“The lecture and study guide that Jim Parks has created using my book (The Civil War in Spotsylvania) is absolutely outstanding. In fact, he exceeded my expectations on so many levels – that when he asked me for an honest critique – I had nothing else to add. I couldn’t have done a better job myself. Actually, I couldn’t have come close.” – Michael Aubrecht
My books and films have been used as classroom training aids from Middle School to College level courses. I am periodically asked to provide additional commentary on a variety of topics related to the Civil War via online video chats. Nothing pleases me more than interfacing directly with students and providing an additional perspective to what they are learning. This often results in effective two-way discussions, critical thinking and knowledge enhancement. Topics can include:
- Race and remembrance at Fredericksburg Churches
- In Their Words: Letters from Battle of Spotsylvania
- The Angel of Marye’s Heights (Screening prior)
- Origins of Baseball and the Civil War
- Wartime experiences of the Drummer Boy
- Historical Research and Writing Tips for all genres
Educators who would like to discuss using my books as teaching aids or schedule an online discussion should contact me at ma@pinstripepress.net. I am happy to assist with creating a study guide or syllabus based on the book selected. I have included a sample syllabus below. Discussions can be custom made to suit each classes’ wants and needs.
Please note that I do NOT charge a fee for communicating with student audiences.
BATTLE OF SPOTSYLVANIA, IN THEIR WORDS: SAMPLE SYLLABUS
COURSE GOAL
The goal with this course is to present the Battle of Spotsylvania with the actual words of those who experienced it firsthand. These letters are from the collection used in the book titled The Civil War in Spotsylvania County by Michael Aubrecht. Most of them were found in the Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania National Military Park archives, and some of the originals are part of the collection at the Museum of the Confederacy. In an effort to write home, these troops unwittingly recorded their own legacy. In essence, they (being the average soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia) played the vital role of newsman, similar to today’s embedded journalist.
These letters present an honest depiction of the common soldier’s wartime experiences without relying on the “romance and pageantry” that sometimes infiltrates these types of discussions. In retrospect we all know that it wasn’t always glorious. In fact it was anything but glorious. When you visit other battlefields such as Gettysburg, Antietam, or Manassas, you will see giant statues memorializing the commanders at these engagements. Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, Meade, Reynolds…all stone sentinels – all dominating the landscape. But when you visit the fields at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, you will see no such monuments. In fact, the only statues that you will see on the battlefield proper are representations of the common soldier.
OVERVIEW
This battle, (from May 8th to the 21st) also referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, was the second major battle in Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign. Following the horrific but inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, the Federal army disengaged from Lee’s Army and moved to the southeast, attempting advance on Richmond and lure the Confederates into a fight under better conditions than they had experienced at the Wilderness. Grant and Meade’s movements stalled at Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 8 and this allowed the Army of Northern Virginia, who were in pursuit, an opportunity to catch up and engage them. The result was a bloody, two-week battle that included multiple combats along the Spotsylvania front.
The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks plugged the gap, and fighting continued unabated for nearly 20 hours in what may well have been the most ferociously sustained combat of the Civil War. On May 19, a Confederate attempt to turn the Union right flank at Harris Farm was beaten back with severe casualties. On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance on Richmond.
EXAMPLE
Our first recollection comes to us from Michael F. Rinker, Company F, 136th Virginia Militia, to his parents. This is a longer letter when compared to most and it does an excellent job of describing the typical action witnessed at The Battle of Spotsylvania. It reads:
Camp Near Spotsylvania Court-House Va
Tuesday May the 17th 1864
Dear Father and Mother,
With pleasure I write to you this morning, hoping you may get this in due time. I am well, and hope you are all well. I must ask you to excuse me for not writing sooner, indeed I am ashamed that I have not written ere this. But now I will tell you why I did not write to you sooner than I did.
We have been so busy since we came over here, that indeed this is the first chance that I have had to write. The second day after we arrived here, we commenced fighting and it is not over yet. Father indeed for 5 days we were so busy fighting that we could hardly get time enough to eat our meals.
Today it is 14 days since we commenced fighting and yesterday the cannon and small arms were still at work. But the fight was not real heavy all the time, the hardest fighting was on the 5.6.& 7 and on the 9, 10 & 11 days of this month. During them six days it was awful. There was one continual roar of thunder all the time from the artillery and small arms.
For six days the Battle was kept up, all the time day and night, in the dead hour of midnight, the cannon & musketry was thundering all the time. Column after column the Yankees pushed their men up to our Breastworks and our men were cutting them down as fast as flies.
The dead Yankees are heaped up in piles half as high as a man, in front of our Breastworks, and all around on the Battlefield the dead yanks are lying just as thick as they can be, and none of them buried, they will all rotten on top of the ground.
Now you may know how it is down here. The line of Battle is 15 miles long, and for 4 days the Battle was kept up all along the line. The Yankee loss in killed and wounded is awful. Their loss will not fall short of fifty five hundred in killed and wounded, and their loss in prisoners, will reach ten or twelve thousand.
We have captured 12 or 15 fine pieces of artillery and 6 or 8 thousand small arms. The yanks lost in killed, 2 Major Generals and 3 or 4 Brigadier Generals, and their loss of Officers generally in killed wounded & prisoners is large. Their entire loss is very heavy, and I think it will be larger yet, before the fight is ended.
All the men say that this has been the hardest fight, since the war. It was awful for about 5 days, the cannon just kept one continual roar of thunder, day and night. I suppose you have heard, of the number of killed and wounded, of our company.
You have also, no doubt heard that General J.E.B. Stuart died a few days ago from a wound received near Hanover Junction. General Longstreet was painfully wounded on the second day of Battle. But he is getting well fast.
General Lee got a dispatch yesterday afternoon from General Breckinridge stating that he had whipped and routed the yanks 2 miles above New Market and run them to Mt. Jackson where the yanks burnt a Bridge. We are all glad to hear, that the yanks have been whipped in the valley. Noah is well.
We have plenty to eat. Noah give me the things that you sent to me and I am very much obliged to you for them. I will try and bring something when I get home. Tell mother, I would like to have one pair of socks sent to me by the first one of our men that comes over.
Write soon and give me all the news. I hope you will excuse me for not writing sooner, for indeed I did not have time hardly to eat my meals, we were busy all the time.
Our men are still in line of Battle, day & night all the time, some times they commence fighting at midnight. There is no telling how much longer the fight will last. Our men lay in our Breastworks day and night.
One night last week the yanks charged our Breastworks 9 different times, and every time our men run them back, with great slaughter. If I can get time I will write to you soon or as soon as I hear from you all. I will close.
Your son, Mike.
With these words you can get a real sense of the rigors of this engagement. It was a marathon of killing that literally went on for days and weeks. It’s hard not to be amazed at the promise that is proposed in the piece. Despite the desperateness of their situation Private Rinker sounds confident that they will prevail. With almost 32,000 total casualties, Spotsylvania was the costliest battle of the Overland Campaign and one of the top five battles of the Civil War.
(Additional letters follow on a variety of topics on and off the Spotsylvania battlefield initiating discussion on the firsthand experiences of the soldiers. Their voice is often overlooked when discussing the battle in favor of tactics.)
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
American Battlefield Trust: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/spotsylvania-court-house
History Channel: https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-spotsylvania-court-house
National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/historyculture/spotsylvania.htm
The NAKED HISTORIAN 