We saw the orthopedic surgeon this afternoon. Just like the last visit, there was good news, bad news, and unwelcome news.

The good news: the swelling has gone down, and he wants Susan to start to exercise the leg some in order to make sure that she maintains some muscle tone in the leg. He wants her to be out of the immobilizer as much as she feels comfortable doing.

The bad news: there’s no doubt at all about the need for surgery. She will definitely have to have it repaired surgically. The problem is that it’s a re-do of ACL reconstruction on that knee, so the success rate is less than for a first time.

The unwelcome news: It’s going to be a couple of weeks before there will be room for her in the surgical schedule. We won’t know for sure until tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like he will be able to work her into the surgical schedule until the week after Thanksgiving, which means that she’s going to have to suffer with more discomfort, the immobilizer, and the crutches for a couple of weeks longer than either of us would like. If it was up to us, they’d do the surgery tomorrow and get it over with.

So, that’s the update. Not much has changed. We remain trapped in blown knee limbo.

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The big broom came out last night.  My own opinion is that after six years of having absolutely no checks and balances that led to Skippy Bush getting a blank check, the American electorate decided that it was time to restore checks and balances. I can’t see how that’s a bad thing.

I find it interesting that my law school classmate Missy Hart, who had a Pennsylvania congressional district gerrymandered just for her, got broomed by 10,000 votes last night after a couple of terms rubber-stamping Skippy. I think that says a lot.

Here in Ohio, after sixteen years of incredibly corrupt one-party rule, the voters spoke. All statewide offices were decided yesterday: governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and attorney general. The gubernatorial race was called within five minutes of the polls closing, and the Republican had conceded by 8:30. Only the Republican nominee for auditor won–she’s the first ever CPA to run for and hold the office, so I can see that one. Bob Ney’s protege–who defaulted on a $750,000 SBA loan last year, by the way–got less than 40% of the vote. Deb Pryce, the number four Republican in the house, barely squeaked by after a brutal and very ugly campaign.

We now have a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature. The system works–there will be checks and balances again. That can only be a good thing.

Best of all: Big Tobacco sank $5 million into a campaign to try to amend the state constitution to overrule home rule by making 21 local ordinances to ban smoking in bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys unconstitutional. It lost huge–it only got about 35% of the vote. A statewide smoking ban in public places got 58% of the vote and passed big.

Now that the system of checks and balances has been restored, I can only hope that some of the flagrantly illegal actions of the Bush administration–covered up neatly by the Republican Congress–will come to light. 

And the very best part of it is that the attack ads have, at last, stopped.  What a delight to be able to watch TV and not have to hit the mute button every time a commercial comes on…..

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Old friend Harry Smeltzer, who dipped his toe into the blogging pool earlier this year when he filled in while Dimitri Rotov took a vacation, has taken the plunge. Harry has a brand-new blog called Bull Runnings, which is an adjunct to his digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run. I’ve added a link to Harry’s blog.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Harry. Have fun.

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At long last, tomorrow is election day. When the negative attack ads started in June, it seemed like this day would never come. As I said last week, it couldn’t come soon enough.

Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, please do your civic duty and vote tomorrow. The way I see it, those who don’t do their duty and vote have no right to bitch.

As for me, I intend to keep on bitching, so I will be there bright and early tomorrow morning exercising my constitutional rights (one of the very few constitutional rights we still have left, thanks to George W. Bush).

And, best of all, by this time tomorrow night, there will be no more attack ads…..

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The blogging software that I use tells me every time that a comment is posted to this blog. It’s really quite a nice feature, because it permits me to screen out unacceptable comments before they ever hit the website. It’s also quite nice, because it means that I can see just who’s visiting and leaving me comments.

This evening, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that a very old friend posted a couple of comments to the blog. We’ve know each other for 25 years now, and in many ways, we grew up together. We haven’t actually seen each other in more than 20 years, but we’ve stayed in touch over the decades, and it was really nice to see that my old friend not only found this blog, but also found indulging my rantings interesting enough to leave me a couple of comments. What a wonderful way to stay in contact with an old friend!

The power of blogging never ceases to amaze me, and the posting of the comments by my old friend serves as just another example of it.

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Here’s another in my series of infrequent tributes to forgotten cavalrymen. Most of them have been to men who should be remembered but aren’t, for whatever reason. This time, for a change, we’re going to focus on someone who has been forgotten for very good reason. He did next to nothing worth remembering, other than that his story is interesting. Hence, I decided to profile him.

