I could barely write my introductory post and now it wants a title?

I’ve tried to write this introduction at least 8 times – I’m just too rusty and can’t for the life of me get something down on paper that I like. So I promised myself, no matter what, this is the last attempt –I’m going to post this introduction even if it is so bad, it gets me kicked out of the group.

So, let’s start off with who I am – Tom Churchill. I’m not an expert by any means; I like to say I’m an accidental Civil War buff. I’m also an accidental author, helping co-write “The Civil War Research Guide” from Stackpole books. I’ll tell both of these stories in a future post, ones that will give them better justice.

But I will say that I have been researching the 18^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry for the last 10 years or so and hope to one day help clear General James Barnes’ good name as well as write the history of the unit, a history that even its soldiers couldn’t complete.

For the last year, I have been writing on the blog “Touch the Elbow.” I took a brief bit of time off as real life interrupted my hobby but now – for better or worse, I’m back.

What else should you know about me?

We’ll, I’ve been married for 14 years, have three kids, graduated from The Citadel (yes, the school that claims the first shots by firing upon the Star of the West), live in the Charleston, SC area, lean heavily in favor of the Union, my Great-Great Grandfather was the color bearer of the 18^th Mass as well as an incredible collector of artifacts during his time and service, his collection was lost into the hands of private collectors for almost 80 years, when it was rediscovered it was offered to me for a mere $30,000, although I couldn’t afford it – I was able to get several pieces at an outrageous amount, I’m incredible bitter over all of this if you couldn’t tell and I’m having a house built which is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done. Oh, and much to my wife’s disbelief and hope that I will fail – I am looking for a perfect piece of Civil War art for the new house – but more on that with a later post.

As for you, I ask a few things from the readers – read with an open mind and feel free to disagree with me via the comments. As a matter of fact, I beg of you to comment – I’ve had more fun discussing points of contention than I could have ever imagined – and I look forward to more of that here.

We’ll it’s still not what I was looking for but I’ve come to the end and promised that I would post it.

Until next time, from deep in the heart of the Rebellion –

Tom