Sarah Keeney, the marketing director at Savas-Beatie, informed us today that the completed copies of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 will ship from the printer tomorrow, right on schedule. Actually seeing a copy of the finished book is only a few days away…..

UPDATE, 10:00 PM: J.D. just called. He spoke to Ted Savas a little while ago–Ted called him on his way into an Iron Maiden concert, of all things. The books shipped today, not tomorrow, and Ted told J.D. that the entire first printing has already been sold. With Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg, …

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According to this article on CNet News, Microsoft is pulling the plug on its book scanning project, essentially leaving it to Google.

404 for Microsoft’s latest decision
Posted by Charles Cooper
In the middle of a gritty search war, did Steve Ballmer just commit the mother of all mistakes?

I’ve been wondering about that ever since Microsoft said it would close its Search Books and Live Search Academic projects, thus ceding the field of book digitization to Google. (While both Live Search Books and Live Search Academic are going dark, both Google’s Book Search and Google Scholar continue to operate.)

Satya Nadella, who runs Microsoft’s Search, Portal and Advertising Platform Group wrote in a blog post that “given the

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Next week, I will have lived in Columbus for 21 years. There’s a large Victorian cemetery on the west side of town called Greenlawn Cemetery, which describes itself as “a very special park.” Until today, I had never been to Greenlawn. Since it was Memorial Day today, Susan and I decided to pay it a visit in an effort to pay tribute to some of the many military veterans who rest there. It will remind visitors of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, or Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati–as much Victorian destination as cemetery.

We didn’t get a formal tour, although there were formal tours being offered. That means we missed a lot. Among the interesting …

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My old friend Andy German, who is THE authority on all things 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, left a really outstanding comment to my post on George D. Bayard. So good, in fact, that I decided to feature it here:

Hello Eric,

I’m just catching up with your posts. It’s great to give Bayard his due. From my work on the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, he’s an old friend. It’s true that his volunteer troopers initially hated him for his strict discipline–and he knew that some had threatened to shoot him the first time they got to fire on the enemy–but after that first winter of instruction they had complete confidence in him. At a time when the federal cavalry in the east

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Hat tip to Sam Hood for passing this article along.

The following article ran in today’s issue of the Williamson Herald newspaper:

Cartwright Resigns as Carter House Executive Director

By CAROLE ROBINSON, Staff Writer
crobinson@williamsonherald.com

Even with the sounds of traffic passing along Columbia Avenue only 20 yards away, Thomas Cartwright manages to take Carter House visitors back in time to Nov. 30, 1864 and the bloodiest hours of the Battle of Franklin.

For those who have had Cartwright as their tour guide, or have heard him speak publicly, his knowledge, his passion and his love and respect for the warriors on both sides of the picket line, has made the battle and those who fought come alive to be

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Time for a rant. It’s been a while since the last one.

Google Book Search can be an extremely valuable resource. However, its usefulness can be severely limited by a practice that I REALLY don’t understand. More on that in a moment.

I remain as vehemently opposed to the concept of Google scanning works that are still covered by copyright as I have ever been. The flagrant disregard of intellectual property rights offends me deeply, and I will never support that aspect of the Google problem.

At the same time, the database of public domain materials is tremendously useful. I’ve made very extensive use of it, and I appreciate it. However, there is an aspect of the program that I …

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Today, Susan and I attended an encampment/reenactment of the French and Indian War held about twenty miles from our house. I’d never even heard of reenactments of the French and Indian War previously, so this was a new one on me. We heard about it this morning on the TV news and decided to check it largely because we didn’t have anything planned for the day and it seemed like a good way to kill an hour or two.

Coincidentally, the event was held at a place called Infirmary Mound Park, named for the pre-historic Indian burial mound located on the property, so I guess it was an appropriate venue for the event. I’m sad to say it wasn’t much …

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Here I am, once again engaging in acts of shameless self-promotion…..

I’m pleased to announce the launch of my other new web site, ericwittenberg.com. Please stop by, check it out, and let me know what you think. Thanks for your time, and thanks also for your indulgence of my efforts at self-promotion.

The good news is that there’s only one more of these self-promoting posts left to go….

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It’s been quite a while since I profiled a forgotten cavalryman, so I think it’s time to do so again. Today’s subject is Brig. Gen. George D. Bayard.

Bayard was born on December 18, 1835 at Seneca Falls, New York. He was a direct, linear descendant of the family of Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, known as “the Good Knight”. Chevalier Bayard was also called “the knight without fear and without reproach.” George’s great-grandfather had commanded the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Revolutionary War, so cavalry was in the boy’s blood. When he was 8 years old, the family moved to Iowa for several years. In 1849, the family returned and settled in New Jersey. In 1852, young George was …

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J. D., Mike, and I are pleased to announce the launch of our new website for the promotion and sale of our new book, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863. The book is due out in about two weeks. Please check out the website.

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