id was set in the arguments array for the "side panel" sidebar. Defaulting to "sidebar-1". Manually set the id to "sidebar-1" to silence this notice and keep existing sidebar content. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 4.2.0.) in /home/netscrib/public_html/civilwarcavalry/wp-includes/functions.php on line 4239id was set in the arguments array for the "footer" sidebar. Defaulting to "sidebar-2". Manually set the id to "sidebar-2" to silence this notice and keep existing sidebar content. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 4.2.0.) in /home/netscrib/public_html/civilwarcavalry/wp-includes/functions.php on line 4239Excellent point. I had forgotten about that. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Eric
]]>I agree with your assessments of these two sources. However, the SHSP is stuff that was clearly written with an agenda, which is promoting the Lost Cause. Consequently, I tend to be extremely judicious in my use of material from the SHSP.
As for the Confederate Veteran, it’s an excellent and wide-ranging source. However, and as you point out, many–if not most–of the articles from CV were written many, many years after the end of the Civil War and have the issues of reliability associated with them that I noted in today’s post.
Thanks for adding these two sources, which are definitely worthy of inclusion.
Eric
]]>Solid advice, as always. For the post-war Confederate perspective, researchers should also consult the Southern Historical Society Papers. They are available on CD-Rom and are described as follows by one vendor: “Other than the Official Records, this 52-volume set is the most important printed source for the Confederacy. Containing everything from congressional minutes to personal reminiscences, it is indispensable for any study in depth of the Confederacy. The Papers were issued from 1876-1959.”
Confederate Veteran magazine also exists and can provide some good primary source material. It had a 40-year run from 1893 – 1932 as is described by one bibliographic source as “the largest collection of personal experiences, anecdotes, battle footnotes, tall tales and biographical sketches for the Confederate side. . .”
But as you point out, researchers should use caution with some of the accounts in these sets, especially those written in later years. By then, many of the veterans were possibly confusing the way things occurred with the way they WISHED they had occurred!!
Paul
]]>You’re very welcome. More tomorrow on what I do once I gather this stuff up and how I then go through the process of deciding what to use.
Eric
]]>As an amateur historian, I’ve always been interested in how authors go about this process. Thanks for taking the time to lay it out in some detail.
Brett S.
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