March 30, 1861: Lincoln makes a move.

[Condem]

The President decides to resupply Major Robert Anderson's beleaugered force at Fort Sumter. Charleston newspapers declare the action to mean war.

On a more recent note. While we're on the subject. From this past Saturday's New York Times:
Interior Secreatry Ken Salazar announced on Friday the addition of a 95-acre parcel to the Gettysburg National Military Park. The land, which had been most recently the site of a nine-hole golf course at the former Gettysburg Country Club, will be known by its historical name: the Emanuel Harman Farm. Major fighting occured there on July 1, 1863, the first day of the battle. The National Park Service tried for twenty years to acquire the property, which lies within the boundaries of the 6000-acre park. The country club went out of businesss in 2008. The Conservation Fund, an organization based in Virginia, bought the land in February from a Maryland developer for $1.4 million.

Very cool.

[Faygo Kid]

1. Excellent. Thanks for posting. Re-reading "Mr. Lincoln's Army" by Bruce Catton.

Going to do the whole trilogy over the next month, of course. Live in Maryland (now) and am up to the Battle of South Mountain in the book. Which I know like the back of my hand. Next, of course, Antietam.

Bruce Catton is an extraordinary influence on my life; I make a living as a writer/editor, and I credit him for inspiring me with whatever writing ability I possess. The man could turn a phrase.

I've been to his home town of Benzonia in northern lower Michigan a couple times. A wonderful small museum is there about life in that town over the years, and there rests his Pulitzer Prize and his Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other memorabilia - including Civil War soldiers he hand carved many, many years ago that were donated not so long ago by his son. Damn. He not only could outwrite all of us, he could outcarve us all, too.

[Condem]

3. I'm a little bummed at the fate of Bruce Catton, Faygo.

He died well before Ken Burns famous documentary. Which means we were left with Shelby Foote. Catton's writing smoked Foote's. But Foote sipped whiskey and told a story like Faulkner. Thus, he became famous. Catton was better. Simple as that.

[Faygo Kid]

4. They each had their strengths, but Catton was unparalleled.

I actually like Shelby Foote, and McPherson's is the best single volume about the war.

But Catton sat you down at the campfire with the 19 year old Billy Yank on the night before a battle, and you saw that face flickering in the firelight. No one else came close to doing that.

[Condem]

5. McPherson reads to me like a narrative. Sorry, Faygo. It bored the shit out of me.

Catton brought it all. From just prior to 'The Cornfield' at Antietam (or Sharpsburg for our southern friends) to the aftermath at Gettysburg.
And the intro to the Overland Campaign of 1864 blows me away. Standing on a hillside, watching the Union troops cross over the Rappahannock to The Wilderness. Yes.

[happyiowan]

2. Even then...

there's your newspaper conjuring up a war.