Time for another in my infrequent series of forgotten cavalrymen. Today, we have a guest biographer, Sheridan “Butch” Barringer, who is a cousin of our featured horseman, Brig. Gen. Rufus Barringer, the final commander of the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade. Butch was named for his father who, ironically, was named for Phil Sheridan, who captured General Barringer at Namozine Church during the retreat to Appomattox in April 1865.

Here’s Butch’s profile of his famous ancestor:

Rufus Barringer, a third generation American of Southern aristocracy, was born on December 2, 1821, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. His father was Paul Barringer, an influential citizen of the county and officer in the militia during the War of 1812. His mother was Elizabeth

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A hearty congratulations are in order to the New York Mets for repeating their epic collapse of 2007 again this year. With another fold again this year, the Mets ensured that the spectacular meltdown of their incendiary bullpen means that the season ended for them today. Nice work, guys. Way to blow the season.

In my book, a very good baseball season is one where no New York team makes the playoffs. A great baseball season is one where no New York team makes the playoffs AND the Phillies do. This has been a great baseball season.

For only the 13th time in the history of the team, my Phillies won 90 or more games this year, posting a 92-70 …

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Our friend Paul R. Taylor has a really interesting post on his blog setting forth his opinion on what should and should not be included in museum exhibits at Civil War battlefields. Paul’s post sums up my position on this issue perfectly, and I commend it to you.

While I understand the role of slavery in causing the war, I agree with Paul that most folks visit specific battlefields to learn about the events that occurred there. Consequently, I agree that the issue of the causes of the war and of slavery is best left to general Civil War museums and that these issues really have no place on specific battlefields.

Much of this controversy has been brought to the …

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On September 23, 2005, the first post of this blog was made. There’s not much to it, other than a brief introduction. I started this blog to scratch an itch I’d had for a while; I had things to say and hoped someone would pay attention. Little did I know what I had started….

Three years, 806 posts, and 5134 comments later, this blog is still going strong. To my astonishment, not only were people interested in what I had to say, you have flocked to this site. This blog is regularly ranked within the top 200,000 listed on Technorati. Considering that this is very much a niche blog, and there are millions of blogs out there, it’s really …

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Some of you have asked about when Scott Mingus’ new book, Flames Beyond the Susquehanna: The Gordon Expedition will be published by Ironclad. I anticipate that the book will be out in mid-November, if all goes well. It’s an excellent book, and one that will be a welcome addition to the body of knowledge about the Gettysburg Campaign.

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I couldn’t resist sharing this review of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 posted on Amazon.com today by loyal reader Kris Christensen:

I cannot say enough good things about this work. I read Plenty of Blame first (same publisher), which was also groundbreaking and changed entirely the way I look at the cavalry in the campaign and Stuart in particular. Who knew all that about the horses, their endurance, the choices that had to be made, etc. Everyone had an opinion, but no one except Petruzzi and Wittenberg actually spent the time to research it. Bravo to you both.

One Continuous Fight is everything the blurbs and

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The title of the recent book by Marc Leepson, Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History, clearly states the book’s thesis: that the Battle of Monocacy saved the Federal capital at Washington, D.C. from falling to Jubal Early’s Confederate army. That’s the conventional wisdom, and there’s certainly absolutely nothing new about that interpretation.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this important and fascinating battle, and I have likewise spent a fair amount of time talking about it with old friend Scott Patchan. In fact, Scott deserves a major tip of the hat, as he’s the one who really got me thinking along these lines. Scott’s point is that while …

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Every once in a while, I get into a rut where I just don’t feel like writing, especially not writing something new. These spells come and go. They usually last a few months and then something comes along to shake me out of my malaise.

I seem to be deeply mired in one of those periods just now. I just can’t seem to be able to motivate myself to undertake writing anything new. The thought of the process of pulling this stuff together to construct a new narrative is very offputting at the moment. I think abut it, and I just don’t want to do it. I think that the fact that we haven’t had a vacation since May 2006 …

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Here’s a link to my friend Scott’s blog that will give you some idea of some of the damage sustained on the western side of the county. It will give you a sense of what we’ve been dealing with here.

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First, it is worth noting that this is the 800th post on this blog. That’s a milestone I never thought I would reach, and I thank each and every one of you who takes time out of your day to indulge my rantings.

Here’s a quick update on the status of things here. Our power came back on at the house last night. We were at the hotel, and Susan realized she had forgotten something and ran home to get it. She then discovered that the power was back on, called me to tell me, and then came to pick us up and take us home. We still have no telephone or Internet (hopefully, those will come back today) and …

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