Blogging

After being gone for too long, Brett Schulte’s back. And he’s back with a great idea. Brett has asked me, as well as several others, to participate in his new group blog, TOCWOC, which stands for The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed – Amateurs with Attitude!

Fear not. The vast majority of my rantings will continue to occur here. This will always be my home, although I may cross-post some things from time to time. I also may post there exclusively from time to time, but that’s a good thing. It gives all of you another blog to read. 🙂

I always really appreciated Brett’s insights, and was very sorry to see him stop blogging. I was very honored when he asked me to participate in his new blogging venture, and look forward to being part of the group.

As I said, this will always be my main blogging home, so fear not.

I’ve added a link to TOCWOC.

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This morning, I got an e-mail from old pal Drew Wagenhoffer congratulating me on making Civil War Interactive’s list of the top twenty Civil War sites. I thanked Drew, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

I then went to CWI to see what he meant, and boy, was I blown away.

Every year, CWI runs a poll of its readers to determine the top twenty Civil War sites on the Internet. Nearly 500 people voted, and I was absolutely flabbergasted to find that this humble little blog of mine placed number 14 on that list. I started this on a whim, and it’s taken on a life of its own.

Until I saw that list, I never realized that this blog has affected so many people’s lives or that so many people take time out of their busy days to visit this site and indulge my rantings. I’m just blown away and don’t really know what to say. I’m humbled and I’m grateful, and I hope that I continue to entertain and interest you and that you will continue to spend a few minutes of your day visiting this site.

To everyone who reads this blog, and to everyone who voted for this site, I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

Congratulations are in order to all of the others who made the list. I especially want to say congratulations to Dimitri Rotov and Mannie Gentile, who also made the list. A special congratulations goes to old friend Dick “Shotgun” Weeks, whose incredible site richly deserves its number one ranking. Congratulations, Dick.

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I’ve had some opportunities to interact with Chris Lewis during his tenure as the editor of Civil War Times Illustrated. Chris published JD’s and my article on the charges at Fairfax Court Huse and Westminster in this year’s first issue, and we enjoyed working with him on the project. We were very pleased with the way that the article came out, and with the fact that it was chosen as the cover story for that issue.

Last week, Dimitri Rotov posted that Chris has resigned as editor. Chris circulated an e-mail announcing his resignation that included the following passage:

Naturally this is not an easy decision for me to make. As many of you know, I am a lifelong reader and care a great deal about this publication—which is why I cannot be a part of the “new direction” that the magazines in thisgroup are either already going in, or will be going in soon. There is no respect here anymore for history, historians or the core audience. I want to thank all of you for your support ofthe magazine over the last couple years.

I will miss Chris, as I think he’s done a fine job.

CWTI and America’s Civil War are part of the Weider History Group. Previously, these magazines were owned and operated by Cowles, but they were all sold to a company owned and operated by Eric Weider. Eric’s family has long been in the physical fitness business, and they made a fortune in that industry. They decide to foray into the realm of history because Eric also publishes Armchair General magazine, which is oriented toward military gamers. There are forum boards on the Armchair General site, and I post there occasionally. Consequently, I’ve been closely following the threads discussing the changes to Military History magazine, most of which have been extremely negative.

Tonight, Dimitri has added an open letter to Eric Weider on his blog. Dimitri raises some interesting points, and I agree with most of them. However, I definitely disagree with him on one of his major suggestions. He wrote, “Relying on freelancers for articles has long put your magazines at a quality disadvantage; it is better to hire a small but reliable staff who can produce to a standard you set and deliver that consistently. Booking articles from name authors to supplement freelance work is also very dangerous, for unless those authors are closely supervised, they will hand you their bottom drawer leftovers (see especially Geoff Norman’s piece on ‘surrender monkeys’ in the current Military History and William Marvel’s article on ‘McClellan apologists’ in the current America’s Civil War).”

I think that this is a bad idea for a variety of reasons. First, and foremost, people have areas of expertise, and hiring a staff of generalists will mean that experts will no longer participate. Second, if the same writers do every article for every issue, the writing will become stale and will be too standardized. It is, of course, an old cliche that variety is the spice of life. However, I really believe that maintaining variety in the types of articles and the authors who write them is critical to the future of the publication. While I understand Dimitri’s point, I think it’s a bad idea.

In any event, I do hope that Eric Weider takes the criticisms of his readers and the radical step of resigning by Chris Lewis (who was there less than a year, if I recall correctly) to heart. I certainly hope that these publications can be turned around and restored to their prior level of quality, or else they will wither and die. I would hate to see that happen.

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Historian Paul Taylor has entered the blogging fray. Paul has launched a new blog called “With Sword and Pen”, which he describes as “A Celebration of First Edition and Collectible Books Pertaining to ‘The Late Unpleasantness'”. Imagine a site like Drew Wagenhoffer’s, only dedicated to first editions of books, including those long out of print, and you get the idea.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Paul, and good luck. I’ve added a link.

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I want to take a moment to give kudos to Laurie Chambliss of Civil War Interactive. Each week, Laurie reviews the multitude of Civil War blogs and posts a summary of that person’s postings for the week. It’s got to be a huge job–there are plenty of Civil War blogs out there any more–but Laurie covers each one of them each week. It takes dedication and it takes a lot of patience. Personally, I really appreciate everything that Laurie does to make sure that the blogosphere is a good place to be. Thanks for what you do, Laurie.

