'Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colors wave!: Professor using fellowship to learn more about how Americans turned to Shakespeare to interpret the Civil War

1864 cartoon depicting George McClellan and Abraham Lincoln in a "Hamlet" scene

From the White House desk of President Abraham Lincoln to book shelves in homes across America, the works of William Shakespeare were omnipresent during the Civil War.

Lincoln favored “Macbeth,” soldiers staged Shakespearean plays and people in North and South used the bard’s writings to justify their cause and express their deepest emotions at a time of great sacrifice and loss.

Now, a Massachusetts Historical Society fellowship is helping a history professor conduct research for a book she’s writing about reading habits and practices during the Civil War, particularly in regard to the works of Shakespeare.

Dr. Sarah Gardner, distinguished professor of history at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., is the recipient of the Suzanne and Caleb Loring Fellowship. The fellowship is entitled “Shakespeare Fights the American Civil War.”

Dr. Gardner has received more than 15 grants and fellowships (Mercer University)

She spent part of the summer at the historical society, which specializes in Union war efforts. Next June, she will travel to the Boston Athenaeum, which focuses on the Confederate side and has print materials, including newspapers, journal articles, books and poems.

“I became interested in Shakespeare because Shakespeare was popular with the Civil War generation,” the cultural historian told the Picket in an email. “He was evoked in speeches, he was popular on the lecture circuit, his plays were performed by amateur and by professional actors, allusions were deployed in magazines and in short and long fiction. I am largely interested in the ways soldiers and people on the home front used Shakespeare in their correspondence and diaries.”

Gardner, a cultural historian, has taught courses and written about the American South, the Civil War and Reconstruction. She gave three lectures in 2021 at Penn State University.

“Civil War-era Americans … turned to Shakespeare for universal truths,” said a preview of the series. “Shakespeare, they believed, spoke to abiding concerns, such as the soul of genius, the power of the imagination, and of the heroic individual’s ability to determine an event’s outcome.”

Both sides during the Civil War interpreted Shakespeare in a way advantageous to them.

“I haven't seen any meaningful difference between Unionists' and Confederates' uses of Shakespeare. And they don't always cite Shakespeare to defend a cause,” Gardner told the Picket.

Hamlet and Macbeth were especially popular with Civil War Americans.  

As Gardner and other scholars point out, Shakespeare had a lot to say about war. Two lines from  “Richard II” and “Macbeth” on the subject.

“He is come to open
The purple testament of bleeding war.”

And

“When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.”

“Macbeth” apparently was Lincoln’s favorite. As an essay published on the National Endowment for the Humanities website says, the president did not suffer the weight of guilt and excesses as did Macbeth – who spoke of powerlessness.

“Instead, he got something far more abstract from Macbeth’s famous soliloquy. Throughout his life, Lincoln was deeply attracted to the idea of unchanging destiny, and used this ‘predestination’ mindset to help him survive even the most traumatic of events. In many ways, he saw his presidential legacy not as the result of well-ordered strategy and political planning, but as the sheer result of some higher order of which he was merely an often unwitting tool.” 

Ironically, Lincoln, a theatergoer, was assassinated by an actor who played Macbeth: John Wilkes Booth. (At right, Booth brothers, John at left, in 1864 for "Julius Caesar.")

One of the most-famous cartoons of the Civil War was the “Chicago Nominee,” drawn by Justin H. Howard. It shows Union Gen. George McClellan, who ran against Lincoln in 1864, depicted as Hamlet in the graveyard scene.

“Instead of the skull of court jester Yorick, McClellan addresses the head of President Abraham Lincoln, his Republican opponent. Governor Horatio Seymour of New York is cast as Hamlet’s friend Horatio, and the grave digger is a famished Irish immigrant,” says a description of the cartoon by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“In 1862 Lincoln removed General McClellan, who had been in command of the Union army, from active duty after he failed to achieve a decisive victory at Antietam -- the bloodiest battle in American military history. The caption at the bottom of the image alludes to false newspaper reports that Lincoln had acted with inappropriate levity while touring the Civil War battlefield at Antietam.

The caption borrows an Act IV line from “Hamlet”: “I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest. Where be your gibes now?”

Frederick Douglass was another big fan of Shakespeare. After the war, he was at a dinner with Powhatan Beaty, an African-American Medal of Honor recipient who became an actor, notably playing Macbeth.

A Mercer University news release about the fellowship says Gardner is reading letters, diaries and books to learn more what they read, much of which was from Shakespeare. People often used the author’s words to describe their experiences during the Civil War.

