Book Review--Stories in Stone

Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. MJF Books, New York, NY. 288 pages. Color photos, b/w photos, index.

Originally published in 2004, this is a book that anybody doing cemetery research should consider owning. In addition to providing photographic clues as to what headstone symbols mean there is detailed discussion on each as well.

A chapter that I feel to be particularly useful is the chapter on Secret Societies, Clubs, and Fraternal Orgainzations. I know I have seen some of these and had no idea what they are. In an easy to use format now I would have the ability to figure it out. In addition there is a 24 page listing of Acronyms of Societies, Clubs, and Organizations. It's amazing what looks to be a harmless marking actually has vast meaning to those who understand.

There are chapters dealing with plants, fruits, animals, reptiles, fish, body parts, worldly symbols and much more. A large portion of the book is given to religious symbols covering christian, hebrew, chinese and japanese, heavenly messengers, and the cross. The book concludes with an interesting section called Final Impressions. This includes photos of many famous or unusual headstones. There's the rocket on Carl and Constance Bigsby's memorial to the Davis memorial in Kansas which includes multiple statues of John and Sara Davis at various stages of their lives, to race cars, to the famous Black Dog at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA.

This is a book that anybody doing research in older cemeteries should own. I found my copy at a local Barnes and Noble for about $10. It is well put together and looks like it will stand up to a fair amount of usage. This book will no doubt open up a whole new understanding to the memorials we look at.

Book Review--Sacred to the Memory

Mitchell, Florence A. Sacred to the Memory: A History of the Huguenot Cemetery 1821-1884 St. Augustine, Florida . Friends of the Huguenot Cemetery, St. Augustine, FL. 1998. 75 pages, notes, bibliography, b/w photographs, drawings, maps.

If you visit St. Augustine, FL and stop by the visitors center you can't help but be taken in by the Huguenot Cemetery next door. If it is open it is well worth a stop in even if just for a few minutes. Even if not open for a walk through you can still see over the walls.

Florence Mitchell has written a very brief history of the cemetery one which hopefully will lead another author to write a more thorough work with better photos and maps. The book is a locally published work with the aim of helping to raise funds for the upkeep of the cemetery. It really shows that this is not a large budget book. If it was however the price would of course be much higher. Trade offs I guess.

The first order of business is the name Huguenot. There appears to be no REAL reason for the cemetery being called this. It has been called many things but somehow the name Huguenot has stuck despite it not being a cemetery for Huguenots. An early Huguenot settlement at Fort Caroline was destroyed by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1564. St. Augustine was to remain primarily a Catholic town for over 200 years. Catholics were buried in Tolomato Cemetery several blocks away.

In 1821 a half acre of land just outside the city gate was allocated for a cemetery after the Yellow Fever outbreak. This outbreak took lives of young and old, rich and poor. Some of the remaining stones make reference to the disease that swept through the city. After some legal wrangling as to who the owner of the cemetery truely was it was determined that the Presbyterian Church was the owner with the stipulation that all protestants be allowed to be buried there. By 1884 a hysteria over city cemeteries was sweeping the country with people being concerned over disease and the possible smell coming from cemeteries. This caused both Tolomato and the Huguenot cemeteries to be closed to future interments.

The cemetery fell into disrepair and eventually in 1946 the city accepted a quit claim deed and became responsible for maintenance. This only lasted a few years and the Presbyterian Church again reclaimed ownership. Eventually the cemetery was closed to the public. By 1990 enough repairs had been done that it could be opened to the public with supervision.

Mitchell goes on to talk about stonemakers from Charleston, various materials used, the use and then disuse of gates and fences to monuments, symbolism, the reason that the graves face to the east, and provides a listing of the known burials with a seperate listing of monuments.

