Category: Anecdotes

  • Short Takes

    A Lincoln letter, or at least an official copy, has surfaced at the Dallas Historical Society. It’s the famous “Bixby letter” in which the president attempts to console a mother for the loss of her five sons. There are problems, as the article points out—Lydia Bixby was no fan of Lincoln’s; all of her sons […]

  • Bruce Catton and how did I get addicted to the CW

    Hi all, Once again its been a very long time since I posted here. But I wanted to share some thoughts on a favorite author of mind I was about 12 to 13 years old. So that would have been 1964.  For Christmas that year, I recieved the American Heritage book on the Civil War. […]

  • Confederate Reminiscences from Texas

    The North Texas State Library system has posted Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray 1861-1865. This volume is fairly typical of such efforts, which is really more of an oral history collected about the turn of the century. Use with caution, but there are some good nuggets of information there. There is a search function, […]

  • Things you wouldn’t know without the internet

    December 2, 1859 – Norton I dismissed Gov. Wise of Virginia for hanging John Brown and appointed John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky to replace him. Who was Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico? Well, he was from San Franciso, which ought to tell you something. To his credit he did […]

  • Human Interest Stories From Antietam: Vignette 4

    Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has been writing a series of books on “Human Interest Stories” of various Civil War campaigns. Recently, I looked at Human Interest Stories from Antietam and promised to provide a few more stories from the book. This is the last of four entries I hope to devote to the subject. I’ll […]

  • Human Interest Stories From Antietam: Vignette 3

    Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has been writing a series of books on “Human Interest Stories” of various Civil War campaigns. Recently, I looked at Human Interest Stories from Antietam and promised to provide a few more stories from the book. This is the third of four entries I hope to devote to the subject. I’ll […]

  • Human Interest Stories From Antietam: Vignette 2

    Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has been writing a series of books on “Human Interest Stories” of various Civil War campaigns. Recently, I looked at Human Interest Stories from Antietam and promised to provide a few more stories from the book. This is the second of four entries I hope to devote to the subject. I’ll […]