Blog Archive for April, 2008

Well, we are down to the last week and final two programs of the spring season. It has been quite successful from both an attendance and content perspective. Our attendance is up a wee bit over last season, but I think the quality of our lectures has improved dramatically, with Chandra Manning and Dale Van Atta as standout performers so far. We will be announcing our summer schedule very soon, which will include the 2008 version of “7 Weeks, 7 Wars, 7 Objects” (we are putting a new spin on it this time around) and two temporary exhibits on Vietnam (July 1) and Iraq/Afghanistan (September 15). Until then, we hope that you can make the events on Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon, both of which should be very interesting and entertaining. And no, the Glatthaar-Kelsey Experience is not a acid-folk supergroup from the early 70s, although, it would be interesting to host an acid-folk supergroup in the Education Center every once in a while, wouldn’t it?

General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.
Joseph Glatthaar, Stephenson Distinguished Professor of History, University of North Carolina
Lecture and book signing

Despite nearly 150 years of scholarship about the Army of Northern Virginia, Joseph Glatthaar, using an impressive range of primary sources and statistical databases, has rewritten and reconsidered the story of the Civil War’s most important army. From Manassas to Appomattox, Glatthaar examines how Lee’s army almost led to the South to victory, and, conversely, why it lost.

A 2008 Distinguished Lecture Series Event
Presented in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of History and the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE)

Cadwallader Washburn’s War Behind the Lines
Friday, May 2, 2008 – Noon
Kerck Kelsey, historian
Lecture and discussion

Discover the remarkable story of Major General Cadwallader C. Washburn, the commanding officer of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry during the Civil War. Washburn served in the West, seeing action at Vicksburg, Helena, and Pea Ridge, and later became Commander of the Military District of Western Tennessee. In this capacity, Washburn battled with cotton speculators and crooked Treasury agents, and was even chased down a Memphis street by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalrymen! After the war, Washburn became a two-term Congressman and Governor of Wisconsin, and made millions as one of the founders of General Mills in Minneapolis.

Many thanks to those of you that made it down to the Museum for David Blight’s lecture on Friday afternoon. Despite some bad intel that resulted in a premature cancellation that was later rescinded, nearly five dozen loyal patrons showed up. Blight delivered a fantastic lecture on his new book,  A Slave No More. Focusing on the narratives of two escaped slaves - one from Virginia in 1862, one from Alabama in 1864 - Blight tells the story of how each of these men rose from the cruel chains of slavery to middle class status in the North in the years following the Civil War. Even more remarkable is that that Blight found these narratives, two of only about 40 that still exist, and was able to trace back the men and women listed in the text, from Civil War soldiers that assisted them to the slave traders that bought and sold them. The stat that just blew me away was that the Richmond slave trader mentioned in the text made, on average, $19,000 per week in the slave trade in 1859, with a daily high of $95,000! In today’s dollars, the total worth of all slaves in the South would be close to $80 billion!

Many thanks to Dr. Blight for speaking at the Veterans Museum and we all hope that can make a return trip sometime in the future.

Don’t forget to stop in for Joseph Glatthaar’s lecture on Tuesday evening!

WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR

REGIMENTAL BRACKETOLOGY – THE FINAL FOUR!

As promised, the staff of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum will finally answer this very difficult question: What is the “best” Wisconsin Civil War regiment? This, of course, is a loaded question guaranteed to spark a lot of heated debate. While everyone has their own personal opinion, we will use both objective (quanitifed data) and subjective (anecdotal evidence) factors to come our conclusion.

Instead of arbitrarily deciding the best, we decided to pit the regiments against one another in a 32-regiment, NCAA basketball tournament-style, single elimination bracket. See the attached bracket for what happened in the first few rounds. For the game-by-game breakdowns, look back at the blog entries from last summer or check out the entire bracket at: http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=225774

The Process:
The philosophy behind this endeavor, to quote Lt. Col. William F. Fox, is the following:
“Where the musketry was the hottest, the dead lay the thickest.” (122)
Fox, author of Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865, believed that the proper way to judge the overall strength of a Civil War regiment is to look at the number of losses, as well as the percentages of casualties within a given unit. These units encountered some of the hardest fighting of the entire war. This is not a statement on how well they fought or their bravery.