While overall an interesting book and one which should hold anybody interested in cemeteries there are some major drawbacks. Overall I found the writing to be just ok. Nothing great, nothing bad, but probably in need of a good edit. The book is somewhat disjointed. As I said there is a listing in the middle, with a pitiful looking map that is not drawn to scale, of the current headstones. At the back of the book there is a listing of known burials. I found it somewhat confusing trying to keep track of where the information on the burials came from. It seems maybe these should have been together. The photographs and drawings are really poorly reproduced. It's possible this happened during the layout process and that the originals are much better. I passed by most of them without a second thought except to wish they were better. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a $7.95 booklet geared toward tourists and not a scholarly monograph that would cost many many times this price. As I stated at the beginning maybe someone will work on that one day though I would have to say the market would be extremely limited.

Book Review--The History Buff's Guide to Gettysburg

Flagel, Thomas R. and Ken Allers, Jr. The History Buff's Guide to Gettysburg. Cumberland House, Nashville, TN, 2006. 352 pages 280 pages of text. Index, bibliography, notes, orders of battle, time line, b/w photos.

Top ten lists are a staple in our world and since opinions are like noses just about everybody has one. This book is a series of top ten lists (opinions) for various subjects dealing with most aspects of the Battle of Gettysburg. I went in with high hopes but didn't find my expectations met. The opinions don't bother me but the factual errors and occasional odd comments did.

The book is broken down into five major sections with each section having several sub-sections. The major sections are: 1) Coming to the Crossroads--deals with events leading up to the battle including why the South invaded Pennsylvania 2) The Battle--deals with each of the three days individually as well as top and worst performing commanders (for those who hold Robert E. Lee to the highest you might wish to skip this section. He's number 3.) 3) The Last Full Measure--death and destruction including corps and states with the highest casualty rates 4) Post Battle--reactions to the events that took place and more 5) Pursuing Gettysburg--best books, monuments, myths and more.

I was curious to compare Flagel and Allers top 10 books to the top ten list compiled last year by Brett at TOCWOC. Both list Edwin Coddington's massive The Gettysburg Campaign as number one. Flagel lists Stephen Sears Gettysburg at number two while it comes in at number 10 on the list from bloggers that Brett published. Overall 6 of the 10 books match up. Contact me if you would like the full list from Flagel and Allers.

While overall the book read pretty well there are some concerns that need to be addressed. The first is a major factual error (usually if there's one like this there are more). When discussing the casualty percentage of the Florida Brigade (page 149), Flagel and Allers refer to the commander being Col. David Perry. The commander was in fact Col. David Lang of the 8th Florida. Lang took over command of the brigade due to the absence of Brigadier General Edward Perry who was ill with typhoid fever.

A second concern is with the targeted audience. Maybe it's just me but when I look at a book of this type I generally feel that I don't have to have a lot of prior knowledge to understand it. Not so in this book. Gettysburg was a complex battle that had much going on in many different areas. To try and simplify it does not do justice to the battle nor does it help the reader. I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of Gettysburg but I have enough to get through this work. If you haven't read other works forget it. The names and locations will be a blur to you. That is what makes this comment from the authors in regards to Coddington's work so strange "To read that Jones's, Nicholl's, and Steuart's brigades were reinforced by Daniel's, O'Neal's, Walker's, and Smith's might make sense to those already familiar with the figures, but to the general public the Greek tragedy might simply read like Greek." (page 217) Pot please meet the kettle.

The illustrations are not of any real help in my view. The black and white photos are very small and miss the mark. In the section dealing with changes to the battlefield (page 259) they really missed a great opportunity by not visually presenting the changes. The sub-chapter dealing with monuments (page 237) has small and uninteresting photos. This would have been a great chance to heighten enthusiasm for those not familiar with the field. The maps are few and far between and those are of little overall value. If this book goes to a new edition I would hope the editors and publisher really take a look at this area and consider improvements.

Overall not a bad book. It can certainly be improved however. The writing is fine but if you don't have a grasp on the major players and fields of combat you might want to hold off and look elsewhere. For those looking to compare your thoughts on the battle and battlefield with others this might be your book.

