"The Lincoln-­McClellan Relationship in Myth and Memory" Topic

"Like many Civil War historians, I have for many years accepted invitations to address the general public. I have nearly always tried to offer fresh perspectives, and these have generally been well received. But almost invariably the Q and A or personal exchanges reveal an affection for familiar stories or questions. (Prominent among them is the query "What if Stonewall Jackson had been present at Gettysburg?")

For a long time I harbored a private condescension about this affection, coupled with complete incuriosity about what its significance might be. But eventually I came to believe that I was missing something important: that these familiar stories, endlessly retold in nearly the same ways, were expressions of a mythic view of the Civil War, what the amateur historian Otto Eisenschiml memorably labeled "the American Iliad."[1]

For Eisenschiml "the American Iliad" was merely a clever title for a compendium of eyewitness accounts of the conflict, but I take the term seriously. In Homer's Iliad the anger of Achilles, the perfidy of Agamemnon, the doomed gallantry of Hector—and the relationships between them—have enormous, uncontested, unchanging, and almost primal symbolic meaning. So too do certain figures in the American Iliad. Prominent among these are the butcher Grant, the Christ-­like Lee, and the rage-­filled Sherman. I believe that the traditional Civil War narrative functions as a national myth of central importance to our understanding of ourselves as Americans. And like the classic mythologies of old, it contains timeless wisdom about what it means to be a human being. Homer's Iliad tells us much about war but also much about life. The American Iliad does the same thing…"
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Amicalement
Armand

He seems to be talking of a Confederate Iliad.

"amateur historian Otto Eisenschiml"

I find that description of "amateur historian" needlessly derogatory. He authored and co-authored books, for which he got paid I'm sure. That made him as professional as any other historian.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand