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I confess to still feeling a bit of a thrill when I find what I believe to be an unpublished Custer document.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…

Some of you certainly know, and hopefully many of you know or know of Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guide, Jim Hessler. A guide for about 20 years, Jim is the author or co-author of several award-winning books related to the Battle of Gettysburg. He also maintains the engagement schedule of a celebrity, speaking, guiding tours –…

I am happy to recommend to readers of this website, Dan Murphy’s new cavalry study, Horse Soldiers at Gettysburg, The Cavalryman’s View of the Civil War’s Pivotal Campaign. I met Dan about five years ago, when he had just begun work on his new project. Over the intervening years we have toured and discussed the…

Several years ago, while examining pension files for Small but Important Riots, I looked at the pension request submitted by Terrick Compton, of Hillsboro, Indiana, in 1886. In a cover letter, Mr. Compton explained, “I am the claimant…as father of William Compton… I have labored long and furnished…all the evidence possible to substantiate my claims.…

I shy away from doing book reviews here and I am not going to offer anything in-depth now. Rather, I offer notice of the recent release of a very worthwhile Gettysburg title. The book has become a Gettysburg Classic. Indeed, Savas Beatie released this new edition for that very reason. Jim McLean is a good…