The following review of my history of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush’s Lancers was published on H-Civil War:

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-CivWar@h-net.msu.edu (November 2007)

Eric J. Wittenberg. _Rush’s Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War_. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, 2007. xi + 316 pp. Maps, photographs, bibliography, index. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 1594160325.

Reviewed for H-CivWar by A. James Fuller, Department of History, University of Indianapolis

A Cavalry Regiment’s Ride through the Civil War

Regimental histories afford the historian the opportunity to bring the past to life through the shared experience of men in military service. Using the intimate lens of the individual like a biographer while tracing the collective story of the unit …

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Today is Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day was originally called Armistice Day, in recognition of the armistice that ended World War I. Promptly at the stroke of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns fell silent and the butchery of the Great War, the War to End All Wars, finally came to a close.

There is only one British veteran of World War I remaining, and he is 109 years old. It might be too much to ask or expect that he will see the passage of another Veterans’ Day. However, this morning, I saw film of him greeting and talking to British veterans of Iraq, just home from deployment there. Somehow, it …

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My publisher, Ted Savas, has jumped into the blogging fray with a new blog from a publisher’s perspective. Welcome to te blogosphere, T. I will look forward to your insights.

I’ve added a link to Ted’s blog.

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Madness Mike has a really interesting post on his blog tonight about former Presidents of the United States during the Civil War. I recommend it.

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Here’s another in my infrequent series of posts on forgotten American cavalrymen. The subject of this post is a favorite of mine; his letters home are some of the most useful and insightful I have ever read.

Louis H. Carpenter was born in Glassboro, New Jersey on February 11, 1839. His blood ran as blue as any Philadelphia aristocrat’s: he was a direct, linear descendant of Samuel Carpenter, who was William Penn’s right hand man. Louis enlisted in the army in Philadelphia as a private in 1861 after dropping out of college during his junior year. He served as a private in the 6th U. S. Cavalry until he was commissioned second lieutenant, 6th U. S. Cavalry, July 17, 1862, …

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I vigorously disagree with the politics of these authors. I particularly loathe the bozos that wrote the book that led to the swift boating of John Kerry in 2004 for subjecting us to another four years of corrupt incompetence, outright lies, and high crimes and misdemeanors by a regime that has done more harm to this country than any other in history. While I’m probably long overdue for a good anti-Bush rant, that’s not the purpose of this particular blog post.

As an author, I support the idea of writing for a profit and I support the idea of writers being paid for the fruits of their labors, even labors I despise, as I do these. This article appeared in …

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Kevin Levin has been following the evolution of a new blog dedicated to the advancement of Neo-Confederate ideology for several months now. Today, for the first time, I took a look at it, and it’s scary.

Calling herself Dixie Dawn, here’s how our Neo-Confederate heroine describes herself: “a staunch rebel if you will. A true southern raised redneck girl and a believer in the real causes for civil war as well as preserving the heritage of our south and the confederate soldiers.” Not hard to figure out what her worldview is, is it? It likewise isn’t hard to figure out that any attempts to try to engage her in rational discussion that might get her to change her mind …

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Even I do things that are galactically stupid. Yes, I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true.

I drive a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. I’ve had a lot of cars in my life, but this particular one is high on my list of favorites. I like its ride, I like the power of the V-8, and I enjoy driving it. It’s hard on gas mileage–these days, $50 won’t fill it–but that’s about all I can say negative about it. It’s already got about 75,000 miles on it.

Like most new cars, this one came with two keys. However, Susan lost hers about a year ago, meaning we’ve been operating with just one key. Well, somehow, some way, I …

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For some time now, there’s been a thread going on the Armchair General forum boards on Pickett’s Charge. To date, there have been 121 replies to the original post, and there is a posted poll.

For the life of me, I simply cannot comprehend the fascination with the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge. Now, I recognize that this is the sort of thing that one often gets filleted for, but I’m going to explain my reasons for taking this position. Personally, I couldn’t care less about it. If I never heard another word about again for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t bother me a bit.

Tactically, there’s nothing interesting about it. I’ve walked it four or five times in my life, …

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There is a proposal to build a huge indoor water park in the Gettysburg area, four miles south of the battlefield park’s southern boundary and near the gigantic Boyd’s Bears place that is already extant. They have proposed to build the sort of place with tubes and slides, all of that sort of stuff. That it’s to be an indoor facility means it will be open year-round. From what I can see, the developers have not suggested building it near or on the battlefield proper, so it won’t infringe upon any particular battlefield viewsheds.

There are some folks who take the attitude about this sort of thing that the NRA takes: we can’t possibly do anything that might be construed …

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