I accompanied Susan to see the orthopedist this morning. I am pretty sure that we are single-handedly funding either his retirement or the education of his children. This fellow has done both of her prior reconstructions, he did the arthroscopic procedure on my left shoulder, and treated my achilles tendinitis, among other things. I often wonder whether he cringes or smiles when he sees one of us coming.

Today, there was good news, bad news, and unwelcome news.

The good news: The MCL, LCL, and PCL are intact and undamaged. There was much less damage than any of us expected, which is a very good thing.

The bad news: The ACL is toast. She also has a torn meniscus. She …

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One of my favorite clients is a local theater company that operates a cabaret. The talent and productions are first-rate, and I really enjoy working with them. The company is called the Shadowbox Cabaret. Imagine Saturday Night Live at its very best, and you will get an idea of what I’m talking about here.

Anyway, a group of us (14, to be precise) went to see the show tonight. One of the guys in the group had asked me to bring him a copy of the Stuart’s Ride book, so I did. One of the fellows in our group was not aware that I was a writer, let alone that I had jointly produced a 400+ page book. When …

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When I met my wife in 1991, she was a mere 23. She had a nasty surgical scar on her left knee, so I asked about it. Two years earlier, at 21, she’d had reconstructive knee surgery to replace a blown anterior cruciate ligament. She told me what an ordeal the rehab was.

Now, I was (and am) no stranger to orthopedic injuries. I’ve torn up my left ankle something like 30 times over the course of my life, including twice badly enough to have be in a cast for more than a month. If I look at it funny, it goes. I once sprained both ankles at the same time. THAT was fun. I broke my left leg playing …

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Today, J. D. Petruzzi’s blog features a post about one of my favorite primary sources, The Journal of the United States Cavalry Association, which was a professional journal for serving officers of the United States Cavalry. George S. Patton, Jr., an old horse soldier, was a regular contributor the Journal.

Another regular contributor was one of my favorite Confederate cavalrymen, Col. Thomas Taylor Munford. I’ve always believed that Munford got an incredibly raw deal from the Confederate hgh command. For one thing, he wasn’t a West Pointer, and for another, he wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with. At the same time, he was an extremely competent cavalryman who often commanded brigade and occasionally even a division …

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In addition to everything else on my plate, I am also the president, managing editor, and CFO of Ironclad Publishing. I am also the fulfillment department. In other words, I handle pretty much everything for the company but marketing and the vast majority of the copyediting (although I’ve done some of that, too). As if I don’t already have enough to do, right?

We just came out with a new title. The book is titled The Battle Between the Farm Lanes: Hancock Saves the Union Center; Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, and was written by Dave Shultz and David F. Wieck. Some of you may be aware of Dave Shultz’s excellent little book about the Federal artillery in Pickett’s …

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J. D. Petruzzi has an excellent post about leading tours of obscure places as his first real blog entry. Those of you who know me, or who have been long-time readers of this blog, know that there are few things that I enjoy more than seeing or visiting really obscure places. I love visiting really obscure placs that few if anyone ever visits.

I especially love leading tours of obscure places. Let’s face it: most serious students of the Civil war have seen the site of Pickett’s Charge. I have never found Pickett’s Charge even remotely interesting–in fact, it bores me–and I’ve walked it four or five times in my life. If I never hear of it again, it …

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Andy MacIsaac’s blog, First Maine Forward, has not had a new post since July 20, meaning it’s been completely inactive for more than 90 days. Consequently, I have deleted the link to it. If Andy resumes blogging, I will restore the link.

My good friend and co-author J. D. Petruzzi has decided to enter the blogging fray with a new blog called Hoofbeats and Cold Steel. JD’s first post is an interesting one, and one which I will explore a bit later today.

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Sarah of Not in Memoriam but in Defense is back after a lengthy absence. I have, therefore, added her link back in, as I promised to do. I apparently had something to do with it. Responding to my post where I indicated that I was deleting the link to her blog due to no posts in ten weeks, Sarah wrote, “The shame I felt after reading this blog entry was partially a motivating factor. So, thanks!” Given her interesting insights, I’m glad to hear that I had something to do with bringing her blog back on line.

She’s got an interesting post on Birth of a Nation. Check it out.

And welcome back, Sarah.

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Today, I received the page galleys for my regimental history of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush’s Lancers.

I first started gathering material on this regiment twelve years ago, and it took me that long to research and write this new regimental history. My issues with finishing this project are well-documented on this blog, and I need not repeat them again. Suffice it to say that I reached a point where I was starting to think that this project would NEVER be finished.

Fortunately, it is. I signed off on the page galleys tonight, and the book looks really good. With the index, it will have approximately 320 pages, about 20 maps, about 70 illustrations, and relies …

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While in Gettysburg this weekend, I picked up Joseph W. McKinney’s new book on the Battle of Brandy Station, Brandy Station, Virginia, June 9, 1863: The Largest Cavalry Battle of the Civil War. As a cavalry guy, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing this book in the hope that it would fill a huge gap in the literature. I wish I could say that I came away from reading this book believing that that huge gap has been filled. Sadly, it has not. Nevertheless, I thought I would review it here.

The Battle of Brandy Station was the opening engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign. Fought June 9, 1863 on the fields and hills of Culpeper County, Virginia, Brandy …

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