Approaching the end of a six-day work week in an understaffed and underfunded federal agency as the nation plunges into another costly war.
08.03.2026 12:51
👍 16
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Approaching the end of a six-day work week in an understaffed and underfunded federal agency as the nation plunges into another costly war.
Many thanks to my friends at the Civil War Roundtable of Gettysburg for inviting me to speak about my two favorite Burg(h)s, and to everyone who tuned in to listen!
On February 25, 1870 Hiram R. Revels, a former preacher and educator from Mississippi, took his oath of office as the first Black member of the US Senate. In a twist of irony Revels was to hold the seat previously occupied by Jefferson Davis - former president of the Confederacy.
Looking to the past for my Presidential Leadership course on this particular evening.
His story has only grown in familiarity and popularity since his death, and the community he loved so dearly has continued to love him back.
On February 23, 1915, Congressman Robert Smalls passed away at his home on Prince Street in Beaufort - a house in which he was born enslaved, and died free after buying the property during Reconstruction. He now rests just a few blocks away in Tabernacle Baptist Church cemetery.
This battle cry was in reference to the status of unequal pay they’d been fighting since they first arrived in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The inequality in pay for Black soldiers would not be rectified for several more months.
In June 1863 the 54th Massachusetts Infantry set up camp here, in the vicinity of Land’s End on St. Helena Island.
Less than a year later, on February 20, they were engaged at the Battle of Olustee, where they ran into action shouting, “Three cheers for Massachusetts and seven dollars a month!”
NPS Rangers in 2026:
Seasonal ➡️ Permanent
Here’s your weekly moment of Appalachian zen.
The stack is back!
We’re off to a robust start of the second to last semester of grad school, and a stout foundation has been built for what I know will be a growing pile of literature.
Stay tuned.
On February 18, 1865, the Comfederate stronghold of Charleston surrendered to US troops. Among the first soldiers to march through the fallen port city were those of the 21st USCT, many of whom had been enslaved in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
This Presidents Day, find yourself someone who looks at you like Washington looks at Lincoln.
Visitors: “It’s beautiful outside - you should get out and enjoy the sun!”
Me, the only ranger on duty in the visitor center at an understaffed park in an agency that lost 25% of its already dwindling workforce in the last year:
This Valentine’s Day find someone who looks at you the way Major Taylor looks at flapjacks in small mountains.
This aged pretty well.
The last year has been one continuous Teams call.
Happy Birthday, Abe.
“…we didn’t get an honest President…because the old men of the last generation were not Wide-Awake, and the young men of this generation hadn’t got their eyes open.
Now the old men are folding their arms and going to sleep, and the young men throughout the land are Wide Awake.”
-W.H. Seward, 1860
A lot of things are bad right now, but at least there’s soup.
Big thanks to my loved ones and colleagues for their outpouring of support along the way.
On February 3, 2020 I accepted what would be my first position at a new National Park Service site in Beaufort, South Carolina. Within two years of my arrival, I moved into the long sought-after permanent position that I enjoy today; one which I do not take for granted.
Here’s your weekly moment of Appalachian zen.
Many thanks to my dear friend, Jake Wynn, for inviting me back to his public history podcast for another great discussion!
I like my coffee with no ICE.
…checking the advance of every force in our midst that makes for disunion or lawlessness, or against liberty and equality, or a government of the people...”
This is one of the more popular monuments on the battlefield, and rightfully so. They persisted against their foe against great odds.
A standing testament to the Minnesotans who helped stem the tide of disunion at Gettysburg.
During the monument’s dedication in 1897, Gov. David Clough argued that “if…the people of Minnesota dedicate themselves…the future will see the children of the North Star state on every field of conflict…
If you’re cold, they’re cold. Bring a ranger inside.
In November 1983 my grandmother, an Allegheny County employee, wrote to the Pittsburgh Press regarding citizens’ unhappiness with the City Council after they’d finally taken notice of their complacency and uselessness.
Midterms are coming. Listen to Grandma Phyllis.
I have hope that we can still become the “more perfect union” many of us aspire toward, but we have much work to do until then.
Those who have the audacity to assert these constitutional liberties now risk being executed in American streets, but we must continue to make our voices heard. Stand up for your communities and continue to protect each other. To remain silent in the face of actual tyranny is to be complicit.
