Unfortunately, these highlights will probably be the same tired myths begun by Ed Bearss in the 1980’s that totally whiffed on the analysis of Raymond and essentially wrote McPherson out of the Port Gibson battle even though he carried the day there.

Pretty sad that the #2 individual responsible for the success at Vicksburg has never been given his own monument in that park (#1 being Grant himself, of course). Ohio should feel embarassed that her native son has been slighted so terribly.

Chris

Randy

Virginia’s Site: http://www.virginiacivilwar.org/

North Carolina’s Site: http://www.nccivilwar150.com/

South Carolina Site: http://sc150civilwar.palmettohistory.org/

Georgia: http://www.georgia.org/Culture/Sesquicentennial.htm

These are some of the Southern States in Addition to Miss. that are active in preparation for the upcoming Sesquecentennial. Virginia will have License Plates available to promote the event.

Getting States Involved in the Sesquecentennial is a Top Down and Bottom Up Grass Roots Effort. State Legislators need to be approached and made aware of the upcoming significane to their state.

From the Bottom Up Process, I started a My Family (Beta 2 Version) Web Site which is Ideal for a Members or Descendents approach to finding out more about the Regimental History of their Ancestor’s Units. Once you find a collection of passionate descendents, and collobratively assemble the backbone of the Units: History, Heritage, Company Rosters, Photos, Letters, Artifacts, and other collateral material – You have a Basis for those Interested Descendents to Appreciate the Heritage of their Ancestor’s Service and Sacrifice.

What if this Bottom Up Project was part of the Project of the GAR, SCV, UDC, and National Park Service, Where anyone sharing the Identity of their Ancestor could Immediately Discover a Site Featuring Their Ancestor’s Regiment, where they could “Upload” their own CW Collections of Ancestor Photos and Letters. More Importantly, the excitement of the Sesquecentennial and the understanding of their Ancestors Service could be better appreciated.

If you are Passionate and Knowledgable about your Ancestor’s Regiment, and if there is no site available for the Descendents to “Participate” in – You can easily start a Regimental Site. http://www.myfamily.com (beta), and if you want to get rid of the Ads – there’s an Annual Fee of $30. Each member gets 1GB of Space Per Month to upload Photos, Video, and Files. Your Photos can be uploaded in larger file size, so the viewing and quality can be very good. You can organize photos in a story, and with a 1-800 Number and a PIN #, You Can Add a Voice Story to a Series of Photos. The File Cabinet will allow most Native Application Files: MS Word, Excel, PPS, Wave, or PDF’s. You can have viewing Guests or Participating Members, allowed to Post and Invite their Family. The Format is part of the New Generations Group of “My Family”, Ancestory dot Com, Roots Web – A Family Friendly Site that is Absolutely Ideal for a Military Community.

The other day when I was Petersburg National Battlefield Park, I shared the Information of my Web Site with some of the Park Interperters. They can Immediately Share with a Visitor, the Unit that an Ancestor was assigned to, and if the NPS has your Unit could provide a Print Out or Web Link to the Visitor. And, Now – the Regiment You Worked on to provide details is now available to a descendent, who now can become in the future as passionate as you are.

From the Bottom Up – We All Can be Involved.

Randy

The Federal Government hasn’t done anything and most likely won’t. The Civil War has become a politically incorrect hot potato which nobody in Washington wants to touch. It will be up to state and local governments to make sure this thing gets done! Unfortunately, there are less and less funds available through these to pay for them. We can only pray things will get better in the next two years so more can be devoted to this project by 2011.