As some of you know, there was a big kerfuffle a couple of years ago over the ownership of documents that were in the possession of Evander M. Law at the end of his life. The State of South Carolina claimed them, and so did the family, who wanted to auction the stuff off. Unfortunately for those of us who care about this sort of thing, the state lost, and the stuff went to auction. Here’s an article about it:
Confederate Gen. Lee’s Letters Sell for $61,000 at Auction
By Jim Davenport
09/29/2007
Associated Press
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/203509.html
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Three letters written by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War sold at auction for $61,000 Saturday.
The sales prices were far off the record $630,000 a Lee item sold for in 2002. But two letters from the general who ended the war with surrender in 1865 sold last year for $5,000 and $1,900, said Patrick Scott, director of rare books and special collections at the University of South Carolina’s Thomas Cooper Library.
The letters were among more than 400 documents Thomas Willcox put up for auction after a protracted fight with the state, which claimed ownership of the documents that had been in Willcox’s family for years. Willcox had carried them stuffed in 11 manilla folders in the back of his SUV until one day about six years ago when he got bored, looked through them and found the three letters signed by Lee.
Neither Willcox nor the auction house had specific figures, but estimates placed the total sales at less than $400,000.
Willcox said he was disappointed. He said he’s sure he at least broke even after spending money on legal fees and $70,000 for a detailed appraisal of the documents. “I thought it would have gone better,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s over,” he said.
Two of the Lee letters sold to an out-of-state collector bidding by phone who would not immediately agree to be interviewed. One – selling for $20,000 – was written to South Carolina Gov. Francis Wilkinson Pickens talking about troop strength and conditions along the state’s coast.
“The strength of the enemy, as far as I am able to judge, exceeds the whole force that we have in the state,” Lee wrote to Pickens on Dec. 27, 1861. “It can be thrown with great celerity against any point, and far outnumbers any force we can bring against it in the field.”
Another letter about troop strength from Lee to Pickens dated two days later sold for $14,000.
David Ellison of Columbia spent $27,000 for a Lee letter that talked about using slave labor to build defenses. Ellison hadn’t read the letter and bought it based on the description in the auction catalog as a piece of history. “I’m not sure what his letter says. But to put General Lee and slave labor in the same” letter, he said, “convinced me that that had to be a document of some historical importance.”
But Ellison also was bidding on and winning letters from his great-great-grandfather, Civil War Gov. Milledge Luke Bonham. Those, he said would be something important to give to his sons. He said he would think of making the Lee letter available to a museum or some other institution.
At least two dozen of the letters mentioned slaves, from their medical treatment to use as labor.
For instance, a letter from Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard protested discharging of slaves from their work when “the enemy is throwing at our works more than 500 projectiles an hour.”
Fewer than 50 people gathered to hear auctioneer Bill Mishoe work his way through notebooks filled with the old correspondence, telegrams, bills and receipts held up in plastic sleeves for bidders to see.
The issues addressed in the letters ranged from defense to the mundane.
For instance, Pickens wrote to Brig. Gen. Arthur Middleton Manigault on Oct. 3, 1861, about receiving and disposing of Enfield muskets. The letter sold for $300. And a $75 bid bought a bill of sale for bags of flour.
Cal Packard drove down from Mansfield, Ohio, and left after spending more than $100,000. He said his biggest prize was walking away with original documents tied to South Carolina’s secession convention in Charleston – including Pickens’ copies.
That’s “really cool,” the former teacher said. “There’s just a tremendous amount of historical significance.”
“Really cool” indeed. Now, I’m not opposed to the idea of private collections–I have a tiny one myself. However, this stuff should be in a repository where the public can have access to it, not where it’s hoarded away for personal delight.
I deeply regret that the court found in favor of Willcox, as this material should rightfully be in the South Carolina State Archives, not being used as a profit-making venture by some yahoo who has no appreciation for the treasure he had in his grasp.
