Antietam ranger John Hoptak has a fascinating post on his blog today suggesting that after the Battle of Antietam, George B. McClellan sent a note to Robert E. Lee suggesting that they declare an armistice and then march their combined armies into Washington, D. C. I’m not entirely sure that such a letter was ever sent-there is certainly no evidence of such a letter in the Official Records, but it certainly makes for a tantalizing and fascinating prospect. Read the post and see what you think.

I wonder what you Antietam and George B. McClellan students think of this…..

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I’m adding several new blogs to the blog. Okay, two are not so new, but they definitely deserve to be added.

Robert Grandchamp, graduate student and the authority on all things Rhode Island in the Civil War, has started a new blog on the 7th Rhode Island Infantry. It’s been added to the blogroll.

Next is my friend Scott Mingus’ York Cannonball blog, which, to be honest, should have been added long ago. Attribute it to laziness on my part. Scott has some really interesting material on the Civil War in York County, Pennsylvania. Scott was a big help to J.D. and me when we were writing Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg. It has also been added to the blogroll.

Touch the Elbow has been resurrected yet again, so I have restored it to the blogroll. Let’s hope it doesn’t fade to black for a third time.

My alma mater, Dickinson College has an excellent project underway called The House Divided Project, which is a digital history archive. Prof. Matt Pinsker, a Lincoln scholar, is in charge of the project, which has its own blog. Matt is a regular poster, and I commend it to you.

I’m always on the lookout for new blogs on the Late Unpleasantness. If you know of any promising new blogs, please let me know.

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Since J. D. let the cat out of the bag by describing our next book on the Gettysburg Discussion Group today, I might as well announce it here.

We’ve decided to push back the Monocacy study a bit in order to complete our trilogy on the Gettysburg Campaign. As one reviewer of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 properly noted, the Gettysburg Campaign really didn’t end until the armies returned to the Rappahannock River and the positions that they occupied before Lee’s advance in June 1863. We addressed the period from July 14-31, 1863 in a very cursory and very brief overview in the epilogue to One Continuous Fight.

We have decided to go ahead and do a book-length sequel to One Continuous Fight that covers this period in detail for the first time. Actions covered will include David M. Gregg’s cavalry fight at Harpers Ferry on July 15, the cavalry fight at Manassas Gap/Wapping Heights on July 18, 1863, the large-scale infantry engagement at Wapping Heights between three corps of the Army of the Potomac’s foot soldiers and the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, the pursuit through the Loudoun Valley, following the same route as that used by George B. McClellan in November 1862, and coverage of the August 1 cavalry fight at Brandy Station. So far as I can tell, none of these actions have ever enjoyed any sort of a detailed treatment. Hence, it appears that we’re going to be plowing new ground again here.

Our purpose in doing this book is to disprove, for once and for all, the myth that George G. Meade was passive and lacked vigor in his pursuit of Lee. In fact, once Lee’s army got across the Potomac, Meade became hyper-aggressive, so much so that Halleck eventually had to order Meade NOT to attack and to hold his position once the draw-down of force to put down the New York draft riots began. We will show, once and for all, that Meade’s pursuit was aggressive but yet prudent, and that Lee’s masterful handling of the retreat of his army is really the factor that prevented Meade from bringing him to bay in a decisive battle on ground of Meade’s choosing.

The working title is For Want of a Nail: The Retreat and Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 15-August 1, 1863, and this book, like the rest of the trilogy, will be published by Savas Beatie. Phil Laino (who does the excellent maps that appear in Gettysburg Magazine) will be doing our maps this time, and we will again feature a driving tour with GPS coordinates. Once it’s complete, we will then tackle the book on Early’s 1864 raid on Washington, D.C.

We will keep you posted as to progress.

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As 2008 draws to a close, it’s appropriate to take a moment and ruminate over the year that’s ending. 2008 was a landmark year: the country elected its first African-American president as the economy spiraled into a tailspin. Real pain results from the economic collapse; millions are out of jobs and more will lose them. Terrorists turned Mumbai into a bloodbath. Islamofascists remain determined to harm Americans simply because we are not Muslims. Galveston was nearly wiped off the map by Hurricane Ike.

