Connections to the Civil War Everywhere I Turn! Part 2

At 46, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that a child of the 70’s such as myself is a big fan of classic rock. Consequently, my favorite local radio station is an excellent classic rock station called QFM. I’ve been a regular listener of QFM for close to the 20 years that I’ve been in Columbus.

QFM has a long-running morning show that I try to catch at least a part of every day. One of the hosts of the morning show is named Mark Wagner, although EVERYONE calls him Daddy Wags. The other morning, I was listening to the show, and they were talking to a comic from Franklin, Tennessee. Somehow, the topic of the Battle of Franklin came up, and Wags mentioned that his son is a Civil War reenactor. In all the years that I’ve been listening to the show, that was the first time that I have ever heard Wags mention that his son reenacts, or even that Wags has an interest in the Late Unpleasantness.

I sent Wags a e-mail telling him about my work and asking about his son’s reenacting. He responded and indicated that his son reenacts with the 91st Ohio group, and that he participated in the Pickett’s Charge reenactment in Gettysburg in 2006. Wags mentioned how moving it was to see his son participating in something like a reenactment of Pickett’s Charge. To make a long story short, I told Wags that if he and his son were interested, I would be happy to sign a copy of one of my books for them and send it along. After hearing that they’re interested in Gettysburg, I sent out a copy of Plenty of Blame to Go Around to Wags today signed by both JD and me. Maybe it will even get a mention on the air. We’ll see. I certainly don’t expect it, but I wouldn’t complain if it happened.

My point in raising all of this is that one never knows where one will find connections with the Civil War. I certainly never expected this particular one in spite of being a long-time listener to the show. These connections just seem to find me, which I think is cool.