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I had some clown by the name of William Michael Kemp, a self-professed neo-Confederate who likes to post on white supremacist sites (which should tell you everything you need to know about him), leave an incredibly rude and abusive comment on one of my very early posts on this blog about Nathan Bedford Forrest. I get an e-mail every time someone leaves a comment here (even when I leave the comment), so I know almost immediately whenever one is left. When I read this one, I was genuinely offended, and that takes some doing. He didn’t like my take on Forrest. It’s no secret that I’m no fan of Forrest, and my neo-Confederate “friend” decided to launch a pretty vicious personal attack on me because he doesn’t like my take on his KKK hero.

One of the beautiful things about this blog is that because I pay the bills for this blog, I get to make the rules. One thing that this is not is a democracy. It’s an autocracy, although I am a benevolent despot. Pretty much anything goes, and I really don’t believe in censorship. However, there is one major exception to that rule: nobody has the right to insult me on my own web site, and nobody gets to be rude to my readers. This neo-Confederate clown did both, so I deleted his comment. I am also going to ban his IP address so he can’t play his little game again.

Perhaps your input might be welcome if you knew how to engage in a civil discussion, Mr. Kemp. However, since your means of discussing is to launch rude personal attacks, you will have to find somewhere else to indulge your insecurities, because you won’t be doing it here. Perhaps you might consider learning how to behave so that people take what you say seriously, instead of acting like the ignorant redneck hillbilly that you are.

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I want to welcome my friend Duane Siskey to the blogosphere. Duane lives in Gettysburg and is a Civil War cavalry reenactor. J. D. and I stayed at Duane’s place the last time we were in Gettysburg. Duane has started a new blog that discusses what it’s like to live in the ‘burg. I’ve added a link to Duane’s blog. Welcome to the blogosphere, Duane.

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John Maass, Ph.D. candidate in history at Ohio State, has maintained a fascinating blog that ties up John’s interests in Irish history, Revolutionary War history, and Civil War history (he is from the Shenandoah Valley). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading John’s blog. Last week, John stated, “Due to my efforts to complete my history PhD, my upcoming move, and the start of a new full-time job, I will not be posting new items to this site for the forseeable future.”

John will be working with my friend Mark Bradley, acting as a staff historian for the United States Army (which would be my dream job).

Good luck with defending your dissertation and with the new job, John, and we hope to see you around the blogosphere sooner than later.

For now, I’m removing the link to John’s blog. If he resumes posting, I will be very pleased to restore it.

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No, Michael Aubrecht, the number 500 in this post has nothing to do with Alex Rodriguez and his pursuit of 500 home runs. 🙂

Actually, this is blog post number 500 for me. I started this blog on a whim in September 2005, and it’s very much taken on a life of its own over the course of those nearly two years. I’m genuinely surprised that it’s lasted this long and that I continue to find things to rant about without becoming too redundant. Along the way, I’ve made some wonderful new friends, re-connected with some old ones, and have had some excellent company as we’ve traveled this road we call life.

I can only say that I am humbled and blessed all at the same time to have such wonderful friends. I am likewise humbled and blessed that so many of you think enough of my rantings to give a few minutes of your busy schedules each day to stop by and see what I’m babbling about today. I intend to keep going, and I hope that you all will continue along for the rest of the adventure.

I don’t know where it will lead, but I know that it will be interesting and challenging and all the better for having you all along.

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Greetings from Harrisonburg, Virginia. I am here for the annual conference of The Shenandoah Civil War Associates (more on that later). I had hoped to make this post last night, but the drive here was exhausting and then I had an Associates’ board meeting last night. By the time I got back from that, it was nearly 11:00 and I was way too tired to think coherently.

Some of you may have noticed that my last post has been deleted. While I don’t regret that the post is gone, I do regret that the wonderful comments that it spurred are. Those very useful and well-considered comments, from the likes of Ken Noe and Lanny Tanton, got me thinking, and I had all day in the car alone yesterday to chew on all of this. Hence, I came to the conclusion that life is just far too short for the sort of ugliness that occurred last week, and that that sort of ugliness only splinters a community that must stand together.

Consequently, it’s time to bury the hatchet and move forward. To Kevin Levin, I apologize for lashing out at you in anger and regret my intemperate and unfortunate choice of words. To everyone else who reads this blog, I apologize to you, also.

JD has explained most of the reasons why we both overreacted in this excellent post. I don’t have a lot to add, other than to say that I’ve admitted here that I tend to be hypersensitive to criticisms of my work that suggest or otherwise imply that as an “amateur”, my work is somehow deficient. Again, while I really don’t want to get into the whole amateur vs. professional thing again, I took all of this as personal criticism when I don’t think it was necessarily intended to be. For that, I apologize.

As J.D. says, we will leave our letter to the editor of Civil War Times speak for us. We spent a lot of time on it, and so did our publisher, Ted Savas, who also signed the letter. It is temperate, well-written, well-reasoned, and says what I believe needed to be said. And there, the discussion ends.

Tonight, when I get back from dinner, I will discuss this symposium and the day’s events.

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