Book Review--Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils

Loeffel-Atkins, Bernadette. Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America. B.L. Atkins Publishing, Gettysburg, PA, 2008. 40 pages, bibliography, end notes, b/w photos.

Bernadette was kind enough to send me a signed copy of her booklet dealing with a subject near and dear to her. For those who don't know Bernadette (OK I don't personally know her but that's not the point) she's quite a remarkable woman. In addition to writing, lecturing, and documenting cemeteries she is in the process of opening what looks to be a great bookstore in Gettysburg. The name of her store will be Battlefields & Beyond Military History Book Shoppe. Sounds like a winner and with her background having worked at the Gettysburg Visitor's Center Bookstore (correct me if I am wrong Bern) this will be a must see location when visiting.

This short booklet is really a brief introduction to different aspects of the way death was looked at and dealt with in the 19th century. Times were much different then with "high infant mortality rates, poor sanitation, death during childbirth, poisons, ignorance, and war..." (p. 6). Death was a much more common occurrence and had to be dealt with in ways difficult for us to understand.

Few of us today would likely possess mourning jewelry or have post-mortem photos taken of a deceased child. However before the turn of the 20th century these were common. Photography was not as common and these photos may have been the only ones families had of the child (p. 12). Wearing jewelry containing a departed loved one's hair was seen as a way of keeping them close (pp 18-19).

Subjects such as wakes and funerals, cemeteries, caskets and coffins, spiritualism, stages of mourning, etiquette, and others are also briefly covered. Each usually receives a page.

Overall this is an interesting quick look at how death was dealt with in a different time. The booklet is brief and can easily be finished in one sitting. From there it's up to you to follow up and learn more. The notes and bibliography (the listing is not alphabetical for some reason) will help point you further.

For those wondering "widow's weeds" is a term that describes a Victorian woman in full mourning. Her clothing is completely black including bonnet, veil, and dress. This was part of paying tribute to and honoring the dead.

Civil War Book Review--Winter 2010

Just received this email and thought I'd pass it along just in case you can't decide what to read next.

The Civil War Book Review, a quarterly journal published by the LSU Libraries’ Special Collections Division, has released its Winter 2009 issue at www.cwbr.com.

Historians of the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction periods often face the task finding new approaches in their studies because of the thriving popularity of these areas throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Scholars have discussed many topics thoroughly but, due to the constantly changing methodologies and evolution of the profession, new ground always remains. Ground-breaking scholarship succeeds in finding new avenues to discuss previously trodden subjects or uncovering new episodes of history altogether.

This, the Winter 2010 issue of Civil War Book Review, features exceptional scholarship that breaks ground in many different areas of specialization. In many ways, they look at topics that previous scholars have examined but they achieve new and promising heights through unique conclusions and a careful reinterpretation of the source material. Our first feature, Brian Schoen’s The Fragile Fabric of Union considers the dominant role that “King Cotton” played in the increasing sectional thinking and budding nationalism throughout the antebellum period, culminating in secession and the American Civil War. Next, David Work explores the role that politically appointed generals played in solidifying Lincoln’s presidency as he sought to build a national coalition to fight and win the war in Lincoln’s Political Generals. William L. Shea, prominent Civil War campaign historian, illustrates the importance of the Prairie Grove Campaign in effectively eliminating Confederate hope west of the Mississippi River. Based on daunting research and deft analysis, Shea shows readers, in great detail throughout Fields of Blood, the tactical maneuvers of the campaign. In our last feature, Barbara Brooks Tomblin turns the readers’ attention to the role that African Americans played in fighting the Civil War while projecting a broader message about what the war meant to African Americans who fought and died for their own freedom. Bluejackets & Contrabands will serve as an excellent bridge between the struggle for emancipation and the end of slavery during the war and the battle for civil rights and equality after the war.

Civil War Book Review is proud and honored to share an interview with Lacy K. Ford, Jr. who discussed with us, his latest book Deliver Us from Evil: The Question of Slavery in the Old South. He graciously took time to explore some of the highlights and themes of his book in which he breaks down the idea of a monolithic South in unanimous support of slavery, breaking ground en route to showing a more complex and evolving region.