Scridb filterSusan and I did something incredibly cool today. We saw something that is quite likely a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was called the The Gathering of Mustangs and Legends, held at Rickenbacker International Airport over the last four days.
The Mustangs, of course, are the P-51 Mustang fighter plane. Over 100 of them were present. All are flyable, and all have been carefully and painstakingly restored to immaculate condition. The Legends are the men and women who flew them, including 80 of the surviving fighter aces of World War II. It was really an amazing event. Given that we lose 1,000 World War II veterans each day, there won’t be many more opportunities to do something like this.
When we first got there, the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team were getting ready to perform.
Here, four of the six F-16C’s, flying in the diamond formation made famous by the Thunderbirds, pass by the bleachers at about 1200 mph.
Here they are in their six-man delta formation.
In addition to all of the Mustangs, there were a lot of other interesting aircraft, including several vintage bombers. Those bomers, along with two Mustangs, did some low-level strafing and bombing runs, complete with lots of pyrotechnics. Anyway, here’s a B-24 flying by.
There is only one RAF Lancaster bomber left in the world that is airworthy. It performed at the air show this weekend. Here it is in the air, doing a low-level bombing run.
Here’s one of the few remaining airworthy B-17’s, doing a low-level bombing run.
The last event of the show was that 20 of the Mustangs launched and then formed up. They flew over the airfield in a “51” formation. We were lucky enough to get this picture of them.
Here’s a close-up of the front fuselage of one of the P-51’s.
The pyrotechnics guys were having fun, including blowing smoke rings.
Here I am, alongside one of the Mustangs, with two of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The fellow on the right, a retired college professor, is one of the surviving fighter aces. He shot down a German jet with his Mustang. Just being able to take a photo with someone like that made the visit worthwhile.
Here’s Susan in front of one of the Mustangs.
I couldn’t resist shooting this photo. The DC-3, otherwise known as the Gooney Bird, is one of the best-built and most reliable aircraft ever constructed. This one caught my attention, and I had to shoot a photo of it.
There were many more really interesting and neat aircraft there, such as a B-25, a C-5 Galaxy, a couple of very cool Warthogs (A-10’s), a B-52, one of only 3 remaining P-38 Lightnings, a P-40, painted as a Flying Tiger, and a number of others. For me, though, the best part of it was seeing those beautiful old warbirds fly one last time, and seeing the reactions of the old vets as they watched them. I heard on the news that something like 80,000 people attended over the course of the four days, which was a wonderful tribute to the old birds and to the men and women who flew them.
I suspect it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I’m surely glad that we went.
Scridb filterListen closely. Can you hear it?
That strange sound that you hear emanating from the direction of New York City is the sound of the greatest choke in the history of professional sports.
Yes, the New York Mets, who had a seven game lead with seventeen to place, proceeded to reel off a dozen losses in those seventeen games, all against teams with records less than .500. Today, of course, was the clincher.
Future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, he of the 300+ wins and three Cy Young Awards, never made it out of the first inning today, giving up 7 runs in 1/3 of an inning. The game was over by the end of the first. The Mets lost 8-1 again to the Marlins.
And then, the Phillies–they of the horrific pitching–won 6-1, behind the ancient lefty, Jamie Moyer, who twirled five wonderful innings, meaning that they won the National League’s Eastern Division outright.
What a fold by the Metropolitans…it puts to shame the fold by the 1964 Phillies (6 game lead with twelve to play, finished second) and the 1969 Cubbies, who folded up a twelve game lead and lost to the same Mets.
It is THE greatest choke in the history of professional sports. Congratulations, Mets on your extraordinarily dubious accomplishment.
The greatest irony of all, of course, is that this was the season wherein the Phils carded the 10,000th loss in their franchise history, but yet they were the team still standing when the dust settled. Go figure.
It certainly looks like Jimmy Rollins was right last winter when he said that the Phillies were the team to beat in the National League East. And Rollins put his money where his mouth is by having an MVP-caliber season.
