J. D. Petruzzi has an interesting but sad post on his blog today regarding the destruction of the stone wall that was the focus of some fairly bitter fighting between troopers of Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s Second Cavalry Division and the Stonewall Brigade of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps for several hours late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863. JD also points out that the landowners have re-graded the ground to the east of where the wall stood and have changed the historic lay of the land.

That stone wall became the linchpin to the position, and, at one point, there was literally a race between troopers of the 10th New York and 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry …

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Please forgive this rant, which has absolutely nothing to do with the Civil War.

Today, I suffered through my third straight week of watching some of the most pathetic offensive football since the Roman Gabriel days of my childhood in the early 1970’s. The Eagles’ offense did not score a single point today against the Baltimore Ravens; their only score was a 100-yard kickoff return in a very ugly 36-7 loss. This after a 13-13 tie with the 1-8 Cincinnati Bengals, and a 36-31 loss to the Giants the week before in a game that the Birds should have won.

Donovan McNabb has thrown 6 interceptions in his last game and a half, and he got yanked at halftime today …

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An active duty Army officer named Doug Davids left an interesting comment on my very early post on Tom Carhart’s crappy book. The comment left was good enough that I decided to pull it forward and feature in an actual blog post. Here’s the comment that Doug left earlier today:

Eric,
Sorry for the late reply. I’m at a busy time. Also, I’ll heed the warning on the language. I forget that civilians are not used to the sometimes overly blunt and colorful language we use in the military. I’ll tone it down. BTW: I appreciate you having a web site that opens up dialogue such as this discussion. I think it makes for great debate of an obviously very

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This excellent article from today’s issue of The Washington Post does a great job of explaining why I support the efforts of the Civil War Preservation Trust:

McMansionizing History: Can anyone save some of the Civil War’s most important battlefields?

By John A. Farrell
Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page W14

In 1964, Michael Shaara, a frustrated writer of little-known fiction, took his wife and children on a road trip to the World’s Fair in New York. On their way home, they stopped at Gettysburg National Military Park, where a fine statue of Robert E. Lee guards the western reach of the famous battlefield.

The statue marks the area where, on July 3, 1863, Confederate Gen. George Pickett led some

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Time for another installment in my infrequent series of profiles of forgotten Civil War Cavalrymen. Today, we feature Col. James H. Childs, colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, who was killed in action at the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862.

James Harvey Childs was born on the 4th of July, 1834, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was Harvey Childs, a native of Massachusetts. His mother, Jane Bailey (Lowrie) Childs, was a sister of the Hon. Walter H. Lowrie, late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. He was educated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in the class of 1852. He stood six feet tall, was well-proportioned, and enjoyed good health. He was married on the 14th of July, 1857, …

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Hat tip to old friend Nick Picerno for passing along this wonderful news.

From a press release issued today by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (of which Nick is a board member):

More Battlefield Land to Be Protected at Third Winchester
SVBF, CWPT, Commonwealth of Virginia Team up to Protect Key Parcel

WINCHESTER, Va.—Nestled just north of the bustling Va. Route 7 corridor on the east side of Winchester lie now-quiet farm fields that the National Park Service has described as “some of the most sanguinary fields of the Civil War.” Here, during the Third Battle of Winchester (19 September 1864), on battleground now dubbed the Middle Field, the fighting was close and fierce and the Union’s 19th Corps suffered

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Although Kevin Levin disagrees with me, I remain convinced that there is something inherently inappropriate and a conflict of interest in the hiring of John Latschar to become the new head of the Gettysburg Foundation.

From Saturday’s edition of The Gettysburg Times:

What will be Latschar’s legacy?

Published: Saturday, November 8, 2008 1:44 PM EST
BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

Times Staff Writer

Love him or hate him, one thing about John Latschar’s tenure as superintendent at Gettysburg National Military Park is certain — he will be remembered.

“My legacy is up for other people to decide,” Latschar said Friday, the day he announced he was leaving his post after 14 years on the job.

Latschar came to town

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Time to do a little blogroll housekeeping.

Unfortunately, Touch the Elbow, always one of my favorite blogs, has apparently faded to black for the second time. There hasn’t been a new post since July 4, and even then, it was not a substantive post. I’ve deleted it from the blogroll.

Sarah Adler has not posted since August 31. She had indicated that she was going to take a moratorium from posting, so I’ve also deleted the link to her blog.

I have added a link to the excellent Gettysburg Daily, which is maintained by an unidentified Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide, and which provides an excellent photographic record of the many changes to the Gettysburg National Military Park.

I’ve also …

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I am no admirer of Dr. John Latschar, the present superintendent of the Gettysburg National Military Park. There are plenty of reasons why, but I won’t bore you with the details again. Suffice it to say that there are two unforgivable sins in my world: lying to me and wasting my time. This guy has done both.

The following press release was issued by the …

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From yesterday’s issue of The Gettysburg Times:

Park Service holds off on Cyclorama demolition pending court decision

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 7:00 AM EST

A compromise has been reached in the planned razing of the former Cyclorama building at Gettysburg National Military Park.

The park has decided that “no demolition of the building will take place,” pending the resolution of a two-year-old lawsuit to save the building.

“During this time, the National Park Service will solicit bids for demolition of the Cyclorama building and the former visitor center, and plans to undertake the demolition of the former visitor center,” U.S. Dept. of Justice attorney Samantha Klein wrote in a Nov. 3

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