I finally shook off my malaise and wrote something new this weekend.

About ten days ago, Mary Koik, the editor of Hallowed Ground, the magazine published by the Civil War Preservation Trust, asked me if I would write an article for the next issue that gave an overview of cavalry operations in the Gettysburg Campaign. The article was to set the stage for the Trust’s efforts to preserve the Hunterstown battlefield, which made the list of ten most threatened battlefields this year for the first time.

Other than this blog, it’s the first thing I’ve written since we finished the additions to One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern …

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The following press release was issued by the Ohio Historical Society today:

OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY RESTRUCTURES FOR THE FUTURE
Plan Positions Organization for Strong Statewide Services

(Columbus, Ohio, April 11, 2008) – The Ohio Historical Society today announced a restructuring to strengthen the organization and position the private nonprofit for the delivery of strong statewide services.

Facing a $2 million budget deficit resulting from the softening Ohio economy, decreased state funding and increasing inflationary expenses, the OHS Board of Trustees has approved a balanced budget of $20.9 million to support the Society’s activities in the 2009 fiscal year. These include managing a network of 59 historic sites and museums and preserving historic resources for Ohio. The approved budget represents a

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Not having been aware of it previously, I’ve added Craig Swain’s Marker Hunter blog to my blog roll.

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Major, major hat tip to Harry Smeltzer for bringing this to my attention.

In a comment to yesterday’s post, Harry made me aware of a very useful resource, the Historical Marker Database, of which I was not previously aware.

It is a veritable fountain of useful information, including photos of the markers and directions to them, as well as the text on each marker, for each one in the database. It is an incredibly useful tool and one that I will inevitably make extensive use of over the years.

Craig Swain mentioned in another comment that he is a regular contributor to the database–thanks for your good work, Craig. Each one you add is a real addition to the …

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I live in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County, named for Ben Franklin. Many of Ohio’s 88 counties are named for Founding Fathers or for heroes of the Revolutionary War. Only a handful are not. The county immediately to the east of Franklin County is called Licking County, named for the Licking River, which meanders through the county. Recently, I’ve had a number of cases in Licking County, so I’ve been traveling to Newark, Ohio, which is the county seat with some degree of regularity.

I had a court appearance in Newark yesterday, and I took a different route than the one I normally take. When I reached the lovely college town of Granville (home of …

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From today’s USA Today:

Civil war soldiers’ bodies secretly exhumed

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped them off about widespread grave-looting.

The exhumations, conducted from August to October, removed 67 skeletons from the parched desert soil around Fort Craig — 39 men, two women and 26 infants and children, according to two federal archaeologists who helped with the dig.

They also found scores of empty graves and determined 20 had been looted.

The government kept its exhumation of the unmarked cemetery near the historic New Mexico fort out of the public’s eye for months to prevent more

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Hat tip to Randy Drais for bringing this to my attention:

The Emmitsburg, Maryland Historical Society is apparently one of the sponsors of a new battlefield advocacy group, the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association. The Battle of Monterey Pass has always been a favorite engagement of mine. I’ve written about it at length, first in an article that appeared in North and South magazine, then in my editing of James H. Kidd’s various writings, and then again at length in One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863.

Here’s the description of the group’s mission statement from the website:

Our goal is to identify & raise awareness to

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Good news from Perryville!!!

Perryville rejects subdivision zoning near battlefield
By Greg Kocher

04/03/2008
Lexington Hearld-Leader (KY)
http://www.kentucky.com/779/story/365954.html

PERRYVILLE — By a 4-1 vote Thursday night, the Perryville City Council rejected a proposed subdivision that would have been near Kentucky’s largest Civil War battlefield. “I’m relieved,” said Sherry Robinson, a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who had spoken against the proposal. “Right now, we’re ecstatic.”

Marion “Pete” Coyle Jr., the landowner who had wanted to develop a portion of his farm on U.S. 150 just west of downtown Perryville, had little comment after the vote.

“I’m upset right now,” Coyle said as he left City Hall.

Had the council approved the rezoning, Coyle could have put 53

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My first book, Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, was published in 1998 by Thomas Publications. It won the third Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award as the best new work interpreting the Battle of Gettysburg of 1998, and, to this day, remains the only book-length treatment of the events it covers. Although never a spectacular seller, it always had steady sales and continues to be in demand. Nevertheless, Dean Thomas, in his infinite wisdom, decided to let the book go out of print, and upon my request, Dean reverted the publication rights to me.

Some of you may recall that I wrestled with the question of what to do with the book on this blog last spring. I opened it up …

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Rea Andrew Redd gave our One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 a great plug on his blog yesterday, which we really appreciate. Thanks, Rea.

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