As for this life-long Phillies fan, today is a very sweet day. Let’s go, Phightin’ Phils…..
Scridb filterAfter a season of incredible inconsistency marked by long winning streaks and long losing streaks and one of the most horrifically bad pitching staffs in the history of Major League Baseball, my beloved Philadelphia Phillies have pulled into a dead heat with the New York Mets after the Mets have pulled off one of the most monumental collapses in the history of the game. After a huge win that eliminated Atlanta from the playoff hunt, the Phillies are now tied for first place in the National League East.
The Mets had a seven game lead with 17 to play, and they’ve blown that lead entirely, thanks, in no small part, to eight straight losses to the Phightin’ Phils.
The Phillies, on the other hand, feature a tremendous offense (the have two players–Ryan Howard and Chase Utley) with more than 100 RBI’s and three knocking on the door with more than 90 each (Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, and Aaron Rowand). Three players (Howard, Rollins, and Burrell) have more than 30 home runs. Jimmy Rollins, the shortstop, has over 200 hits, 30 home runs, 36 stolen bases, 19 triples, and more than 90 RBI’s as a lead-off hitter. Rollins will set a major league for most at-bats in a season later on tonight. Burrell has been magnificent the second half of the season after a start so bad that I was advocating that he be cut, sicne nobody wanted him a trade. Burrell’s been one of the most productive hitters in the National League for the second half of the season.
Their pitching, on the other hand, leaves a vast amount to be desired. Other than all-star Cole Hamels and mid-season call-up Kyle Kendrick (10-3), they have one of the most incendiary, inconsistent, and atrocious pitching staffs I’ve ever seen. That they’ve hung in there this long is really a tribute to the offense and to Charlie Manuel, the manager.
Anyway, the Phils, through great clutch hitting and decent pitching, have taken advantage of the monumental collapse of the Mets, and have drawn into a dead heat with them. Both teams are 87-72 with three games each left to play. The Phils are riding a hot streak, while the Mets have been floundering badly. They close the regular season with the pesky Washington Nationals, while the Mets close with the Florida Marlins, who’ve done a great job of being a season killer against the Phillies for a number of years now.
From the very beginning of the season, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has predicted that 90 wins would take the division. Looks like he was dead on the money.
The Phillies have not been to the post-season since their magical ride to the World Series in 1993. It’s time. Hell, it’s long over due. Citzen’s Bank Park is going to be ROCKING this weekend. I wish I could be there.
It’s nail biting time for this life-long Phillies fan. Wish us luck. And wish the Marlins luck, too.
Scridb filterI belong to a professional networking group that has been an excellent source of both new friends and good business referrals. Unlike many tip groups, our group follows a formal meeting agenda, has officers, and committee chairs, and the like. We meet for an hour and fifteen minutes each week. Each week, a member of the group has half an hour to present about his or her business, or some aspect of that business, so that other members can get a better understanding of what services are provided and how to refer business.
My turn to present was at Tuesday’s meeting. So, I gave a half hour talk on real property law in Ohio, and, in particular, how to convey title to real estate. As we have a realtor, a title agent, and a mortgage broker in our group, I figured it would be an excellent way to tie things up for a number of us. So, I spoke off the cuff for half an hour.
Then, that night, I gave my Stuart’s Ride talk to the Western Ohio Civil War Roundtable in Celina, OH. It’s only a two hour drive, and I had committed to the talk, so off we went. The problem is that until a cold front finally blew through yesterday, it’s been in the 90’s here, and it’s been hot. The air conditioning in the old building where the Roundtable meets, a branch campus of Wright State University, was not up to the task, and it was beastly hot in that room. Within five minutes of beginning to talk, I was drenched in sweat. The talk, counting Q&A, lasted about 75 minutes.
Then, the next day, I had to be in court in the morning for a client, and then I had to give yet another talk at lunch time. I am a member of the Columbus Bar Association. Several years ago, we formed our own Civil War Roundtable just for members of the CBA. Our programming year began on Wednesday, and, as a favor to the fellow who does the programming, I agreed to be the kick-off speaker, in part because I do tend to draw folks. So, I gave a talk on the pursuit of Lee’s army by Meade after Gettysburg that went about 75 minutes with the question and answer session at the end.
