Biography of Fox and Excellent Book

Yesterday I finished reading Gustavus Vasa Fox of the Union Navy: A Biography by Ari Hoogenboom. I was asked to review this book for the Nautical Research Journal. I am grateful to the editor for giving me the opportunity to read this book. Biographies can be a tricky business; some are exceedingly good, but I find many to be tedious, if not downright bad. This book is near the top of the exceedingly good list. It is extremely well written and lively, making it very easy to read. I managed to complete the 314 page volume in just over two days. As it should, the book does a solid job in telling Fox's life story, but the book is more than that. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the US Navy during the Civil War. Fox's life throughout the book is built around relationships, and it is those relationships that drive the story. I won't go into too much detail because I need to save that for the review. However, I will highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic.

Blog Maintenance for the New Year

With the coming of the New Year, I decided to do a little blog maintenance. I realized that my blogroll was becoming rather large and unfocused. Any of you that know me personally know how I like order, so this situation just would not do. To that end I have made a few changes. First, I moved my list of sports blogs down to the bottom of the page. They are not a major focus of this blog, but rather sites I like to visit from time to time that deal with my favorite Pittsburgh sports teams. Also, in order to clean up the blogroll a bit I created (just above the sports blog list) a new list called Friend Blogs. This list contains blogs that are written by friends and acquaintances, but that really have little to do with the main focus of my blog, which is of course history. I didn't want to delete them, but felt they should be reorganized. Finally, I have dropped two blogs from my list (Civil War Bookshelf and Public Historian). It was nothing personal against these two bloggers; I just find that I never look at their blogs. For whatever reason, I don't find them useful and decided they could go. I hope you find this new system to be to your liking, and appreciate the order as much as I do.

BTW, there are several theories that exist among my friends about where this passion for order comes from. Some say it is my German ancestry, others might say it is my Calvinist religious background. But I guess that's a topic for another post (or ten). Happy New Year everyone!

RIP - Don Norris

I opened the newspaper today to find that my friend Donald Norris, Jr. has passed. Donald was a very dedicated historian, though most people would not have known it. You see, Donald was not academically gifted, and in fact was a wee bit special. He managed to graduate from high school, but made his career as a custodian at West Carteret High in Morehead City. He was a very nice and likeable person, and he had a passion for history, mainly the Civil War, World War II, and the JFK assassination. He was a very active member of the Stephen D. Pool Camp SCV and the Civil War Roundtables in Jacksonville and Morehead City, and was a more dedicated meeting and symposium attendee than most. He always had his huge 1980s-style boom box with him and plenty of blank tapes to record each presentation so he could listen to them again. He sometimes interrupted speakers, asking them to pause so he could flip the tape. He volunteered from time to time at the Carteret County Historical Society and could often be found in their library doing research on family members or Civil War topics. He had done research in larger repositories such as the state archives and had traveled to a number of Civil War battlefields in the eastern US. Though he was somewhat socially awkward, Donald was one of the nicest folks in the world, and always meant well, no matter what he was doing. About two years ago he had a massive stroke, which left him confined to a bed in a nursing facility until just a few days ago. He never recovered from that incident. I wonder what will become of the literally dozens, if not hundreds, of tape recorded presentations Donald possessed. They could be his lasting legacy to the historical community of eastern NC if his family sees fit to donate them to a proper repository. I think Donald would have wanted that, to leave a legacy.

Holiday Greetings!

To everyone who reads this blog, my warmest holiday wishes and hopes for joy and peace this holiday season. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, no matter which one you celebrate. Thanks to all for reading my ramblings, and thanks to those of you who choose to comment. I'm happy to hear from everyone. Let the countdown to 2009 begin!

Halifax and Tryon Palace

In a previous post I mentioned two Christmas programs that I'd be taking part in, and both of those are now over. On December 13 we convened at Historic Halifax for their Colonial Christmas. The weather was nice, though chilly and the crowds were about twice what they were last year. We set up shop in the Tap Room, a reconstructed colonial tavern with all reproduction furnishings, which means we can actually "use" the building (i.e. sit on the chairs, have food on the tables, etc.). Mrs. Chris Barber provided a variety of colonial fare, we did small arms drill and demonstrations, and fired the swivel gun a few times. We also provided the color guard at the head of the Halifax Christmas parade. This photo isn't the best, but that's us. We had a great time and will continue to do this program each year as long as they'll have us.The guy in front, dressed in black is the official Halifax town crier, Wrenn Phillips; he is not a part of our group.

Yesterday a few of us went to Tryon Palace to muster with the Craven County Militia circa 1770. We ate well (Irish oats & brown sugar for breakfast, salt pork with rice and peas for lunch, and oysters and shrimp for dinner). We did small arms drill and demonstrations, cleaned weapons, and talked with visitors about the requirements of militia duty in the colonies. The candlelight tours were sold out despite an intermittent rain and a good time was had by all. This is the type of program I really enjoy; it's very laid back, yet interactive and educational for the public. It was very simply a great way to spend a Saturday, and it sure beat being out in the crowds shopping.

