After another paragraph or two of evaluation Franklin noted that it was during the Vietnam War when he was in this teachers classroom: “This all occurred during the height of the Vietnam War and despite the teach-ins, sit-ins and anti-war rallies just outside his room, he never acknowledged them.” Apparently, this teacher was not one of the “cool” teachers who openly discussed the events going on around them and the political viewpoints.

Years later Cory Franklin, then a newspaper writer as he is now, was contact by this teacher after a column he had written. They had a good conversation and stayed in touch from that time.

Franklin then gets to the real heart of what makes a good teacher:

I asked about the Vietnam War, why he studiously avoided mentioning it in class. I told him many students were disappointed he didn’t express his opinions, or more accurately, the opinions we wanted him to have. He was, in fact, quite erudite about Vietnam. But he felt it wasn’t his job to insert his political views into a class teaching a coherent story of American history, not contemporary events. It would inflame passions unnecessarily and could only get in the way of what students should be learning. Anyway, who could say at that point how history would judge those contemporary events? Better to let the whole thing gain perspective. Those interested would learn the facts and lessons in due time.

Well said as I have had to debate this before.

I’ll let the list speak for itself:

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. George Washington
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. James Madison
7. James Monroe
8. Woodrow Wilson
9. Harry Truman
10. Dwight D. Eisenhower
11. John F. Kennedy
12. James K. Polk
13. William Clinton
14. Andrew Jackson
15. Barack Obama
16. Lyndon B. Johnson
17. John Adams
18. Ronald Reagan
19. John Quincy Adams
20. Grover Cleveland
21. William McKinley
22. George H. W. Bush
23. Martin Van Buren
24. William Howard Taft
25. Chester Arthur
26. Ulysses S. Grant
27. James Garfield
28. Gerald Ford
29. Calvin Coolidge
30. Richard Nixon
31. Rutherford B. Hayes
32. James Carter
33. Zachary Taylor
34. Benjamin Harrison
35. William Henry Harrison
36. Herbert Hoover
37. John Tyler
38. Millard Fillmore
39. George W. Bush
40. Franklin Pierce
41. Warren G. Harding
42. James Buchanan
43. Andrew Johnson

[Source]

[Note Civil War soldiers referred to what we know as land mines as either "land torpedoes" or "sub-terra" shells or mines.]

Fellow reader Drew Armstrong notified me of an “unknown object” that was found near Palatka, Florida, and the St. John’s River. The object appears to from the Civil War era and at first guess I was thinking a sub-terra torpedo such as the ones I investigated during my research of the Battle of Fort Blakely. However, after some research I am fairly positive it is a sea Torpedo. First, after careful study it seems to fit the description I found in the Official Records. Also, this area of the St. John’s River did see some naval action. For example:

In March 1864 Palatka, Florida, was described by a US Naval Commander as nothing more than “a village on the west bank of the St. Johns fifty miles south of Jacksonville—is occupied by four Federal regiments supported by several gunboats. No opposition is encountered. The Federal troops fortify their position.”

Here’s a description of an event that took place about the same time as the above log entry:

In March, 1864, the gun-boats in Florida, under the command of Commander George B. Balch, were participating in the expedition up the St. John’s River. When the Federal troops landed, they threw up such heavy intrenchments that it was not likely the Confederates could make much impression on them. The Confederates of that region, however, did not propose to allow their native State to be invaded without making a stubborn resistance, and left no means untried to annoy the military positions whenever there was an opportunity of doing so. But the gun-boats were generally at hand with their heavy guns and bursting shells, and the Southerners were usually discomfited.

General Gordon landed at Jacksonville on the 9th of May, and assumed command of the district of Florida; and, in view of the long line of river to be kept open, objected to any reduction of the naval force in the St. John’s River, in which Commander Balch concurred with him.

The activity of the Confederates in this quarter, as elsewhere, was very marked ; for, though they yielded up all the forts along the coast, they seemed determined to resist any further entrance of Federal troops into the interior of the State, and they tried to confine the Navy as much as possible to the lower part of the St. John’s River.

Notwithstanding the vigilance of the naval commanders, the Confederates succeeded in planting torpedoes in the river in the channel. On May 10th, the steamer “Harriet A. Weed” ran into two of these torpedoes, which exploded at the same moment and completely destroyed the vessel, sinking her in less than one “minute’s time, with five men killed and ten badly wounded.

The naval force employed in the St. John’s River, under Commander Balch, was composed of the “Pawnee,” “Mahaska” and “Norwich.” off Jacksonville, and the “Ottawa ” at Palatka. With such a small force it would have been impossible to prevent the enemy from practicing their system of torpedo warfare, which they had found to be so effective wherever the Federal gunboats were employed.

