Larry I drove through your ancestors county yesterday driving South on 63; it is indeed pretty country in NE Iowa but the area around there is quite flat. Only a hop and skip from Ft Atkinson & Decorah. Effigy Mounds is a superb place to visit as are the sites across the river in Prarie Du Chien. From the Vilas Louis to Fort Crawford & Medical Museum. Macgregor is just South of Effigy Mounds w/ River Junction Traders a modern drygoods store circa 1880. All about an hour drive from the area.
Also there is Motor Mill which is only about a half hour southwest of Prarie... and then of coarse there is the Vesterheim in Decorah.
A lot of interesting history in NE Iowa; if you wish let me know when you plan on visiting the area I should be able to hook you up w/ some guided tours.
30th, on your way to Iowa City stop at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum & the Confederate cemetery. Both superb stops.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Lately I have read: Stephan D.Engle - "Struggle for the Heartland - The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth". I recommend it .
Currently I am reading: Albert Castel - "Decisions in the West: The Atlanta Campaign 1864" but already I can highly recommend it. Joe Johnston was not so great at all.
Nico:
If you have only one book, it must be Castel's. He is, however, a bit hard on some of his subjects. While I agree that Gen Johnston didn't have the right stuff, don't take Castel's word for it. There's a great many people who have only good things to say about Johnston. Makes for interesting conversation.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Currently working on Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War by Elizabeth C. Leonard.
The story is of course about the aftermath of the Lincoln assassination, but the author's question is, was it justice or revenge that was meted out in the highly charged time after the death of the president and the end of the war.
__________________ "Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage." - R. E. Lee
Nico:
If you have only one book, it must be Castel's. He is, however, a bit hard on some of his subjects. While I agree that Gen Johnston didn't have the right stuff, don't take Castel's word for it. There's a great many people who have only good things to say about Johnston. Makes for interesting conversation.
Ole
Of course I will not end on one book about Atlanta . In time I am planning to get following books, but perhaps someone have better titles in mind?
- "Atlanta Will Fall" ; Stephen Davis
- "John Bell Hood and the Struggle for Atlanta" ; David Coffey
- "Atlanta 1864, Last Chance For The Confederacy" ; Richard McMurry
You might also add to your reading/acquiring list:
- The Chessboard of War by Anne Bailey
- The Atlanta Campaign edited by Ted Savas and David Woodbury
If you can get any of William R. Scaife's books, they are well worth the money just for the maps. The reason I say "if," is that they are hard to come by on this side of the pond and quite pricey.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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. In time I am planning to get following books, but perhaps someone have better titles in mind? 
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