THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

On this day in 1847, the first of several courts martial for desertion and treason commenced in Tacubaya, Mexico. On trial were Irish Catholic deserters from the U.S. Army whom Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had formed the year before as the San Patricio Battalion.
All but two of the seventy-two deserters were sentenced [...]

Speaking of the Civil War…
Just in time for a new movie on Richard Rowland Kirkland (the “Angel of Marye’s Heights”) comes a blogger’s debunking that, quite reasonably, thoroughly, and without rancor, burns the Angel’s wings to ashes.
I suppose it’s not surprising that Confederate Gen. J.B. Kershaw apparently created the whole thing, as the debunker suggests, [...]

Writing two Civil War blogs, here and here, even though I have ample material for both, means I spend a fair amount of time reading about the war and wandering the various sites/blogs available. While some people have a tendency to see the war in simplistic good vs evil terms, its actual complexities can be [...]

By all means. This is a Brady photo. Appears to be a regiment. But which one? One thing’s for sure, it’s not only today’s reenactors who are porky. There are several here, among the officers, including the fellow on the right with the star on his top hat (and his belly preceding him) and also [...]

Yes, I think I’m reliving my childhood—the part that loved biplanes, anyhow.
Via Wig-Wags.

Good old Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, acknowledged the review copy I sent him of the historical novel and he posted its title and Amazon link this morning. Thanks, Glenn.
Only problem for me is that he posted the link to the Lulu-distributed edition, for which I get pennies on the dollar, instead of the CreateSpace-distributed one, [...]

Still working on Knoxville 1863, the Kindle ebook version. The current one is unindented, which doesn’t bother some people, people used to intertube text, which is rarely indented. But it bothered me. I bought a book by a local fellow to try to learn how to fix it myself. Finally gave up and engaged his [...]

Lovely old (very old) photo of the Monitor taken sometime after its fight with the Merrimack/Virginia in Hampton Roads in 1862. Latest photo at my new book blog, Knoxville 1863, which is coming along slowly. Moving a bit faster is my other new blog 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, focused on the historical artifacts and new [...]

Huh? He doesn’t look a day over sixty-five. He is, after all, a veteran of the Pacific War, “nipping the Nips” in World War II. Here’s a previous birthday flicker with Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, and Yosemite Sam. So, what’s up, Doc?
Via Sullivan’s Travelers.

The title of this fascinating work is a phony, as journalist/author Eric Calonius makes clear in his text. The truth seems to have been too much for his New York publisher to bear. That is the author’s sidebar unveiling of the little known late 1850s business offices of slave traders in New York City and [...]