That made 180 minutes worth of addressing audiences by me in a span of about 30 hours. By the time I finished up with the lunch talk on Wednesday, my voice was about shot, as I had a big room with no amplification. Enough, already!
Thank heavens I get a break for a few weeks…..
Scridb filterMaj. Gen. William Farrar “Baldy” Smith is an interesting fellow. I’ve learned to appreciate just how interesting a fellow he is from my work on the emergency militia forces that gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to defend the Keystone State against the Confederate invasion in 1863. I had never looked at any of what I’m about to discuss until a couple of weeks ago, when I decided that one of the things that I wanted to focus on in the book on the retreat from Gettysburg was the role played by Smith’s command, which has never been given any sort of a detailed treatment anywhere. Consequently, I immersed myself into this, and boy, did I find some interesting stuff when I did.
Baldy Smith was a West Pointer, and was, by all accounts, a brilliant engineer. He was also a good soldier, but for his penchant for not knowing when to keep his big mouth shut. Smith, a Vermonter, was the first colonel of the 3rd Vermont Infantry. Before long, he was the commander of the First Vermont Brigade, and by the time of McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, he was a major general commanding a division of the 6th Corps. His date of commission is May 4, 1862.
After McClellan was relieved of command and Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside instituted the Grand Division organizational scheme for the Army of the Potomac. Each Grand Division consisted of two corps of infantry. The 6th Corps was part of the Left Grand Division, which was commanded by Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, who had been Smith’s corps commander int he 6th Corps. When Franklin was promoted to Grand Division command, Smith was promoted to command the 6th Corps.
Smith, however, was his own worst enemy. After the twin debacles at Fredericksburg and Burnside’s Mud March, Smith and Franklin sent a letter to the War Department complaining bitterly about Burnside and seeking his removal from command. Although Burnside was eventually relieved at his own request, that letter sealed the fates of both Franklin and Smith. When Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac, Smith was relieved of command of the 6th Corps and sent home to wait for orders.
In June 1863, when the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania began, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, whose commission as major general also dated back to May 4, 1862, was sent to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to assume command of the Department of the Susquehanna. Couch, who had commanded the 2nd Corps at Chancellorsville, ended up in de facto command of the Army of the Potomac when Hooker was dazed by an artillery shell that struck the wooden post where he was standing, leaving him sick and concussed. Disgusted by Hooker’s bungling at Chancellorsville, Couch, the army’s senior corps commander, refused to serve under Hooker’s command, and asked to be relieved of command of the 2nd Corps. His request was granted, and he was instead sent to Harrisburg.
Smith, aware of the crisis, and wanting to help his old friend Couch, volunteered his services, even offering to serve as a lieutenant if that’s what Couch wanted him to do. Couch was assembling a large force of raw militia from New York and Pennsylvania. These men were emergency troops, had virtually no training, had no experience soldiering, and were not good for much other than as cannon fodder. Couch gladly accepted Smith’s offer and placed him in command of these troops. Smith now commanded about 4,000 of the worst troops the American Civil War had to offer, and it’s no surprise that they made little impact on the Gettysburg Campaign.
After the Union victory at Gettysburg, the Army of the Potomac followed Lee’s beaten army to the banks of the flooded Potomac, and Smith’s ragtag command was ordered to march to Maryland to join the army. Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, needed every able body he could get, experienced or not.
These orders horrified Smith. After commanding the 6th Corps–now commanded by Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, his junior, Smith now led troops that he himself described as useless. “If you send an order for this command to report to Meade, will you at the same time order me to return to you, leaving [Brig. Gen. Joseph] Knipe in command?” Smith begged Couch on July 6, 1863. “You can appreciate how unpleasant it would be for me to serve under existing circumstances with the Army of the Potomac.” Couch denied the request, and Smith, a good soldier, pressed on with his thankless duty and suffered the inevitable personal humiliation that undoubtedly accompanied his return to the Army of the Potomac at the head of a useless command.