Napoleon Bonaparte Knight was born in Dover, Delaware on December 7, 1840. He was born into one of the leading families of Delaware. He grew up in Dover, but was educated at Union College in Schenectady, New York, graduating in 1860 languages, medicine, and law. He was a member of the Theta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Fraternity. After graduation, he accepted a position as a professor of languages at a prominent Southern college, but, with the secession crisis brewing, it was obvious that he would not last long there.

Instead, he returned to Delaware, where he continued his legal training under the auspices of George P. Fisher, a prominent Unionist politician (and fellow alumnus of Dickinson College) who served as attorney general of Delaware from 1857-1860. Fisher was elected to Congress in 1861, received a colonel’s commission and was given the task of raising a full regiment of cavalry in the First State. Fisher appointed his young protege Knight as major in his new regiment. Knight was a mere 21 years old when he received his commission.

Knight was clearly an opportunist. At the beginning of the war, he was known as a “Jeff Davis Democrat”, and was known as an ardent secessionist who was quoted as saying that he wanted to put down the “Lincoln hirelings.” He briefly enlisted in a Confederate regiment at the beginning of the war, but soon deserted, declaring “the Union must and shall be preserved.” Instead, when his mentor Fisher received the commission to raise a cavalry regiment, Knight changed his stripes and joined the 1st Delaware Cavalry.

Although the 1st Delaware Cavalry organized at Wilmington on January 20, 1863, it was not a full regiment. Instead of the normal complement of ten horse companies, the tiny state could only raise seven undersized companies, which were later consolidated into four active companies. When Fisher was unable to recruit a full regiment, he resigned his commission in embarrassment, and the young Knight assumed command of the battalion. As of June 25, 1863, the 1st Delaware had seen very little action, serving mostly in the defenses of Baltimore.

Unfortunately for the Union cause, Knight’s martial skills did not match the legacy of his impressive name. The youthful major had very little combat experience, and that deficiency played a major role in the legacy of the 1st Delaware Cavalry. On June 27, 1863, Knight received orders to take two companies of the 1st Delaware to the important railroad town of Westminster, Maryland. The expedition to Westminster marked their first real foray into the field.

Knight took Companies A and C with him. On June 29, while Knight was “occupied” in the town pub, his men–perhaps 105 strong–made a gallant and daring charge into the head of Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade as it led the way for Stuart’s three brigades as they headed for the Mason-Dixon Line. The brave but foolhardy charge of the Delawareans–known to history as Corbit’s Charge, named for leader of the charge by the First Staters, Capt. Charles Corbit–held up Stuart’s advance for half a day, and killed two officers of the 4th Virginia Cavalry. Knight was too inebriated to join the charge, and was one of only a handful of men of the 1st Delaware Cavalry who was not captured.

This was the highlight of Knight’s military career–a fortunate escape from capture from a foolhardy charge that he declined to lead himself. “The war record of Colonel Knight is good, and his regiment, which saw the thickest of that long, sanguinary struggle, won many laurels but its excellent work for the old flag,” declared his obituary.

In 1866, Knight finished his legal studies, graduating form Albany Law School in New York. Then, in 1867, Knight settled in Salem, Oregon, where he immediately began to practice law. By 1868, his business had grown to such proportions that he took in, as his business partner, his former fellow-soldier and childhood friend, William P. Lord, who had served as a captain in the 1st Delaware Cavalry. They were very successful in the law business, and when they dissolved the partnership they had both become very well-to-do. Lord went on to be elected governor of Oregon.

In 1870, Knight married Miss Sarah U. Miller, a daughter of the late Gen. John F. Miller, and this union was blessed with three children – one son, Winter M. Knight, of Portland; and two daughters, Miss Portia Knight, an actress who starred in London, and Miss Sylvia, of Portland. In 1890, Mrs. Knight, who had been ailing for several years, died.

Knight was a Republican who served as a state senator in Oregon in the late 1870’s. In 1885, he was a candidate for U.S. Senator, and at one time lacked but one vote of the election. That vote was not secured, and the Legislature adjourned without electing. At that time the Democrats in that body all joined one wing of the Republican party in supporting Knight. Following adjournment, a special session was held and John H. Mitchell was elected Senator, effectively ending Knight’s political career.

