Tag Archives: Fred Zilian

Fall of Atlanta Boosts Lincoln’s Re-Election Hopes

(This essay was originally published as “Tide of war turns at last,” in the Newport Daily News on August 16, 2014.) After the stunning Northern victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863, Northern hopes were high that the war … Continue reading

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“The Great War” Begins: July 28 is the 100th Anniversary of World War I

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on July 26, 2014.) For many Europeans, the early 1900s must have been exciting and hopeful times. The Industrial Revolution, beginning 150 years earlier, had given them a higher standard … Continue reading

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Burnside: A “Want of Success”

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on June 18, 2014.) Ambrose Everett Burnside, Rhode Island’s most famous Civil War general, had a military career with actions sometimes very competent and praiseworthy but at other times incompetent … Continue reading

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From Slavery to Greatness

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on May 7, 2014.) Next to Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass was probably the greatest African-American in US history. Unlike King, Frederick Douglass—born Frederick Bailey in February 1818—was not killed … Continue reading

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The Seeds of Inhumanity: Rwanda’s Genocide

(This essay, abridged, was originally published by the Newport Daily News on April 8, 2014, as “After Rwanda, can world say: ‘Never again?.’”) Twenty years ago this month, the world watched what was probably the fastest genocide in modern history … Continue reading

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Julia Ward Howe, Author of Battle Hymn, Spent Much of Her Life in Portsmouth

(This essay was originally published as “Beyond the ‘Battle Hymn,’” in the Newport Daily News on March 22, 2014.) Julia Ward Howe, a talented, independent-minded woman of the 19th century—poet, writer, playwright, preacher, lecturer, and reform leader—spent much of her life at … Continue reading

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Rhode Island’s Industrial Might Boosted the Union’s War Effort

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on February 19, 2014.) Many historians consider the Civil War the first “modern war,” by which they are referring to two things. It was the first war to mobilize the … Continue reading

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What the Robins Tell Me: Climate Change Is Our Problem

(This essay was published originally by the Newport Daily News on February 12, 2014.)   Even before Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962, I was environment-curious. Sixty years ago in northeast New Jersey, I watched the trash men haul away … Continue reading

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Did American Education Forget Gettysburg?

 (This essay was originally published in The Lincoln Forum Bulletin, Fall 2013. On the 150th anniversary of the greatest, most significant battle since the Revolutionary War, America—but for historical circles and the celebrations in Gettysburg itself—appears disinterested. Abe Lincoln, our … Continue reading

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Rhodes Remains “All for the Union”

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on December 31, 2013, as “Despite hardships, soldier remained ‘for the Union.’”) The year 1863 was filled with mud, battles, hunger, comradeship, and firmness in commitment to God and country for … Continue reading

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