General News

Early this year, I was contacted by Norwich University. A Norwich alum named Edward B. Williston was awarded a Medal of Honor for his valor on the second day of the Battle of Trevilian Station, June 12, 1864. This was not one of those bullshit Medals given for capturing a flag or for political reasons. This was the real deal–Williston fought his guns right on the skirmish line. When he wrote his report of the battle, Wesley Merritt, in describing Williston’s performance, wrote, “The light 12’s were magnificent.” Norwich informed me that it had commissioned Dale Gallon to paint a scene of Williston’s performance at Trevilian Station. I gave Dale everything I had: the Medal of Honor file, a copy of the book, and some miscellaneous stuff.

I gave them what information I had, and then offered to show Dale the battlefield, as I felt it critical that he get the terrain right. The first weekend in June, JD, Dale, a representative of Norwich, and I drove down to Trevilians from Gettysburg for a battlefield tour. It made for a long, but fun, day. We covered the whole battlefield, but focused in particular on the second day’s battlefield and the area where Williston did his deed of gallantry. Dale spent a good bit of time getting the lay of the land and the right perspective, and I believe he’s portrayed it as accurately as it can be portrayed.

The print of the painting has been released. I’ve got a copy of it coming. I can’t wait to see it full-size, but I think that Dale got it just right.

Have a look.

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I’ve been plugging away at the third pass at the Dahlgren manuscript steadily for the past few days. I’ve been making good progress–I’ve gotten through six of the thirteen chapters. I’ve been trying to do two chapters per night when I work on it, meaning I’ve worked at it the last three nights solid.

I decided to take tonight off. Once in a while, I just need an evening off. I’ve had an extremely intense last week or so, and I just don’t feel like it tonight. So, I’m just going to spend the evening hanging out.

On another note altogether….

Today, I met a friend for lunch at a nearby upscale Italian restaurant. It’s a very busy place, and it’s also very convenient, as it’s just over a mile from my office.

I got there a couple of minutes early and was seated. As I was being taken to my table, I thought I recognized the person sitting at the first table as I walked back to mine. I got a good look at him, but I wanted to be sure that it was who I thought it was. So I asked the server, and she confirmed that it was, in fact, Eric Clapton sitting at that table.

Slow Hand married a Columbus gal, and has actually lived here for six or seven years. My office is just across the Scioto River from his home. It’s not all that unusual for people to see him around town, but it was the first time I have seen him myself.

I never noticed that he’s left handed–or at least he eats left-handed–before today.

The coolest thing about it was that people left him alone, let him have his space.

Too cool. A David Letterman brush with fame moment. 🙂

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Ted Savas informed us today that the Stuart’s Ride book will ship from the printer tomorrow. At long last, we have a book!

For those who’ve expressed an interest in having a copy of this book, sit tight just a few days longer, and I will have books in hand.

I’m excited. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this one, probably more than any other book I’ve ever written. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

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A special thanks to Mike Koepke and to Tom Churchill at Touch the Elbow for their kind words about our shameless self-promotion of our book on Stuart’s Ride. Thanks for noticing, and thanks also for the kind words.

And Tom, thanks also for your kind words about this blog. It’s good therapy for me. 🙂

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In the never-ending hope of selling more books, J. D. Petruzzi and I have developed a web site to try to sell copies of our book on Stuart’s Ride. Please check out our new web site.

Of course, the site exists for one reason: shameless self-promotion. 🙂

Having said that, it was just launched yesterday, and the content for it is still being developed. Please check back regularly.

And thanks for tolerating our shameless self-promotion.

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I learned from Ted Savas last night that the Stuart’s Ride book is making good progress at the printer’s, and that is tentatively scheduled to ship on September 1. For those who’ve been waiting, it will only be a little bit longer. I can’tw ait to see this one in print.

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After the publication of the annual Gettysburg issue of Blue and Gray magazine two issues ago, J. D. Petruzzi and I felt an overwhelming need to respond. The featured article was by a licensed battlefield guide named Andrea Custer that spells out a new interpretation of Farnsworth’s Charge on the afternoon of July 3, 1863. That article relies on misrepresentations and twistings of facts to suit the theory, and we came to the conclusion that it was written to intentionally mislead the public to promote the author’s own agenda.

