Welcome to my blog! In this space, I will share thoughts, news, and notes about my latest book, The Lost Soldier, as well as other projects. I also have something special in mind for content.
I call this blog the Haversack. The name comes from my next project, a new biography of Daniel Harvey Hill, one of the Confederacy's most controversial soldiers. My research into Hill's life has inevitably drawn me to the monthly magazine he launched in 1866, The Land We Love. Described as "A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Literature, Military History, and Agriculture," the publication included a monthly column Hill named the Haversack. Hill envisioned that the Haversack would be a compilation of army notes from his personal Civil War experiences as well as those of fellow Confederate soldiers. He chose the title, he wrote, "because, like the Confederate article of the same name, though it may be occasionally crammed with good things by a successful raid, we fear that too often it will contain only the thin cake and lean beef, or the homeopathic slice of bacon." His objective was a simple one. "We have often enjoyed the puns of our soldiers," he wrote, "and think that our readers will relish them too." (The Land We Love I:67 ff.) Over 150 years later, I think you will relish those puns as well. So, with a tip of the cap to General Hill, I plan to occasionally include selected gems from Hill's Haversack in this blog. What better title to use than THE HAVERSACK?
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