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Table of Contents
OAH Magazine of History Copyright © |
From the Editor Military HistoryCarl Weinberg
It is unlikely that you know of Abraham Cohn. Like thousands of rank-and-file soldiers, he would have remained unknown to me as well, except for two things. First, when General Longstreet’s Division reached General Burnside’s men around noon on that May day, and sent Union soldiers fleeing in retreat, Abraham Cohn did not run. Rather, he displayed “conspicuous gallantry in rallying and forming under heavy fire disorganized and flying troops of different regiments.” For this act, and for “bravery and coolness” later that summer at Petersburg, Cohn was one of six Jewish Union soldiers to win the Medal of Honor. But this was not enough to bring Abraham Cohn to my attention, despite the fact that conservative activist Lynne Cheney recited his name in a speech she gave in November 2001 honoring American heroes. It was my great-aunt Queenie who did the trick. She showed me an old family tree. I had been teaching American history for a decade and did not know I had a Union soldier in the family. Abraham Cohn was my great-great uncle. Abraham Cohn’s story reminds us of the joy and power of historical discovery. It was thrilling to connect with a human being in my own extended family who helped to make American history. As Michael Lynch explains in his teaching strategy on veterans and oral history, family members can make ideal interview subjects for students studying military history. The discovery also made me curious enough that it forced me to finally learn something about those long, drawn-out bloody battles of the summer of 1864. I was able to do so quickly by traversing the wealth of high quality Internet resources on military history. Teachers will find Susannah Bruce’s compilation of these sites immensely useful. My great-great uncle’s story also reflects two recent trends identified by guest editor Carol Reardon’s excellent survey of the field of military history. First, there is a growing recognition of the role of neglected minority groups in the nation’s past wars. Cohn was one of some 9,000 Jewish Union soldiers. Another 2,000 fought for the Confederacy. Second, historians are giving greater attention to the role of the rank-and-file soldier. Though standard battle maps contain the names of generals only—with the requisite “boxes and squiggles”—it took thousands of Abraham Cohns to fight each of those battles. As Jennifer Speelman reminds us in her informative article on naval history, those soldiers, even in the Civil War, served on the seas as well as on land. As much as military history provides heroes, it also raises difficult questions about the nation’s past and present. As Brian Linn explains, military historians have debated for decades the notion of an “American way of war.” What this “way” might be matters. How we fight seems to say something about who we are. Frank Wetta and Martin Novelli’s piece on Hollywood movies and strategic bombing in World War I and II offers a thought-provoking entry into this topic. As they note, in embracing the mythical power of “precision bombing,” Americans often ignored the harsh reality of civilian casualties. The grim-faced bombardier featured in the otherwise cheery Army Air Force war poster on the cover of this issue nicely conveys the ambiguous meaning of World War II bombing. Award-winning high school teacher Bruce Lesh provides another window on the “way of war” issue by inviting students to consider what kind of war Americans were willing to fight—and should have fought—in Korea. Civilian casualties figure centrally as well in the final two articles in this issue. Michael Flamm explores the 1968 My Lai Massacre in Vietnam with the help of primary documents and a role-playing exercise on the court-martial trial of Lt. William Calley. And my piece on an alleged massacre by American soldiers at No Gun Ri during the Korean War profiles two primary documents, one recently discovered, that teachers can use to teach about that conflict in a new way. The continuing controversy about U.S. “anti-terrorist” bombing raids and civilian casualties in Afghanistan make this issue of the MOH especially timely. It has been a pleasure working with guest editor Carol Reardon to bring all of this material to our readers. —Carl R. Weinberg |
He stood a little over five feet five. He had black hair, blue eyes and impressive mutton chop sideburns. A thirty-one-year-old Jewish immigrant from Guttentag, East Prussia, Abraham Cohn had joined the 6th New Hampshire volunteer regiment as a private in early 1864. It was now May 6, 1864 and Sergeant Major Cohn was just north of the Orange Plank Road, in a place they called “the Wilderness,” fighting for his life. Cohn’s regiment was part of General Ambrose Burnside’s IX Corps, attached to General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac, then under the effective command of General Ulysses S. Grant. The Wilderness was the first of several battles that comprised Grant’s costly Overland Campaign in Virginia that led eventually to General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse the following spring.