Another Semester Comes to an End

Today I turned in my grades at the two community colleges for which I serve as an adjunct instructor. The Fall 2008 semester is done. Each year, the end of the fall semester serves as a benchmark for me in that it signals the holidays are almost upon us. It's kind of like the historic Christmas programs I mentioned in an earlier post. Though I see and hear Christmas all around me I can't get into that frame of mind until the semester is officially over. So today I took another step in preparation for the end of one more year. I still have a few things to get done, a few loose ends to tie up, but by this time next week Christmas will be here, knocking on our doors. I hope I'm ready.

Slavery and Black Confederates Have Been Misrepresented (Really?)

This post is really for Kevin Levin (Happy Holidays, Kevin!). If you read Civil War Memory you know Kevin's long-held position on the issue of black Confederates, and his particular disagreements with an historian who is mentioned in the following articles. As food for thought and to generate discussion, here are three articles that appeared in local eastern NC papers recently about a new Confederate monument in the small town of Seven Springs. This is a very important location in eastern NC Civil War history, as it is the building site for the hull of the Confederate ironclad CSS Neuse. There was a small battle fought there in December 1862 as part of a larger expedition by Union General John G. Foster, a raid that culminated in the Battle of Goldsboro Bridge. So, read these three articles and enjoy (Kevin and everyone!)

Goldsboro News-Argus
Kinston Free Press 1
Kinston Free Press 2

Two Colonial Programs in Two Weekends

So, in just a little while I'll be off to Historic Halifax to participate in their Colonial Christmas program tomorrow. Our Continental Line group, the 5th NC Regiment, will be doing a small troop muster in and around the Tap Room. We will have food and merriment, plus some musket drill and firing, and demonstration of the swivel gun. It all takes place tomorrow from 10-4 if you are in northeastern NC. Plus, it's FREE!

Next Saturday, the 20th, I'll be participating in a militia muster at Tryon Palace in conjunction with their annual holiday programming and candlelight tours. This program isn't free, but it's well worth the admission charge and the candlelight tours can be a lot of fun.

I enjoy doing these laid back types of programs. And going into the holiday season it's a nice way to wind down and begin reflecting on the year that is soon to be past.

One Project Down

I just finished and submitted by book review of Hugh Rankin's The North Carolina Continentals. That review will be published in The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians, an annual publication that comes out each year in March. With this and other reading I am beginning to expand my knowledge of the American Revolution, particularly in North Carolina and the South. That's useful not only for my living history activities, but also for work. One quick quote I wanted to share from the book. I found this one to be absolutely hilarious. Its a quote by Governor Abner Nash in reference to the government of North Carolina in April 1781:

"We have gone (as usual) the wrong track, nothing will ever set us right, we are a cowardly revengeful set of wretches too contemptible to merit a blessing or exact a damn."

Pretty harsh words, especially since he was including himself in the group he was referencing. I'd be willing to bet most modern-day politicians wouldn't say anything such as this. It certainly was a different time.

A Note About North Carolina's Civil War History

Check out this link to the blog page for the Raleigh News & Observer for an interesting piece about Henry Lawson Wyatt, first Confederate killed in the Civil War (and a North Carolinian to boot). Hat tip to Marty Matthews, Curator of Research for NC Historic Sites for passing this along.

Here's a New Twist to My "Favorite" Subject

As I was declining my History Book Club Editor's Choices for this month this caught my eye. This is a new take on the whole subject of pirates. Yes, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe a new persona for Johnny Depp to adopt in the fourth installment of the series. I won't say much more, because I'm sure I'd run the risk of being slightly out-of-bounds, or maybe downright offensive. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be reading this one. I wonder if my messmates Mike Williams or Chris Grimes have run into any Jewish pirates during their travels in the Caribbean?

Catching Up While Falling Behind

Well, since my trip to Colonial Williamsburg and the Thanksgiving holiday, I've totally neglected not only my own blog, but my usual blog reading. So I've been catching up on that, while I seem to be falling behind on other projects, that in reality are much more important. You see, I stacked up two big deadlines on top of one another (knowingly) and now I'm paying for it. I feel like I'm in grad school again, but as my boss says, "You work well under pressure." I guess the next two and a half weeks will be the measure of that statement. Anyway, a few interesting tidbits to share:

Check out my messmate Mike Williams' blog; he's been a blogging fool as of late.

Also, a hat tip to Kevin Levin for posting this disturbing news about one of the country's premier Civil War sites, Pamplin Park. This certainly cannot bode well for the museum world.

Anyway, I'll post more as my pressing projects begin to shake out. Until then, I hope you are all enjoying the weeks leading up to the holidays and not getting buried in the rush!