I would be remiss if I didn’t at least acknowledge the 145th anniversary of the largest cavalry battle ever fought on the North American continent. Today is the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Brandy Station, and it was my honor to spend yesterday on the battlefield with Bud Hall. In the process, I got to see things that hardly anyone else ever gets to see. As we were in Bud’s SUV, we did some serious four-wheeling across farm fields to see some of the sites.

As just one example, we went down to the site of the Green farm, which served as Alfred Pleasonton’s headquarters during the winter encampment of 1863-1864. The house is gone, but Bud retrieved two …

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I’m sitting in the A.P Hill Room (yes, I thought of you immediately when I heard which room I’d been assigned, Jenny Goellnitz) in the very lovely Inn at Kelly’s Ford, meaning that I am again spending the night on a battlefield this evening. It was 97 here today, with high humidity, which is just ghastly. It’s hard to believe that it’s only June 8 with such weather.

Here’s a quick recap of the weekend. I left Columbus at 2:00 on Thursday afternoon, arriving at Dr. Dave Moore’s house on Herr’s Ridge about 8. We proceeded to sign 175 books and another 80 or so book plates for our special edition. I then went to Stan O’Donnell’s mansion …

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Tomorrow, I’m off to Gettysburg. We have lots of booksignings there this weekend for the retreat book. Here’s the schedule, in case any of you are in the area:

Friday, June 6 – The three of us will have a special booksigning for members of the Gettysburg Discussion Group at their muster, in the meeting room of the Holiday Inn from 5:00pm to 6:15pm. Special GDG bookplates will be included with each book.

Friday, June 6 – The three of us will have a talk and signing at Gettysburg’s Gallery 30 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. 30 York Street in Gettysburg, Pa. This event is the National Release of our new book One Continuous Fight: The Retreat From Gettysburg and the …

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I think that I have mentioned that J. D. and I are going to do a three-volume study of cavalry operations during the Gettysburg Campaign. We’re hoping that it’s going to end up being the definitive study of these operations, as Steve Stanley, who does the great maps for America’s Civil War and Hallowed Ground magazines, has agreed to do the maps for this project for us.

Tonight, I put together some prior materials that I’ve written on the June 9, 1863 Battle of Brandy Station just to see what I’ve got. A prior book of mine, The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863 included two chapters and a total of about 21,000 words on …

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Our friends Dave and Carol Moore live in a lovely home on Herr’s Ridge in Gettysburg. Dave’s father was a professor at Gettysburg College for many years, and Dave grew up in Gettysburg. When Dave finished his residency (he’s a family practice physician), he and his wife Carol decided to settle in Dave’s home town.

We often use Dave and Carol’s home as a our base of operations when we’re in Gettysburg, and they’re always extremely generous with us. J.D. and Mike Nugent will be staying there this weekend when we’re all in Gettysburg, and we will use it as our base of operations once more. Consequently, J.D. had Ted Savas ship books to Dave’s house, and Dave generously agreed …

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I have just finished John Ferling’s excellent Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Ferling is a retired professor of history, and this book is the product of a lifetime’s work on his part. And it shows.

This is, without doubt, one of the finest books on the American Revolution ever written. It’s a military history of the Revolution meant to be the companion volume to his A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic , which is a political history of the Revolutionary War. It covers the war completely, with enough detail to give the reader a good overview of what happened and ideas of where to look for more …

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Microsoft was true to its word. If you go to its Live Book Search site today, you will get this message: “We’re sorry, the Live Search Books service is no longer available.” I’m no fan of Microsoft under ANY circumstances; I still firmly believe it to be the Evil Empire. However, the Live Book Search feature was an extremely valuable tool that I used very extensively and with great success during the completion of the retreat book. I will miss having it available as a resource. Microsoft, demonstrating that it’s all about Microsoft and the rest of the world be damned, could have done the right thing and given all of the scanned books to Archive.org, but it has evidently …

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As two readers and Ted Alexander have pointed out, I erred when I said that that hotel room was included in the cost of the Chambersburg seminar next month. Hotel is NOT included in the cost.

Sorry for the error, and thanks to those who pointed it out to me.

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Ted Alexander sent me the program for this year’s July Chambersburg Civil War Seminar, which will be held in Chambersburg July 23-28, 2008. Judging from the draft brochure that Ted sent along, this is going to be the mother of all Gettysburg seminars.

Among the presenters are Ed Bearss, Ted Alexander, Kent Masterson Brown, Jeff Wert, Ethan Rafuse, Rick Sauers, Dick Sommers, Troy Harman, Gary Kross, Wayne Wachsmuth, David Martin, Blake Magner, Scott Mingus, Joe Bilby, Eric Campbell, and others. It’s a veritable who’s who of Gettysburg scholars, and it looks like it’s going to be an absolutely spectacular program. Participants will have a huge variety of tours and talks to choose from. J.D. and I will be …

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As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m leading a tour of central Virginia cavalry battlefields for the Civil War Education Association from June 19-22. The event is headquartered in Culpeper, VA, and will be covering the Battle of Brandy Station, the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, the Battle of Trevilian Station, and the fighting at Culpeper in September 1863. It should be a terrific tour.

I’ve been coordinating the Culpeper County events with my old friend and mentor Bud Hall, who is THE authority on Brandy Station, and who is the one most responsible for the preservation of that battlefield. Between us, we’ve cooked up some nifty surprises for the group for the Culpeper County portion of the tour. Just to whet your …

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