Change of Color Scheme

Yes, there is a reason behind my change of color scheme for the blog. In anticipation of the beginning of football season, I have used as much black and gold as possible. Yes, I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. After last year's terrible break down I am hopeful for a good season this year. After a summer of watching the Pirates struggle (again), I am happy for football season to get here. I still hold out hope that the Buccos will one day emerge as a contender, but let's face it, its been 15 years now. I say its the curse of Barry Bonds, but that's just me. I'm ready to watch Big Ben, Willie, Hines, Polamalu, and the rest of the boys go to work. Two more weeks to wait, but I'll be watching the preseason tune up against Philly tonight, you'd better believe.

Fishin'

Yes, folks, I'm taking a break from my usually history oriented postings to talk about fishin'. We all need a break sometimes, so here goes...

Two weeks ago I was invited to spend some time at Kure Beach, near Fort Fisher with some college friends who were housesitting for someone they knew. They invited our entire friend group from the UNCW days to come down and get reacquainted with each other. Over the years we've kept in touch, but have gotten to see each other only rarely. In fact, I hadn't seen the housesitting couple (Ted and Ashley) in eight years or more, so I was really looking forward to it. I knew that at some point during my stay, there would be some fishing involved, as Ted is an avid fisherman.

Fishing was a huge part of my life when I was growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania. We lived across the road from a lake and in the summer we and the neighbor kids spent inordinate amounts of time on the shore of that lake, fishing. During the day, when my brother and I stayed with our grandmother, we would walk to the creek below her house and fish as well. Then there was the old farm pond that my grandfather would take us to on the weekends, that was so secluded only we knew about it. We bought as much fishing tackle as we could con our parents and grandparents into and watched all the fishing shows, hoping that one day we'd be able to catch those elusive largemouth bass and fiesty rainbow trout. In reality, our fishing wasn't nearly so grand. We specialized in reeling in bluegills (or as we call them here in the South, bream) and occassionally their more colorful sunfish cousin, the pumpkinseed. We also fished late into the night for bullhead catfish (not the variety you want to eat, by the way). Our favorite were the yellow perch which we caught with regularity in the 7-9 inch range, but at least once a summer one of us would catch one that measured 12 or 13 inches (an event that caused so much excitement our parents thought someone had fallen into the lake). But the aforementioned largemouth bass were always elusive and rarely caught. In Pennsylvania, the legal size for a largemouth was 12 inches. Even when we caught them, they were usually a bit smaller. The larger ones lived in areas of the lake we could not get to. I only remember catching two or three legal bass in all my years, and all those were caught on grandpa's farm pond using a Hula Popper lure around the grass in the shallow end of the pond (I remember it well).

When we moved back to North Carolina in 1985 my dad took us fishing in the ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, but we were not used to this kind of fishing. All we ever caught were pinfish (the southern equivalent of our old bluegill friends) and an occassional skate. My love for fishing tapered quickly because of this limited success....until I went to college and met Ted. The only times I'd gone fishing since I was about 14 years old had all been with Ted. Ted was an experienced and skilled fisherman and I trusted him to not steer me wrong. He liked to fish at night and I usually ended up sleeping in the back of his Jeep or on the peer. But I also enjoyed some modicum of success when fishing with him, like the time I caught a fairly nice size red drum in the surf. I was really proud of that fish. After Ted moved to Delaware I began fishing with my friend Charlie, but it was never the same. Charlie and I had minimal luck, catching only the usual pinfish, a few small bluefish, and the occassional black sea bass (nothing to write home about). It was fun hanging out with Charlie, but I didn't go for the fishing, more for the relaxation and comaraderie.

So, two weeks ago, I looked forward to fishing with Ted again. Along with our friend Karen and her husband Jason, we headed out in the dark at 5 a.m. to hit the surf. It was the most I've enjoyed fishing in a long time, but it wasn't because I caught anything spectacular. It was because I was spending quality time with friends from long ago that I hadn't seen in years. Ashley said it best, when she observed that even though we hadn't seen each other in years, its like none of us had ever been apart. It is a testament to the bonds of our friendship, forged during our college years, that its like we never skipped a beat and none of us feels like it was ten years or more since we graduated from college. We had a lot of good times together, and those good times are not over by a long shot. We are already planning to try to do this next year and not let ten more years slip away from us. As for the fishin' I didn't catch anything worth bringing home. Ted managed to reel in a nice bluefish and Jason, a first-time surf fisherman, landed one of the largest pompano I've ever seen (pictured below). Beginner's luck? Maybe. Or maybe it was Ted's luck rubbing off on a novice fisherman, like when I caught that red drum years ago.

New Book Forthcoming on Confederate Navy

Thanks to Dimitri Rotov over at Civil War Book News for his post of the forthcoming book by R. Thomas Campbell. I'm always excited to see new books coming out regarding the Civil War navies, particularly the Confederates.



