Short Takes

T’is the season for stimuli, and the latest to offer one is Civil War Standard, which is doing a clean-out-the-warehouse sale.

Speaking of which, Zubal Books, which has a strong Civil War section,  is also having a sale.

All orders received over $20.00 will receive a 10% discount (shipping charges not included)

All orders received over $100.00 will receive a 20% discount (shipping charges not included)and best of all:

All orders over $500.00 will receive a lovely 25% discount (shipping charges not included)

This special offer applies *ONLY* to orders placed at http://www.zubal.com between 4:00 a.m. EST on Monday, April 27 and 4:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 29, 2009.

And finally, although some people are offended by the Confederate flag, shooting someone over it seems a bit extreme. Didn’t that go out in 1865?

SARASOTA – A high school student is expected to make a full recovery after being shot in the chest during a fight that started when he and a friend carried Confederate flags down Main Street on Friday night.

UPDATE: Breaking news from 1863—”Hooker Named Indoor Athlete of the Year.”

A review of Terrell Garren’s Civil War novel The Fifth Skull in the Asheville Citizen-Times, based on a historical crime that happened to his family in Western North Carolina:

Almost two years after the Confederate Conscript Act of April 2, 1862, the Confederate Congress lowered the draft age to 17 and created the Junior Reserves. In Henderson County, Sgt. Julius B. Whitaker, serving in the State Militia for Home Defense, drove to farms, collecting boys.

The scene is vividly depicted in Terrell Garren’s fact-based novel, “The Fifth Skull,” in which Elizabeth Long, modeled after a Bear Wallow mother, steps out of her house to witness her son, Billy, loaded with a bedroll, trying to board Whitaker’s wagon without disturbing her. She pulls at Billy’s arm, scratches her husband’s face and, finally overcome, screams at the dutiful sergeant, “May God strike ya dead for what ya done.”

The fiction invents the mother’s appearance and curse, but Whitaker’s history before and after that scene is fact. Whitaker served Capt. Balis Edney, who after declining to stand for reelection as commander of Company A, 25th Regiment, returned home to act as the highest-ranking officer in the area.

You can read an excerpt here.

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