In 1889, Knight added a business buying and selling livestock to his legal practice. However, in 1892, he sold his livestock business, and returned to Salem, where he resumed the practice of law, went to Klamath County, where he engaged in the stock business on a large scale, and during his leisure hours practiced his profession. In 1892 he sold out his live stock business, but remained in Klamath Falls until 1896, when he returned to Salem and resumed the practice of law. In May 1901, he went to London to represent his daughter in litigation, and then returned to Salem. He died of a heart attack on February 17, 1902, at the age of 61. His housekeeper found him dead, still seated in his chair, clutching a letter from his daughter Sylvia.

“Colonel Knight was an able lawyer, a genial, whole-souled, big-hearted gentleman, distinguished for his chivalrous conduct, and his demise is mourned by thousands of friends throughout the state,” declared his obituary. “He had his faults, but who has none? Let him, who is without fault, cast the first stone.”

Knight’s military career was short and certainly undistinguished. Indeed, his most lasting legacy is that he was too inebriated to lead the heroic but foolhardy charge that instead bears the name of Charles Corbit. Nevertheless, he is worth remembering. The end of his obituary, quoted above, certainly sums him up quite well.

Here’s to you, Maj. Napoleon Bonaparte Knight, who was too scared and too drunk to seize his opportunity for glory in Westminster that warm late June day in 1863.

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Today is November 2. The mid-term elections are in five days. Tuesday cannot possibly come soon enough.

I live in Ohio, which is THE battleground state these days. We’ve lost about a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs in the past six or seven years. The state’s unemployment rate is 5.7%, a full percentage point higher than the rest of the country. The economy in this state is a wreck. Our convicted criminal governor is leaving office after two terms filled with corruption and scandal. Mike DeWine, Republican Senator, is closely linked to Skippy Bush and his failed, corrupt administration. Deborah Pryce, the fourth ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, is in the race of her life. The next district to the east of where I live is the district of convicted felon and corrupt politician Bob Ney. Ney’s hand-picked successor, who defaulted on a $700,000 government guaranteed SBA loan, is running for his seat. Even previously safe seats are in play; my district is represented by Rep. Pat Tiberi, who was the chief of staff for John Kasich, and was his hand-picked successor. Tiberi is in a dogfight with a 79-year-old multimillionaire who served a single term in Congress in the early 1980’s until his district was gerrymandered out of existence. A blue tide is about to sweep this state (and hopefully, both houses of Congress, too).

From all of this, you can probably imagine what the TV ads are like. It’s non-stop attack ads, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There’s not a single positive ad. Instead, it’s every possible attack you can imagine, including an especially egregious Willy Horton-style ad for a Republican candidate for the state house. It started in June, and it has just increased in intensity until there are virtually nothing but negative attack ads every commercial break.

I can’t stand it any more. Next Tuesday CANNOT come soon enough.

Whatever happened to commercials where the candidates actually said something positive and laid out their ideas and justifications for why they should be elected? Nothing of the sort happens now. Instead, every possible skeleton in every possible closet is dredged up, and there simply is no reason why ANYONE would want to subject themselves to this. Is it any wonder that we’re stuck with a government of such mediocrity that an imbecile coke head like Skippy Bush could possibly have been elected president twice????

We deserve better.

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A reader named Don Hallstrom posted a comment that was buried deep in a thread that I posted a year ago. If WordPress didn’t notify me whenever a comment is posted to this blog, I probably never would have noticed it.

Here’s what Don wrote:

I recently purchased a couple of your books and look forward to reading them. This portion of your blog relating to confederate cavalary has raised my interest in other lesser know leaders. I agree with your opinions about Thomas Munford and enjoyed reading them. I wanted to see if you were going to post some others. What do you think about the following:
Laurence Baker
Lunsford Lomax
James B. Gordon
John Chambliss
Pierce M.B. Young

I realize Young and Gordon have had biographies done on them(unsure of the quality). Wondered if you thought any of the others might be good subjects. One other book I have in my collection that I’ve not gotten to is THE LITTLE JEFF- Hopkins. Hopefully, will provide some good reading.
Regards
Don

Thanks for your kind words about my work.

I thought I would answer your question here in a separate post, instead of in the comments to a very old post.

You are correct that there is a biography of P.M.B. Young. It’s rather old at this point, and he could probably stand a modern treatment. I am not aware of a specific biography of James B. Gordon, although there is a very good history of his brigade by old friend Chris Hartley. The issue with Gordon, of course, is that he died in May 1864, and I have no idea what primary source material is available on Gordon himself, as opposed to his brigade.

