Looking for some input/feedback, please....

[FZ11]

It's a good idea. I have most of your books and never tire of your Gettysburg books. It could be a relatively easy write since you already know all the myths. Looking forward to your Meade Inquiry book.

 

[nitrofd]

Correct. I am working on just that.

I would really like to hear your take on what he did at Ft.Pillow and Brice's Crossroads.also about Grierson's raid.

 

[thomas aagaard]

To suggest two of my pet projects./theories.
How many muskets was picked up after the battle and how many where loaded?
(no one appear to actually have a primary source for the often used numbers and they don't match the numbers in the OR... so I don't trust them)

Was one loaded 23 times? and can you even load a Springfield that many times?

Did it start over shoes?
(or was it over horse shoes?)


----
Not specific to Gettysburg.
Did the use of rifle musket during the war revolutionize warfare?
And was they the reason for the long war and the huge numbers of killed?
It is something that is not only told in "documentaries" from "history'" but I can also hear otherwise great historians use it.
(like Professor Blight at Yale in his civil war course)

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

I would really like to hear your take on what he did at Ft.Pillow and Brice's Crossroads.also about Grierson's raid.

The Fort Pillow part is really easy, Mitch. He wasn't there, and hence had no role in those events.

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

To suggest two of my pet projects./theories.
How many muskets was picked up after the battle and how many where loaded?
(no one appear to actually have a primary source for the often used numbers and they don't match the numbers in the OR... so I don't trust them)

Was one loaded 23 times? and can you even load a Springfield that many times?

Did it start over shoes?
(or was it over horse shoes?)


----
Not specific to Gettysburg.
Did the use of rifle musket during the war revolutionize warfare?
And was they the reason for the long war and the huge numbers of killed?
It is something that is not only told in "documentaries" from "history'" but I can also hear otherwise great historians use it.
(like Professor Blight at Yale in his civil war course)

Question 1: I have no idea. And, hopefully, this won't insult you, but I really don't care.

Question 2: I've heard that, but have no way to prove it.

Question 3: Absolutely not.

As for the rest, not pertinent to my proposed project.

 

[nitrofd]

The Fort Pillow part is really easy, Mitch. He wasn't there, and hence had no role in those events.

Here is a Quote from William C.Davis' book "The Confer ate General" vol.I".
"Reassigned to Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest on March 2,1864,and placed in command of a cavary division five days later,Buford commenced a raid into West Tennessee on the ninth with his new command and participated in numerous engagements,including for Pillow,April 12,and Brice's Crossroads,June 10th."
I guess you might have to call William Davis and see who isright.

 

[jgoodguy]

As a devils advocate.
Busting myths are for real history nerds who already know the myths are busted for the most part.
Not to mention that a google search of Gettysburg Myths comes up with a bunch for free.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

So odd. There are myths concerning some women of Gettysburg we were discussing this past weekend ( please do not think I'm bringing them into your particular conversation ). Like the Spencers these are so ingrained there's just no budging them ( well, NOW it is budged, thank you Eric ) , now apparently part of history. Would those participants prefer their lives remembered erroneously? No one can answer for another person. Given a choice while alive I would not.

I don't know. It's of course a tough choice investing so much time on a project. I hope it is ok to say this- it feels like a service you would be offering both History and the people who were there at the time. A book dismantling myths may also help open a wider conversation on so many, many' definites' now thought to be the case, you know? Things which seem set in stone, well, may be sandstone.

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Here is a Quote from William C.Davis' book "The Confer ate General" vol.I".
"Reassigned to Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest on March 2,1864,and placed in command of a cavary division five days later,Buford commenced a raid into West Tennessee on the ninth with his new command and participated in numerous engagements,including for Pillow,April 12,and Brice's Crossroads,June 10th."
I guess you might have to call William Davis and see who isright.

My sources indicate that he was on detached duty on the day of April 12 and was not at Fort Pillow.

