A little Civil War levity for you! Unlike all the Confederate monuments making people hot-under-the-collar, there’s a shirtless Abraham Lincoln statue in LA that is just making people hot!

All the “Gettysburg Undress” and “honest abs” jokes the internet can handle are rolling in. And yes, there’s already been fan fiction about the statue circulating that interested parties can Google because the statue has gotten viral attention before.

Source: Hot Abraham Lincoln Statue Has People Swooning | Time

From the WaPo, the story of a Taneytown, Maryland resident’s efforts to create a new Civil War memorial. I’m all for whole-war commemorations, but I’m unconvinced that John Wilkes Booth deserves to be honoured alongside the other big names in bronze.

It would seem an unthinkable proposal right now, what this small and quaint town in rural Maryland is considering.

Because while the rest of the nation is having a deep reckoning with the statues and monuments of the Civil War, this picture-perfect town is thinking of building a new one.

A big one…

Source: Welcome to (possibly) the only town in America that wants a new Civil War memorial – The Washington Post

Here’s a promising review of a new-ish book about Kentucky’s newspapers during the Civil War. Judging by some of the anecdotes related, it could be a fun as well as enlightening read!

Readers will learn which editors favored the Union and which supported the Confederacy. George D. Prentice, unlike the vast majority of editors, possessed a college education and edited the Louisville Journal, a pro-Union – but also pro-slavery – paper, and William N. Haldeman, the editor of the Louisville Courier, was a secessionist who fled south after his paper was shut down by the Union army. After the war, Haldeman returned to Kentucky and joined together both papers to create the Courier-Journal with Henry Watterson, a former Confederate officer, as editor. Craig’s descriptions of editors and their writing are lively, with pockets of humor here and there, and some accounts of events, like the arrest of A.J. Morey, the pro-Confederate editor of the Cynthiana News, might spur instant laughter in readers. When arrested, he was subdued by two Union soldiers, one of whom referred to Morey as “a pompous little fellow.” Without thinking, Morey challenged the Yankee, who was much larger, to a duel. The challenged Yankee possessed under the rules of duels the right to choose weapons. The Yankee chose “knives at one pace”; Morey quickly had second thoughts and withdrew his challenge.

Source: Book review: ‘Kentucky’s Rebel Press’ | Community | bgdailynews.com

Another history of social change, this time noticeable in the alleyways of Washington, DC! Turns out, alleyways have a social and racial history?

Like many American cities, D.C. has a system of alleys. Most of these narrow thoroughfares are used for municipal functions such as garbage collection, deliveries, and parking. You might also find more informal, but not unexpected, signs of use, like basketball hoops or folding chairs used by those who live, work, or spend time nearby. Yet a turn down the right alley in D.C. might surprise you. In D.C. alleys you’ll find clues about the city’s history of substandard housing for African American migrants following the Civil War, you’ll see evidence of the early roots of gentrification in the 1950s, you’ll glimpse a burgeoning public art scene, you’ll tread across new wastewater management projects, you’ll stumble upon a community garden, or you’ll even find yourself in a hip and expensive commercial enclave. D.C.’s alleys offer insight into how this city has dealt with its long history of strained race relations, how it is creatively managing urban space to sustainably support urban growth and density, and how it is attempting to stay true to its longtime African American and Latinx residents while attracting whiter, younger, and wealthier residents who have flooded the city in recent years.

Source: Stories of Change Hidden in Washington, D.C.’s Alleys – AAG Newsletter

I like it when little local papers present some of their area’s history. The Cincinnati Black Brigade is not something you’ll find in most Civil War histories, but it’s an interesting glimpse at life for free blacks on the Northern homefront.

As the City of Cincinnati mobilized to meet the forthcoming threat of Confederate invasion in late summer 1862, all able-bodied men were expected to help defend the city.

African-American men were no exception. They organized themselves into a unit to take up arms against the Confederates. Fearing armed African Americans, however, city officials rejected their offer, going so far as to block a planned second meeting by the group. They were told that it was not their war.

Undeterred, these patriotic African-American men endeavored to contribute to the defense of Cincinnati and, in the process, became the first organized African-American group employed for military purposes in the Civil War. Unfortunately, the beginning actions of what would become known as the “Black Brigade” would be coerced and founded in bigotry.