Using two factors Fox lays out in his treatise - the Number Killed or Died of Wounds (KDW) and the Percentage Killed or Died of Wounds, Maximum Percentages of Enrollment (KDWMPE) - and two additional factors created by WVM staff, we now present the REGIMENTAL POWER INDEX (RPI). The RPI will be used to select and seed the 32 regiments participating in the tournament, and as one of many factors used to determine the winners in each match-up.
REGIMENTAL POWER INDEX FORMULA
35% Number Killed or Died of Wounds (KDW)*
35% Percentage Killed or Died of Wounds, Max Percentage of Enrollment (KDWMPE)*
20% Number of months in service (MIS)**
10% Percentage Died of Disease (PDD)***

Examples:
7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
KDW: 281 (#1); 1 x 0.35 = 0.35
KDWMPE: 17.2% (#3); 3 x 0.35 = 1.05
MIS: 46 months (tied, #7); 7 x 0.20 = 1.40
PDD: 130 (#23); 23 x 0.10 = 2.30
TOTAL: 5.10
SEED: #1

17th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
KDW: 41 (#32); 32 x 0.35 = 11.20
KDWMPE: 2.45% (#29); 29 x 0.35 = 10.15
MIS: 40 months (tied, #15); 15 x 0.20 - 3.00
PDD: 228 (#12); 12 x 0.10 = 1.20
TOTAL: 25.55
SEED: #30

*Information pulled from:
Fox, William F. Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865, 4th Ed. Albany, N.Y.: Joseph A. McDonough, 1898.
Quiner, E.B. The Military History of Wisconsin in the War for the Union. Chicago: Clarke & Company Publishers, 1866.
Maximum enrollment numbers for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 16th, 26th, 36th, and 37th Volunteer Infantry Regiments pulled from Fox; all other maximum enrollments come from Quiner (published maximum numbers minus veteran re-enlistment numbers, when available; Fox seemingly did not include re-enlistments - or regimental bands - in his tallies).
**Time calculated from muster in to muster out; ranked by number of months in service. There are ties - each tied unit receives ranking points.
***Disease numbers varied greatly by source. Because of inconsistency, the PDD is only 10% of the RPI. http://www.secondwi.com/wisconsininthecivilwar/wisconsi.htm

When we ceased this project late last summer, we were left with an incredible elite eight regiments. Frankly, time got away from us and we just haven’t found any spare moments to go back and finish. The matchups at that point were:
(1) 7th IR v. (8) 1st IR
(4) 3rd IR v. (5) 2nd IR
(3) 6th IR v. (6) 26th IR
(2) 5th IR v. (10) 21st IR
After some internal discussions and occasional fisticuffs, we settled on these four regiments for the FINAL FOUR!

THE CONTENDERS!

Matchup #1:
(1) 7th Volunteer Infantry Regiment v. (5) 2nd Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The tale of the tape:
7th IR
KDW: 1, KDWMPE: 3, MIS: 7, PDD: 23; Iron Brigade; member of Fox’s “Fighting 300″; 281 KDW is #6 nationally of all units; fought in all campaigns of the Army of the Potomac

2nd IR
KDW: 3, KDWMPE: 1, MIS: 22, PDD: 30; Iron Brigade; greatest KDWMPE of any unit nationally (19.7%); participated in all battles for the Army of the Potomac; one of Fox’s “Fighting 300 Regiments”

Matchup #2:
(2) 5th Volunteer Infantry Regiment v. (6) 26th Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The tale of the tape:
5th IR
KDW: 4, KDWMPE: 7, MIS; 2, PDD: 26; one of Fox’s “Fighting 300 Regiments”; Peninsular Campaign under George McClellan; Centerville VA; Antietam; Gettysburg, Wilderness, Petersburg, Shenandoah Valley, Richmond, Appomattox; part of the famous Sixth Corps

26th IR
KDW: 5, KDWMPE: 2, MIS; 22, PDD: 27; one of Fox’s “Fighting 300 Regiments”; 17.2% KDWMPE is 5th nationally; Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, March to the Sea, Carolinas Campaign

I will be breaking down the 2nd IR v. 7th IR matchup, while guest bracketologist Russ Horton will tackle the 5th IR v. 26th IR battle. The finals will be a spirited debate between the two of us.

Check www.wvmfoundation.com/blog for updates and the eventual winner!