Campbell is certainly one of the most prolific authors in that field. Though Campbell's books all serve a purpose in telling the stories of the Confederate Navy, most historians do not consider Campbell to be one of them. I will agree with the argument that Campbell is more of a "compiler," taking bulk quantities of material from the Official Records and secondary sources, using them in block quote format in many cases, and providing little new or substantial interpretation. That being said, I also believe that Campbell's books, like much popular history, do serve a purpose. That purpose is simply to get the story out there to the general public. Many of these stories would not be further analyzed or interpreted by more traditional, academic historians were it not for Campbell and others like him putting the story out there. Though I would not place Campbell in such company as a Bruce Catton or Burke Davis, his purpose is much the same - to write history that is accessible to all in order to foster the general public interest. Isn't that what all historians should be striving for?

As for this latest offering from Campbell, I am disappointed that he published it with MacFarland. That company publishes some fine books, but they are always out of my price range and this one, at $55, is no exception. I'll have to wait until I can pick up a used copy that is more affordable. As with all of his other works, I am sure this book will serve to tell some stories and be useful as a reference work to boot.

A Week Long Celebration of North Carolina's First Governor

Next week a number of organizations in the city of Kinston will embark on a week long celebration of the state's first governor, Richard Caswell. Keep in mind that Caswell was the first governor of the "state" so not including the colonial years. The schedule looks something like this:

Throughout the celebration, all events are free of charge and open to the public
SUNDAY - August 12
3 p.m. Caswell Memorial Service and Masonic Bible Presentation at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 800 Roundtree Street.

5 p.m. Wreath Laying Ceremony Followed by Military Salute to Caswell at the Caswell Monument, 130 S. Queen Street.

MONDAY - August 13
7 p.m. Governor and Mrs. Caswell Reception/Release of Caswell Biography at Community Council for the Arts, 400 N. Queen Street. The new book, The First of Patriots and the Best of Men, was written by Clayton Brown Alexander and edited by Dr. W. Keats Sparrow. It is being offered with the support of the Lenoir County Colonial Commission.

TUESDAY - August 14
7 p.m. Kinston Lenoir Community Chorale Patriotic Tribute Followed by Lecture on the “Black Experience in Revolutionary North Carolina” at the Performing Arts Center, 2601 N. Queen Street.

WEDNESDAY - August 15
5 p.m. Caswell Essay Awards Presentation and Social at Harmony Hall in the 100 block of East King Street.

THURSDAY - August 16
Museum Row Day: "Richard Caswell" will visit at several museum sites between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. along Kinston’s historic King, Queen and Herritage streets.

7 p.m. Kinston Indians Baseball: “Caswell” joins us to throw out the first pitch and enjoy a modern Carolina League game between Kinston and Salem at historic Grainger Stadium, 400 E. Vernon Avenue.

FRIDAY - August 17
8:45 a.m. Caswell Descendants’ Wreath Laying Ceremony at Caswell Family Cemetery at Gov. Caswell State Historic Site, 2612 W. Vernon Avenue.

9:25 a.m. Re-enactment of Caswell’s Masonic Burial Ceremonies by The Grand Lodge of NC Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Caswell Family Cemetery, 2612 W. Vernon Avenue.

11 a.m. Re-opening of the Caswell Memorial Museum, 2612 W. Vernon Avenue.

6 p.m. Richard Caswell Lecture by Dr. Keats Sparrow, Small Auditorium at Lenoir Community College, intersection of Highway 70 East and Highway 58.

SATURDAY - August 18
10:30 a.m Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Colonial Dames Wreath Laying Ceremony, Caswell State Historic Site, 2612 W. Vernon Avenue.

7 p.m. National Guard Band Concert, Grainger Hill Performing Arts Center, 300 Park Avenue.

SATURDAY and SUNDAY - August 18 & 19
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Living Histories at Gov. Caswell State Historic Site, 2612 W. Vernon Avenue.

As you can easily see, it is going to be a full week. Some of this stuff is, in my humble opinion, very hokie and should never have been allowed to occur. The happenings at the State Historic Site will be top-notch for sure. Our staff has worked hard to ensure that. Inasmuch as I will be a participant, it will be in the capacity of doing living history on the weekend at the site. For those who are not familiar with Kinston, what they are referring to in the schedule as the "Governor Caswell State Historic Site" is the CSS Neuse State Historic Site and Governor Richard Caswell Memorial. They've done what they can to highlight Caswell (and rightfully so), but have had to downplay the fact that the CSS Neuse also resides at the same site. Anyway, our unit doesn't do a whole lot of RevWar so this will be an exciting event for us. If you're looking for something to do that next weekend come on over to Kinston and check it out!

BTW, also in honor of Richard Caswell week, the new header on the blog. A miscellaneous Rev War naval scene. Thanks to Chris Grimes for sending the image.