Well, we’re home. It’s been another very long day of driving that included a brief (90 minute) detour to and stop in Gettysburg today so I could see about acquiring a few more primary sources for the retreat manuscript (I bought 8 books that represent primary source material that will help to flesh out the story even more).

Okay, here’s the latest on my dad. We didn’t get to see him on Thursday night, as we got in too late. Traffic was horrific on the trip, and it rained like hell the whole way. What is normally a 7 hour drive was nearly 9 as a result. So, we got there too late to see him.

Friday morning, Susan and …

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I realized that it’s been some time since I’ve given an update on my father. The stroke was five weeks ago today. Remember that when it happened, he was nearly completely paralyzed on the right side and really couldn’t speak very well at all.

Five weeks later, he’s gotten most of the movement back on the right side. He walked about fifty yards with a walker the other day and is making good and steady progress. He’s getting some of the dexterity back in his hand, and he got put back on a normal diet today. His speech is still garbled, but it’s better. About half of what he says is clear as a bell, and the other half is …

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My concerns about the future of Civil War Times magazine have been largely alleviated. Dana Shoaf, who’s been the editor of America’s Civil War for the last several years, has been named as the new editor of CWTI. I know Dana; I’ve done some battlefield stomping with him. I’ve also worked with him in his capacity as editor of ACW and know him to be a real pro. The magazine is in good hands.

That, however, creates an altogether new problem, which is finding a new editor for ACW. Hopefully, someone as talented as Dana will be located and will step up to the plate.

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This morning, I got an e-mail from old pal Drew Wagenhoffer congratulating me on making Civil War Interactive’s list of the top twenty Civil War sites. I thanked Drew, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

I then went to CWI to see what he meant, and boy, was I blown away.

Every year, CWI runs a poll of its readers to determine the top twenty Civil War sites on the Internet. Nearly 500 people voted, and I was absolutely flabbergasted to find that this humble little blog of mine placed number 14 on that list. I started this on a whim, and it’s taken on a life of its own.

Until I saw that list, …

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Earlier today, I posted the following on the forum boards at Armchair General:

I have heard the bad news about Chris Lewis leaving. Having worked with Chris on my lead article this past winter, I know that he is a capable, talented professional who cares a great deal about the magazine and about maintaining its quality and integrity. Hence, while I was disappointed to hear of his leaving, I know it’s in keeping with his character. I respect a man who’s willing to go to bat for his principles.

Eric Weider, I hope you’re reading this. There are lessons to be learned from this situation. That someone the caliber of Chris would leave your company due to disagreements with …

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I’ve had some opportunities to interact with Chris Lewis during his tenure as the editor of Civil War Times Illustrated. Chris published JD’s and my article on the charges at Fairfax Court Huse and Westminster in this year’s first issue, and we enjoyed working with him on the project. We were very pleased with the way that the article came out, and with the fact that it was chosen as the cover story for that issue.

Last week, Dimitri Rotov posted that Chris has resigned as editor. Chris circulated an e-mail announcing his resignation that included the following passage:

Naturally this is not an easy decision for me to make. As many of you know, I am a …

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I’ve made my opposition to Google’s plan to scan materials that are still covered by copyright and make them available on the Internet well known. I’ve ranted about it extensively here at length and won’t beat that poor dead horse any more.

At the same time, each time I’ve addressed this question, I’ve said that I think that the scanning of public domain works is not only appropriate but an admirable and worthy project that I wholeheartedly support, largely because nobody’s copyright rights are being trampled. After the past couple of weeks, I feel even more strongly about the subject.

When we decided to beef up our study of the retreat from Gettysburg to make it a more scholarly work …

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Historian Paul Taylor has entered the blogging fray. Paul has launched a new blog called “With Sword and Pen”, which he describes as “A Celebration of First Edition and Collectible Books Pertaining to ‘The Late Unpleasantness'”. Imagine a site like Drew Wagenhoffer’s, only dedicated to first editions of books, including those long out of print, and you get the idea.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Paul, and good luck. I’ve added a link.

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The new issue of Blue & Gray magazine arrived today. There’s an article by J.D. and me on Stuart’s shelling of Carlisle in the issue, as well as an extremely truncated version of our response to Andrea Custer. Dave Roth, the publisher, only allowed us 2,000 words, with 1,000 words as to why she was wrong and 1,000 words as to why we’re right. Our original response was 5,500 words long, so what was published is nothing remotely close to what we originally wrote.

J. D. is going to be putting a rebuttal to her response on his blog, so keep an eye out for that if this topic is of interest to you. Frankly, I thought her response …

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In working on completing the retreat manuscript, I spent much of the afternoon looking at newspaper coverage of the pertinent time frame. Many of the articles came from The New York Times, but several also came from other papers, such as the Baltimore Daily Gazette. Since there was nothing like e-mail or the Internet in those days, most articles had to be mailed in or delivered by courier; some shorter articles could be transmitted by telegraph. Either way, it usually took at least several days for a piece to appear in the newspaper, and by the time that they did, events had already demonstrated that many of the reports were inaccurate.

Also due to the difficulty in communicating, …

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