Old friend and fellow blogger Harry Smeltzer came to Columbus yesterday and did an excellent presentation to our Civil War Roundtable last night on some really interesting obscure topics arising from the First Battle of Bull Run. I joined Harry and our program chairman, Mike Peters, for dinner, enjoyed the company, and then went on to hear Harry’s talk which was, without doubt, one of the most interesting CWRT talks I’ve ever heard. Thanks, Harry.

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I seem to have struck a nerve with yesterday’s post. We’ve had about a dozen comments so far, including an especially good one from old friend Ted Savas, I decided to send my complaint on to the History Channel.

The following, although a little difficult to find, appears on THC’s website:

It is important to us to receive feedback from our viewers, and we appreciate your taking the time to contact us.

I took them up on it. I copy/pasted last night’s blog entry into an e-mail and sent it on. I want to encourage anyone else who cares about this issue to do the same. You can send your e-mails to thc.viewerrelations at aetv.com. Maybe a …

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We’re watching a modestly interesting documentary on the History Channel called …

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Because of its geographic location, Columbus typically does not get big snow storms. What usually happens is that it will start out as snow and then switch over to sleet or freezing rain (what I generally describe as slop) and sometimes to just plain rain. We’re usually just a little too far east to get all snow and a little too far west to get all rain. Here’s a good example. In December 2003, just a couple of days before Christmas, we had a storm that started out as snow–about 8 inches–and then turned to freezing rain. When it was all said and done we had 2.5 inches of ice on top of the snow and no power for nearly …

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It’s been a while since I’ve profiled a forgotten cavalryman, so I thought it was high time that I did so.

Bvt. Brig. Gen. William Emile Doster was born on January 8, 1837, at the Moravian town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His father, Lewis Doster, a native of Swabia, Germany, served a campaign against Napoleon, and emigrated to America with his father, Doctor Daniel Doster, in 1817, at the age of twenty. His mother, Pauline Louise (Eggert) Doster, was the daughter of Matthew Eggert, at one time Vorsteher of the Brethren’s House, and granddaughter of Adam Rupert, a soldier of the Revolution. His father owned and operated the successful Moravian Woolen Mills in Bethlehem.

As a child, he preferred drawing and …

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There have literally been thousands of books written and published about the Civil War, perhaps even tens of thousands. Thus, the field is quite full when trying to determine which are the 50 greatest Civil War books ever written. To make such a list is quite an honor indeed. It means that a book is in the 99th percentile of all published books on the Civil War.

The good folks at Civil War Interactive polled their readers to determine the 50 best books on the Civil War. 621 people cast 1863 votes to create the list. The results of that poll can be found here.

The likes of Douglas Southall Freeman, Shelby Foote, Stephen W. Sears, and Bruce Catton …

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Those of you who’ve read this blog for a long time know that in addition to my addiction to the Civil War, I am an ice hockey, NFL football, and baseball nut. Having grown up in the Philadelphia suburbs, I am well acquainted with the concept of losing. During my childhood, both the Eagles and the Phillies were atrocious. And then there was the 1973 Philadelphia 76’ers, who posted a 9-73 record, the worst record ever in the history of professional sports.

As a child, one of my very favorite books was the 1974 edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia. I would spend hours and hours going through that book reading statistics and learning about long-gone players that I had …

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I was sad to see that Brian Dirck has decided to pull the plug on his excellent Abraham Lincoln blog, but I understand the reasons. Blogging can be a time-consuming thing, and Brian felt that it was taking away from other things he has to do. I completely understand, and there are times when I feel the same way.

I will miss Brian’s blog. Always insightful, I looked forward to reading it every day. Good luck to you, Brian. You will be missed.

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These are sixteen photos from my trip this past weekend. This first batch are from the battlefield at Five Forks.

This photo was taken at the right end of the Union line at Five Forks, where the Union cavalry hit the Confederate line.

This photo shows the Confederate trenches extending back into the woods at the angle of the Confederate line, where part of it bent back to refuse the flank. It’s not easy to see them clearly, but they’re there. They’re on the left side of the photo, and snake back into the woods.

This is the monument to the Battle of Five Forks, which is located at the intersection where the five roads come together.

This is the …

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We were up and on the bus at 8:00 again this morning. We headed up to Beaver Dam Station, a stop on the Virginia Central Railroad not far from the North Anna battlefield of May 1864. We heard about Kilpatrick’s demolition of the depot there, and then headed down into Richmond to address Kilpatrick’s attempt to push through the defenses of the Confederate capital. A small piece of the outer ring of defenses still exists at Brook Hill, which happens to be the spot where both Kilpatrick in March 1864 and Sheridan in May 1864 tried to push through. Bruce interpreted there, and then we headed in to where the intermediate line of defenses stood.

Kilpatrick, alone and unsupported, and …

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