Great News – and Coming Up…

The great news is that I received a communique from the Godfather of battle digitization, Brian Downey, and he plans to be active on his blog again this year (work commitments kept him away for most of 2010).  To show he is in earnest, he has a new post up at Behind Antietam on the Web.  Welcome back, Brian!

Things I’m working on for the next few posts:

• an interview with a Gettysburg entrepreneur;
• a preview/review of the January 10 American Experience program on U. S. Grant;
• a preview of the new issue of America’s Civil War magazine;
• a couple of items of interest from the new issue of North and South magazine;
• an expansion on my article on Gettysburg’s Jacob Weikert farm in the current issue of Civil War Times magazine;
• another way to follow Bull Runnings using an e-Reader (that is what they call those things, right?);
• and something I’ve been putting off for a long while, a look at an essay that discusses expectations at the time that the great military leader of the Civil War would emerge from a place other than the military establishment.

As usual, other things are sure to come up, including more primary material on First Bull Run and various news items, so stay tuned!

News from the National Archives

The National Archives has unveiled a new search engine, which can be found here.  And below is a promotional video:

Cool stuff!

Bruce Catton Papers

The Bruce Catton Papers are now online here.  I’ve updated the links.  Hat tip to Bob Huddleston.

Blogroll Update

I’ve updated the blogroll once again.  There are a number of additions, some of them are new and some of them have been around for a little while.  Check it out, mostly good stuff there.  If you know of any sites not listed, let me know.  I’ll check them out and if in my magnanimity I deem them worthy, I’ll add them next time around.

Four Years Blogging

Bull Running’s first post was made this day in 2006.  Titled Patience, it asked everyone for a little time to get things up and running, explaining that the project was a work in progress.  That still applies, by the way.

I won’t belabor my stats.  They are up considerably from the prior 12 month period.  A lot of that increase was due to a strange occurrence regarding my son’s essay An 11-Year-Old on Abraham Lincoln.  The photo that accompanied that post was for two months the number one Google image search result for Abraham Lincoln!  Therefore I had about a 150% increase in viewership over that period, and my son’s post is now the number one most viewed page all time on this site.  Exclusive of that, it looks like I’m up about 10%.

This blog has been a really wonderful thing for me.  In addition to the outlet it provides, I believe my professional writing opportunities are a direct result of Bull Runnings; my four speaking engagements coming up in 2011 wouldn’t have happened without it; I’ve had the opportunity to virtually meet some fine folks via the comments feature, emails, and the general Civil War blogging “community”; I continue to learn more about First Bull Run in particular and the Civil War in general; and I think my writing is getting more better gooder.

So thanks for stopping by to see what I have to say.  With any luck next year will see me get back on track posting to the resources section of the site.  I hope you’ll stick with me for year #5!

Live Blogging with Cenantua

Robert Moore recently experimented with live blogging along the C&O Canal.  Pretty cool stuff.  Start the journey here.

13th Mississippi at First Bull Run

Dick Stanley has a few posts up on his 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment blog about that unit and First Bull Run.  Check them out here.

New Blog – Gettysburg Civil War Institute

There’s another blog in the hot tub, this one from the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute.  Check out Civil War Institute.  OK, maybe this first post is pandering a bit – a version of that wink-wink nudge-nudge McClellan remark that some NPS rangers and other guides throw out there when they feel like they’re losing the crowd.  But I can’t blame them for putting up an attention grabber: it’s a very crowded hot tub, after all!

I’m not sure who will be contributing posts to this blog, but imagine it will be a team of folks headed up by Institute Director Peter Carmichael.  So my expectations are high.

Blogroll Updates

Please take some time to check out the Blogroll.  I’ve made quite a few additions, including some I haven’t mentioned before:

• Confederate Book Review
• Dead Confederates
• Spotsylvania Civil War
• The Sable Arm

Also check out Irish in the American Civil War, hosted by Daiman Shiels, an Irishman who specializes in battlefield archaeology

Update: Bull Runnings Facebook Fan Page

After one week up and running, the Bull Runnings Facebook Fan Page (honestly, I have no idea what the link to the page is) has 105 followers.  Most of them are my own Facebook friends who for whatever reason wanted to stay up-to-date with the blog (see here for why I set the page up).  But about 20% are folks with whom I am not familiar on that social network.

Thanks for the response – it has been greater than I anticipated and kinda-sorta makes me feel good.