A Challenge for my HIST101B016 Win 10 Class

Okay, here is the challenge.  Be the first to identify this Civil War location.  Post your ideas here..  This is worth 5 points on your final exam!  You can click on the image for a larger view.  PLEASE no help from the peanut gallery!

A New Project Begins

Well here we go. My book about Robinett is almost complete; it is time to start focusing upon Vickers. Vonnie Zullos of Horse Soldiers Research is going to assist me once again by seining the Archives in WDC for his records. I am going to, once again, line up one of LTC Peterson’s cadets from the ROTC program at Widener to do some leg work in New Jersey and Delaware. In the mean time, I am developing a bibliography of sources I will need to put my hands on.
Let the fun begin!

Keep History Alive!

bs

Broomsticks to Battlefields

Here is a nice photo from PMC Cadet Life 1914, Widener University Archives.

Nice, eh?

A Challenge for My Students in HIST101 D004 Fall 09

Here is a good Civil War Challenge for extra credit on your final. First person to correctly post identifying the battlefield and specific location BOTH earns 5 extra points! of this site:

AT the time:

TODAY:

Keep History Alive!

bs

Research Plan

Well here we go again, another year a new plan.

For my students, please note that it is imperative that you have a plan before you begin. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy so it is okay to make changes but you MUST have a plan.

Here are the steps you need to do to develop a successful project and I suggest you do the same:

1. Plan a weekly/daily/monthly plan with deadlines and try to stick by it.
2. Develop a series of questions that you wish to answer from your research.
3. Develop a preliminary bibliography-separate by primary & secondary.
4. Collect your sources.
5. Use each source by taking notes
I prefer note cards for much of my work but on last year's project I also put information into a spreadsheet/timeline with various tabs for events. This proved very effective in keeping long quotations etc as my handwriting now leaves something to be desired.
6. Develop an outline.
7. Organize your research according to your outline.
8. BEFORE you beg the first rough draft make sure you now develop an effective Thesis Statement. Without one your historical writing will lack focus and direction.
9. Right a rough draft.
10. Review the draft-PRINT IT OUT-you will be amazed what you cannot see on a computer screen for some reason. READ the paper out loud, again you will be amazed.
11. Have someone else read it to see if your Thesis Statement is proven in your paper.

Sound like a lot of work? To answer that, I guess it boils down to how good do you want it to be!

For me, this week I will be spending time developing my plan for the next 11 months.

Keep History Alive.
bs

Let the New Year Begin!

I just received word that AMU has, once again, approved my research grant for 2010!

So, David Vickers Jr. of Camden, NJ. Vickers is another interesting cadet from DMA, you are my project for this year! He was in the 3rd and 4th New Jersey Volunteers and was eventually captured at Spotsylvania Court House, take to Macon, GA and Camp Oglethorpe. When Sherman’s forces approached, he was moved to Camp Sorghum near Columbia, SC. He was brevetted to brigadier general in 1865 and after the war served as a diplomat in Cuba. During the Spanish American war he was an inspector general. Upon his death his will was contested by a second wife from Chile. He should make for a very interesting story.

Happy New Year

Wishing all of you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Margaret Junkin Preston was the sister of Elinore Junkin Jackson, the first wife of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. Elinore met Jackson while he was a professor of natural and experimental philosophy and artillery tactics at the Virginia Military Institute and married him in August of 1853.

The newlyweds set up housekeeping with Elinore's family on the campus of Washington College, where Elinore and Margaret's father, the Rev. Dr. George Junkin, was president. Margaret formed an immediate attachment to her sister's new husband and remained close to him even after Elinore died in childbirth 14 months later. Margaret eventually married a VMI professor, J.L.T. Preston, in 1857, the same year that Jackson entered into his second marriage with Mary Anna Morrison.

When the War Between the States broke out, Dr. Junkin , a staunch Unionist, left Lexington and returned to his former home up north. Margaret remained loyal to the Southern cause and stayed with her husband in Lexington. She went on to achieve some postwar reknown as a poet and has been anthologized in several early 20th century collections of Southern poetry.

ACCEPTATION
by Margaret Junkin Preston (1820-1897)

We do accept thee, heavenly Peace!
Albeit thou comest in a guise
Unlooked for--undesired, our eyes
Welcome through tears the sweet release
From war, and woe, and want,--surcease,
For which we bless thee, blessed Peace!

We lift our foreheads from the dust;
And as we meet thy brow's clear calm,
There falls a freshening sense of balm
Upon our spirits. Fear--distrust--
The hopeless present on us thrust--
We'll meet them as we can, and must.

War has not wholly wrecked us; still
Strong hands, brave hearts, high souls are ours--
Proud consciousness of quenchless powers--
A Past whose memory makes us thrill--
Futures uncharactered, to fill
With heroisms--if we will.

Then courage, brothers!--Though each breast
Feel oft the rankling thorn, despair,
That failure plants so sharply there--
No pain, no pang shall be confest:
We'll work and watch the brightening west,
And leave to God and Heaven, the rest.

((http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/authors/preston.htm))

More Homecoming

Here are a coup0le of more shots from Homecoming:

Progress

Well, I have submitted by research to AMU. Now I have only one thing on my plate: working with Deeds Publishing to come up with a good marketable print edition. Then, towards the end of January, I should hear about next year's grant.

More news when it is available.

Keep History Alive!
bs

And the Decision Is...

Well, I have decided. I am going to apply for another grant from AMU and will continue this project this coming year. I have discussed the project with Bob and Mark Babcock of Deeds Publishing http://www.deedspublishing.com/ and they both believe that a series has merit. So, the title of the series shall be: Broomsticks to Battlefields: The Cadets of Delaware Military Academy in the Civil War. Robinett will be the first published in the series.

The second will be David Vickers Jr. of Camden, NJ. Vickers is another interesting cadet from DMA. He was in the 3rd and 4th New Jersey Volunteers and was eventually captured at Spotsylvania Court House, take to Macon, GA and Camp Oglethorpe. When Sherman’s forces approached, he was moved to Camp Sorghum near Columbia, SC. He was brevetted to brigadier general in 1865 and after the war served as a diplomat in Cuba. During the Spanish American war he was an inspector general. Upon his death his will was contested by a second wife from Chile. He should make for a very interesting story.

Of course the pace of my research will be greatly enhanced if I receive a grant from AMU. Failing that , I will continue the project but at a slower pace.
That is the story for now. My Robinett project is due next Tuesday so this would holiday weekend will be spent putting the finishing touches on him and his story.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

and remember...

keep History Alive!
bs