George Bernard's Diary Entry: New Year's Eve 1865

"Many indeed are the difficulties before me. I have resolved to face them."

On New Year's Eve in 1865, George S. Bernard offered the following reflections in his diary. A former member of the 12th Virginia and a lawyer, Bernard had returned home to Petersburg at the war's end. Unable to find much work as an attorney, he served as a local editor for the Petersburg Express and taught mathematics at a nearby school. Eventually, he would build a successful law practice. Over the next several decades, he also engaged in reform-minded politics as an ally of and personal attorney for Readjuster William Mahone. Later in life, Bernard made significant contributions to Civil War history, publishing Civil War Talks of Confederate Veterans in 1892 and gathering material for a second volume that would not be published until 2012, Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans. In these books, he compiled dozens of soldier reminiscences that received wide praise in both the north and south for their candor and engaging detail.

But, in 1865, all of those accomplishments were years away. With a new year on the horizon, the 29-year-old Bernard offered the following thoughts:

George S. Bernard, 1837-1912

Sunday night, Dec. 31 1865 
            The eventful year of “sixty five” expires tonight. But few there are in the United States to whom the last twelve months have not brought much pleasure or much unhappiness. With myself it has been productive of much of both. Never perhaps, in the course of my whole life have my experiences been so varied. This little book would furnish abundant evidence of a chagrined fortune, but on tomorrow a new year will be commenced. At its end, if living, in how many particulars will my condition be better? Many indeed are the difficulties before me. I have resolved to face them.

Earthworks in Your Neighborhood: Richmond's North Side

In gathering research for a new project, I've been poring over Confederate and Union maps of Richmond's Civil War fortifications. Just for kicks, I matched a Corps of Engineers map with a current USGS topo map to identify the approximate, modern-day location of the old earthworks in Richmond's North Side. This was my neighborhood growing up - my family lived in Ginter Park until the late 1970's. In March 1864, Union forces targeted this portion of the Richmond defenses during the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid.

North Side Richmond: Confederate defenses depicted on modern topo map

Below is the relevant part of the Union engineer map from the Library of Congress. Federal cartographers completed this in 1867 under the direction of Major Nathaniel Michler and Captain Peter Michie of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. Mike Gorman of the National Park Service has posted a larger-scale version of the Michie-Michler map at his website Civil War Richmond.

Detail from Union engineer map of Richmond with position of Union attack added (LOC)

Richmond's defenses were extensive. Throughout the war, Confederate officials expanded them gradually, eventually forming a vast network consisting of a ring of detached forts near the city surrounded by an Intermediate and Exterior (or "Outer") Line of earthworks. Several additional trench segments and detached batteries dug here and there augmented the principal lines. Most of the labor for these fortifications came from slaves impressed from their owners by the Confederate government. 

During the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid, a Union cavalry column overran the Outer Line at Brook Hill on the Brook Turnpike (now Brook Road) just north of where I-95 and Route 1 intersect today. The Union horsemen then headed south on the turnpike and threatened the Intermediate Line just south of today's Laburnum Avenue. After several hours of skirmishing, the column withdrew back north. The unsuccessful operation is detailed in Bruce Venter's book Kill Jeff Davis: The Union Raid on Richmond, 1864. 

As a child, I had no idea my home stood at the site of a Civil War engagement. In heading down the Brook Road, the cavalry trotted past the future sites of Arby's, Azalea Mall, Willey's Drug Store and Johnson's Hardware on Bellevue Avenue - all the way to the home of piano instructor extraordinaire, Sarah Worsham Landrum (granddaughter of Confederate veteran and author John H. Worsham). The Intermediate Line ran close to, or perhaps even through, the Worsham property at the corner of Brook and Walton. 

Today, to my knowledge, only small traces of the works remain around the North Side. For example, a section of the defenses on Brook Hill has been marked and preserved. As I recall, there is also a small marker somewhere on Confederate Avenue near Brook Road at the site of the Intermediate Line. Perhaps, others have noticed additional traces hiding in plain sight.

Here is detail of the left portion of the map.

Here is detail of the right portion of the map.

Exciting News: The Fight for the Old North State

University Press of Kansas has posted the product page for my new book, The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864.  Description, release date, blurbs, etc. - check it out!                         

Selby on Meade: War Scholar Podcast

My friend John Selby, a professor at Roanoke College, recently spoke with Cris Alverez at the War Scholar podcast about his new book Meade: The Price of Command from Kent State University Press. John's take on Meade goes against the conventional grain and provides a more positive view of the Pennsylvanian than we are used to hearing. An interesting discussion - definitely worth a listen.

More Books: Denmark Vesey's Garden, Reed's Combined Operations, and Chesson on Richmond

Between breaks in work on my North Carolina book, I've tried to read a few titles that do not prominently feature George Pickett, Benjamin Butler, or Robert Hoke. Here are some I've found particularly interesting:

Denmark Vesey's Garden:  Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy
by Ethan J. Kytle and Blain Roberts 
 

This book is getting a lot of well-deserved buzz. In a straightforward, accessible style, Kytle and Roberts trace how citizens of Charleston remembered slavery and commemorated the war. It begins with the 2015 murders at Mother Emanuel Church and then goes back to trace through the days of John Calhoun, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights era - and then returns to the present. Among many other things, the book describes competing commemorations following the war, debates about monument construction and retention, and the interpretation of the past offered up by tour guides and museums. With Denmark Vesey's Garden, Kytle and Roberts join David Blight, Caroline Janney, Carol Reardon, Kevin Levin, and others in providing an important contribution to the study of Civil War memory.


Combined Operations in the Civil War
by Rowena Reed

This title, first published in 1978 by Naval Institute Press, should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in coastal military operations during the Civil War. Reed, a Dartmouth history professor who died early in her career, left us with a detailed, well-researched study of combined operations during the war. Over the years, the book has received criticism for overplaying George McClellan's strategic plans and, in particular, exaggerating his vision for operations against the the Confederate coastline. Whether you agree with Reed's take on Little Mac or not, the book is well worth your while. Not only does it thoughtfully discuss the broader strategic and operational issues associated with Union coastal efforts, it also delves into the important details of campaigns in North Carolina, on the Peninsula in Virginia, along the Mississippi, in and around Charleston Harbor, and at Fort Fisher. It has wonderful maps too. 

Richmond After the War, 1865-1890
by Michael B. Chesson

I stumbled on this title while looking for studies about Richmond during Reconstruction. Published by the Library of Virginia (the Virginia State Library) in 1982, it covers the economic, political, and social developments in the former Confederate capital during the latter half of the 19th century. Among other things, Chesson describes the turbulence of Reconstruction in the city, the struggles of black citizens against the rise of Jim Crow, the brief emergence of the Readjusters in Virginia, and the dedication of the Robert E. Lee monument in 1890. In reflecting on this period, Chesson argues that the growing attachment of Richmond's ruling majority to the culture of the Lost Cause in the 1880's and 1890's blunted the city's ability to modernize and prosper in the decades following the Confederacy's demise.