Reconciliation? Not Exactly
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Post-War reconciliation? Historian Caroline Janney offers a different view.
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The Alexanders of Alexandria
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The Alexander family? The city on the Nile? No one is 100% sure how Alexandria, Virginia, got its name.
Read MoreArlandria: Then and (Almost) Now
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The story of Arlandria, from rural outpost to diverse urban neighborhood, presented by University of Mary Washington professor Krystyn Moon.
Read MoreSeptember 24, 2016 & 1866, Washington, DC
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Washington, DC, September 24, 2016--opening of African American History Museum and Library of Congress Book Festival. September 24, 1866--visits to Andrew Johnson and a cure for a "secret disease"
Read MoreFemale Soldiers of the Civil War
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A ceremony at Arlington Cemetery honored female soldiers of the Civil War--women who hid their identities and fought side-by-side with men.
Read MoreFinding Descendants from Alexandria's Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery
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Char McCargo Bah explained how she found descendants from among more than 1,750 people buried in Alexandria's Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery--who can now celebrate their ancestors, many of whom escaped slavery.
Read More"In Their Footsteps": Women's Suffrage in Washington, DC
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On a Washington walking tour that highlights women's suffrage--and how Julia Wilbur fit into some of the struggles.
Read MoreAppomattox Statue, Then and Now
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The Confederate veteran has stood on Alexandria's main north-south thoroughfare for more than 100 years. Once grass grew between the cobblestones at his feet.
Read MoreSame Blog, New Site
/I began this blog at the end of 2014 on a Wordpress site. Thanks to all who have read and commented on it.
Now, I'll be blogging. here. You can still let me know if you want a notification when I've added a new post, and I still welcome your comments.
The Pacific Northwest: Far Away, but Not Untouched by the Civil War
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The Civil War in the Pacific Northwest? Not as intense, but no part of the country was immune.
Read MoreMade My Deadline: Here's How
/I mostly use this blog to talk about aspects of Julia Wilbur's life and times. However, may people have asked me about meeting the deadline for my book (forthcoming from Potomac Books, an imprint of University of Nebraska Press.) The deadline for my book came and went on July 1.
Read MoreJulia Wilbur's Alexandria: The "Slave Pen"
/On the first morning after the Union occupation of Alexandria, May 22, 1861, Michigan troops came upon what had been a flourishing slave-trading establishment on Duke Street, less than a mile from the Potomac River.
Read MoreJulia Wilbur's Alexandria
/My friend Mary visited from Connecticut and asked for a tour of Julia Wilbur sites in Alexandria. (She is a fellow history nut, writer, and great friend, as I am not sure who else would indulge me on a hot summer day!) We didn't have much time, but off we went to some of the spots on a map I built:
Read MoreBIO Thoughts
/This past weekend, I attended the annual conference of the Biographers International Organization (BIO, nice play on words), held in Richmond. A day of great sessions by experts in the craft.
Read MoreCivil War Medicine: Surgeon Training
/One of the many things I learned this week from Von Barron, aka Captain Turner Kitt, was that no surgeon working in the field, north or south, lasted all four years of the Civil War.
Read MoreSave Our Ship!
/Early port-improvers used whatever materials they had available--including pieces of "trash" ships, a recent find a few months ago at 220 South Union Street, future site of the Hotel Indigo.
Read MoreMary Surratt and Julia Wilbur
/Mary Surratt and Julia Wilbur never met, and certainly would not have gotten along if they had. But both had to figure out how to survive in what could be an unfriendly world for a woman on their own.
Read MoreSpeak, Sister!
/Music and storytelling were a huge part of the 19th century...
Read MoreLast Mercy Street Episode
/No word yet on Mercy Street returning next year. A few points from the last episode:
Read MoreCemeteries in Old Alexandria
/Last night's episode of Mercy Street included a poignant scene in which the Green and Fairfax families attempted to bury Tom Fairfax. No matter one's sympathies, seeing a funeral disrupted at gunpoint was not pleasant.
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