It’s been a LONG time since I was this angry about something. I received this press release from the CWPT today:

DEVELOPERS ILLEGALLY BULLDOZE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LAND AT HARPERS FERRY

Historic School House Ridge Battlefield at Harpers Ferry Violated This Past Weekend

Harpers Ferry, W.Va. – The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) issued a statement today in response to the illegal bulldozing of a portion of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park this past weekend by a handful of local developers. Purposely and without permission, the developers dug a deep trench through historic land owned by the National Park Service and the American people.

“Beginning on the morning of August 19, 2006, …

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With his express permission, here is the pertinent portion of the letter from Dave Gaddy:

By e-mail I also wrote of the composition of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren columns, seeing evidence of “task-organization” that seemed so modern to me. For example, the assignment of men from the BMI, headed by Capt. McEntee, one of the (if not the) top men of Sharpe’s organization; the assignment of two signal officers (which should have entailed a small team of accompanying signal specialists each); engineers, pioneers, commissaries, quartermasters, etc., plus “specialized equipment” for raiders, such as oakum, turpentine, and torpedoes/mines—placed under control of signal officers. I do appreciate your desire not to be drawn into a detailed examination of the raid itself. But, for example, …

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Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I’ve spent a lot of time–and a lot of words here–discussing the question of what Lincoln knew and when he knew it with respect to the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid, and specifically, whether Lincoln knew of and approved of a plan to kidnap and assassinate Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, as certain papers found on Dahlgren’s body suggested.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the working draft of my take on this question here, and the next night, I supplemented that post with additional thoughts on the same question. Between these two posts, I laid out my thoughts on this topic in great detail, and figured that I had, at long …

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A special thanks to Mike Koepke and to Tom Churchill at Touch the Elbow for their kind words about our shameless self-promotion of our book on Stuart’s Ride. Thanks for noticing, and thanks also for the kind words.

And Tom, thanks also for your kind words about this blog. It’s good therapy for me. 🙂

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Time for another installment in my periodic series on forgotten cavalrymen.

Born on March 8, 1836, Matthew Calbraith Butler came from a prominent Greenville, SC family. His grandfather and father were U. S. Congressmen, his uncle was a U. S. Senator from South Carolina, and his mother was related to Commodore Matthew C. Perry and to War of 1812 naval hero Admiral Oliver Hazard Perry. His wife was the daughter of South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens, and was related to Sen. John C. Calhoun. He was educated at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), and had no formal military training at all.

Butler became a lawyer, and was elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1860. …

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In the never-ending hope of selling more books, J. D. Petruzzi and I have developed a web site to try to sell copies of our book on Stuart’s Ride. Please check out our new web site.

Of course, the site exists for one reason: shameless self-promotion. 🙂

Having said that, it was just launched yesterday, and the content for it is still being developed. Please check back regularly.

And thanks for tolerating our shameless self-promotion.

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I’m often asked why I continue to write books about the Civil War. Surely, they say, with the thousands of books that have been written on the subject, what could possibly be left to cover?

The answer, amazingly enough, is plenty. I’ve always tried to choose topics that others don’t. Take a look at my studies of Sheridan’s Trevilian Raid or the Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads if you need examples of what I mean here. From my perspective, the more obscure, the better. There are, of course, exceptions: our forthcoming book on Stuart’s ride during the Gettysburg Campaign is a topic that has been covered previously, but we’ve brought a completely different approach to the subject that will set our …

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I surprised myself and finished incorporating the letters into the final three chapters of the manuscript tonight and sent them off to the publisher. It is, at long, long last, finally and truly finished.

I know I’ve said this before, but the feeling is almost beyond description. I’ve been working on this for more than 12 years, and knowing that it is finally really and truly finished is beyond my words’ ability to describe.

Thanks for tolerating my constant ranting about this, but it’s been quite an adventure, and it’s finally time to move on.

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I’ve spent the last three evenings working on incorporating the letters into the manuscript of my regimental history of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry. I’m making good progress–even better than expected. I’m up to the eve of Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign–the Army of the Potomac is about to break its winter camp and take the field. That means that I am through 8 of the 12 chapters. I doubt I will finish tomorrow night, but I will definitely have it finished over the weekend and then, I can, at long last, put this thing to rest.

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Time for just a bit of shameless self-promotion.

J. D. Petruzzi and I have been informed by our publisher, Ted Savas, that our new book on Stuart’s Ride to Gettysburg will be available just after September 1. We also plan to have a Special Gettysburg Edition, limited to only 100, individually numbered and signed by J. D., me, and hopefully, Mark Grimsley (who wrote the Foreword). Shortly we’ll release details on how folks can get hold of one of those babies.

J. D. and I are also putting together a website devoted to the book. Information on that to come.

Please see the Savas-Beatie web site for additional information on the book.

Personally, I’m eager to see it in print …

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