I met Patrick O’Donnell several years ago during an event at Goose Creek Bridge on the Upperville Battlefield. He, along with Dan Murphy, hung around afterwards until most everyone had left and then the three of us introduced ourselves and enjoyed a nice conversation. Not long afterwards, I gave them a tour of the battlefields…
Well, almost new. I am a little late posting this announcement of Edward Longacre’s new biography of Jeb Stuart. I hope to post another new book announcement later this week.
Readers who are not fans of George Custer may soon groan that I have changed the focus of my Small but Important Riots blog to a Custer blog. Not true. I have spent a lot of time with Custer for the last year, as I have worked on a couple presentations, and he will appear…
For many years now, my focus of study has been the development of the Union cavalry through 1863. During the last several years, however, I have prepared a couple presentations on the cavalry postwar. While researching those programs, several carbine related documents have caught my eye. Following the Grand Review, the men of the Michigan…
I have long viewed Col. Benjamin Franklin ‘Grimes’ Davis as a bit of an enigma or a mystery. Davis was a Southerner, who honored his oath and remained loyal to the country, a cavalryman who showed defiance and courage at Harpers Ferry, and a Regular Army officer in the mold of his friend John Buford.…
One might argue that George Custer earned his brigadier’s star during the Loudoun Valley fighting, between June 17 and 21, 1863. Putting a finer point to the argument, one could say he earned the promotion on June 21, at Upperville. General Pleasonton recommended Custer for his actions at Aldie and Upperville, which would suggest the…
I want to pass along information from friend, author, historian and Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide, Jim Hessler. Jim, along with fellow GLBG Chris Army, and historian Phil Spaugy have, for a couple of years, been running several tours a year. I believe these are generally run as car caravans, which helps to keep costs reasonable.…
Many of us view Marcus Reno through one lens, the battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876. And based on our viewpoint, namely our like or dislike of George Custer, we may rate Reno either just above or just below Benedict Arnold on our list of most disliked American military officers. But this…
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of guiding three Licensed Battlefield Guides from Gettysburg and several of their friends over the June 1863 battlefields in the Loudoun Valley. While standing at the site where the men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry met their demise on June 18, we had a long discussion regarding…
After a recent presentation, a member of the audience asked me what I thought of the relationship or bond between a cavalryman and his horse. In short, I believe the men formed a strong bond with their horses in the first two years of the war, especially Southerners who brought their own horses from home.…
As mentioned last month, when I wrote about George Custer and Joseph Fought, I had planned to write a short post, based upon one letter from Custer regarding Fought. Then, as so often happens, I decided to look for Fought in the digital newspaper databases I subscribe to, and the short story quickly morphed into…
A video link of my presentation at the Lovettsville Historical Society on September 10 will be available at a later date. Please the society’s website, which you can find here.
I will be speaking September 10 at the Lovettsville Historical Society, in Lovettsville, Virginia, at 2 p.m. The title of my presentation, ‘A Tale of Two Raids,’ refers to Jeb Stuart’s Christmas Raid in December 1862 and the mysterious raid the Federals thought he planned to make in the spring or summer of 1863, as…
I confess to still feeling a bit of a thrill when I find what I believe to be an unpublished Custer document. Such was the case earlier this year when I found a December 1863 letter from Custer to Alfred Pleasonton’s Chief of Staff, Col. C. Ross Smith. Pleasonton had apparently ordered Custer to send…
I met Steve Dacus in November 2020, when he invited me out to Casper, Wyoming. He and his family, along with his parents, own property on a mountain overlooking Casper, and I will admit to being instantly jealous. The views are stunning. Steve is a man of amazing energy, who not only runs his own…
Small But Important Riots 