Adam Hendel also has a new Civil War blog, The American Civil War, which so far consists of some interesting scholarly articles. Have a look. Welcome to the blogosphere, Adam. I’ve added a link to your blog.

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Sorry I’ve been quiet. We went to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit Susan’s sister. My nieces have been bugging us to come visit, so we pulled the trigger this weekend and went.

On Saturday, we went to the Wings Over Pittsburgh air show, held on the grounds of the Air National Guard base that’s adjacent to Pittsburgh International Airport. It was a very impressive show. It’s too bad that my nieces, who are 11 1/2 (they’re identical twins) couldn’t possibly have been less interested, because there was some incredibly cool stuff there. My nephew, who’s six, was big into it, and he had a ball.

We had lunch when we first got there. We ended up sitting on the ground …

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Hat tip to Kevin Levin for pointing out that there’s a new blog in town….

The new blog is called Not in Memoriam, but In Defense. Although the blogger has told us virtually nothing about herself, she is apparently a student at Harvard named Sarah, working on a thesis of some sort (I can’t tell whether it’s a master’s thesis or not) that addresses some interesting social history issues pertaining to how Confederate monuments have fared in Richmond, Stone Mountain, and a small town called Moulton, Alabama. The first few posts have been quite interesting, although some information about the blogger, why this topic interests her, and what her ultimate objectives–other than fulfilling an academic requirement–for her research would …

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Lest it be said that I am a complete Cro-Magnon Man, I wanted to follow up on what I said yesterday.

Someone–who didn’t have the guts to sign his name to his comment–posted a comment on Kevin Levin’s blog that says that I research and write for entertainment. I want to address that comment. While it’s true that my projects are chosen based on my own interest, I also do so because researching and writing about things is how I LEARN about them. I find that doing so is the best way for me to learn. While I don’t have to worry about the old “publish or perish” rule, and don’t write because my job security depends on it, I …

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Kevin Levin has an interesting post on his blog today expressing his preference for university press books since they utilize an anonymous peer review process. He asked what some of the smaller independents such as Ironclad Publishing, Savas-Beatie, and White Mane do in the way of peer review.

Let me begin by saying that White Mane does none. As it is not much more than a subsidy press, they will publish anything that comes in the door, usually without even copy editing the books. That’s why White Mane has such an atrocious reputation. I might add that the company’s atrocious reputation is richly deserved.

I also want to address the question of university press peer review. I’ve had …

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Today, being the 143rd anniversary of the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, seems a good time to make an announcement.

In 1986, Ed Longacre published his book The Cavalry at Gettysburg. It won lots of awards when it was published–and rightfully so. It was a groundbreaking work, the first full-length study to focus entirely on mounted operations during the Gettysburg Campaign. There are a couple of problems with the book. First, and foremost, Ed’s never been known as a tactical historian. His works always deal with the big picture and seldom contain much in the way of tactical detail. Consequently, all of the campaign’s mounted actions, including the fourteen hour slugging match at Brandy Station, are covered …

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Time for a good rant. I haven’t had one for a while. Warning to those of you who are only interested in the Civil War–you’re going to hate this post. It’s a rant about something else that’s always been important in my life–music–and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Civil War. So, proceed at your own peril.

I was born in the spring of 1961, meaning that I am 45 years old, although there was a time not that long ago (or so it seems) when the thought of being 45 was akin to being old as the hills. For the most part, I try not to act my age; I try to live my life by the title …

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Saturday is the 143rd anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I don’t mean to downplay the anniversary of the battle. It’s obviously a landmark event that’s more than worthy of commemoration. That much is beyond dispute.

The anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg has pretty much taken on a life of its own over the years. They started holding an annual reenactment event near the battlefield each year, and that’s what really triggered the insanity. Now, mind you, Gettysburg is a small town, perhaps 7500 permanent residents. It has an uncommon number of restaurants and hotels due to the tourist trade, but each year, tens of thousands of people descent on this little town for the …

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Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to post anything today….

However, I couldn’t resist this. After the horrible news about Hunterstown, it’s nice to be able to bring you some good battlefield preservation news. From the Charlottesville Daily Progress newspaper:

Battlefield quashed as cell tower site

By Megan Rowe / Daily Progress staff writer
June 26, 2006

TREVILIANS – To Steward Hottinger, the offer from Community Wireless Structures III LLC sounded promising.

The company was going to pay him an increasing sum during the next 35 years to build a 199-foot-tall cell phone tower on a stretch of his property off Louisa Road.

The first year, he and his wife, Mary, would have gotten $14,400. Eventually, the amount …

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I put in a couple of good hours on Dahlgren tonight. My chapter on the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid is now at 6900 words, and I still have a LOT of material left to go before I feel like it’s done. My guess is that it will exceed 10,000 words when it’s all said and done. It feels really good to get back to it. I’m re-energized and finally back in the groove. I think that I will be able to finish this eleventh chapter in a week or so. Once it’s done, I have two more chapters and a couple of appendices to go, and then, at long last, the first draft of the Ulric Dahlgren biography will be complete.

I …

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