Weekly Quote

From the Mariner's Book of Days:

The chance for mistakes is about equal to the number of crew squared. ~Ted Turner (I do not know if this is our modern Ted Turner who owns CNN, etc.)

If you believe this quote, I guess its good that we have a small crew.

Fun Day at Fort Macon

Today I was at Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach, NC for our annual artillery drill and training day. We have a crew that does artillery demonstrations on the park's original M1841 6-pounder. We do demonstrations one Saturday each month from April through September, but we have our refresher training and drill day in March. We have a good, tight knit crew and we always have a good time, whether its cloudy and cold (as it was today) or sweltering hot like it usually is in July and August. Its always a laid back, low key day of doing artillery demonstrations and just hanging out with friends. We trained a few new folks today, and brushed up a few that haven't shot the cannon in a while. Though it was cold, we still had a good day, and the Fort Macon days are some of my more enjoyable on the living history circuit.

One of our summer shoots from a few years ago

New Book by a Former Colleague

Joe Mobley, formerly of the NC Department of Cultural Resources, has a new book out titled Weary of War. He is also the author of a number of other Civil War books relating to North Carolina, including one about James City (a freedmen's settlement near New Bern) and a biography of the state's war governor Zebulon B. Vance. During his time with the Department he served as Editor of the Vance papers. I'm glad to see he is still active in the academic community.

Weekly Quote and Important Anniversary

Our weekly quote from the Mariner's Book of Days:

A good heavy book holds you down. It's an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic. ~Roy Blount, Jr.
If this is all it takes to keep one from another gin and tonic, someone needs to learn the art of multi-tasking!

Also, in all the activity surrounding my birthday, Easter, etc. I forgot to post one very important anniversary on Friday, so here it is:

On March 21, 1791 Hopley Yeaton was commissioned by George Washington as "Master of a Cutter in the Service of the United States for the Protection of the Revenue." Thus, Mr. Yeaton became the first seagoing officer of the United States of America. Happy Anniversary Master Yeaton!

New Book Series on the Civil War Forthcoming

Not to duplicate blogging efforts, check out this post from Civil War Memory about UNC Press's new series on the Civil War which will begin to appear this fall. I am excited about this series, but have my concerns about the author selected to write the volume on the Civil War navies. Read my comments on Kevin's post and you'll see what I mean.

Flurry of Activity

This weekend is proving to be quite the busy one. My birthday is tomorrow, and in a weird turn of the calendar it falls on Good Friday this year. Talk about an early Easter! This is my 35th birthday and my wife has put together a party for me. I have friends coming from Seattle, New Jersey, Baltimore, Charleston, and Raleigh. Should be a good time.

I found out today that my grandfather is in the hospital. Apparently its nothing too serious, but he was having some chest pains and they can't figure out why. They are keeping him overnight for some tests and such, but no one in the family seems too worried. The guy is 85 years old and has had two heart attacks, albeit 30-some years apart. That's right, he had one when he was in his 40s and another in his 70s, which isn't a bad track record. Its maple sugar boiling season in Pennsylvania where he lives, and as usual he's been busy helping with the maple syrup production process. I'm glad he's so active because I think that's what keeps him going, but I'm wondering if he's been overdoing it at the old sugar camp lately. That could be what's ailing him. I guess the doctor's will tell us.

I also found out that my dad's assisted living facility is under quarantine due to a flu outbreak. The residents aren't allowed to leave their rooms and only immediate family members are allowed to visit. I suppose I'll go see him tomorrow because I guarantee he's bored to death being stuck in his room. He enjoys sitting on the bench in the hallway and watching traffic go by. I'm sure he's tired of watching TV at this point.

We're hosting the wife's family for Easter on Sunday afternoon, so all in all it will be a busy weekend.

Things Are Quite Busy

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. Its hard to believe that its already mid-March and madness is in the air. In looking at my calendar for the next 60 days and things look rather busy. A laundry list, if you will:

1. I just finished a weekend at Bentonville Battlefield for their annual anniversary commemoration. I was helping with artillery demonstrations/interpretation and inspecting reenactors weapons. All in all a relaxed and enjoyable weekend.

2. One of the projects I'm currently involved in at work is the development of an educational unit on the Civil War for 8th grade students. This is to be launched just prior to the upcoming sesquicentennial to give teachers an option other than their textbooks for teaching about the Civil War in North Carolina. Chris Graham and I have been working on this alongside our supervisor. So far, we've been working on the overall narrative and have now started visiting all of the sites that have any type of Civil War story to tell to find out what they think should be included in the teaching unit regarding their site. These site visits will continue throughout the month of April, keeping us on the road quite a lot.

3. I am also neck deep in planning two large programs, the History Bowl State Championship and our black powder certification course. The History Bowl (see right column of web page for more info) is a quiz bowl style competition for 8th graders and focuses on North Carolina history. We have regional competitions, sponsored by various sites, all around the state. The regional winners come to Raleigh in May to compete for the state title. Lots of logistics involved in planning this one. Three weeks after the History Bowl, we will be holding our black powder small arms certification course at Vance Birthplace. Like the National Park Service, our staff that participate in or supervise black powder demonstrations at sites have to go through certification every four years. We do small arms one year and artillery the next. This year's small arms class is a large class (close to 40), but should be a lot of fun. However, it is also a lot of work, so its keeping me busy too.

4. I'm also doing a lot of reading and writing. As aforementioned, I've finished a book review that will appear in the next issue of Civil War Book Review. I am also reviewing Wolf of the Deep (see sidebar of blog) for Military Collector and Historian and have been asked to do another review for the Journal of Nautical Research (more on that in a later post). Last week I was contacted again by Troy Kickler, editor of the North Carolina History Project about doing a couple of entries for their online encyclopedia. I have written five entries already, all on Civil War topics. This time he has asked that I write two entries on 1812 subjects Otway Burns and Johnston Blakely. These entries are 300-500 words and the biggest challenge is making them so brief without leaving out important information.

