Vol. 49, No. 6
America’s Monthly Newspaper For Civil War Enthusiasts
$4.00
40 Pages, June 2023
Jon Meacham and Jonathan W. White Win Lincoln Prize
On April 11, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History awarded the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize to historians Jon Meacham and Jonathan W. White. The ceremony took place at the Harvard Club in New York City. The two laureates each received half the $50,000 award, and each received a bronze replica of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s lifesized bust, Lincoln the Man.
Lincoln Prize. The prize jury consisted of Elizabeth Varon, Harold Holzer, and John Stauffer; they wrote that Meacham’s And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (Random House) is “a timely and original biography of Lincoln, well informed by modern scholarship and full of educational value for the broad reading public.” They concluded, “Meacham’s superbly readable biography . . . is one of the very finest that we have, and will stand the test of time.” The jury wrote that White’s A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House (Rowman and Littlefield) “captures the symbolic importance of social equality as an issue to be addressed during— and after—the restoration of the Union and eradication of slavery.” In a review that appeared in
Civil War News last year, Harold Holzer wrote, “A House Built by Slaves is a welcome and crucial contribution to the Civil War literature, and should be cited as long as Lincoln biography is written.” James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, said, “And There Was Light and A House Built by Slaves powerfully humanize the story of the Civil War by re-examining the lives and legacies of those who lived it. Thousands of books have been written about Abraham Lincoln and his contemporaries, but these studies by Meacham and White stand out for their narrative skill and interpretive brilliance.” Larry D. Walker, a trustee at Gettysburg College, added, “We are pleased to be able to honor two outstanding books. Jonathan White’s work provides us with a deeper and important understanding of the view of Lincoln shared by African Americans in the Civil War era. Jon Meacham’s work is a major contribution to the long line of Lincoln biographies that will be read and re-read for decades.” Jonathan W. White, who regularly writes reviews for Civil War News, delivered the following remarks when he accepted the award. ~ It is an honor to be here tonight. I thank the jury and the board of trustees for selecting A House Built By Slaves as one of this year’s recipients. I am especially thrilled to be sharing this honor with Jon Meacham. My wife, Lauren, our daughters, Charlotte and Clara, and my parents, Bill and Eileen, have been steadfast support over the years. My poor kids—who are right over there—have been living with Lincoln for as long as they can remember. They’ve visited more Lincoln sites than most Americans ever see . . . although they don’t let me dress them up as Old Abe anymore. Before I make a few remarks about the greatest American, I
14 – American Battlefield Trust 34 – Book Reviews 12 – Central Virginia Battlefield Trust
26 – Critic’s Corner 28 – Emerging Civil War 39 – Events
Jon Meacham and Jonathan W. White greet one another with Harold Holzer and Elizabeth D. Leonard. (Photos by Ilir Bajraktari) want to say something about a letters from African Americans Now, I don’t know what very great man, to whom we all to Lincoln, and I published Lincoln’s reaction was when he owe a debt of gratitude—but to them in 2021 in a book called held this letter in his hands, but I whom I am particularly thankful. To Address You As My Friend: highly doubt that he laughed. You Lewis Lehrman has transformed African Americans’ Letters to see, most letters Lincoln received the field of American history. His Abraham Lincoln (University of were sent throughout the federal founding of the Gilder Lehrman North Carolina Press). One of bureaucracy and are now housed Institute has been a boon for my favorites came from a man in various record groups at the scholars, and has brought named Hannibal Cox. National Archives. But Lincoln history to life for thousands of Cox had been born into held onto this one, and it remains schoolchildren. One of the first slavery in Virginia, but after in his personal papers at the grants I ever received was a Lincoln issued the Emancipation Library of Congress. Clearly this Gilder Lehrman Fellowship in Proclamation, he joined the Union letter meant something to the 2006 that enabled me to come to Army; as a soldier he learned president. New York for three weeks to do how to read and write. Cox was In the course of my research I research for my dissertation. so proud of what he was learning learned that African Americans In 2007, Lew sponsored a that he wanted his commander did not simply write to Lincoln. conference at Princeton for young in chief to know about it. So, in They also went to the White scholars interested in American March 1864 he sent a letter to House to meet with him. In doing history. At that conference I met Lincoln, briefly describing his life so, they were claiming the right two professors from Christopher story and praising the American of U.S. citizens to speak freely, Newport University, and I guess I flag. But the most touching part is and to petition the government made a good impression, because the postscript in which he wrote: for a redress of grievances. two years later, they hired me “I sends this for you to look at, A remarkable transformation as a postdoc, and I have been at you must not laugh at it.” took place during Lincoln’s Christopher Newport ever since. I Hannibal Cox knew that people presidency. Prior to the Civil War would not be the scholar I am today had a natural inclination to laugh African Americans were more were it not for Lewis Lehrman. at mistakes made by others. He likely to be bought and sold by His kindness and generosity set knew that his grammar, spelling, a sitting president, than to be me on a path toward becoming punctuation, and penmanship welcomed as his guests. But one of the luckiest people in the were not perfect. And he worried Lincoln broke down barriers that world, a tenured professor at an that Lincoln might hold this letter extraordinary university. in his hand and chuckle. But he Lincoln In 2014, I started collecting sent it to Lincoln anyway. . . . . . . . . . . . . see page 4
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24 – The Graphic War 18 – The Source 20 – This And That
10 – The Unfinished Fight 16 – Through the Lens