2009 can only be a better year.

So, to my readers, Susan, Nero, Aurora, and I wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009. And I thank you for taking your precious time to visit my little corner of the Internet and indulge my rantings. And thank you to each of you who spent your precious dollars to purchase copies of one of my books this year. I appreciate it very much.

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Fellow blogger and my co-author on the baseball project, Michael Aubrecht passed along this bit about an upcoming open house where the Wilderness Wal-Mart will be discussed:

Michael Aubrecht, local Fredericksburg area-resident and board member of the Civil War Life Foundation (www.civilwarlife.org), has offered up the following invitation to everyone concerned with the threat of a new Wal-Mart infringing on the hallowed grounds of The Wilderness Battlefield. It states: The Civil War Life Soldiers Museum in Spotsylvania County will be hosting an open house on the evening on January 7th from 7pm to 8:30pm to provide interested local citizens with information about this controversial project and our community’s opposition to it. There will be representatives on hand from the NCWL, NPS, CWPT, and other preservation and heritage groups. Talks will take place and printed information will be available for all attendees to take and share with their own constituents. There will also be complimentary snacks and beverages available. Join us for an evening of important discussions and solidarity as we collectively tackle this impending calamity that threatens yet another piece of our area’s precious history. This is an officially sanctioned Civil War Preservation Trust event and the only one of its kind in the area. For directions to the museum, please visit http://civilwar-life.com/map.htm.

If you’re in the area, please take the time to go out and let the world know you oppose this project.

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I would remiss if I did not note–with sadness and regret–the passing of Al Gambone. From the December 24 edition of the Norristown Times Herald newspaper, here is Al’s obituary.

Albert Michael Gambone, age 69, passed away Monday, December 22, 2008 at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.

Mr. Gambone was born September 29, 1939 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a son of the late Frank Angelo Gambone and Jennie Asko Gambone.

Mr. Gambone was a U.S. Army veteran and a retired business owner.

He relocated from Connecticut to Myrtle Beach 13 years ago with his wife Nancy.

Mr. Gambone was a member of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Myrtle Beach and a longstanding member of the Lions Club in Connecticut.

His passion in life was the Civil War.

He authored seven books and lectured extensively on the Civil War.

Mr. Gambone was predeceased in addition to his parents by his son; Michael D. Gambone and his daughter-in-law, Debbie Gambone. Survivors include his wife, Nancy M. Gambone; his sons, Stephan Gambone of Erie, PA, Chad Turtoro and his wife, Julia of Goshen, CT; his daughters, Lynn Woodel and her husband, Ken of Erie, PA, Jennifer Mitchell and her husband, Craig of Oakdale, CT, Hallie Testo and her husband, Andrew of Stratford, CT; his sister, Joan Saraceni and her husband, Tony of King of Prussia, PA; his eleven grandchildren, his in-laws, Stanley ‘Best Buddy’ Marks and Susan Marks of Myrtle Beach, SC; his brother-in-law, Donald Marks and his wife, Maria of Providence, RI; and his beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Meggie.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, December 27, 2008 at St. Andrew Catholic Church with Monsignor Joseph Roth officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Community Kitchen of Myrtle Beach, 1411 Mr. Joe White Avenue, Myrtle Beach, SC 29578.

Al left us too soon at the age of 69, a time when he should have been enjoying his grandchildren and writing about the Civil War.

I had the good fortune to meet Al at a couple of Ted Alexander’s Chambersburg soirees. Al was inevitably a cheerful and pleasant addition to any program, and he brought a great passion and knowledge to his presentations. He was a gentleman and a fine historian.

Al wrote several excellent biographies, including books on Maj. Gen. John F. Hartranft, Brig. Gen. Samuel K. Zook, and Darius N. Couch. He also wrote an excellent study of the role played by his fellow Norristown native, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, at Gettysburg, and finally, a useful volume on Ohio memorials at Gettysburg. All of Al’s books are part of Butternut & Blue’s Army of the Potomac Series, and all are still in print.

