Good news for Perryville

I don't know how I missed this, but thanks to the very good Civil War Librarian blog for bringing this to my attention.

This link to the Advocate -Messenger of Danville reports that another 140 acres have been preserved, thanks to generous local citizens James Overstreet, Pat Overstreet and Lora June Overstreet and the Civil War Trust.

I am very glad to read this news and remind readers that the Civil War Trust is still working on saving more ground from this fierce fighting. The grounds already preserved form a beautiful site, a true treasure of which Kentucky can be proud, and hopefully this will continue to grow more in the future.

Below are a couple of pictures I have taken on the battlefield. I hope to get down there again later this month, but certainly will make another trip sometime this year. I STRONGLY encourage others to visit it too, especially if you have not been there. It is a wonderful place, and walking the many hills will greatly add to your understanding and appreciation of at least one of the challenges the thousands of men on those acres faced 150 years ago.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my readers out there.

I think 2011 was a solid year for My Civil War Obsession. The discovery of the Covington Journal as an easily accessible and informative source was very helpful and I just recently found that I will be able to use the Cincinnati Enquirer from the war years more easily than before as well, so hopefully I will be able to take advantage of that and find more interesting articles, reports and war-time rumors to share.

I'll continue to publish book reviews when I can and hope to start exploring some questions and observations of my own. In 2011, I have learned of the concept of "civil war memory" (thanks to Kevin Levine and others) and hope I can start considering that perspective more often and maybe finding ways to include comments on that issue in more posts. It will not be a dominant theme here, but it is something I do believe I should consider more frequently and carefully.

2012 will mark the 150th anniversary of the "Siege of Cincinnati" and I will be busy with the Ramage Museum trying to plan events to commemorate those early weeks of September. Perhaps that will generate more thoughts and ideas for discussion and I hope I can apply thoughts of the way we choose to remember this period and maybe even consider this viewpoint when doing the planning.

Thank you again for taking the time to read and comment on My Civil War Obsession. I wish you all a healthy, happy New Year and hope that it will be even better for all of us than 2011 was.

Richard