“I’m really interested in how people think and how they make sense of the world,” the professor and author said in the release. “The history of emotions allows us to enter a world removed from us, either by time or place. Everyone experiences joy or pain, but they experience them differently. We can better understand our historical actors by appealing to the history of emotions.”

The new Fort Fisher visitor center, opening Sept. 27, will tell a wider story. Crews at the North Carolina Civil War site are rushing to finish recreated earthworks

New visitor center, Civil War map along staircase to the second floor and a colorized version of a Timothy O'Sullivan photograph of a damaged Fort Fisher traverse (FFSHS)

A new and larger visitor center at Fort Fisher below Wilmington, N.C., will provide a broader and more people-centric history than the previous venue, officials said.

The state historic site near Kure Beach recently announced the two-story visitor center and its museum will open on Sept. 27. The park closed in April for construction of the 20,000-square-foot visitor center and for an usual rebuilding of earthworks.

“There are a few more items in the Civil War section, but the new sections covering the time before Fort Fisher as well as the span of time between the Civil War and WWII are where we had to bring in the most new artifacts,” assistant site manager Chad Jefferds told the Picket.

Fort Fisher was built on the peninsula between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, south of Wilmington. It is best known as a crucial coastal bastion for the Confederacy.

A Whitworth gun on the first floor of the visitor center (FFSHS)

On Jan. 15, 1865, after a naval bombardment, the Federal army attacked from the western, river side while Marines pushed in from the northeast bastion. The fall of the “Gibraltar of the South” cut off blockade runners and the last supply line through Wilmington to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. U.S. Colored Troops were among those taking part in the attack.

Essentially everything between Shepherd’s Battery on the western end of the fort’s land face and the center sally port were the scenes of intense fighting during the US Army’s assault. The fighting went from along the traverses from west to east and was often hand-to-hand.

Fort Fisher’s use during World War II helped the Allied cause but destroyed some of its familiar defensive traverses. They were removed to make way for an airstrip when the area was used for training anti-aircraft and coastal artillery units.

Construction crews are working to complete recreations of three traverses, bombproofs, a magazine and the sally port, Jefferds said. “The dirt being brought in has to dry out to a certain level before it can be used, but the weather has not been conducive. Hopefully it will be ready for our grand opening, but it’s no guarantee at this point.”

Sally port tunnel on far left during traverse reconstruction. At far right is historic traverse (FFSHS)

With the three traverses will come two gun emplacements, which will each have a heavy cannon, along with two 12-pounder Napoleons in the center sally port.

The new visitor center stands about 100 yards from the fort wall. It is just north of the east-west line mounds of earth known as traverses that were part of the defenses. Much of the eastern part of the fort has been claimed by the ocean. 

“Not only will visitors be able to see the majority of the remaining traverses from the second floor, they will also be able to see them as they approach from the parking lot. This is one of the main reasons for the first floor being perpendicular to the second floor,” said Jefferds.(bombproof recreation, below)

The visitor center’s first floor has a welcome desk, gift shop, restrooms and staff offices.

The second floor houses the main exhibit gallery as well as a temporary exhibit gallery that will change regularly. It  is home to an information desk, an orientation theater, restrooms and a multipurpose room that can be used for a classroom space, banquets or wedding receptions.

Among the wall displays is a colorized Timothy O’Sullivan photo of the fort taken shortly after its fall.

“That particular photo is of the 4^th traverse along the land face of the fort, likely where the fort’s commander Col. William Lamb was wounded,” said Jefferds. “It really shows the carnage that abounded here after the U.S. Navy’s bombardment and ensuing land battle, with the broken cannons and debris scattered all around.”

I asked him whether the venue will tell the same story, with some twists.

“The story is the same and Fort Fisher is obviously the central theme, but the way it’s told is different. We’ve tried to tell the story of Fort Fisher through the eyes of the people who lived, worked, fought and died here. We’ve also enhanced the coverage of the time before the Civil War as well as the time after, all the way through WWII when the fort served as a training facility for antiaircraft and coastal artillery units.”

Parking and admission at the site is free. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. The building is wheelchair-accessible and an elevator goes to the second floor.

James Longstreet was here: Civil War veterans often mailed or gave out calling cards at reunions and meetings. Manassas has one that belonged to the general

One of the general's calling (visiting) cards (Manassas National Battlefield Park)

William Adams Longstreet was born in 1897 to a family noted for its celebrity -- and controversy. His grandfather, Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, was in his final years, bloodied but unbowed after decades of defying the South, as a biography describes him.