Chambliss and Lomax both probably deserve bios. Chambliss, of course, was KIA in August 1864, but he was a West Pointer, and a very close friend of David McMurtrie Gregg. Chambliss played a very significant role in the evolution of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Cavalry Corps, and commanded a brigade during its most important period. Lomax achieved the rank of major general and divisional command, and he was also a member of one of the First Families of Virginia.

Baker is a pretty minor player, and I think it would be extremely difficult to try to write a bio of him.

That I am no fan of Tom Rosser is no secret. I think Rosser was dramatically overrated and not an especially good soldier. Having said that, Rosser has one biography, and it’s not very good at all. Rosser needs a modern and scholarly biography if for no reason other than that he looms over much of the war in the East.

I hope that answers your questions. If you’re thinking of tackling one or more of these projects, good luck.

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When Fort Sumter fell in April 1861, tens of thousands of young men flocked to join the armies of the South and the North. Many had no military experience whatsoever. Some had served in various militia regiments and had at least some rudimentary military training and skills. One such militia unit was called the Philadelphia Light Horse, which was composed of affluent young men from a suburb of Philadelphia called Germantown.

About twenty of the city’s social elite formed a militia company. James H. Stevenson, a former U. S. dragoon, joined them. This is Stevenson’s description, written in 1879, and included in his history of the First New York (Lincoln) Cavalry, “Boots and Saddles”: A History of the First Volunteer Cavalry of the War, Known as the First New York (Lincoln) Cavalry, and also as the Sabre Regiment:

On the 1st of May we took possession of an unused race-course, at Chestnut Hill, near Germantown, with the unoccupied inn and stables attached, where we had ample accommidations for both men and horses, and the grounds wer admirably adapted for a Cavalry School of Practice.

After drill it was usual for the troopers to act as escorts to the young ladies on horseback; and the beautiful sylvan lanes, leading to and from the romantic banks of the Wissahickon, presented gay and lively scenes during those charming afternoons. And at night the old woods rang with pleasant echoes, as we strolled leisurely along the banks, bathed in the cooling waters, or rowed upon the silent and softly flowing stream. But these things were not to last.

Indeed, they did not. Most of these young men received commissions in the Union army, and many of them achieved prominence in its mounted arm. Stevenson was a company commander in the First New York (Lincoln) Cavalry. A number became officers in the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry: William P. C. Treichel, Frederic C. Newhall, William W. Frazier, Emlen N. Carpenter, and Osgood Welsh. Walter S. Newhall joined the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, serving with great distinction until his untimely drowning death in December 1863.

Times certainly changed. Certainly, playing at war lost its allure. Reading the descriptions of those heady, idyllic days of the spring of 1861 contrasted with the horrors of Civil War combat makes on wish for those innocent days again, much as we modern Americans long for the lost innocence of the prosperous 1950’s.

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JD and I have two articles appearing in major Civil War magazines in the next couple of months. Both articles were written as adjuncts to our Stuart’s Ride book, and both were specifically intended to provide us with another means of promoting the book.

The first one to appear will be an even more detailed treatment of the charge of the 1st Delaware Cavalry, also known as Corbit’s Charge, at Westminster, MD than what appears in the book. That will appear in the next issue of Gettysburg Magazine. JD and I signed off on the maps that will appear with the article today, and they’re quite good. After the book was completely finished, I found a couple of additional sources, including an extremely detailed account by a trooper of one of Corbit’s men, who managed to avoid capture that proably would not have been used in the book, had we known of it then. The emphasis in the book is on Stuart’s Ride, and hence on the Confederates, and this account is very much a Union account. The nice thing about the article, therefore, is that it permitted us to add to the chapter in our book.

The other is a piece that will appear in the February issue of Civil War Times Illustrated. That will be a cover/feature article, and focuses on the desperate and heroic charges of the 11th New York Cavalry (also known as Scott’s 900) at Fairfax Court House and Corbit’s Charge at Westminster. Each of these episodes, which were nearly identical in size and effect, cost Stuart fully half a day, meaning that the combination of both set him back a full day, which, in turn, meant that he was unable to link up with Jubal Early’s division. This article was written specifically to promote the book, and the fact that it’s going to be a cover story makes it all the better. That’s the sort of publicity that’s extremely hard to beat.

I find that promoting my work in this fashion is extremely effective and that it is a great way to spread the word. Hopefully, the combination of these two articles will spike sales yet again.

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