5. And of course, there are the living history programs, including Halifax Day and the Battle of Plymouth Living History Weekend, among others that I will certainly blog about when the time comes.

6. Oh yeah, and I still have three online classes I'm teaching. I'd better get started on grading those mid-term exams!

All I can say is keep checking in for updates on these and many other projects. That is of course, when I have time to blog.

Weekly Quote

This week's quote from the Mariner's Book of Days:

Seamanship is not learned in a day; nor many days; it requires years. ~Jack London

National Museum of the Marine Corps

On my return from Annapolis on Sunday I decided to stop in Quantico, VA and take in the National Museum of the Marine Corps. My dad is a retired Marine who served from 1955 to 1975 including three tours in Vietnam. I was born at Camp Lejeune, which is now the largest Marine Corps base on the east coast. I have always been interested in the history of the Corps, but more from an 18th and 19th century standpoint. Unfortunately, that is the period of the Corps' history that is underrepresented. The same applies for this museum. It is a tremendous museum and I was thoroughly impressed, but there is almost no coverage given to anything the Corps did prior to World War I. I understand the reasons for this, but if they do not at some point incorporate exhibits dealing with the first century of the Corps' existence I will be sorely disappointed. The closest I got to the 18th century was having lunch in the recreated Tun Tavern, birthplace of the Corps.
Still, it is a fabulous experience, and one that was very emotional for me. Unfortunately my dad's health is not such that he will be able to go see this place, but my mom wants to go some day. I'm certainly willing to return.

Catching Up

I want to take a few moments to finish talking about my trip to Annapolis. As I said earlier I was the guest speaker at the 12th Annual Confederate Navy/Marine Corps Day. My presentation was about the CSN and CSMC in North Carolina and how they are portrayed and interpreted at the various historic sites around the state. My goal was to show how active the Confederate naval services were in eastern NC during the war, and how that service is not forgotten by modern historians and reenactors. My presentation was very well received and many of the folks present had North Carolina connections through either ancestors or more immediate family. I was very surprised to see one gentleman with a CSS Neuse shirt which he had bought on a recent visit to the site (I was the Assistant Manager there for over five years).

Unfortunately the crappy weather forced them to cancel the wreath laying at the graves of Commander James Waddell and Lt. Thomas St. George Pratt, as aforementioned. Still, I managed to go the cemetery and get some photos of those graves before leaving. Photos follow. After my presentation I walked the Annapolis historic district, which is very nice. I stayed out as long as I could stand the weather then headed back to the hotel for the rest of the evening. I hope to make a return trip to Annapolis and Baltimore when I am not as pressed for time and hopefully the weather is better.

Weekly Quote (Better Late Than Never)

I've returned from my trip to Annapolis and will blog more on that later (maybe tomorrow). Suffice it to say for now that I want to go back and spend more time there and in Baltimore. Now for the weekly quote from the Mariner's Book of Days:

What I know about cruising has been learned almost exclusively from two sources; good books, and a tremendous number of mistakes. Of these two possibilities, I can heartily recommend learning from books, especially if it means avoiding some of the mistakes. ~Loren R. Borland

Well, I'm Here

The drive to Annapolis was not as long as I thought it would be and rather uneventful as well. It has been raining all day and it got worse once I arrived here. Mr. Jay Moore, one of my hosts picked me up at the hotel and drove me to Baltimore because I mentioned that I planned to go to Fort McHenry. It was very nice of him to take me over there, but it poured the whole time we were there and we got pretty wet. I should have also consulted the website a bit closer prior to going because I was unaware of the $7.00 fee charged by the park to see the fort. It's a nice display, but maybe not worth $7.00, especially not on a miserable day like today. Still, I'm glad I got to see it, and will return on a nicer day sometime.

After seeing the fort we returned to Annapolis and Mr. Moore gave me a tour around the historic district, which is just awesome. I'm hoping the weather will be better than forecast tomorrow so I can enjoy spending time here. There are so many shops, coffee houses, restaurants, etc. I don't know how I'll see it all. We had dinner at a very nice Irish pub and returned to the hotel. I am staying at the Courtyard by Marriott (I've never stayed at one before, which is weird considering how much I stay in hotels). Its a very nice hotel, but the one major drawback in my opinion is that there is no Internet access in the rooms, only the lobby. In this day and time there's no reason hotels shouldn't have Internet access available in every room. Otherwise, its very nice and comfortable. More tomorrow or Sunday.

Another Road Trip

Tomorrow I am back out on the open highway. I'm headed to Annapolis, Maryland to give a presentation at the 12th Annual Confederate Navy/Marine Corps Day on Saturday afternoon. The event will be held in the parish hall at St. Anne's Episcopal Church, after a wreath laying ceremony at the graves of Commander James I. Waddell (NC native and commander of the CSS Shenandoah) and Lieutenant Thomas St. George Pratt, CSMC (wounded at Fort Fisher). They asked me to speak on any topic of my choosing related to the Confederate naval services. My presentation will focus on the Confederate Navy and Marine Corps in North Carolina and how they are currently interpreted at the state's historic sites. I think it will be a good talk. I'll also being seeing some sites/museums during my trip, so I'll have plenty to blog about.

Weekly Quote

Well, I have been slack about putting up a weekly quote the past couple of weeks. Now that things have slowed down a bit I can get back on track with my weekly quotes from The Mariner's Book of Days.

There is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ~John Ruskin

I can honestly say that I disagree with this statement, but its interesting to know that someone actually thinks this way.