William was just 6 when his grandfather, 82, died in January 1904 in Gainesville, Ga. Like others related to the general, William grew up in the town with a purpose.

“He was a jovial man who was dedicated to clearing the general’s name,” nephew Dan Paterson said of William.

James Longstreet was pilloried by foes for his performance at Gettysburg and, later, support for Reconstruction, black suffrage and the Republican Party. Recent books, however, have brought him a good measure of vindication.

William (second from left), half-sister Jamie (behind stone) and Dan Paterson at Alta Vista Cemetery in 1969

As the last direct descendant with the surname Longstreet, William felt an extra obligation by taking up the mantle and defending “OId Pete” whenever he could. William – who worked for the U.S. Postal Service and lived in Washington, D.C. -- made appearances at battlefields and joined a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp named for his grandfather.

The descendant in 1959 donated a Gen. Longstreet calling card and an unframed print of a painting of the general to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Park museum specialist Jim Burgess told me the painting was made by renowned artist Howard Chandler Christy.

I learned of the calling card after a recent visit to the park, and I decided to delve into the topic. Such cards were the equivalent of today’s business cards, though most did not include contact information.

That’s because they were often mailed or given out, such as the likely case with Longstreet, at battlefields, veteran reunions and public events. The general (right) dispensed them as a sign of goodwill, rather than the pursuit of business.

Calling cards (or visiting cards) were popular with members of the Grand Army of the Republic (Union), United Confederate Veterans and other organizations.

“The heyday was in in the 1880s and 1890s during their highest membership,” said Everitt Bowles, who sells calling cards on his “Civil War Badges” website. “They’re not hard to find if you're involved with Civil War events. The higher prices are usually because of the elite regiments or for how famous the soldier was. Of course, there were a lot more common soldiers in the war versus the generals.”

Such cards can go for as little as $10 to several hundred dollars.

“Longstreet was such a famous person. He would give them out at reunions,” said Vann Martin of the online shop “The Veteran’s Attic.”

General was warmly welcomed at reunions

Longstreet was all about national reconciliation after the Civil War and he famously traveled to Gettysburg and to all manner of meetings and reunions.

His card simply read “James Longstreet, First Corps Army of Northern Virginia, ’61-’65. The top left featured the third national flag of the Confederate States of America.

“I am not familiar with how extensive James Longstreet calling cards might be. Given his longevity, it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't use several different styles over the years,” said Jim Ogden, historian at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. “I'd say this definitely has to be postwar, probably, given the stylized Third National, very postwar.”

The original Christy painting of the general hangs in Chickamauga and Chattanooga visitor center (Picket photo, left).

Longstreet’s widow, Helen Dortch Longstreet, a tireless advocate, commissioned the painting. A second version of the subject is on loan from Gettysburg National Military Park to the Longstreet Society, based in Gainesville.

Ogden cites Longstreet as an example of recent interest in Civil War memory.

Scholars and authors in recent decades have brought new interpretations of the man, finding he was not the “Southern Judas” he came to be called.

Many collectors love postwar reunion items and calling cards

Dan Paterson (right), William’s nephew and a great-grandson of James, said the general made numerous postwar journeys, including Fredericksburg in 1884; Knoxville, Tenn., circa 1893; Chickamauga for the 1899 dedication of the Georgia monument; Chicago; Gettysburg twice; and Richmond, Va., for the 1890 unveiling of its Lee monument

The general must have carried his calling cards to these and reunions.

Martin, with “The Veteran’s Attic,” said he has collected a few calling cards bearing a photograph, but they are somewhat unusual.

Longstreet’s card, he said, would have been treasured by those who received one. “He had people writing him all the time. They wanted his signature.”

Union veterans were more likely to have them printed “because they had more money. The South had to go through Reconstruction,” said Martin.

T.J. Jones of the 41st Tennessee (The Veteran's Attic)

Calling cards draw some interest, but they are not a priority, said Martin.

His website includes a card made for T.J. Jones of the 41^st Tennessee Infantry (above). The private was wounded captured twice during the war. He later worked for the railroad. He died in 1910. The card includes a photo of the bearded Jones as a veteran. The card is on sale for $335.

Some collectors focus on pennants, badges and pins from Civil War reunions. A more unusual item was one made of seashells in the 1890s for a GAR post in Buffalo, N.Y., Martin said.

Cards and portraits of Bowley, Lord and Wolff, click to enlarge (Library of Congress)

The Library of Congress has a few online images of Civil War calling cards, among them one for nurse Helena E. Miller Wolff, 1^st Lt. Charles P. Lord of the 6^th Massachusetts Infantry and 1^st Lt. Freeman Sparks Bowley of the 30^th U.S. Colored Troops.

