Civil War Monitor Best Books of 2019: The Fight For the Old North State

"Best Civil War Books of  2019"

Very happy to share that The Fight For the Old North State will be recognized by The Civil War Monitor magazine as one of The Best Civil War Books of 2019 in the upcoming December issue. Over on Twitter (@hamptonnewsome), the editors at the magazine previewed this year's list and spilled the beans. I want to thank everyone who helped with the book, especially Joyce Harrison and the great staff at University Press of Kansas.

Updated Speaking Schedule

Updates to my upcoming speaking calendar. 

New Bern Historical Society -  January 19, 2020
Old Baldy CWRT of Philadelphia - April 7, 2020
Wilmington (Delaware) CWRT - May 6, 2020
Raleigh CWRT - June 15, 2020
Seattle CWRT - Fall 2020

If your group is looking to fill a spot, feel free to contact me. 

 

Thanks to the Petersburg CWRT

Thanks so much to Tim Talbott and the Petersburg Civil War Roundtable. I had a great time on Thursday speaking to this relatively new group about Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864. If you live anywhere near Petersburg, you should really check it out. Next meeting is Dec. 5 (Stephen Davis will be speaking about the Atlanta Campaign).

The Fight For the Old North State at Arlington Library

A donated copy of The Fight For the Old North State is now on the shelves at the Arlington Public Library. Happy to support this great public library. The staff has been so helpful through years of research. And happy to make the book available to my Arlington friends.

Signal Hill Battery vs. The James River Squadron: October 22, 1864

Excerpt from Map of Bermuda Hundred by N. Michler (LOC)

ON THIS DAY, 1864.  

Early on Sunday morning, October 22, 1864, two Union batteries, including seven heavy Parrott guns in a new work along Signal Hill, opened fire on the Confederate James River Squadron resting within easy range. Placed during the night, the guns surprised the crews of the thin-skinned gunboats, which steamed out of danger, tucking under the river bank at Chaffin’s Bluff. The ironclads also sought cover and, for a time, hid under the bank downstream from the Union guns. The shelling blew a hole in the Fredericksburg’s smokestack, which protruded from the river bank’s cover. The wood splinters from a shattered screen wounded five men aboard. The ironclads eventually escaped upstream, out of range. Across the river, Confederate shore batteries joined in, but the boats engagement soon ended. Discussed in Chapter 7 of Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864 (Kent State Press, 2013).