Gil Hahn's Blog
January 3, 2022
Rethinking Books
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” may have been good advice when books were leatherbound or clothbound, but the printed dust jacket and the glossy covers of paperbacks with bold graphics and alluring titles made the cover a principal means of attracting a reader to a book. Still, there remain some communities that continue to judge the value of books—and, in particular, scholarly books—by their physical attributes, such as a preface, a bibliography, footnotes, and a tabl...
August 1, 2021
Combat Image
This week, I have some more good news to share. Campaign for the Confederate Coast was reviewed on the the Civil War Books and Authors website. You can access the review here: https://cwba.blogspot.com/2021/07/review-campaign-for-confederate-coast.html.
Now, on to the blog post for today.
Photographs of active combat do not exist for the Civil War period because, in general, the exposures that were required to record an image were so long that anything moving before the lens of ...
July 25, 2021
Airbrushing History – Part 2
The shock was palpable. Having read the dry, technical, and very informative description of the order of battle of the Imperial German Army (Cron, Hermann; Rogers, Duncan. Imperial German Army 1914-18, Helion and Company. Kindle Edition.), 1 the author’s conclusion was somewhat more opinionated. It began:
Whatever the reasons may have been for concluding the ‘shameful’ armistice, it is certain that the German Field Army left the enemy countries undefeated, an...
July 19, 2021
Airbrushing History – Part 1
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There are, on the spectrum, fact, interpretation of fact, misinterpretation of fact, and untruth.
The words that then-President Donald Trump spoke on the National Mall on Janua...
July 11, 2021
Harpers Ferry – Part 4
Photo Credit: Jon Bilous Shutterstock
The Ranger led his audience back to the foundations of the arsenal building.
"The machinery in the Federal armory for making muskets and rifles was state of the art. The Confederacy knew that it would be important to keep the machinery in order to make rifles and muskets for the war they knew was coming, but they lacked the means to move it to a place of safety.
"Although Virginia has secede...
July 4, 2021
Harpers Ferry – Part 3
Photo Credit: Boston Public Library
"Now, come with me, and let’s look at the strategic situation.
The Ranger turned again to his right and walked out to a point of land about 50 feet above where two rivers joined together and flowed as one off into the distance. He turned to face his audience, who stood looking into the distance where the river flowed. On the far side of both rivers, rocky hills rose up over a thousand feet.
"D...
June 27, 2021
Harpers Ferry – Part 2
The Ranger greeted the two dozen visitors who had shown up for the two o’clock tour. When he had their attention, he began.
"The beauty of this place is compelling, with large green trees, the Shenandoah River behind me flowing into the Potomac River, and the Loudon Heights and Maryland Heights towering above. In 1860 the picture is somewhat different. Look anywhere around you and imagine a building, you are probably right. The a...
June 21, 2021
Juneteenth: Doing What’s Easy and Doing What’s Hard
The passage of a law establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday caused a gush of good feeling in the media coverage. What does a new national holiday signify? Government offices and many businesses close, many employees get a day off, and major retailers tout celebratory discount prices. Texas had laid the groundwork for a national holiday in 1980, followed by 48 states and the District of Columbia, by passing laws establishing Juneteent...
June 6, 2021
My book Titled ‘Campaign for the Confederate Coast’
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I hope this post finds you well. My book titled Campaign for the Confederate Coast: Blockading, Blockade Running and Related Endeavors during the American Civil War will officially launch Saturday, June 19, 2021. This coincides with Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major G...
May 24, 2021
Harpers Ferry – Part 1
Photo credit: waymarking.com
(I wrote the following almost 20 years ago. I love going to National Historic Sites. The Rangers usually do a wonderful job interpreting the past. The visit to Harpers Ferry in 2001 was not my first, and I have been back since, but it was my first visit after having worked as a museum guide—having gained an appreciation of the skill of interpretation—and having developed an interest in nineteenth century indus...