His command finally reached the main body of the Army of the Potomac on July 11. It’s interesting to note that Smith outranked George Meade, whose date of commission as major general was in November 1862 (in fact, Henry Slocum also outranked Meade, but Slocum had specifically agreed to serve under a junior officer). Had Smith been anything but a good soldier, he could have made a big kerfuffle about serving under someone junior to him. However, and to his credit, he did not do so. Instead, Smith tolerated some pretty humiliating circumstances and performed admirable duty under some extremely difficult circumstances.
Smith certainly had his faults, but it’s hard to fault such selfless service as he performed during the Gettysburg Campaign. It’s episodes like this that demonstrate why I find the Gettysburg Campaign so fascinating, and why I find the pursuit of Lee’s army, in particular, intriguing.
Scridb filterEvery March, Liberty University, located in Lynchburg, Virginia, has a Civil War conference that was apparently started by Rev. Jerry Falwell himself, who evidently had an interest in the Late Unpleasantness.
Now, it bears noting that Liberty is a Southern Baptist university with a religious orientation, and it is also intensely conservative, in keeping with the religious and political philosophy of its founder, Reverend Falwell. Let’s also keep in mind that I’m a Jewish lawyer and liberal Democrat from Philadelphia. In short, I am the anti-Falwell.
Today, upon the recommendation of Stephen W. Sears, I was invited to be one of the presenters at next spring’s conference at Liberty, which will feature the Gettysburg Campaign. So far, Kent Masterson Brown is confirmed, as is Prof. Steve Woodworth, who is one of the contributors to the excellent Civil Warriors group blog. I also told the conference director that I would assist him in locating additional speakers to fill out the program.
I’m going to do my Stuart’s Ride talk, I think–I was given cavalry operations as the topic, and I’m inclined to limit it to the Stuart’s Ride topic. Most of all, I am known as as an authority on the Gettysburg Campaign, so I guess it is appropriate for me to participate in this conference.
At the same time, given my political proclivities and my religious background, this should make for a very interesting experience. Hopefully, no bolts of lightning will strike me while I’m there…..
Scridb filterI wanted to offer a ringing endorsement of one of Chris Wehner’s projects. Chris runs a web site called Soldier Studies. Here’s the mission statement:
This site is dedicated to the preservation of American Civil War information, particularly the correspondence and diary entries of soldiers who served in the field and elsewhere. We hope that by providing a comprehensive and searchable archive of this information a more complete picture of one of the bloodiest chapters in American history can be better understood by researchers, historians, and students alike. Unlike other Civil War databases, this one will remain free and open to the public.
In the course of searching for primary source material for our study of the retreat from Gettysburg, I found three really outstanding accounts in the database on Chris’ site. But for the site, I never would have located those materials or had the opportunity to use them in our manuscript.
Once we get the manuscript done and turn it in to Ted Savas, I will go through my massive collection of material (I have multiple banker’s boxes full of primary source materials from 15+ years of serious researching) and see about contributing some of it to the web site.
In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check it out. There’s something useful and interesting there for almost anyone interested in the Late Unpleasantness. Thanks for what you do, Chris.
Scridb filterSorry for being quiet the past few days. I’ve been slowly but surely plugging away at getting the retreat from Gettysburg manuscript finished. I’ve made some excellent progress, but I’ve still got a way to go. I’ve still got a bunch of new sources to plug in. This evening, I’ve been incorporating material from one of my very favorite sources, The National Tribune, a veterans’ newspaper that was the forebear of Stars and Stripes. I still have a number of those articles to go, as well as the material from a number of books. If all goes well, I should finish some time this week.
In 1998, Gregory Acken published the letters of Capt. Francis Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania. This book, titled Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson, is one of the best first-person accounts of the Civil War published in the last ten years. I recommend it highly.