Source: Our Rich History: The Black Brigade, mistreated heroes of the Siege of Cincinnati | NKyTribune

I admit, I probably won’t get around to [this book](https://amzn.to/2HmTp00), despite the setting sounding fascinating. I have so little time even to consume non-fiction books about the war that I have long since abandoned fiction. But for those of you interested, the review declares it, “rip-roaring”!

Far less known is the significant role Cuba played in America’s Civil War. Although ostensibly neutral in the conflict, Cuba, which lies less than 100 miles off the Florida coast, was a nest of spies for both sides, a nerve center for Confederate supply operations and the virtual headquarters of Confederate efforts to circumvent the Union blockade of Southern ports.

In the vast body of non-fiction and fiction writing about the Civil War, the story of Confederate blockade-running and Union efforts to stop it is relatively underdeveloped. Robin Lloyd, who divides his time between Camden and Chevy Chase, Maryland, richly and convincingly develops this space in “Harbor of Spies: A Novel of Historic Havana.”

Source: Who knew that key moments of the Civil War happened in Cuba? – Portland Press Herald

A WaPo opinion piece compares the modern “Dreamers” to the Civil War Colored Troops. The premise is shoehorned but the history is interesting. I’d done a fair amount of reading on the USCT, but hadn’t realised their already-reduced pay was docked even further by a clothing fee. Those soldiers earned their belated monument!

As evidence of the regard in which they were held, LaBarre quoted Massachusetts Gov. John Albion Andrew’s commendation of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry when it was launched: “In this hour of hope for our common country and for themselves; at a time when they hold the destiny of their race in their own grasp; and when its certain emancipation from prejudice, as well as slavery, is in the hands of those now invited to unite in the final blow which will annihilate the rebel power, let no brave and strong man hesitate. One cannot exaggerate the call sounding in the ears of all men, in whose veins flows the blood of Africa, and whose color has been the badge of slavery. It offers the opportunity of years, crowded into an hour.”

Source: The black men of the Civil War were America’s original ‘dreamers’ – The Washington Post

Here’s a new book which, I confess, I won’t be reading; law discussions are like philosophy to me – they go right over my head, usually after causing my eyes to glaze over! But for you legal eagles/aficionados, there’s Lincoln’s Last Trial, which looks at a murder trial Lincoln worked before his Presidential run.

In order to write Lincoln’s Last Trial, Dan Abrams, the chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News and CEO and founder of Abrams media, along with his writing partner, David Fisher, used Hitt’s transcripts to provide them with the accurate details of the last trial in which Lincoln ever participated as an attorney.

Source: Lincoln’s Last Trial: The Murder Case that Propelled Him to the Presidency by Dan Abrams and David Fisher | TAPinto

Yesterday, I mentioned Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering for a deeper dive into Civil War death and mourning. The author of this article seems to have read it, and this article offers more info on the customs of the era for those without the time or inclination for the full book.

Until 1864, General Ulysses Grant was lenient about permitting civilians to enter battlefields to retrieve their dead to bring them home for burial. As long as this practice did not hinder troop movement, families were allowed to search for their lost loved ones. Connecticut newspapers often reported—along with locations—“Rolls of Missing Men,” long lists of the dead for family members. After the Battle of Antietam family members and undertakers from all over Connecticut met on the battlefield, where they conducted over 200 funerals for the Connecticut troops killed there. Likewise, Connecticut families traveled to the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness to retrieve their dead. It can be difficult for noncombatants today to grasp the impact such direct encounters with the war’s carnage had upon the citizenry.

Source: Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

My favourite aspect of Civil War history is observing the social change brought about by the conflict. This article offers a glimpse at how funerary customs changed, and how embalming became de rigueur – unfortunate pun not intended!

(For more on the topic, Drew Gilpin Faust’s excellent This Republic of Suffering does a deep dive into the sea change resulting from the mass death.)

In doing research for “Memory Picture,” an interactive website I’m building that explains the pros and cons of our interment options, I’ve discovered many intriguing details about how we memorialize death. One of the most fascinating is how the founding of the modern funeral industry can essentially be traced back to President Abraham Lincoln and his embrace of embalming.

Source: How Lincoln’s Embrace of Embalming Birthed the American Funeral Industry | American Council on Science and Health