Thanks for the help!  I guess I should have looked it up in the dictionary first. -Mark ...   Mon Oct 12th, 2009 05:48 pm

All, does anyone know what "franking" a letter was? I have run across this term several times looking over ACW letters. The first ...   Mon Oct 12th, 2009 04:28 pm

All, thanks for the comments. I just finished the book and I think that it is one of the best works of Civil War ...   Fri Sep 25th, 2009 01:42 am

I went to school at James Madision University which is located in Harrisonburg, VA. There was a skirmish outside the town in June of ...   Fri Sep 11th, 2009 01:11 am

If only I still lived in Colorado... I did send the link to my Dad, and he will probably show up. Cheers! Mark ...   Fri Sep 4th, 2009 06:01 pm

Phooey.  Well, it was worth a shot.  I meant the name of the Parson:  Rev. Dr. Michael Jacobs.  That might lead you to the orginal ...   Tue Sep 1st, 2009 01:12 am

My mistake... he was a parson.  Here is a link to the data for days leading up to the battle and the battle itself.  The ...   Mon Aug 31st, 2009 10:59 pm

There was a professor in Gettysburg who kept accurate weather data as a hobby.  I know I have looked at it before but I cannot ...   Mon Aug 31st, 2009 10:55 pm

All, does anyone know where the expression, "Mister here's your mule," comes from and what the connotation is?  I see it all the time in ...   Sun Aug 30th, 2009 09:53 pm

I think Javal hit it on the head pretty nicely, but on point two...  I've seen soldiers do some pretty heroic things under fire in ...   Sun Aug 30th, 2009 02:54 pm

Has anyone read "Nothing But Victory" by Steven Woodworth and have any comments?  I picked it up for cheap at a local second hand shop ...   Mon Aug 17th, 2009 02:30 pm

I commissioned through Army ROTC at James Madision Univserity in 2005.  I think my favorite ROTC story involved a field problem at Warrior Forge 2004 (LDAC, ...   Mon Aug 17th, 2009 02:10 pm

I am most interested in the history early American Republic, say from about 1800 to the end of the Civil War.  It's such an exciting time ...   Tue Aug 11th, 2009 12:01 pm

All, while on vacation to Emerald Isle, NC, I had the opportunity to drag the in-laws and my wife to Fort Macon, which is on ...   Fri Jul 24th, 2009 01:01 pm

I think in general you are right.  McDowell was put in a near impossible position.  He had not led soldiers in any capacity in more ...   Fri Jul 24th, 2009 12:38 pm

I think you are exactly right 20th MA.  In the next few years we will see a lot more ACW "products."  I just hope in ...   Tue Jul 7th, 2009 05:53 pm

My vote (at least from the Federal side) would be breach-loading and repeating rifles.  The government had the capacity to manufacture them and their ammunition ...   Sun Jun 28th, 2009 06:11 pm

I was there back in 2005 when I was stationed at Ft. Knox for a spell. I thought it was the best preserved state ...   Thu Jun 25th, 2009 10:16 pm

Hank, today's Army defines an insurgency as "an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through the use of subversion and armed ...   Mon Jun 22nd, 2009 06:50 pm

Wow MSG! Quite a career. CID is no joke. I am a tanker (19K) at Ft. Bliss for the moment. ...   Wed Jun 17th, 2009 05:42 pm

Welcome to the forum Mike -Mark ...   Wed Jun 17th, 2009 11:55 am

Welcome to the forum MSG! What was your MOS? -Mark ...   Tue Jun 16th, 2009 06:06 pm

Brett, yes I have read "The Last Citidel," and I think it is one of his best ones. Have Southern Storm on my shelf ...   Fri Jun 12th, 2009 06:10 pm

Great topic!  It is hard to pick just one author, so I cheated and picked a couple.  First off, I enjoy reading Peter Cozzens’s battle ...   Fri Jun 12th, 2009 05:31 pm

Has anyone read "The Black Flower" by Howard Bahr? I've read it twice and it is by far my favorite piece of Civil War ...   Wed Apr 29th, 2009 06:04 pm

"Sirs, though the issue be clouded by time, and the motives alien to me, I would never slander the contestants. It's been my observation that ...   Sat Apr 18th, 2009 01:00 am

Bama, I'm not sure that that simply having more open terrain automatically leads to firing at longer ranges. Remember that the idea of tactics ...   Fri Apr 17th, 2009 03:15 am

CPT Crow, I disagree that the war was about simple economics. The American Civil War was a clash between agrarian and industrialized cultures. ...   Fri Apr 17th, 2009 02:51 am

Over the last few years there has been a debate about the impact of rifle muskets on Civil War combat.  It seems to me that ...   Wed Apr 15th, 2009 03:00 am

If I understand your question correctly, I think it is next to impossible to answer without clarification.  If you mean how many soldiers joined in ...   Wed Apr 15th, 2009 02:36 am

According to RE Lee in a dispatch to Richmond on July 15, the ANV's defensive positions at Falling Waters were "quite strong" and the army ...   Wed Apr 8th, 2009 12:33 am

Hi All, I've been following the discussion board for several years and finally decided to join the fun.  I've been fascinated by the American Civil ...   Tue Mar 31st, 2009 01:07 am