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February 25, 2007
Image of the Week: Grace Bedell's Envelope
One of the stories in my new book, The Greatest Stories Never Told,
is about Grace Bedell, the eleven year-old girl who wrote to Abraham Lincoln, suggesting that he grow a beard--which he did. Grace's original letter to lincoln is is in the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library, and I ordered a reproduction of it to use in the book. When the disk came in the mail, it contained an unexpected surprise: a scan of the envelope in which Grace sent her letter. You can see a larger version of it by clicking on the thmbnail at left.
I was specially delighted to see this, because I just recently stumbled over the phenomenon of illustrated Civil War envelopes. Starting in the 1850's, people were printing up propaganda envelopes...so your letter to a friend would be enclosed in an envelope that made clear your political leanings. Who knew?
The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester has quite a collection of these, and a short write-up on their website. I have proposed an article on this to The History Channel magazine.
My favorite part of the envelope is the phrase scrawled down the right hand side: answered. Lincoln answered Grace, grew the beard, and the rest, well, you know the rest.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2007
Citing Wikipedia
The February 21st New York Times has an article about how the History Department at Middlebury College has banned citing Wikipedia as a research source. The article went on to offer a balanced and intriguing discussion about the growing debate over how academia should view Wikipedia. For example, on the one hand there is information on Wikipedia that is simply not true. On the other hand, there are professors who assign students to research and write entries on far flung subjects, insuring there will be original information there not available anyplace else.
My own view is that Wikipedia is a good place to start, but not a good place to finish. Or, as Ronald Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."I use it as a place to get a quick read on something, and decide if it is worth following up. I find that proves more useful and accurate every year, although it is a good idea to double check anything found there.
And the founder of Wikipedia makes a good point in the article. It is never a good idea to have an encyclopedia as your main source--good research requires going beyond that.
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Amazon
The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told is now officially listed on Amazon. Go ahead, look it up. No cover yet, no information, still, there is is! THe pub date is listed as Octobeer 1, which jibes with what Harper Collins has told me.
Today I finished revisions on the manuscript requested by the editor. I did replace one story with a new and better one, but aside from that, most of the changes were pretty minor. Mauro suggested some new subheads for about half a dozen of the stories, and I went along with his ideas, I thought they were all good.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
Image of the Indetermine Time Period
I am going to try, in the coming weeks, to revive the long dormant "Image of the Week" in order to showcase some of the cool pictures I've gathered for my forthcoming book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told.
This drawing captures the scene in February, 1844, when the biggest naval cannon in the world, the Peacemaker, blew up in front of a crowd of dignataries during a test firing aboard the Princeton, a navy warship. It killed six people, including the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy, and would have killed President John Tyler, but for...well, I don't want to give away the whole story here. Buy the book wheen it comes out! You can click on the thumbnail to see a larger version. This image comes courtesty of the Library of Congress.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
The Long Grey Line
Reader Gene Visco writes to share a story he wishes I had included in The Greatest War Stories Never Told. It's a good tale,and one that I considered using. Being familiar with it, I can vouch for its accuracy. Here's his telling of it:
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With all the wonderful tales you told in that book, I was mildly disappointed not to find my own favorite war tale. On 5 July 1814 a newly trained and equipped US Army brigade, under command of a newly brevetted Brigadier, Winfield Scott, was arrayed facing a division of the British Army in Canada under command of Major General Phineas Riall. The four regiments of Scott's brigade (25th Infantry, 11th Infantry, 9th Infantry, and 22nd Infantry, in that order from left to right) were dressed in new gray uniforms. Gen. Riall, well aware that the uniform of the US Army was blue, believed the enemy facing him across the Chippewa River were militia, which were often dressed in gray. Knowing also, from experience, that militia did not stand and fight against well-formed enemy, Riall fully expected the opposing force would soon break and run in the face of his advancing troops. When Scott's brigade formed up and opposed his advance with controlled fire and did not break, Riall said: "Those are regulars, by God!" [That phrase became the unofficial motto of US Army infantry: "Regulars, by God!"]. In remembrance of Scott's victory at Chippewa, the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy wear gray parade uniforms. Why was Scott's brigade of regular US Army infantry dressed in gray rather than the typical blue? Because the contractor providing the uniforms ran out of blue dye! The Corps of Cadets commemorate a contractor screw-up!
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2007
Done!
I finished the manuscript of The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told on January 15th at 7:31 PM after a long struggle. I snapped a photo of my office to capture the carnage caused by the last heaving effort it took to finish the book. (You can get a larger view by clicking on the picture.)
My editor, Mauro Dipreta, has the manuscript now. When I saw him in NY last week he said that he had started it and it looked good. I expect to receive his suggested edits any day. Maybe just for fun I will scan one of the pages to show the kind of comments I get. The book is due out in October.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:51 PM | Comments (1)