Tomorrow is time for another banzai run. I’m speaking to the Rufus Barringer Civil War Roundtable in Pinehurst, NC. It’s an hour drive from here to there. I speak tomorrow night, and we’re going to stay in Pinehurst tomorrow night.

Our friend Teej Smith, who lives in Pinehurst, and who is the program chair for the CWRT, just had major jaw surgery two days ago, so she’s not particularly up to having house guests. Consequently, instead of staying until Saturday, we’re going to head to Greensboro on Friday for a tour of the Guilford Courthouse Revolutionary War battlefield and then start heading north. We will spend Friday night somewhere in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, the hometown of Andy Griffith and …

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The great Battle of Brandy Station was fought on June 9, 1863. 12,000 Union cavalrymen splashed across the Rappahannock River at Beverly’s Ford and Kelly’s Ford to strike at Confederate cavalry thought to be near the town of Culpeper. They were surprised to find the enemy right across the river. Although the Confederate troopers were surprised by the bold attack, they rallied and held their own, keeping John Buford from taking the guns of the vaunted Stuart Horse Artillery. A fourteen hour battle raged, with Alfred Pleasonton, the Federal cavalry commander, eventually breaking off and withdrawing, leaving the battlefield in Stuart’s hands.

Pleasonton had received orders to march with his whole command and break up or disperse the large concentration …

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Rea Andrew Redd, who is a college librarian, announced the launch of his blog on the GDG today. Rea’s blog contains lots of really good and really useful reviews of Civil War books, mostly pertaining to the Battle of Gettysburg. Welcome to the blogosphere, Rea, and keep up the good work. I’ve added a link to your blog.

The last time John Banks had a Civil War-related post was in February. Consequently, I have deleted the link to his blog. Unfortunately, old friend Mark Wade, who was blogging as Mayland Rebel, has not posted in several months either. As a result, I’ve also deleted the link to his blog, although I will be happy to restore the link if Mark …

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143 years ago today, the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps clashed with Fitzhugh Lee’s division of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Cavalry Corps a few miles north of Richmond at a place called Yellow Tavern at the intersection of the Telegraph and Mountain Roads.  After a long, hard fight, the men of Brig. Gen. Williams C. Wickham’s brigade began giving way in the face of a determined attack by George Custer’s Michigan Cavalry Brigade.  Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, the Confederate cavalry chief, dashed forward to try to rally his troopers and received a mortal wound to the abdomen from one of the Wolverines.  Stuart died in Richmond the next day after a long night of suffering.  When Robert E. …

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Michigan attorney Jack Dempsey has started a new blog devoted to his state’s contributions to the Civil War.  Welcome, Jack.  I’ve added a link to your blog.

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Brian Dirck has a post on his blog today that includes some of the more brilliant responses received from his students during the recent final exam period:

Among my more creative exam answers: manifest destiny” was, according to one student, “Beyonce gone wild.” Abraham Lincoln had a “leery” relationship with slavery. Lee was a Union hero, Grant was a Confederate, and Sherman trashed Ohio during his march to the sea (or perhaps that was the Great Lakes?). The Confederacy “succeeded” rather than “seceded,” and antebellum America had a “sexual crisis” of epic proportions.

This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic. How is it that history has gotten such short shrift in high school curricula that someone would actually …

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Texan Jim Schmidt, an old friend of mine, has decided to dip his toe into the blogosphere. He launched his new blog, Civil War Medicine (and Writing), today. Jim has done some very interesting work on labels and branding in the Civil War, and he works in the pharmaceutical industry. Consequently, I think that we can expect some interesting insights from Jim, particularly as they pertain to Civil War medicine. Welcome to the blogosphere, Jim. I’ve added a link to your blog.

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Old friend Jim Morgan, who heads the battlefield tourguide program at the Ball’s Bluff battlefield in Leesburg, Virginia, passed along some excellent news this morning. As Jim pointed out in his outstanding book on the battle, A Little Short of Boats: The Fights at Ball’s Bluff and Edward’s Ferry, October 21-22, 1861, the interpretive markers on the battlefield contain a lot of inaccuracies. However, due to insufficient funding, the county, which owns and operates the battlefield, has allowed the inaccurate signs to remain in place for far too long.

Here’s the good news passed along by Jim this morning:

The Northern Va Regional Park Authority finally has gotten some money to replace the old, incorrect signs on the battlefield. …

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In the early 1990’s, I met and became friends with Mike Phipps. At that time, Mike was trying to make a living as a licensed battlefield guide in Gettysburg. He’d done a hitch as an officer in the Regular Army, having gone through Ranger training and then service with the Old Guard. Mike left the Army to pursue a career in law enforcement, and then decided try guiding. Mike’s done a lot of research and writing on John Buford, and has written an excellent account of the fight on East Cavalry Field.

Several years ago, Mike decided to go back into the Army. He joined the National Guard and later enlisted in the Regular Army. This time, he …

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Family legends are amazing things. Stories get passed down through families generation after generation, and they become the gospel truth whether they have any basis in fact or not. Some of them are really amazing. Based on these family legends, people persuade themselves that they’re related to famous people when there simply is no evidence that such is true.

Today, I got an e-mail from an acquaintance in Australia who passed along an e-mail from an individual, wanting to know whether I could help answering the question. Here’s the gist of it:

My husband is a descendent of Philip Henry Sheridan by Mary Jane (some say Mary Ann) Hankins of Ohio–his wife during the Civil War. Their son Will, who …

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