Apologies for light posting lately on this blog. I fear, as you can see above, I've been seduced by X (formerly Twitter), where you can find the context of this and other debates that I've been engaged in about the Civil War and other topics. (The contemporary illustration of the Combahee River raid is from Harper's Weekly.) By all means follow me there, or on Facebook where on The Civil War Era Historian's Page I was recently arguing with a guy named Lloyd Klein about who wrote Grant's Memoirs. I of course think the question answers itself, but he was more inclined to finger Mark T ..read more

  Gordon Granger IV died on January 6, aged 96, at his home in Earlysville, Virginia.  He was a great help to me in writing the 2013 biography of his great-grandfather, General Gordon Granger: The Savior of Chickamauga and the Man Behind Juneteenth ..read more

  Frank Scaturro speaks at Grant Cottage on Saturday about President Grant's peacemaking efforts. Grant resisted political pressure to wage war against both Spain and Britain, and his submission of U.S.-British disputes to international arbitration set a far-reaching and positive precedent. He also talked about the book published earlier this year, Grant at 200: Reconsidering the Life and Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant, which he co-edited with Chris Mackowski. They both contributed essays to it, along with others including every living U.S. president, Grant scholars John F. Marsza ..read more

Photos taken September 22 with our newish dog Bella. That date in 1777 was three days after the first battle of Saratoga and a couple of weeks before the second. American gunners from these heights would have been watching for any sign of a British advance southward -- i.e. from the left in these east-facing pics -- along the Hudson River road ..read more

  Ulysses S. Grant famously loved horses, and after the war was no stranger to Saratoga Springs. So I'll be setting up shop, signing and selling my books, at Saratoga Race Course tomorrow with Mike Lesser from Grant Cottage, which will get half the proceeds. Tomorrow being Friday, August 25, the day before they run the Travers. Gates open at 11 ..read more

  After the recent accidental death of honorary Grant Cottage board member Treat Williams, the loss of Jeannie Woutersz (pronounced Waters) hits closer to home, although since she was 93 years old it can hardly be called unexpected. Jeannie was a solid working board member for many years, which she fitted in with a full range of other commitments.  I can't remember when I met her, but we got better acquainted when I was on the Grant Cottage staff as site interpreter for a couple of seasons in 2009-10. Since then I would run into her from time to time at events or at the cottag ..read more

  (Reginald Adams with his mural in Galveston, Texas) My friend Steve Trimm (portraying Grant) and I will be doing a program at Grant Cottage on Monday. That's June 19 -- Juneteenth -- which will be the focus of our presentations. Mine will be more about Gordon Granger than this essay I wrote and posted here last year, but along the same general lines. Steve's presentation is at noon, mine at 1 p.m. See here: Jun 19 2023 The History Behind Juneteenth - Monday, Jun 19, 2023 - Saratoga Springs, NY Events ..read more

  I had the honor of giving the fine actor Treat Williams, who died Monday as the result of a motorcycle accident, his first tour of Grant Cottage on July 10, 2014. He was a pleasant, interested and knowledgeable visitor.  Diana O'Brien, on left in photo, was then dressed as the poet Emily Dickinson for a program, and is now a board member of The Friends of Grant Cottage. Williams became an honorary board member and spoke at last year's fund-raiser. He also wrote and performed a one-man play about Ulysses S. Grant ..read more

The review below is from the spring/summer edition of The Journal of America's Military Past.  The two prior reviews were by Civil War Books and Authors and ARGunners Magazine. James Montgomery: Abolitionist Warrior, by Robert C. Conner. Havertown, Pa.: Casemate, 2022. 210 pp., $34.95. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, there was one region of the country where bitter fighting had been going on since 1855. That region, nicknamed “Bleeding Kansas,” straddled the lower two-thirds of the Missouri-Kansas border, where anti-slavery “Jayhawkers” from the Kansas Territory and pro-s ..read more

  This is only Civil War related because I was speaking last night to the Civil War Forum of Metropolitan New York, an hospitable and appreciative bunch who put me up at the Bentley Hotel and fed me an excellent meal at Draught 55 restaurant. Join them if you live down thataway, and sign up for their upcoming bus trip to West Point. Forgoing sightseeing, I have parked myself at the Moynihan Train Hall, the old post office building (with the iconic slogan carved around its top) where my grandfather Joseph Gaffney worked for many years. (His son, my uncle, was killed at the Battle of the ..read more