Richmond - Day Two

While not as awe-inspiring as last night's banquet, today was a good day. I attended a session this morning that dealt with Unionism and dissent (more dissent really) in the Confederacy. The first two presentations dealt specifically with North Carolina so it was a very useful and pertinent session. Afterwards I had lunch with my friend Ryan Anderson and two of his colleagues from UNC-Pembroke. Spent the afternoon browsing all of the publishing companies' displays. Too many books, too little money and time. I ran into Sam Craighead who is a friend of our living history group, employee at the Museum of the Confederacy, and member of the James River Squadron naval living history group. It was nice to see Sam as always, and we had a good conversation about books dealing with the history of the CSS Shenandoah.

**Fanboy Update** I walked outside the conference hotel this afternoon, and sitting there on a bench, smoking his pipe was none other than Michael Holt. Very cool. BTW, for those who may not be familiar with this esteemed historian, some of his works include The Political Crisis of the 1850s and The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party.

This evening I had dinner with Ryan, his wife Kristen, and their 11-month old son Max. It's my first time meeting little Max and he's a great little kid. We had dinner at a restaurant called Kuba Kuba, a great little Cuban restaurant in The Fan district of Richmond. I will have to spend some more time in this unique neighborhood on future trips to the city. After dinner Ryan and I headed to Penny Lane Pub for cigars and beer. Yep, it's been a good day!