My office is located in a suburb of Columbus called Pickerington. There’s a strip shopping center in Pickerington where there’s a Mexican restaurant that Susan and I like. We had dinner there on Sunday, and then we walked a block to a Rita’s Italian Ice store for dessert.

I have been to that shopping center previously, and I knew that there was an odd open spot in the middle of it. I never noticed what fills that odd opening before Sunday night. As we walked by it, I noticed a white column that said “Sherman”, so it got my attention. I went to look at it, and it was a monument to William T. Sherman that I have never seen …

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Spotted in the gift shop of the new Visitor Center in Gettysburg…..

This is wrong in more ways than I can count…..

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I will be signing books on Saturday May 22, 2010, from 1-3 at the Battlefields and Beyond Military Book Shoppe in Gettysburg. If you’re in the area, please come by and say hello!

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Mike Noirot has posted a review of my Brandy Station book on his blog. Please check it out.

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I am a charter member of the Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable. I attended the first meeting in 1988, and I was its second president and second program chair. I have been involved with the organization from the very beginning. The organization has grown and evolved over the years, and it has now launched its own website, which I invite you to check out. I have added a link under the Civil War Sites of Interest section. Kudos to CWRT president Tim Maurice for getting this site launched.

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My friend Mike Block, who is a member of the board of trustees of the Brandy Station Foundation, and who is researching a book on the winter encampment of the Army of the Potomac during the winter of 1863-1864, has launched a new blog called Today at Brandy Station, which follows events that took place at Brandy Station on a day-by-day basis. There’s lots of interest here, so enjoy. I’ve added this blog to the blogroll.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Mike.

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I want to endorse the efforts of the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association to raise money to acquire battlefield land and to develop a visitor’s center for interpretation of the battlefield, and I encourage you to donate to their efforts, too. The following article appeared in the May 7 issue of the Waynesboro Record Herald newspaper:

Washington Township’s preservation efforts for the Battle of Monterey Pass receive strong support, but there’s still more to do

By Matt McLaughlin/The Record Herald
Fri May 07, 2010, 12:17 PM EDT

Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. –

Significant strides have been made since Washington Township agreed to raise funds to purchase land and establish an interpretive site dedicated to the Battle of Monterey Pass in January.

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Thanks to help from several of you, and especially from fellow Buckeye Chris Van Blargan, the mystery of Paul von Koenig and of his brother, Lt. Gen. Goetz Friedrich Wilhelm Ulrich, Freiherr von Koenig, has been solved. Lt. Gen. von Koenig was a cavalry officer–he commanded a German cavalry corps during World War I, and was awarded the Blue Max in 1915, which was Imperial Germany’s highest military decoration.

Paul von Koenig was apparently something of a soldier of fortune who was wounded in combat five times while fighting in Mexico before the Civil War. He and his brother Robert von Koenig both fought during the Second Bull Run Campaign, and Paul von Keonig became good friends with future president …

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From the editorial page of today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Editorial: No dice on Gettysburg

Since the state Gaming Control Board in 2006 rejected a proposed slots parlor several miles from the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, it’s hard to see how a full-blown casino just a half-mile south of the hallowed ground is an improvement.

Former Conrail chairman David M. LeVan is back with another proposal to build a casino near where thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers fought and died during the pivotal battle.

Like his failed bid for a gambling license, LeVan’s new proposal has rekindled the dispute between civic leaders, merchants, Civil War buffs, and conservationists over whether gambling can coexist with the historic

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For about fifteen years now, I have made a point of going to the annual Civil War show in Mansfield, Ohio, which is always held the first weekend in May. It’s been a place to catch up with friends, to perhaps buy something, and to work my network. I usually run into at least one regular reader of this blog there. However, last year’s show introduced World War I and World War II relics, and that stuff took up about half of the show. A lot of the vendors that I’ve visited over the years were not there last year and I don’t expect to see them this year either. It’s just not worth the time or money to attend …

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