Author: Fred Ray
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Short Takes
As part of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, the Chicago History Museum will be showcasing one of five genuine handwritten copies of the Gettysburg Address. Marking the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth this year, the Chicago History Museum will host a version of the Gettysburg Address handwritten by the president, one of only […]
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Short Takes
What exactly happened to the CSS Hunley? Its fate has been the subject of almost 150 years of conjecture and almost a decade of scientific research since the Hunley was raised back in 2000. But the submarine has been agonizingly slow surrendering her secrets. “She was a mystery when she was built. She was a […]
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Short Takes
In the mail today was a copy of James W. Parrish’s Wiregrass to Appomattox, a history of the 50th Georgia. I blurbed the book after looking at a draft and will see how it all comes together, then write a review. It’s published by Angle Valley Press, which also did a very well-received history of […]
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History in Motion
A very cool site using flash animation to illustrate Civil War battles and campaigns, such as Stonewall Jackson’s ’62 Valley campaign. I’ve always thought that the static battle maps that we see in books do not really tell the story. Battles are interactive processes—moves are met by counter-moves in real time. You really need an […]
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John West—Hero or Blowhard?
Every war produces heroes, but also a number of blowhards, who somehow always seem to outnumber the heroes. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s who. One such case is John West, who claimed to be a “noted sharpshooter” in Virginia armed with a Whitworth rifle. I first ran across West’s account in John Morrow’s The […]
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Review: The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat
Update: Welcome to TOCWOC for those of you who have found this page through a Google Search! If you enjoy what you’re about to read below, feel free to Subscribe to TOCWOC’s RSS feed. Be sure to check out the Civil War Book Reviews which have been posted here and browse through TOCWOC founder Brett […]
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A Georgia Sharpshooter
I came across some letters from a Georgia sharpshooter, Milton Barrett, in The Confederacy Is on Her Way Up the Spout, published in 1992 by University of Georgia Press. This is how I’ve gotten a lot of my information, by going through the letters and diaries of men like Barrett. Since most sharpshooters were detailed […]