Bowley, a white officer, is remembered for a vivid account of the battle of the Crater at Petersburg and its aftermath and his memoir.

Hated by many in the South, beloved at Gettysburg meeting

When I visited and interviewed people about Longstreet some 15 years ago, his story was little-known to most Americans. The novel “The Killer Angels” and the film “Gettysburg,” coupled with scholarship by historians, helped to usher in a reassessment of the general. More favorable books have followed.

At the Longstreet Society’s annual memorial at the general's grave at Alta Vista Cemetery this year, president Richard Pilcher gave a brief summary of the general’s life, mentioning his military prowess, public service and courage away from the battlefield – working for reconciliation after the war. “Many Southerners considered him a traitor to the cause, and blamed him for the Confederacy’s defeat,” he said.

Longstreet in postwar years voiced his opinion that Gen. Robert E. Lee should not have launched the disastrous Day Three attack at Gettysburg. Advocates of the romantic Lost Cause myth lashed out at him, and said he failed Lee at Gettysburg by delaying the execution of orders. Some of the general's writings in various newspapers often backfired on him.

Many Confederate veterans lionized him and he was popular at reunions, including a notable gathering at Gettysburg in 1888.

Civil War blogger John Banks has written about Longstreet’s trip to Pennsylvania and the general’s friendship with former foe Dan Sickles and other Union luminaries.

“The most celebrated man at the event sported massive, white whiskers and a cleanly shaven chin: James Longstreet, who commanded the Confederates’ First Corps at Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863. Nearly everywhere Robert E. Lee’s ‘Old War Horse’ went he drew appreciative, and often awestruck, crowds,” Banks wrote a few years back.

Longstreet (center) and Sickles (right) during the 1888 reunion (Gettysburg NMP)

As the blogger points out, the general was more popular in the North than the South because of his alignment with President Ulysses S. Grant and the Republican Party. Former colleagues in gray savaged him for daring to criticize Lee’s decisions at Gettysburg.

The main hallway at the Piedmont Hotel in Gainesville, home to the Longstreet Society, has copies of documents on his appointment to federal offices, including postmaster, U.S. marshal and minister to Turkey. He also served as a railroad commissioner.

I recently asked Banks to describe Longstreet’s personality.

“Seems like guy I’d want to have a beer with -- good dude. Not a loudmouth.”

As for Sickles?

“Loudmouth”

William A. Longstreet was an ambassador for his grandfather

Dan Paterson’s late mother, Jamie Louise Longstreet Paterson (left), was crucial in the fight to vindicate the general’s conduct, during and after the Civil War.

Jamie was born 25 years after the death of James Longstreet, who had moved to Gainesville in 1875 and operated a hotel.

She was born in Gainesville to Fitz Randolph “Ranny” Longstreet – one of the general’s sons -- and Zelia Stover Longstreet.

Randolph’s first wife, Josie, died in 1904 and he remarried in 1929. William A. Longstreet’s mother was Josie and Jamie was his much younger half-sister.

Jamie grew up in Gainesville, married the late William D. Paterson and they lived in Washington and Bowie, Md.

Dan Paterson, now in his mid-60s and living in Centreville, Va., said the calling cards were passed on to Ranny, who kept them in a metal box. That container survives today and remains in the family.

Dan used the card as a template for his own business card.

Ranny Longstreet was a farmer and loving father, said Dan Paterson. “My grandfather was  … easy-going, he did not go into the military.”

William with book by James Longstreet, with Herman Leonard and in 1969 (Courtesy of Dan Paterson)

Paterson recalls his time with William in Georgia and elsewhere. They joined the same Richmond-based SCV chapter that was named for James Longstreet.

Paterson, a member of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, has defended James his entire life. So did Herman Leonard, a family friend who gave talks about the general.

Paterson keeps a copy of a photo  (below) of William Longstreet and Leonard taken at Gettysburg in 1965. They stand in front of a shack that was labeled as Longstreet’s headquarters, which actually was a short distance away.

William A Longstreet and Herman Leonard (Courtesy of Dan Paterson)

“It was a tourist attraction from a leftover bunch of buildings in the area that were vendors.  I have the sign hanging in my basement,” said Paterson. The building no longer stands.

“That shack, much like that portrait, were my landmarks at Gettysburg when we were kids.”

William Adams Longstreet died in 1973 at age 76. He and his wife Gladys left behind no children.

He rests near Jamie, his parents and the general in the family plot at Alta Vista.

A U.S. flag flutters above them.