Monthly Archives: February 2017

Meeting of February 28, 2017

Doug Rees on “The Plot to Kidnap Abe Lincoln”

History is a dialogue between the present and the past. It’s a truism. But it begs the question, “What use is the past to the present, and what use does the present make of the past?” Because if the past is to have any significance, it’s up to the present to find it, and to use it to cast light on the present. Conventional histories are written to establish that connection. Without it, they are either adventure tales or antiquarianism. In the case before you tonight, an obscure “almost”—the attempted, and nearly successful kidnapping of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and his gang, led to the creation of a play based on the almost-event. When the medium changes from the printed book to the stage, the mode of transmission is also changes. How is making this use of the past similar to, and different from, a work of history?

Douglas Rees holds a master’s degree in history from UC Riverside, where he studied the Civil War under Hal Bridges. He is the author of a number of books for young people, including Lightning Time, a novel about the Harper’s Ferry raid, and a number of plays which have been produced locally, and in venues from Los Angeles to Panama, including Kidnap!; Or, The Abduction of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and Company.

Doug’s website is douglasrees.com.

Meeting Minutes February 2017

Quiz for February 28, 2017

Civil War Quiz: What Did the Southern Home Front Have to Deal With?

Q#1 – At the beginning of the Civil War, approximately what percentage of Southern families owned slaves?

Q#2 – At the bottom of the Southern economic ladder were 2 million or so impoverished whites; what nicknames were they called?

Q#3 – What employment exclusion of the 1862 Confederate conscription act establishing a military draft was most often violated by draft boards attempting to meet their draft quotas?

Q#4 – At the start of the Civil War, the North had approximately 22,000 miles of railroad tracks. How many miles existed in the South?

Q#5 – As the war continued, food shortages across the South increased resulting in skyrocketing inflation. For example, during the winter of 1864, in Richmond, what was the cost for a pound of bacon?

Q#6 – What were the two main reasons why so many of the South’s 260 institutions of higher learning closed during the Civil War?

Q#7 – What recurring theme regarding slavery permeated the homilies of Southern ministers at their Sunday church sessions?

Q#8 – The Civil War radically changed the role of women in Southern society. What was the prevailing role for women before the war?

Q#9 – The vast majority of Southerners differed dramatically on exactly what they were fighting for. Where were the origins of Southern loyalty planted?

Q#10 – What two actions by the Confederate Congress in 1863 had a devastating impact of the food supply throughout the South?

Q#11 – What type of graft was very common among Confederate Commissary units?

Q#12 – What Union general became known as the “Beast of New Orleans”?

Q#13 – When the Confederate Congress approved printing money that was not backed up by gold, what process was implemented that (unsuccessfully as it turned out) would reduce counterfeiting?

Q#14 – In 1864, in a desperate effort to replace huge losses in their armies, how did the Confederate government revise its draft laws?

Q#15 – During the period October 1, 1864, to January 1865, how many Confederate soldiers deserted their armies?