- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
My summer 2019 issueof the Civil War Monitor arrived today. It has, as usual, some interesting articles. However, these articles often raise some questions in my mind. The number one question being why should I trust the view of the author of an article?
Often I have read other books or articles that do not entirely agree with what the author of the article concludes. Many times I am not familiar with a particular author and have no basis to judge their new article by.
I will use the article I just finished as an example. The newest Monitor has the article The Refuges by Amy Murrell Taylor which is about slave refuge's plight. It is not a bad article, however, who is Amy Murrell Taylor and why should I trust her research or conclusions?
I could probaby underline a dozen passages that are stated as fact, but for which are still open to discussion. She states abou Fort Pillow:" Forrest and his men had just turned a battle into a racial massacre, opening fire on the black Union soldiers who had already surrendered and killing nearly 200 if then." This is still being argued and the 200 massacred after surrendering is hard to pun down.
Often I have read other books or articles that do not entirely agree with what the author of the article concludes. Many times I am not familiar with a particular author and have no basis to judge their new article by.
I will use the article I just finished as an example. The newest Monitor has the article The Refuges by Amy Murrell Taylor which is about slave refuge's plight. It is not a bad article, however, who is Amy Murrell Taylor and why should I trust her research or conclusions?
I could probaby underline a dozen passages that are stated as fact, but for which are still open to discussion. She states abou Fort Pillow:" Forrest and his men had just turned a battle into a racial massacre, opening fire on the black Union soldiers who had already surrendered and killing nearly 200 if then." This is still being argued and the 200 massacred after surrendering is hard to pun down.