For years, I’ve argued with people about Nathan Bedford Forrest. I have some extremely strong opinions about where Forrest falls in the pantheon of Civil War cavalrymen. I’ve elaborated on the issue at length here in one of my first posts on this blog. Suffice it to say that, in spite of the abuse heaped on me by the Forrest worshippers, I don’t think much of him as a cavalryman, but I admire his ability commanding mounted infantry. Thus, in my opinion, one cannot even consider Forrest a cavalryman, meaning he does not rank in my world.

In addition, I’ve always been known as an Eastern Theater guy, and I probably always will be, simply because the Eastern Theater is …

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You are never going to become successful on TokTok if you remain a lurker, watching other peoples’ videos, possibly even leaving comments, but never uploading your original material.

You will never be more than an also-ran, however, if you limit yourself to uploading bog-standard lip-synch videos, either. Sure, that’s fine for generally-untalented teenagers, just wanting to be part of the crowd, along with their real-life friends. But it is incredibly limiting to your online social success.

If you have any talent in your niche and even a fraction of confidence, make an effort to produce original videos. TikTpk’s young audience probably don’t require that you have hidden depths of technical expertise, but they do expect you to at least make …

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I’ve mentioned previously that I’m one of the tour leaders for Ted Alexander’s Mother of All Gettysburg Seminars, to be held in Chambersburg from July 23-27.

On Thursday, July 24, JD and I are scheduled to lead a day-long tour of some of the sites associated with Jeb Stuart’s ride during the Gettysburg Campaign. Ted called me last night to let me know that about 70 people have registered for the weekend so far and that seats for our tour are filling up fast. It appears that we will be conducting the tour in a 15-passenger van, and about 12 of those seats are already spoken for. Consequently, if you have an interest in going on this tour with …

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The other day, I received a letter that informed me that the Nominating Committee of the newly-formed Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Foundation had chosen me for a three-year term as one of the founding voting trustees of the Foundation. Given that I wasn’t even aware that the Foundation had been formed, it came as quite a wonderful surprise, and I immediately accepted the invitation.

The Foundation is apparently an arm of the Ohio Historical Society, as the letter came in an OHS envelope, and as the Foundation will be maintaining its office at the OHS facility here in Columbus. OHS owns a miserable little …

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This was one of the worst days I’ve had in about as long as I can remember. As I sit here, I feel completely violated. My world has been invaded, and I’m not sure that it will ever quite be the same again.

As a sole practitioner, my entire world, everything associated with the operation of my business, is based in the computer that I use at the office. My time and billing software, my accounting software, my case management software, and, of course, my client files, are the lifeblood of how I operate.

My office is at the end of a building in an office condominium complex. The office backs up to a stand of trees that divides the …

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My friend Clark B. “Bud” Hall sent this item along today. This is great news, and an extremely generous gift that will prove invaluable to those who study the life and career of George Armstrong Custer:

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today that it has donated a collection of civil war artifacts to the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center’s Military History Institute in Carlisle, Penn. The historic collection, which includes more than 200 pieces, belonged to Jacob Lyman Greene, the adjutant general (chief administrative officer) to General George Custer.

“As a Fortune 100 financial services organization, we are committed to giving back to our communities. We are thus very pleased to donate this lasting collection of history

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I’m going to rant about something unrelated to the Civil War now, so if things not related to the Civil War are of no interest to you, please skip this post. This one’s been brewing all month, and it’s time to get it out of my system. I recognize that some might be offended by what I’m about to say, and I regret that. I likewise recognize that some might consider me to be insensitive for what I am about to say. However, it’s how I feel, and I am not going to apologize for it.

Having driven more than 2400 miles this month, I’ve seen a lot of highways (many of them more than once). There are few things …

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Hell month is over. I survived.

I’m just home from the Gettysburg: Retreat and Pursuit seminar put on by Mark Snell at Shepherd University. This makes four straight weekends that I’ve traveled at least 350 miles to do an event, and wow, am I beat.

The weekend was interesting, to say the least.

It didn’t get off to a good start at all. After meeting Ted Alexander in Hagerstown on Thursday afternoon to lay one portion of the tour, I drove on to Shepherdstown to check into the hotel and got the extraordinarily unpleasant news that there was no room reserved for me. Never mind that I was the tour guide for the event, there was no reservation for me. …

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With apologies to William Shakespeare…

Tomorrow, I’m on the road yet again. This time, it’s off to Shepherdstown, WV for Mark Snell’s Gettysburg retreat seminar. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends like Mark, Ted Alexander, and Tom Clemens, but I can’t say I’m too keen on yet another 6 hour drive tomorrow.

I’m leading a tour of the route of the Wagon Train of Wounded on Friday evening, and then a full-day tour of battle sites from the retreat on Saturday. I’ve got a panel discussion on Sunday morning and then home, at which time my June insanity will finally be over, a couple of thousand miles later.

I will try to post while gone, but I make …

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Andrew Duppstadt wrote me privately yesterday and asked if I’d be interested in seeing the response of the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation to all of the criticism that’s been flying. I said sure, and in the interest of fairness, I quote the letter here verbatim:

June 23, 2008

To Our Reenactor Partners, Sponsors and Supporters:

There has recently been some negative and misleading publicity about the successful efforts of the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation to secure a binding agreement from O-N Mineral’s, (Carmeuse) to support preservation efforts and contribute to the shared goals of creating a reserve of property for further preservation efforts. We felt that we owe it to all of our reenactor partners, sponsors, supporters and the public

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