SMH Wrap UP

Well, I am back and settled into work and my research with a few minutes to reflect on the conference. I would highly recommend to everyone that you join associations related to your professions. They are a wonderful chance to connect, reconnect, and network within your field.

Some more thoughts on SMH

Reflection has its Cost

It is commander’s negligence if they do not insure that the history of their units is maintained. Without that history soldiers may have serious issues after their time in the service; medical history is one area that comes to mind.

I love one comment I heard, “It is heritage not hate.” You may have heard it as well. It seems in our politically correct world it is wrong to look back and try to preserve our history in difficult times. Please are renamed, areas destroyed, and memories altered in a sad and sick attempt to re-write history. Well, you simply cannot do that. What happened, happened. I had two occasions, for example, to speak to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Many of you will immediately react to that with “redneck”, “Klan”, or some other derogatory term. That is not the case in the least. The folks I have met are simply interested in preserving the memory of their ancestors and who does not wish to do that? My father was born in Ireland. Does that mean I should hate the English for the actions of the Duke of Orange for his actions in Ireland over 300 hundred year ago? That makes no sense to me. It seems to me that many people would like to hold people accountable for that actions of people long since dead. That is ludicrous!

I am always in a constant search for the precise, perfect title for my publications. I may have found one at SMH: "My Friend, The Enemy"; or "The Enemy is My Friend." Both fit these tow men very well. I have always envisioned “Broomsticks to Battlefields” to be a possible title for a broader study to follow. We will see. As a rule of thumb, students take note, I finalize my title after I have completed the final draft of my work. I always have two parts. An attention getting title with a subtitle firmly rooted in the topic. For example: “This Fierce Light of Battle: John bell Hood and his Wild Texans”.

Another thought from the conference. Do soldiers in the field shape policy from the field? I can think of examples from every war where this was the case. Can you?

Have you ever thought about the concept of death? I would suggest reading “Republic of Suffering” by Drew Gilpin Faust, current president of Harvard and an historian! It is a very interesting read. The Civil War death rate was six times that of World War II, when adjusted against the size of the American population, Faust points out. From the Preface: “Mortality defines the human condition. "We all have our dead—we all have our Graves," a Confederate Episcopal bishop observed in an 1862 sermon. Every era, he explained, must confront "like miseries"; every age must search for "like consolation." The way a people deals with death says a lot about them and their culture. Think of the current controversy over showing the return of our fallen soldiers to Dover, DE. It is well worth the read. During the 19th century people wanted a “good death”; I will leave you to discover what that meant. Today some scholars term 20th century death concepts death as wild. HCR committed suicide, not a “good” death. I must determine how his family and friend reacted to this.

On Civil War letters. We have really only ONE side of the story. We mostly have letters from the soldiers. The letters sent to them were mostly destroyed by the rigors of the field.

One final note I took. I simply must train myself to better remember names and dates. The recall of some of the folks I met is amazing. My former partner at JANUS, Jim Timmerman, has a phenomenal ability to remember names; far better than I can ever hope to be.

Keep History Alive
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