In her column, Leah Wood Jewett has kindly shared some of the prized possessions of the Special Collections at Louisiana State University to illustrate and narrate the connection between our university and the American Civil War.

This quarter, we are blessed to feature an excellent and insightful column, written by Frank J. Williams, that explores the question of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, providing his own analysis and using William Blair and Karen Fisher Younger’s recent collection of essays as a backdrop. The proclamation, Williams suggests is very complex and provides many opportunities for historians to consider or re-consider Lincoln’s politics, civil rights, and the meaning of the American Civil War to the American memory.

Again, I would like to thank the Special Collections Department and the staff at Louisiana State University for helping me to bring this issue to fruition. I believe we have a very strong Winter 2010 issue of Civil War Book Review that speaks to the evolving studies of the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction periods. It certainly is a treat, an honor, and a privilege to be able to share in this discussion with our readers.

Civil War Book Review is published in the first week of the months of February, May, August, and November. If you would like to receive e-mail reminders of upcoming issues and special features on the website, click on “Sign me up for CWBR Updates!” link at the bottom of any page in the journal. From there, you can provide us with your contact information so that you will receive these e-mail reminders. Of course, we will NEVER share your personal information with any third party.

Civil War Book Review is the journal of record for new or newly reprinted books about the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras, and is a project of the United States Civil War Center, LSU Libraries Special Collections. A reader’s survey can be accessed through the CWBR homepage.

To contribute to the Civil War Book Review fund, or for information on editorial matters, contact Nathan Buman, Editor, by phone at (225) 578-3553 or by email at nbuman1@tigers.lsu.edu.

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Civil War Book Review
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Visit us on the web at www.cwbr.com!

SEVHS February Meeting

Southeast Volusia Historical Society February Meeting

Local history is not my interest but I feel it important to support local history groups. I was finally able to attend a meeting of the SEVHS after being a member for more than a year. My work schedule usually is such that I can't make the Thursday evening meeting that takes place once a month. It was an interesting group. That's the word I would use for it.

The talk was worth attending. Sarah Miller, from The Florida Public Archaeology Network, gave a talk that centered around ground penetrating radar especially when it comes to cemeteries. Ms. Miller was obviously at home in giving this talk and this is no doubt a subject near and dear to her. She talked about discoveries made in St. Augustine, FL while being careful to explain that while GPR may indicate something below ground it may not always be what they are hoping for. She had a couple of interesting brochures including one on the organization she works for and another dealing with Florida's Unmarked Burial Law.

Overall I have to say I was disappointed by the Society however. Remember, I have never been to a meeting and have only been to the museum twice. Nobody there knows me. Not ONE person could be bothered to say hello, to ask my name, to welcome me, or to find out if I intended to rob them all. NOT ONE! I was there about 15 minutes before start time wandering around and stayed about ten minutes after the presentation. NOT ONE PERSON! Mind you I am not exaggerating when I tell you that other than Ms. Miller I was the youngest person there by a minimum of 25 years and really probably 35 years younger than the average attendee. Just seems that maybe some younger blood is a good thing to encourage but maybe age was the problem. For me this stands in complete contrast to a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting I went to in order to hear Russell Bonds speak. I would guess no fewer than a dozen people talked to my wife and myself. When I say talked I mean more than just saying hello.

Will this experience keep me from attending another meeting? Probably not if my work schedule permits. Is it a positive way to run an all volunteer organization when you have someone with time and energy to help? Not really. So any way, the next historical society meeting you attend, be sure to welcome the newbie (or at least say hello). They may turn into long time members.

Civil War Times Index Now Online

Thanks to Brett at TOCWOC for sharing this great piece of news. Civil War Times magazine is now indexed online. It looks like you can search by year and then issue or you can enter a keyword or author name in their search engine. This should prove to be a great help and time saver for researchers or those looking to just read articles by their favorite author.