Books: February 2008 Archives

Some of you have recently asked me about the progress of my latest manuscripts. Here is a brief update on my writing activities.

1. Human Interest Stories from the Gettysburg Campaign, Volume 3 is about halfway finished. There is no timetable for completing this, as Colecraft Industries and I have published three of these human interest books in the past 2 years, and it's time to slow down to allow the market to catch up. The formal introduction of Volume 2 will be this spring, with the same sales channels as the first two books.

2. Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1862 is finally ready for printing. The next step will be to receive the galley proofs, approve them, and then it's off to the printing press. This book is being published by Ironclad Publishing and is Volume 5 in their Discovering Civil War America series. I cover Gordon's brigade from Virginia to the burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, and then on to Gettysburg a second time.

3. A Spirit of Daring: The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign has been completed and just now sent off to the publisher. This should be in print by 2010. I have a lot of material on the Tigers' brief stay in York County, much of it rarely or never before published.

4. Brothers Divided is my latest full-color wargaming scenario book, chock full of great photos of some of the best Civil War dioramas and wargaming table layouts. Volume 1 of this new series will be published late in 2008 by Marek/Janci Design of Chicago.

Work is just beginning on my latest project - a regimental history of the 51st Ohio.

Also, watch for Roll Call to Destiny, a new book by Brent Nosworthy. I helped research and write the Seven Pines / Fair Oaks chapter.

Our family moved to York County in 2001 from the shores of scenic Lake Erie. My oldest son (now a college history professor) was soon accepted to grad school in history at Millersville, and his master's level report on the burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge inspired me to write a full-length book on John B. Gordon's brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign (and the subsequent follow-up book on the Louisiana Tigers that has just been submitted to the publisher).

Among the many resources we found for the bridge burning was a series of articles written by local professor Thomas L. Schaefer. Tom also made an interesting VHS tape which we purchased early on. Entitled Defend or Destroy?, this program offers a walking tour of Wrightsville and examines the bridge burning. It's worth a look if you haven't seen it.