Donaldson participated in the entire Gettysburg Campaign. After the conclusion of the Campaign, he wrote a very lengthy letter home describing his experiences. A portion of it is so funny, and so enlightening, that I decided to share it with you.
On July 12, 1863, the opposing armies occupied positions at Williamsport, Maryland. Lee’s army had the interior lines, his 7 mile long position extending along a prominent ridge line. With the swollen Potomac too high to cross, Lee had carefully selected a defensive position, and was waiitng to see whether Meade would attack.
July 12 was a Sunday. During the afternoon, General Meade and his staff rode over to reconnoiter the position occupied by the 5th Corps. After the general sent some skirmishers forward, the chaplain of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry approached him. With his head uncovered, the chaplain asked Meade whether a battle couldn’t be fought as well the next day, instead of on the Sabbath. Meade, known for his terrible temper, good-naturedly replied that “he was like a man who had a contract to make a box—he had the four sides and bottom made & was about to put on the lid, hence the fight would take place,” recorded Capt. Francis Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania. “Then,” said the chaplain, “as God’s agent I solemnly protest and will show you that the Almighty will not permit this to be done. Look at the heavens, see the threatening storm approaching.” Sure enough, it started raining a few minutes later, and the rain continued all night. “The skirmishers, both sides, covered themselves with their blankets & stood looking at each other & trying to keep dry,” drolly concluded Donaldson.
For sure, the power of nature can overwhelm the power of man. This episode stands in stark contrast to an incident of World War II.
On December 8, 1944, when the Third Army Headquarters were located in the Caserne Molifor in Nancy, France, the Third Army’s chaplain, Msgr. James H. O’Neill, received a telephone call: “This is General Patton; do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.”
Unaware of any such prayer, Chaplain O’Neill wrote the following on a 3×5 card:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.
The prayer worked. The clouds broke as Patton’s army raced to the relief of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, thereby freeing up Allied air power to bring its full force to bear and to help break up the German offensive in the Ardennes.
The contrast is stark and amusing.
Scridb filterI am just back from a trip to Gettysburg. I went there to meet J. D. and our other co-author for the retreat project, Mike Nugent. We were there to shoot photos for the two driving tours and to check all of the GPS coordinates and see if there was any additional material to add to the driving tours. It was a whirlwind trip.
I left on Thursday afternoon and got there about 9:00. We met at the Reliance Mine Saloon, had a couple of cold ones, and called it a night, as it was going to be an early morning. I stayed at my friend Stan O’Donnell’s weekend mansion, which is located adjacent to East Cavalry Field. Stan and I met J. D., Mike, and old pal Duane Siskey for breakfast at The Avenue. We then saddled up and headed off to do the tour of the Wagon Train of Wounded. First we stopped at a spot where Col. B. F. Carter of the 4th Texas died, and when we got out to shoot photos, the homeowners were very gracious. They shared some family lore with us, and confirmed what we believed about Colonel Carter’s being buried on the property when he died.
From there, we moved on. War arrived at the gorgeous Michael Hege farm, in Marion, PA, near Chambersburg. Again, we got out to shoot photos, and the son of the current owner–a descendant of Michael Hege’s–approached us. He was very friendly and started telling us stories about the property. A few minutes later, his father arrived. The father, Mr. Horst, showed us the outdoor baking oven that is still used from time to time, and few other things. They also gave us the translation of a poem written by Michael Hege about the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania before the Battle of Gettysburg (it was originally written in German). It was very, very cool.
