Historian Fuses Old, Modern Techniques

So Began A Never-Ending Project

It began with a phone call that turned bittersweet   Throckmorton Library of Fort Bragg, NC was discarding almost all of its reference section of books  … boxes and boxes of what could be gems in the research world. After a day of exploring the boxes’ contents,   it was a decent quantity of gold that returned to Alexandria with John Michael.

Triggered by a Tour at Arlington National Cemetery

It was a Sunday morning tour of Civil War generals at rest in ANC that triggered the concept to do two books = Civil War Generals at ANC and World War I Generals at ANC.   Little did I know what I was getting myself into especially with the World War I book.  The gold from the trip to Fort Bragg would prove to be very useful.  or among the items in the cache were the 1864 and 1865 United States Army Registers covering the  Civil War period and the 1916 and 1918 United States Army Registers for the World War  I  period.

ARMY MAGAZINE Takes Notice

In the ARMY MAGAZINE JAN 2017 issue, John Michael is asked seven questions

John Michael Kupik, a native of South River, N.J., who has lived in the Washington, D.C., area since 1994, has used his writing and photography skills full time for the past 16 years to research and document military history and heraldry from a variety of perspectives. His current book projects have him poring through official records on Civil War and World War I generals laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, Va. A member of the Army Historical Foundation and the Association of Military Historians, the former market researcher, and consultant also has written histories of Fort Myer, Va., and Fort Lesley J. McNair in the District, and he has a second book about Fort Myer is on his agenda.

1. Where did you get the idea for your latest projects on Civil War and World War I generals buried at Arlington?
I’m good friends with the historians at the cemetery, and I took a tour that highlighted Civil War generals buried there. That was the genesis of that project. We’re coming up on the U.S. World War I centennial period, so I decided to also focus on World War I generals in Arlington.

2. How are you conducting the research? I use several different databases.

There’s arlingtoncemetery.net and also findagrave.com. Arlington has its own database: www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Find-a-Grave. It’s been a rather interesting exploration. I’m going through the Official Army Register for 1918, which I received as a gift a number of years ago. It’s given me literally six pages of names of generals that I’ve validated against the 75 I’ve already identified at rest in Arlington. There are probably another 20 or so that I need to go back and do further research on.

3. Have you found anything unusual about the top officers buried in Arlington?
One anomaly is that two Confederate officers are buried in Arlington: Maj. Gen. “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, who fought for the Confederates during the Civil War and later served the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War; and Gen. Marcus Wright, who is at rest in the base of the Confederate Memorial. Another interesting thing is that the Union had a lot of generals who were not born in America. There was a gentleman from Poland, Wlodzimierz Bonawentura Krzyzanowski, who emigrated to the Washington, D.C., area because the Prussians were after him. He moved to New York City to organize a regiment there, and President Abraham Lincoln elevated him to brigadier general. Even more interesting, when he died he was buried in New York. In 1937, to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, leaders in the Polish-American community had his remains exhumed and reburied with full military honors at Arlington. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a tribute that day from the White House, broadcast on NBC Radio.

4. What kinds of things do you specifically look for in your research?

I try to come up with unique things. One nugget in my book on Fort Myer is a note written by Lincoln that few people knew existed. Lincoln wrote to Brevet Brig. Gen. James Totten requested that the older son of Maj. Gen. Amiel Whipple—Fort Myer used to be called Fort Whipple—be appointed to the U.S. Military Academy. I found that note misfiled in the National Archives, sandwiched between two photos on the floor of the building dedicated to still photography. It’s kind of like what the movie character Forrest Gump said: “You never know what you’re gonna get.” I sometimes feel like I’m putting together big jigsaw puzzles.

5. What first sparked your interest in military history?
My grandfather emigrated from Poland to South River NJ and was drafted into World War I. He came back, reopened his dry goods store, then started local Veterans of Foreign War and American Legion posts and was commander of both for eons. My dad served in the Army Air Forces in World War II; my uncle was in the Army. I was surrounded by veterans in my family.

6. Did you want to serve?
I graduated from college during the Vietnam War era and went in for my Army physical, but never heard back. Two weeks later, I called them and said, “What’s going on?” It so happened that my dad had passed away during my senior year in college, my mom was home by herself, and I was the sole surviving son—so they wouldn’t take me.

7. What would you say if someone asked you why military history is important?
I’m going to use the words of Col. Patrick M. Duggan, commander of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. When he took command, he hit the nail on the head when he said history, tradition, and legacy are the elemental aspects of the nation’s profession of arms. Strong, isn’t it?
—Chuck Vinch

Courtesy ARMY MAGAZINE, a publiation of the Association of the US Army

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Images of America – Fort Myer is a pictorial chronicle of the first one hundred years of history containing over two hundred photographs, maps, and images.  Beginning in the 1860s and carrying through the 1960s it provides a view of what was over time.  An autographed copy of the book can be purchased at BUY THE BOOK.

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