Our Civil War community is a little bit worse off today due to Al’s passing. Condolences to his family on its loss.

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From today’s issue of the Washington Post. Thanks to Todd Berkoff for bringing this article to my attention:

History Buffs Rise Against Wal-Mart
Store Planned Near Civil War Battlefield in Va.
By Nick Miroff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 27, 2008; B01

Like Civil War generals, the generals of modern commercial development are attracted to large open spaces along well-traveled roads, typically on the outskirts of a town or major population center. The former picked those sites for battlefields a century and a half ago; the latter like them today for big-box stores.

And once again, great armies are mustering on the Virginia Piedmont — historians and preservationists on one side, big retail and developers on the other — this time in cash-strapped Orange County, 60 miles south of the District, where Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter directly opposite the Wilderness Battlefield.

There, in May 1864, 24,000 soldiers were killed or wounded as the first clash between Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant produced famously hellish combat in a burning thicket of scrub oak and spindly pine trees. The National Park Service owns 2,800 acres of the core battlefield, whose larger area extends across nearly 7,000 acres.

That land is mostly undeveloped, and to Wal-Mart, it looks like a prime retail location. The parcel where the company plans to build its 138,000-square-foot store and parking lot has long been zoned for commercial development but has little more than a small shopping plaza opposite a Sheetz gas station. There are also preliminary plans for a larger retail, office and residential complex, Wilderness Crossing, that would be built adjacent to the Wal-Mart, although no formal proposals have been submitted.

Neither the supercenter nor the larger complex would be built on the core battlefield area. A study commissioned by the company found that the parcel slated for development is not historically or archaeologically significant.

But opponents contend that the supercenter would unleash a wave of sprawling development through the area, marring the mostly rural landscape and the memory of the dead. The Battle of the Wilderness was the first clash in the long Overland Campaign that would end the war 11 months later at Appomattox Courthouse, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson.

“The Wilderness is an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there, and it cannot be moved,” read a letter signed by McPherson and 252 other historians and preservationists that was sent Wednesday to Wal-Mart’s president and chief executive, Lee Scott. “Surely Walmart can identify a site that would meet its needs without changing the very character of the battlefield.”

The letter’s signatories include a who’s who of Civil War heavyweights: filmmaker Ken Burns, Pulitzer winner David McCullough, University of Virginia professor Garry Gallagher, Virginia Tech Center for Civil War Studies director James I. Robertson and other scholars from across the country.

“Every one of these modern intrusions on the historic landscape degrades the value and experience of that landscape,” said McPherson, who said that he has been to the proposed site and that a Wal-Mart store would take development in the area “a quantum leap higher.”

Keith Morris, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said that the company has looked at other locations in the area but that none was as attractive. “This is the site we’re going forward with,” Morris said, describing it as “an ideal location.” The land is already zoned for commercial use and targeted for development by Orange County, he said. “There is a void here in this immediate area, especially in retail growth.”

Preservation groups in Virginia have been generally successful in recent years in steering development projects away from battlefields or reaching compromises with builders that result in partial protection for historic sites. A 214-acre portion of the Chancellorsville battlefield, a few miles down the road from the proposed Wal-Mart, was acquired for preservation by the Civil War Preservation Trust between 2004 and 2006. And in Prince William County, 127 acres of the Bristoe Station battlefield’s core section were preserved in a 2002 deal with residential developers who wanted to put hundreds of houses there.

But that was before the current economic slump.

“I think economic downturns clarify some things,” said R. Mark Crawford, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which will ultimately decide on the proposal. “In this environment, to have a major retailer like Wal-Mart still want to come in is fairly significant, and not something we can be casual about.”

Johnson said he plans to support Wal-Mart and thinks a majority of the five-member board will vote to approve the supercenter. The company’s proposal first must be reviewed by county planners and state transportation officials, and then it will go to a public hearing, Johnson said. He said he expected the proposal to come before the supervisors for a vote between February and April.