We owe Duane a huge debt. He’s already described this incident on his blog, and I commend his version to you. Duane caught the seatbelt in the door to JD’s van, and the door got seriously jammed. We stopped in front of the next house to try to free the seatbelt. JD blocked the driveway, and was working on freeing the door when Mr. Horst’s son pulled up on his four-wheeled ATV. It turns out that the home is owned by his aunt, who is active with the Franklin County Historical Society and is the family historian. Next thing I know, the door is unjammed and JD is talking to her. She told JD that she had a letter written by one of Michael Hege’s nephews describing the visit of the Confederates to the property both on the way to and from Gettysburg, and it’s never been published. It is a tremendous letter and a tremendous addition to our book. She also gave us a document that indicated what was taken from Michael Hege during the war, and a copy of a pass written by a Confederate staff officer indicating that the Heges should be left alone, as they had been robbed of everything on the way north. More tremendous stuff. What a bonanza, and all because Duane screwed up. Funny how these things work….
We ended up in Williamsport, had lunch, and then went exploring. We were done for the day, so we went to see some other spots that were pertinent, such as Middletown, Maryland, which was George Meade’s headquarters for a time during the retreat. We also went to see the new North Carolina monument on South Mountain, which I hadn’t seen. It’s beautiful, but it’s another Gary Casteel monument that has weird proportions, like the Longstreet monument at Gettysburg. I then turned the boys on to the joys of Wonder Book and Video in Frederick. After we all bought a few books, we crossed over Catoctin Mountain and headed to Dave and Jane’s Crab House for dinner. After a couple of beers, I headed back to Stan’s mansion, where more fellow travelers awaited us in the form of my friend Karl Fauser and his girlfriend Ilona.
Saturday, we did breakfast, and Dean Shultz and my friend Dr. Dave Moore joined us. NOBODY knows more about Adams County than Dean, and he’s a national treasure. We started pursuing the fighting during the retreat, and Dean showed us a recent discovery, which is where the actual clash between the Union cavalry and the Confederate wagon train occurred. After that, it was on to Smithsburg, MD, where Dean helped us pin down Confederate artillery positions based on information he garnered from locals. We went on to Hagerstown, saw the sites there, and then stopped for lunch, which took nearly two hours due to lousy service. When we went on to Funkstown to shoot Buford’s headquarters, the owners of the house invited us in to see the place. We spent a delightful 45 minutes with them–they had no idea of the significance of their property–and then moved on.
The weather was ghastly yesterday. It was 93 and 90+% humidity. It was horrific. We walked down to the crossing site at Falling Waters, which is almost a mile walk. It’s downhill on the way there, but ALL steep uphill on the way back. A thunderstorm brewed up, and there was lightning and thunder, and we had to hustle back up. By the time I got back up, I was so drenched with sweat that I could have wrung out my clothing. Yuck. Stan had never been there, so he was all atwitter about it.
When we finished, we went to Bunker Hill, 22 miles away, to see the spot where James J. Pettigrew died, and then back to Falling Waters on the West Virginia side. Then, it was on to Greencastle for dinner at the Antrim House Restaurant. After dinner, it was back to Stan’s mansion, where we all zonked out.
The two tours are nothing short of spectacular. We have great photos for them. They have multiple GPS points, and the GPS points are dead on. If someone programs them in, it’s impossible to get lost. The tours contain some terrific information, and we believe that folks will really enjoy them. We should be finishing the book up in the next three weeks, and it’s going to be really good. I can’t wait to see it in print.
This morning, JD, Mike, Dr. Dave, Karl, Ilona, and I had breakfast. We all split up then. Mike had a nine-plus hour drive back home to Maine, Karl and Ilona had to get back to Delaware, and Dave had something else to do today.
As I have said here previously, the Monocacy battlefield is a particular favorite of mine, and I just love the place. Thus, I was excited about getting to see it today. JD and I then drove to Frederick to spend some time at the Monocacy National Battlefield. We saw the new visitor center (which is really quite nice), and then spent some time stomping on the battlefield. JD hadn’t seen a lot of it, so we had a fair amount of ground to cover and very little time to cover it. By 12:30, I was on the road home. I got home about 6:15, and I’m just wiped out.
Tomorrow, it’s back to the grind of lawyering, and then working to get the retreat manuscript wrapped up by our September 15 submission deadline.
Scridb filter