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D Is For Drummer Boy Of Chickamauga
The Rain Crow, my historical novel, is based largely on many events that actually happened during the war. One scene involves a little Union drummer boy who was wounded during a battle. A Union soldier who was captured after the battle wrote home about how tenderly he and the little drummer boy had been treated…
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C Is For Calico Colonel
Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke (July 19, 1871-November 8, 1901) was born to Hiram and Annie Rodgers Ball near Mount Vernon, Ohio in Knox County. Her mother died when she was just seventeen months old and was sent to live with her grandparents. When they passed, her Uncle Henry Rodgers took her in to live on…
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B is for Belle Boyd
Belle Boyd isn’t one of my favorite spies of the Civil War, but she’s given lots of attention and was dubbed the Cleopatra of the South. Long-limbed and of exceptionally fine form, it may be understandable that she gained many male admirers, but she was not a classical beauty. Belle Boyd was born Maria Isabella…
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A is for Aerial Reconnaissance
Although equipment, techniques, and even strategies for military aerial reconnaissance were not new to the American Civil War, they were honed during the conflict. Prior to the war, hot air balloons had been used primarily for entertainment after Joseph and Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier sent the first one to flight in 1783. Eleven years later, the French…
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Hour Of The Assassin by Matthew Quirk-Book Review by Joseph Snoe
I really liked Matthew Quirk’s thriller, HOUR OF THE ASSASSIN. The basic plot: Nick Averose, a former Secret Service agent now in his own business as a security consultant, is hired to test the security of the house belonging to a former CIA director. He breaks through the defenses. Unfortunately, while he is chit-chatting with…
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Fudge
My mother loves fudge. I’ve made her fudge for her for years. In order to keep her stocked in fudge, I send her the large priority mail box filled to the gunnels with fudge. I made her chocolate, peanut butter, and penuche fudge for years, until she told me one year she doesn’t like chocolate.…
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Book Review by Joseph Snoe-Double Exposure
By Alfred Gough and Miles Millar The reviews are all over the place for Alfred Gough & Miles Millar’s DOUBLE EXPOSURE. Me, I really enjoyed it. If you like the James Bond/Jason Bourne/Indiana Jones quick action stories, there’s a good chance you’ll like DOUBLE EXPOSURE. Basic story: In 1962, David Toland, Korean War hero turned…
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Gage The Wonder Dog
I’ve put off writing this for too long. It’s time and I’m crying again now, just starting it. When I was in Oklahoma, Cody, my middle son, told me to keep an eye open for an Aussie to work bulls. He raises bucking bulls. I decided to go to the animal shelter one day and…
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A Writer’s Retreat
If you are a writer and if you are very lucky, you have a support group. Sometimes it’s your family. Most of the time it isn’t. Your family may sort of give you free time. God bless you if you have a significant other who takes the kids so you can just write or maybe…
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A Is For Acoustic Shadow
A while back I was going through the alphabet, exploring different tidbits related to the successive letters. I got off tracks with various things, but with a shiny new blog, let’s get back in the groove. A is for acoustic shadow. The First Battle of Manassas was fought on July 21, 1861 at Manassas Junction,…