On about the last of March, the transport “Maple-leaf” offered another success for the Confederates, and was blown up by a torpedo, fifteen miles above Jacksonville— this being the highway to Palatka and above, where Federal troops were being constantly transported. The duty on the river became very hazardous, for a severe torpedo warfare was carried on in small boats during dark nights by the Confederate torpedo corps, which first made its appearance on the Mississippi in 1862.

The above operations in Florida of the Army and Navy lasted from March 6th to April 16th. when orders were received from the War Department for the troops to be sent North, in consequence of which the gun-boats were withdrawn ; but while employed with the Army, Commander Balch, Lieutenant – Commander S. Livingston Breese, of the ” Ottawa,” and the commanders of the “Mahaska” and “Norwich ” performed good and gallant service.

Drew had the photos analyzed by historians at James Madison University and their shockingly incorrect analysis can be viewed here . According to them, it can’t be a sub-terra shell as the Confederates stopped using them in 1862!! Wow. Anyway…

Here are the images of the potential Civil War Torpedo (click to enlarge):

As those of you who have been visiting here for the last, what, 4 years note that the emphasis has changed from the “American Civil War” to United States history in general. As you also may know for several years now I have been placing my Civil War focus over at SoldierStudies.org which is a database of Civil War letters and now a news blog. I encourage you to check it out and bookmark it!

Civil War Voices Blog

Latest posts:

Battle of Fredericksburg Letter
Henry Frank Babcock, Company I, of the 122nd New York Infantry, to his parents, written during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Letter reads, On the Field of Battle, Sunday, Dec 14/62 Dear Parents, I take this chance to answer your kind favors of which I received yesterday. Our mail was brought to us on the field as we lay flat [...]

Confederate 3rd Virginia Cavalry Soldier’s Letter!
Cockletown July 13th, 1861 My Little Darling, I have just finished reading your dear sweet letter the second time. I received it last night about dusk. You cannot imagine how happy it made me. It came just at the right time. I had just returned to our camp after being absent on another scout ever since the evening before [...]

New 20th Maine Letters Found
From Ebay: A small and interesting group of 20th Maine Civil War letters from Private Henry C Simonds of 20th ME Regt Company C to his wife Lizzie Simonds of North Turner & Wilton, Maine Today it’s highly unusual to uncover anything of substance related to the 20th Maine Volunteers . The 20th Maine is of course [...]

Surgeon General of the State of Massachusetts
With the idea of improving our collection of Civil War Surgeons comes John G. Perry of Boston, Mass. John G. Perry of Boston, Mass., entered Harvard College in 1858, bearing with him a very youthful attachment; and in the undoubting judgment of youth, he and I, but boy and girl, in light-hearted gayety strolled one evening [...]

New Soldier: Chauncey Holcomb
Sergeant Chauncey Holcomb wrote letters while in Company F, 27th Massachusetts. November 23rd, 1861 at camp he wrote: We went to the African Church too. Meeting was very much entertainment to hear the old negro talk and sing. When we got home the boys had supper all ready. They had invited in Uncle Frank and some [...]

New Soldier: Henry H. Hitchcock
Of the New York 12th Infantry. June 1, 1861, he writes: Things look very warlike here. Down town you see nothing but soldiers, soldiers, soldiers. I see that the Volunteer force now amounts to 300,000. This is beside the regular army and the impression seems to be that the president will call for [...]

This interesting blog had a piece last month on how to read a history book in one hour. I think this can be a helpful tool for students in undergraduate or graduate programs out there. I know it can be very helpful for historians (as a full time history student at CSUF, I consistently had to read about 3-4 300+ page books per week). Perhaps it could be useful for high school students too (But only if they have a background on what they are reading, and perhaps, if Chris agrees, with AP students who need to fill a lot of information quickly). Anyhow, here is the list:

1. Create a clean space–a table, the book, paper and a writing utensil, and nothing else.

2. Read two academic reviews of the book you photocopied beforehand. Don’t skip this step, these will tell you the book’s perceived strengths and weakness. Allow five minutes for this.

3. Read the introduction, carefully. A good intro will give you the book’s thesis, clues on the methods and sources, and thumbnail synopses of each chapter. Work quickly but take good notes (with a bibliographic citation at the top of the page.) Allow twenty minutes here.

4. Now turn directly to the conclusion and read that. The conclusion will reinforce the thesis and have some more quotable material. In your notes write down 1-2 direct quotes suitable for using in a review or literature review, should you later be assigned to write such a beast. Ten to fifteen minutes.

5. Turn to the table of contents and think about what each chapter likely contains. You may be done–in many cases in grad school the facts in any particular book will already be familiar to you, what is novel is the interpretation. And you should already have that from the intro and conclusion. Five minutes.

6. (Optional) Skim 1-2 of what seem to be the key chapters. Look for something clever the author has done with her or his evidence, memorable phrases, glaring weaknesses–stuff you can mention and sound thoughtful yourself when it is your turn to talk in the seminar room. Ten minutes, max.