No doubt that he played a major role at Brice's Crossroads.

 

[nitrofd]

My sources indicate that he was on detached duty on the day of April 12 and was not at Fort Pillow.

No doubt that he played a major role at Brice's Crossroads.

He did not attack the Fort himself,he was sent to create a diversion and he attack the replacements heading to Ft.Pillow.he was very fon of Forrest's style of fighting.

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

He did not attack the Fort himself,he was sent to create a diversion and he attack the replacements heading to Ft.Pillow.he was very fon of Forrest's style of fighting.

You're right about where he was, which is why I say he had no role in the massacre. He was not there.

Abe Buford was a trained and experienced dragoon. He would have been very comfortable with Forrest's mounted infantry tactics.

 

[matthew mckeon]

It seems like a worthy project. As other posters have mentioned, what is your target audience? The "Spencers at Gettysburg" myth is pretty technical, and you would have to explain to 99% of people what a Spencer was and why they should care.
A broader question, such as "Was Gettysburg the Turning Point of the War" would be great. "Were there black soldiers at Gettysburg?" No, but black residents played a part of the battle.
"Did Armistead have a crush on Hancock's wife?"
"Did the 20th Maine run out of ammo?"

A recent book Did Lincoln Own Slaves? with a similar format was very worthwhile.

Appealing concept: short, punchy articles, state of the art scholarship. Easy to dip into, confidence in the author as an honest broker. Sir, you are green lit for this project.

 

[Sid J.]

I want this. Have read Plenty of Blame and One Continuous Fight, taking on the myths in a similar fashion would be great. Perhaps an abridged couple of pages for the casual reader with the sources and details following.

Dawn attack? I just finished reading Reminces by a reb (Randolph McKim) who was at Gettysburg (Culps Hill) and he peddles the dawn attack "failure" by Longstreet.

 

[rob63]

Just my $.02, but I would be more interested in a book that promises to examine controversies, than in one that promises to shatter myths.

 

[tonijustine]

I would buy this...new, even (I love used books, and tell myself it isn't hoarding if it's books).

I am the Civil War "expert" in my family. I have been studying it for 8 years and regret that way back in college an undisclosed number of years ago, I was not a good historian and was not interested in the Civil War when I took a class on it. That allowed me to be receptive to myths and not be my usual skeptical self. I have been very fortunate to be able to take family members with a minimal amount of Civil War knowledge to several battlefields (Antietam, Gettysburg, Fort Sumter) and I was asked to give them a tour. I did an adequate job, but because of the nature of Gettysburg especially, giving a 2 hour tour to folks who wouldn't be able to properly distinguish Longstreet from Chamberlain in period photos ("that's the one with the beard, right? Well, both had beards.....") and doing so from a synthesis of materials, sometimes, I kind of wonder if I am inadvertently peddling myth instead of history.

I also argue with people on Yahoo (just so you know, that is not a particularly productive activity) and like to be able to provide factual documentation of their bull....and having that information in one place (well documented, of course) would be a great resource.

So, I would certainly love something like this.

 

[Schwallanscher]

I did an adequate job, but because of the nature of Gettysburg especially, giving a 2 hour tour to folks who wouldn't be able to properly distinguish Longstreet from Chamberlain in period photos ("that's the one with the beard, right?

i consider myself an acw-noob, but i could do that - chamberlain is the one who looks like jeff daniels with a false beard

 

[Jamieva]

For clarification would this be only Gettysburg myths or for the war in general?

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

For clarification would this be only Gettysburg myths or for the war in general?

Gettysburg only.

 

[Stony]

Yes and yes.

 

[PeterT]

Gettysburg only.

Given a lot of people get their Civil War journey started with the Gettysburg movie, Ken Burns series etc etc (... me for example!) it is important that there are resources available that build on those (which we have in abundance) but also books that "set the record straight".

"You enjoyed those? Now read this!"

I'm all for it. It would a great Gettysburg tour companion.