Based on sales estimates, the Wal-Mart is expected to generate about $500,000 a year in tax revenue for Orange County. The county’s budget, including its school spending, is roughly $90 million, Johnson said, and tax revenue is falling.

“In order to have a healthy economy, you need retail in order to satisfy demand,” Johnson said. “If [the project] doesn’t happen in Orange County, it’ll happen in Spotsylvania County, and then we’ll lose that revenue.” There are three Wal-Mart stores in the Fredericksburg area, including Spotsylvania County, and one in Culpeper.

Opponents of the Wal-Mart plan said they are not against the company or its presence in Orange County, only its proposed location. They are urging Wal-Mart to build a few miles down the road, closer to the Lake of the Woods gated subdivision, which has about 4,000 residents and would be the store’s major source of customers.

“It’s got nothing to do with Wal-Mart,” said Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, the group leading the fight. “But this is the worst possible location. I believe this is the closest Wal-Mart has ever tried to build next to a national park.”

The Wilderness Battlefield is part of the National Park Service’s Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which also includes the Chancellorsville Battlefield.

Wal-Mart spokesman Morris said the company should be judged only on the merits of its proposed store and not by other development that it might attract. “All we have control over is what we’re proposing,” he said. “Don’t criticize this plan because you’re afraid something will get built after that. We shouldn’t be held accountable because people’s real concern is future commercial development a year or five years down the road.”

The company has offered to place commemorative markers and other monuments to the battle at the supercenter. “There’s no reason why [the battlefield and the store] can’t coexist,” Morris said.

As for residents, some said they were willing to trade a little history for convenience.

“I think we need it here,” said Nina Hudson, who said she drives 30 to 40 miles round trip to shop at Wal-Mart in Culpeper or Fredericksburg.

“That’s the past, and we have to think about the future,” said Jackie Lee, who also lives near the proposed store. “The world’s growing, and you can’t stop that.”

Stuart Stevens, a naval police officer, said he’s dead set against the Wal-Mart. “They don’t care about history,” he said. “They just care about the almighty dollar.”

Earlier this month, not far from the proposed Wal-Mart site, the park superintendent, Russ Smith, and the park historian, Eric Mink, took a walk out to a headstone near Ellwood Manor, a 1790s house under restoration that served as headquarters for Union commanders during the battle. The view from the front porch had changed little in 150 years, encompassing mostly open fields, old barns and rolling hills.

“These are sacred spaces,” Smith said, worrying that visitors to the historic home would also face views of Wal-Mart.

The crudely cut headstone in a cornfield near the house is marked “Arm of Stonewall Jackson,” designating the spot where the general’s amputated arm was supposedly buried after his accidental and mortal wounding by his own men in the 1863 Chancellorsville battle.

The Park Service excavated the site but never found the arm, Smith said.

Let’s hope that this kind of publicity in a major newspaper like The Washington Post will help to mobilize opposition to the Wal-Mart project.

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This evening, I have posted a new article here on the site. The article deals with one of my favorite figures of the American Civil War, David Frakes Day, Medal of Honor winner, fearless scout, and scoundrel. I first discovered Day while researching and writing my book The Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads and the Civil War’s Last Campaign, and became fascinated by his story. This article was originally written for publication, but I’ve instead decided to post it here. Enjoy.

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My neck is slowly but surely getting better. I’ve had three treatments with the chiropractor and feel significantly better. I’m not 100% yet, but I’m getting there. I expect to start posting again regularly next week.

For now, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, happy Kwanzaa, and for those who celebrate it, Happy Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us. Let’s gather around the aluminum pole and air the grievances…..

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I apologize for being quiet this past week. It turns out that the lasting legacy of the whirlwind trip to Virginia last week was a badly pinched nerve in my neck as a result of that crappy bed and even worse pillow. I’ve been in a LOT of pain for most the week, although a visit to the chiropractor on Friday helped. It still hurts, and one of the things I’ve realized is that until it gets better (I’m going back to the chiropractor tomorrow), I need to limit my time on the computer.

I hope to be back to full speed later this week.

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