THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

I finished volume one, having learned a few things I didn’t know. I enjoyed Grant’s direct, detailed style, without the usual flowery to-do of the 1880s. No wonder the memoir is considered a classic. Hand grenades, for instance. I seem to remember a reference to them before, in one of the many books I’ve read [...]

I enjoy reading Cobb, a conservative black engineer, and descendent of a freed black Union soldier in the Civil War, who is decidedly not one of the race hustlers so prevalent these days. Particularly like his current post on who’s a race sell-out and who isn’t. And this remark by one his commenters: "If you [...]

"The utmost quiet and good order prevailed. Guards were placed at every house immediately, and with a promptness that was needful; for one residence, standing a little apart, was entered by a squad of bummers in advance of the guard, and in less than ten minutes the lower rooms, store-rooms, and bed-rooms were overhauled and [...]

I read a lot of civil war history, fiction and nonfiction, and some of them I can barely remember, even when seeing their covers again or reading about them in an article. Robert Hicks’ book will stick with you, long after you finish, particular the two major characters, but many of the supporting ones as [...]

 "Archaeologists and others working to restore the submarine recovered six years ago from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Sullivans Island have found evidence the forward hatch may have been opened intentionally on the night the sub sank." The question is was the hatch opened before the Hunley sank, or as [...]