Civil War Memory

If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox

Kevin Levin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:31:00 +0000

Interestingly, this film was done in 1982, well before the YouTube Era. You will have to excuse me, but for some reason I find this sort of video to be quite funny. This one clearly reflects the persistence of the “Grant the Drunk” narrative. A more recent video that depict Grant with bottle can be [...]

Dare To Ask Questions

Kevin Levin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:18:59 +0000

Somehow I became a topic of concern over at Michael Aubrecht’s blog because I dared to comment on the Richard Kirkland story during the same week that a new website and film preview were introduced. I find it funny that both Aubrecht and Richard Williams make a point of minimizing my influence even as they [...]

Gone With the Wind at 70

Kevin Levin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:30:53 +0000

This year is the 70th anniversary of Gone With the Wind and this week my Civil War Memory class will watch it. Depending on how they respond to it we may even watch it in its entirety. There are so many thought provoking scenes, which will allow us to address a number of interpretive threads [...]

Black Confederates Defined on Facebook

Kevin Levin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:49:24 +0000

One of my FB friends invited me to join a group dedicated to black Confederates. There are just under 200 members. No surprise that just about all of them are white, including Rickey Pittman. There is nothing serious about the site. Essentially, it serves as a dumping ground for the same tired stories that populate [...]

New York and Slavery

Kevin Levin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:39:47 +0000

Just returned from a wonderful trip to the “Big Apple” with my wife. We caught two excellent jazz shows featuring guitarist Mike Stern at the Iridium Club. Both shows featured some excellent players, including Sonny Fortune (sax), Buster Williams (b), Victor Wooten (b), Dennis Chambers (dr) and Randy Brecker (trumpet) and Jimmy Cobb (dr). We [...]

Best of 2009

Kevin Levin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:21:39 +0000

Once again, thanks to all of you for making Civil War Memory part of your daily Online travels. There were plenty of good books published in the field of Civil War history in 2009 and 2010 looks to be just as good. Listed below are a few of my favorite titles from the past year. [...]

Does It Matter Whether the Richard Kirkland Story is True?

Kevin Levin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:42 +0000

Angel of Marye’s Heights by Mort Kunstler Note: For additional commentary, check out Tim Abbott’s post on Kirkland at Walking the Berkshires.

Is the Richard Kirkland Story True?

Kevin Levin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:41:30 +0000

The following guest post by Michael Schaffner examines the wartime evidence for the Kirkland story. It is a thoroughly researched essay and is well worth your time. I should point out that Mr. Schaffner did not set out to write a piece debunking this particular story. Like many of us he was curious about the [...]

A Child’s Richard Kirkland

Kevin Levin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:06:02 +0000

Some of you are familiar with 10-year old Richard Warren’s earlier portrayal of Richard Kirkland that was filmed at Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg last year. He is slated to play a young Kirkland in the upcoming film that was mentioned in yesterday’s post. There are no surprises in young Richard’s narration; than again we shouldn’t [...]

Sgt. Richard Kirkland For All Of Us

Kevin Levin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:51:54 +0000

I‘ve been thinking quite a bit about Sgt. Richard Kirkland lately. Last week Peter Carmichael referenced Kirkland in his speech marking the anniversary of the battle of Fredericksburg. Carmichael used the Kirkland story and his monument on the Fredericksburg battlefield to point out our tendency to glamorize the Civil War and ignore the more horrific [...]