There is so much unknown history of this country now quietly hidden in attics, boxes in garages... These are treasures waiting to be found. Look for them.
Fifty-one years has passed since that event, and it is still driving the interests in my life. It was one of the most blessed days of my life, although it has taken me years to realize that.
When I am not working my job, I am researching the history as it pertains to my books. I study the American Civil War through documents, newspaper articles of that day, diaries, letters and whatever else I can find. I read books. I visit used book stores. I scan the Internet for documents, maps and other items of interest. I never know when I will find that golden nugget that I am searching for.
Some information I have seen and studied, I am sure not five other people in the world have ever touched or looked at. Several things I know no other soul has found except me.
Even as a young student who once portrayed Abraham Lincoln in my 8th grade school play, I was fascinated by those times, now just about 150 years ago. I wanted to get the feel of what it felt like. I wanted to visit the places, walk the battle fields, climb the hills, duck down in the trenches, and “live” as closely as I could to those brave patriots who were willing to give their lives for the freedoms I have now.
In my books, I try to give a glimpse of what I have seen. I try to let you in on things that no one, not even your teachers, have told you. Or perhaps as someone very lucky, your teachers did tell you those things. In that case, thank you teacher, as I often thank mine.
Take every opportunity at school or with your parents and family to visit the historic places in this country. Go to Philadelphia and sit in the same seats our founding fathers sat in when deciding to seek their independence from England. Visit Boston and learn about the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Travel to Washington, D.C. and explore the museums — see the Wright Brothers plane, the Spirit of St. Louis and the first space capsule.
Read the biographies of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses Grant, and other great leaders of the Civil War. Visit the places were they fought, where they lived, where they are buried.
You are never too young to learn something new. And although I am 64 years old, I am never too old to learn something new.
My journeys have taken me to the Huntington Library in California where amongst their 6.5 million documents, I read a copy of a letter from Abraham Lincoln to his step-brother. I didn’t even know that he had a step-brother. Did you? I also found a copy of an unpublished manuscript written in about 1880 by Lincoln’s personal bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon. Later this year I will publish that manuscript.
In my journeys I have walked the trenches of Cold Harbor near Richmond to the place a friend had found the entire body, skeleton, musket, uniform and bullet that killed a North Carolina soldier in the 1940s. I have deciphered many Civil War letters and diaries revealing what they were going through as soldiers fighting for their country.
There is so much unknown history of this country now quietly hidden in attics, boxes in garages, and where ever. These are treasures waiting to be found. Look for them. Dig into your family genealogy. Find your ancestors who were a part of the Civil War and make it your personal mission to find everything you can about him and his family. Make a scrapbook of his life as a soldier. Start with his pension records. Follow his regiment to the battle fields where he fought.
You will be amazed where that trail takes you. And you will thank me for suggesting that you start. This is the absolute best time ever to get involved in the history with the Civil War Sesquicentennial on the horizon.
Happy hunting.