Monday, March 29, 2010

David Vickers & the Army

Well I did a good bit of work on Vicker's military records this weekend.  Twice he seems to have a bit of conflict with his superiors and the War Department.  The first was before his capture, while a Captain when he attempted to resign.  His resignation was refused and his commanding officer recommended a dishonorable discharge.  That is all I have on found so far about his.  Hopefully I can find some family papers that will reveal more.

The second was after his release from captivity.  It appears as if he desired a promotion to Colonel and command of his regiment (4th NJ Vols.).  A series of telegrams and letters flowed about his exact condition upon promotion.  Was he an exchanged or paroled officer?  If he was exchanged then the promotion was valid, if not, it was not.  The War Department determined he was an exchanged prisoner not paroled and the promotion was denied.  I will look into this in greater detail in the upcoming weeks.

I am still on the lookout for any family geniological organizations nor any of his descendants yet.

Keep History Alive!
bs

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Broomsticks to the Printer!

Well, Broomsticks to Battlefields is to the printer.  I should see a proof by next week.  In the mean time I have been working on David Vickers as much as I can.  Vonnie has found some interesting information that needs closer examination.

It seems he tendered his resignation on 13 NOV 1862 for some reason,  It was disapproved by his commanding officer and he "strongly recommend that he be immediately dishonorably discharged." This did not happen so I will need to look into this further,

It appears that he took ill with typhoid fever in August of 1862.

It also appears he was a POW in three places now: Camp Oglethorpe (Macon, GA),. Charleston Jail, and then Camp Sorghum (Columbia, SC).  This makes sense as the officers were evacuated from Macon as Sherman began his march through Georgia.

He was brevetted to Brigadier General at the end of the war for "meritorious service."  Later he returned to service as Major and an Inspector General in Idaho during the Spanish American War.

Finally, I need to find out how he became so close to General Judson Kilpatrick.

That's it for now.

Keep History Alive!
bs

Monday, March 1, 2010

What is Loyalty?

This is an open-ended discussion on my blog for both my students at AMU and all that are interested (even the peanut-gallery)  so feel free to chime in.

What is loyalty? To whom you owe loyalty to first? (family? country? unit?) What about shifting loyalties; under what conditions?  Our focus is American History to 1870 so examples from the period would be helpful to prove your points.