Consequently, we composed a 5500 word rebuttal of the theory that was based entirely on the facts. We knew it was long, and we knew that we ran the risk of it being too long to run in the magazine as a letter to the editor.

Today, I got news about it. There’s good news, bad news, and then more good news.

The good news: We will have a 500-1000 word letter to the editor on the subject in the next issue of the magazine.

The bad news: Regular reader Scott Patchan’s feature article for the issue is VERY long at 18,400 words, and there is no room to run our entire piece. This year, at least, the piece will not be run as we wrote it.

The good news: Dave Roth, the publisher of the magazine is going to make it up to us by permitting us to publish the entire piece, complete with maps, illustrations, and a General’s Tour of the conventional interpretation of Farnsworth’s Charge in next year’s Gettysburg issue. So, for those who haven’t read what we cobbled together, sadly, you will have to wait. My concern, of course, is that by the time it does run, nobody will remember or care, but given the nature of Gettysburg controversies, this one keeps coming back up and keeps getting argued. We shall see, but I am pretty sure that it will stir up the waters once again.

To give just a taste to tease and tantalize you: we present lots of evidence from the veterans–those who were actually there–to demonstrate that these events took place where the conventional interpretation places them, that some of the sources relied upon in the alterantive theory have been misstated and/or misrepresented, and that the actual events played out just how conventional interpretations have depicted them.

Sorry you will have to wait, but at least it will be run in full.

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It was 95 degrees with very high humidity here today. Ideal weather to move, right?

Today was the day to move my files, my books, my two client chairs, and the contents of my desk from the old firm to the new. I had no help other than that my friend Chris stopped by the office today and helped me load some of my boxes into my car. I had court in the morning and had to wear a suit, but I took a change of clothes with me. I changed into some sweat shorts and t-shirt, and got busy.

It took me much of the day to get everything moved over there and unpacked, but I am all moved in. My files are all put away in my new filing cabinet. My desk is unpacked and set up. My office is reasonably well set up.

I easily sweated off five pounds today, and I grossed myself out. I’m so tired tonight that I’m just being a vegetable in front of the TV, not even thinking about working on Civil War stuff. The best thing is that the move–what I’ve been dreading–is finally over.

I have to move my furniture out of the old office (I’m paying movers to do that for me), but I’m ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a new start for me. Wish me luck.

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I got home at about 4:30 today after having covered about 1400 miles in the past week and after visiting roughly a dozen battlefields, give or take. I’m beat.

And, on top of all of it, I not only have to be in court tomorrow, Tuesday is my first day at the new firm, and I have to move my boxes of files tomorrow when I get done with court. It’s going to be in the mid-90’s again tomorrow. This is going to be a pretty chaotic week.

We will post photos from Hollywood Cemetery and from some of the battlefield sites this week once a little of the dust settles from the trip.

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Today was a full day of touring. It was 96 degrees here today with equal humidity.

I had one bus and Bobby Krick had the other. We ran in tandem. I saw several places that I’d never seen today, including a couple of additions to my list of obscure places.

The first stop was the Army of the Potomac’s crossing of the Pamunkey River at Hanovertown at the end of May 1864. I’d never been there before, but Bobby had arranged access to the ford with the landowner. From there, we went to Haw’s Shop, which I interpreted for the group. From there we went to Cloverlea plantation, which was the home of Ella Washington. Ella’s stepson was a West Point classmate of Custer’s, and when her stepson was captured during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Custer treated him with great kindness. Consequently, Ella, who was a fervent secessionist, had a soft spot for Old Curly. The house still stands and recently got new owners. We were the first large tour group ever permitted on the property.

After lunch, we covered a couple of Peninsula Campaign sites related to Custer, then I interpreted the cavalry phase of the opening engagement at Cold Harbor (June 1, 1864). The final stop was Yellow Tavern, which Bobby and I did together.

The air conditioning on my bus failed during the middle of the day. By the end of the afternoon, it was so hot and so humid on that bus that I couldn’t stop sweating. It was really kind of disgusting.

I have a panel discussion tomorrow. When it’s done, I head to Chambersburg and then finally home on Sunday.

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