Abraham Lincoln and the Battle of Chickamauga

Since the release of “Spirit of the Rebellion,” I have received a lot of questions about a great many things in the story. So, today I thought I’d address one of the questions concerning the Battle of Chickamauga. Readers wanted to know if Rosecrans really received faulty information on that battlefield. Did he truly create a hole in his line that the Confederate army promptly exploited because of that information? And if so, what, if anything, happened to Rosecrans since the battle ended in a Union defeat? Although fictionalized to some extent in the book, (I am a novelist, see the disclaimer...) let me give you some of the facts.

In late 1863, President Lincoln desperately needed some good news. In fact, he was desperate for a substantial Union victory. Opposition in congress from moderates who wished to end the war, rioters in New York who opposed the draft, foreign policy breakdowns and facing the election in 1864, weighed heavy on his mind. Needless to say, Abraham Lincoln had his worries. He wanted a win at Chickamauga.

Battle of Chickamauga

The Battle of Chickamauga was indeed, a Union defeat, but this battle ultimately led to the demise of the South. How can defeat be a good thing? Set backs are usually followed by change. The Union general, William Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland had recently defeated General Braxton Bragg of the Confederate Army of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Rosecrans was a competent leader, a good strategist, and his career was on the rise. But even the best make mistakes. However, Lincoln was in no position or mood to tolerate mistakes.

Oceans of Mystery...mixed with a heavy dose of romance!

The troubling, mystifying, Bermuda Triangle... Is it just folklore fodder for the masses? Or do we have true paranormal phenomenon going on here? The mere mention of the name conjures visions of unexplained events, unearthly storms, paranormal activity, and perhaps...an uneasy feeling.

Known also as the Devil’s Triangle, the mind conjures the haunting tale of twists in time, improbable losses of ships, planes, and people who have vanished without a trace, leaving their ships eerily abandoned. Of a certainty, theories abound. But who can explain the final, evocative, and inexplicable radio contact recordings of the doomed Flight 19? Or the enigmatic loss of the PBM Mariner as it searched for the survivors of TBM Avengers of Flight 19. Comprised of the triangular area from the tip of Florida to Bermuda and on to Puerto Rico, the Bermuda Triangle enflames the imagination.

To many in the western hemisphere, far less known is the Dragon’s Triangle. Between the years 1952-54 the Japanese navy lost 5 military vessels, with crews of over 700 people in a region surrounding Miyake Island, about 60 miles south of Tokyo, Japan.

Gates into the unknown? Urban legend?  Maybe...

The Next Big Thing Blog Challenge

Lovely Lisa Voisin tagged me in The Next Big Thing Blog Challenge, wherein you get to learn all about someone’s book/WIP/ms.  Read about Lisa’s novel, The Watcher here.

The requirements of the challenge:

                               

First: Answer the questions below.

Then:  Spread the fun and tag 5 more awesome people to participate.

It’s also nice to link back to the person because "Sharing is caring, y’all."



So... here we go:

 What is the title of your book / WIP?

Well, let’s see... I have two books that are already published and available. “Spirit of the Rebellion,” and “Shadow of the Witte Wieven.” I have one book, “Spirit of the Revolution,” that is heading into galley as soon as the copy editor is finished going through the manuscript. Once there, I will finally get a release date. I have one book under consideration at a publishing company as we speak, and another, waiting in line at Wild Rose Press. And..., I have just completed the second chapter in my still untitled, WIP.

However, for this blog, I think we’ll go ahead and talk about “Shadow of the Witte Wieven.”

Trailing Clouds of Glory...

Between the years 1802 and 1804, William Wordsworth, the famous English Romantic poet, penned one of his greatest poems, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." I don’t remember the first time I heard it, but I do know it was familiar to me when my seventh grade English class studied it over the course of several weeks.

The first part of the second movement was then, and still is, my favorite part of the poem. Over the years, it fed my imagination in a thousand different ways as I scrutinized each line. And I loved the experience of allowing my imagination free reign. For those unfamiliar with this particular portion, it reads:

The Fork in the Road...

At the age of twenty-seven, George Bond, first-born son of Hugh and Elizabeth Linaker Bond, said goodbye to his home and family in North Meols, Lancashire, England. From this beautiful place, countless generations of Bonds had lived out their lives. They worked the sea as well as the farms...and had been content. But something different stirred in George. He saw a great big world out there and he wanted to explore it. And so one day he traveled to Liverpool. He booked passage on the SS Lucania and during the summer of 1898, arrived at Ellis Island in New York.

From there, he intended to work his way across the United States, save up some money, and then by way of San Francisco, book passage on a ship sailing to Australia. 

Frisco Utah, Ghost Town

All the Pretty Horses

The love of horses is a family tradition--that through documentation-- we can at least trace back to my great-great-great grandfather, Charles Earl. Grandpa Charles was born July 4, 1819, in Howland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, the son of John and Mary Earl. The "Biographical Memoirs of Wells County Indiana” states “Charles Earl was the fourteenth child of the family and was reared on his father's farm in Ohio. As a boy he showed a fondness for horses and has owned some fine animals in his day...” We can deduce from this statement that his father also had a love of horses. As did all those who followed down through the generations. Of this I know, first hand.

Edward H Buskirk,  Pleasant Township, Allen,Indiana