Tales Of Mistreated Pows

Lonnie R. Speer is a historian and lecturer whose expertise lies in the history of Civil War prisons and prisoners of war. He is the author of Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War (Stackpole Books,1997). His latest book, War of Vengeance: Acts of Retaliation on POWs in t...

CIVIL WAR TREASURES:New Englanders in New Orleans

New Acquisitions in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries\u27 Special Collections News from the Bayou State to the Bay State Collection: Frances C. and N. F. Hyer Letters and Newspaper Clipping, Mss. 3916, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Colle...

Civil War Treasures:

New Acquisitions in theLouisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections,LSU Libraries\u27 Special Collections South of the Border Contract provides window into unofficial Confederate trade hub Collection: Union Refugee Transport Contract, Mss. 4007, Louisia...

An Inspiration That Transcends The Ages\u27: James I. Robertson Jr. Recasts Stonewall Jackson\u27s Biography For Young Adults

Civil War Book Review (cwbr): Your most recent book is Standing Like a Stone Wall: The Life of General Thomas J. Jackson (Atheneum Press, ISBN 068982419X, $22.00 hardcover). How is Jackson\u27s life relevant to young people today? James I. Robertson jr. (jr): To me, Thomas J. Jack...

Marly Youmans Discusses Her Novel, \u27The Wolf Pit\u27

Double helix of black and white Marly Youmans\u27 novel, The Wolf Pit, is the winner of the2001 Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction sponsored by Jeff Shaara and theU.S. Civil War Center. Other works include: Little Jordan (David R. Godine, Publisher,1995); Catherwo...

Civil War Treasures:Capture of the Crescent City

New Acquisitions in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries\u27 Special Collections Letters, diaries, and photographs of Civil War-era soldiers and civilians bear witness to their unique experiences; these materials, along with artifacts, architecture, and trad...