A WINDOW INTO CONFEDERATE MEMORY

Former Confederates wrote accounts of their wartime experiences for various magazines and newspapers. Virtually all students of the Civil War are familiar with four of these publications. The most widely known of the quartet is the Century War Series, published in the Century magazine between 1884 and 1887 and later issued in four impressive, heavily illustrated volumes as Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. During the 1870s, a few ex-Confederates also contributed to a Civil War series in the Philadelphia Weekly Times, several dozen articles from which appeared in book form as The Annals of the War. The two most important outlets for Confederate testimony were the Southern Historical Society Papers, which commenced publication in January 1876 and provided a forum for the bitter “Gettysburg Controversy” of the 1870s and 1880s, and Confederate Veteran, the inaugural issue of which appeared in January 1893. The first three of these publications featured writings by notable military officers, and the Southern Historical Society Papers, the contents of which reflected the guiding hand of Jubal A. Early, focused on events in the Eastern Theater.

Although unfamiliar to most modern readers, the Southern Bivouac also offers a wealth of primary material on the Confederate war effort. Its relative obscurity stems from several factors: The publishers never issued a hardbound compilation of war-related articles from its pages comparable to The Annals of the War or the overwhelmingly successful Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. The Bivouac also enjoyed just a five-year publishing life—a very brief run compared to that of the Southern Historical Society Papers (1876–1959) and Confederate Veteran (1893–1932). It also trained its lens on events in the Western Theater rather than on the more famous battles and campaigns waged by Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Perhaps most important, its roster of authors included few leading military figures of the type who regularly wrote for the Century War Series and the Southern Historical Society Papers.

Launched in August 1882 as the Bivouac (it adopted its final name in November 1882), the new magazine counted four members of Kentucky’s celebrated Orphan Brigade among its five-person editorial committee and promised to publish “all kinds of articles of interest to the ex-Confederate soldier, his family, and to all friends of the South and its history.”54 The first year’s issues set patterns that would continue despite later changes of editors and ownership. Articles on the Western Theater markedly outnumbered those on the East (not surprisingly, the Orphan Brigade was a favorite early topic); the common soldier rather than celebrated generals frequently held the spotlight; and miscellaneous short pieces, queries, and correspondence rounded out the war-related offerings.

Like Jubal Early and others who shaped the Southern Historical Society Papers, the editors of the Southern Bivouac consciously sought to influence future generations of readers by getting the Confederacy’s version of the war down on paper. J. William Jones, editor of the Southern Historical Society Papers, praised the Bivouac in late 1882 and welcomed its founders “as our co-laborers in the great work of vindicating the truth of Confederate history.” Although the Bivouac’s editor conceded that both North and South would make contributions to the literature on the conflict, he added pointedly that “the survivors of the lost cause can least of all afford to be silent” because the “fairest history a victor may write never does justice to the cause of the conquered.”55

The Southern Bivouac departed from the Southern Historical Society Papers in important ways. Whereas the latter featured debates among prominent Confederate officers about Gettysburg and other campaigns, the Southern Bivouac emphasized the importance of men in the ranks. (Confederate Veteran would follow its lead a decade later.) “When we consider the power of ambition,” stated one editorial, “the valor of high dignitaries is easily accounted for in behalf of any cause; but the motive which impels the privates and subordinate offices to suffer and bleed so long, demands the fullest explanation.” The magazine actively solicited accounts from “the old soldiers or the members of their families.” The Southern Historical Society Papers printed many official reports; the Southern Bivouac, in contrast, announced its intention to preserve “for history the stories and incidents of the war that never appear in army reports.” In language that surely rankled Early and others associated with the Southern Historical Society Papers, the Southern Bivouac claimed to be “the only Confederate soldiers’ magazine published in the United States.”56

The Southern Bivouac also called for critical examination of all Confederate leaders—including Robert E. Lee. In a clear reference to efforts by Early and his followers to absolve Lee of blame for his reverses at Gettysburg and elsewhere, the Southern Bivouac denounced hero worship that masqueraded as history: “Really great men do not hesitate to avow their responsibilities, even of errors which prove disastrous.” The time had come to put aside personal feelings and seek historical objectivity. “That in some cases this is unpleasant to the personal friends of the heroes of history is true,” remarked the editors: “But this is of no consequence.”57 In a letter to Basil W. Duke, who served a stint as coeditor of the Southern Bivouac, Jubal Early complained that the magazine published too many articles by low-ranking officers and enlisted men, printed negative comments about Lee by untrustworthy individuals, and indulged in sensationalism. Duke defended the Southern Bivouac’s editorial policies and stated, somewhat pointedly, that a “carefully prepared narrative of an officer of inferior rank, or of a private soldier, may be as valuable as that of a division of corps commander.” Closing with a touch of humor, Duke invited Early to contribute to the magazine.58

The May 1887 issue announced to readers that the Southern Bivouac had been purchased by the Century Company and would cease publication. (A few articles on the Civil War already in hand would become part of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.) In just half a decade, the editors had bequeathed to future students of the Civil War a rich store of material. Scores of articles cover major battles and campaigns as well as a number of lesser-known operations. Nearly every issue contains personal anecdotes relating to combat, camp life, and other facets of the soldier’s experience. The magazine also sheds a good deal of light on the Lost Cause interpretation of the Confederate war and the reconciliation movement that developed in the 1880s. Overall, few publications provide a more useful lens through which to view how the postwar South chose to remember its failed attempt to found a slaveholding republic.