7. Put the notes and photocopied review in a file folder and squirrel it away. These folders will serve as fodder for future assignments, reviews of similar books, lectures, grant applications, etc.

8. Miller time. Meet some friends and tell them the interesting things you just learned (driving it deeper it your memory).

Of course, this can be a difficult thing for someone like me, who was taught to read a book from beginning to end. But I hope this is a helpful tool for y’all.

From their website:

Have you ever handled a document over 150 years old? The American Civil War left behind a vast paper trail of soldiers’ letters and diaries, as well as newspapers and periodicals; all of these documents provide accounts of crucial events of the era, enabling historians to piece together the events that shaped America’s past during this defining time.

Today, these documents are widely and easily accessible online, thanks to historic preservation, the advent of online research portals such as Best of History Web Sites, and educational institutions such as American Public University. APU educates people on the importance of preserving these documents by providing quality higher education including History and Military History degrees. In many cases, these online documents are the next best thing to handling the originals.

Dr. Steven E. Woodworth, Professor of History at American Public University, and Tom Daccord, Educational Technology Specialist at Best of History Web Sites, will discuss researching and handling original Civil War documents through the Internet and how they apply it to their own projects.

For more info…

Twenty years after the Civil War ended, the 179,000 African-American veterans of the Union Army saw racial inequality widen as the Pension Bureau left most of them out of a rapid expansion.

According to a new Brigham Young University study, the program shifted away from its relatively color-blind roots when it began granting disability claims based on chronic illness to soldiers who had not been wounded in the war.

During the 1880s, the Pension Bureau approved applications from uninjured white veterans at more than twice the rate of approval for uninjured black veterans.

“Black veterans were far less successful than whites for conditions that were hard to verify and required a degree of trust,” said Sven Wilson, an associate professor of political science at BYU.

To read more…

[PHOTO CREDITS: Union Army veteran John Pinkey served in Company B of the 104th Infantry Regiment of the USCT (U.S. Colored Troops). Pinkey submitted this photo as part of his pension application. ]

The discovery of a previously unknown personal letter by Thomas Jefferson this past December, written sometime in 1808 towards the end of his presidency, was the impetuous for such a question.

The “faded, stained piece of paper” apparently covered in Jefferson’s own scribbling has received more attention recently with calls for its authenticity to be confirmed.

From the article:

Its real value, rather, is bolstered by the existence of a “free frank” — a clear version of Jefferson’s signature that once doubled as postage — on the document, Eyler said. “So to a postal history collector that is worth as much as the letter is.”

According to the Legion’s January newsletter, the uncovering of the manuscript is part of a broader effort to put the post’s historically significant items on display “for everyone to enjoy” — a history that could be quite substantial.

After the Washington Post published a story on the letter last month, Eyler received a call from a person who worked with the Legion in the ’60s and ’70s. The caller, whose name Eyler didn’t record, said at that time “other Jefferson letters and materials were found on the second floor” and donated to historical outlets around the state.

And while the recently discovered document could very easily have been tossed aside at some point in the last 200 years, records exist that show it was indeed sent from Jefferson’s own desk but lost in the shuffle of time.

“It’s just the fate of the recipient keeping the manuscript,” Eyler said, noting that it was habit at the time to hold on to and keep track of correspondence. The end result is an intimate relationship between generations.

“To me, manuscripts are like the window to someone’s thinking,” Eyler said. “It’s primary-source [material] — you have a letter written by Thomas Jefferson and you know just what he was doing at that moment in time.”

Athol (Massachusetts) Historical Society President Susannah Whipps-Lee said the time capsule — which has yet to be opened — was made from an old glass container that looked like a pickle jar with a rusted metal screw top. It was buried about 150 years ago, she explained, in what is known as the Old Indian Cemetery or Settlers Burial Ground, which has no gravestones.

The capsule has not been opened yet, but could contain some important and surely interesting documents. The capsule has perhaps as many as “300 documents” and was discovered by Athol history teacher Keith Williams who had read about the possibility of a buried time capsule in an Athol Town History book.

From the Associated Press:

Howard Zinn, the leftist academic whose alternative history of the United States became required reading for millions of ordinary people, as well as a following of celebrities, has died. He was 87.

Zinn’s death was confirmed by his website, www.howardzinn.org. The Boston Globe reported that the cause of death was heart attack and that he died Wednesday while traveling in Santa Monica, California.

I have made it clear on this blog I am no fan of Howard Zinn the activist historian. But Howard Zinn has done more for his country than I ever will with his WWII service, though I know later he had very complex issues about that time of his life. I found a photo of Zinn from those days and I want to celebrate his service.

Anyway, Godspeed Mr. Zinn.