Updates

Once again real life has infringed upon my hobby, and I haven’t been able to come up with any posts lately. If you’re not already doing so, please be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook, as I frequently put stuff up on those outlets (look in the right hand margin of this page and make the appropriate clicks to follow.)

I’ve been notified that my regular reviews in brief column (it’s been known by several names over the years) in Weider History Group’s America’s Civil War magazine has run its course. These things happen, in fact have happened before, and will continue to happen in the magazine business as formats change. I’m thankful for the opportunities editor Dana Shoaf has provided. On a happier note, I have been asked to write reviews on single titles, and my first one will appear in the issue of Civil War Times that will be in process in August.

I also mentioned earlier that I’ll be speaking to the Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable in 2014. I’ve been putting together a few notes for that presentation and am really pleased with how things are going. We’ll be covering a lot of assumptions that are generally accepted as fact concerning the campaign that may not be quite accurate. OK, make that flat out wrong. It should be fun, and if your group is interested you can contact me at my email address to the right or send me a message on the Book Me, Danno! page.

Too Much Information Running Through My Brain…

…Too much information, driving me insane.

My apologies to The Police. But the past few days, as demonstrated on Bull Runnings’ Twitter account and Facebook page, have seen an overwhelming amount of information on the battle and the anniversary commemoration. I did my best to keep up.

I will attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff and provide links to some of the more interesting items concerning the history of the battle. Keep an eye out for that.

Thornberry Kids

John Hennessy has this great post up at Remembering: Musings on Fredericksburg and Manassas, in which he dissects this famous image of Sudley Springs Ford in March, 1862. See other photos from this collection here.

With the anniversary fast approaching, there are lots of blog posts and newspaper articles popping up every day that concern First Bull Run. I don’t announce them all here, but I do try to keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter. Use the links I’ve embedded in their names to follow Bull Runnings there and keep up with the latest Bull Run news.

I’m still getting inquiries regarding whether or not I will be at the ceremonies and events at the battlefield this week. I have no official role there. I may head down that way on Thursday or over the weekend just to check out what’s going on, but I’m not sure just yet. If you go, please be sure to take lots of water and drink it regularly, before you get thirsty. The plains of Manassas is a very hot place indeed in the summer. I mean, really, really hot. If you see me there, please say hello.

Social Media Update

In addition to feed readers, bookmarks, search engines, and good old-fashioned typing in the URL to the browser, some folks choose to follow Bull Runnings via social networks Facebook and Twitter. Right now we have 260 followers on Facebook, and 88 on Twitter. Not only are these other ways to be notified of new posts here (you’ll still need to come here to read them, of course), but on occasion I’ll post items to those forums that I don’t post here.

If you’re interested in following Bull Runnings in a slightly different way and you have a Facebook and/or Twitter account, you can use the links in the column to the right to follow us there!

What’s Up With Me

For those many, many fans of Bull Runnings who just have to know what’s going on in the exciting, fun-filled life of its host, I have a couple of things going on right now. The most immediate is the completion of the next installment of Collateral Damage for Civil War Times. This will feature a home on a Western Theater farm, though it’s not really on a battlefield and it’s on the Eastern seaboard. I checked the CWT website but don’t see that they’ve ever put one of these articles online. If they ever do, I’ll let you know.  And yes, I will be putting up all the photos I took of the Roulette Farm, my subject of the current issue of the magazine, in the near future.

You may have noticed that I have a speaking date coming up at the Rufus Barringer Civil War Roundtable in Pinehurst, NC in 2011.  After much deliberation, I’ve decided to make a presentation on Peter Conover Hains, the young artillery lieutenant who opened the ball for the Union at Bull Run with a shot from his 30 pdr Parrott, Long Tom.  I’ve been fascinated with his story for a long time, but haven’t really buckled down on it.  Of course I’ll share the fruits with you all here, when the time is right.

Other than the above mentioned date, I really don’t have any firm commitments to speak in 2011, or the rest of 2010 for that matter.  A couple of roundtables have expressed some interest, but I haven’t nailed anything down for sure.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be leading at least on bus tour on the battlefield, but even that isn’t official yet.  Keep in mind that I have incredibly high standards: I pretty much won’t speak to any group unless they say Hey, would you like to speak to our group?

If your group is interested in a Bull Run related program – or one on any of the other Civil War topics I’ve written on here or elsewhere – you can contact me at the email address in the right hand column.

Last, the Facebook fan page is doing well – Bull Runnings has 136 “likers” as of this morning.  If you want to follow on Facebook, you can use the link in the right hand column.

Bull Runnings on Facebook

I think I’ve figured this out.  To follow Bull Runnings on Facebook, try clicking this link.  Then click the “Like” button.  Let me know if it works or not.

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.

Bull Runnings on Facebook

I decided to set up a page for Bull Runnings on Facebook.  Up until now, I’ve been posting links to new articles here on my Facebook wall.  That means I’ve been bombarding all my Facebook friends with links on their home pages, even if they have no interest in the Civil War (yes, believe it or not there are people like that out there…lots of them, in fact).  With the new Facebook Bull Runnings page I’ll be able to post the links for people who are more likely to be interested.  If you’re a Facebook friend of mine, you should have already received an invite to “like” the Bull Runnings page.  And if you’re a Facebooker but not a friend, you can simply look up the page (it’s called Bull Runnings) and click “like” or “follow” or whatever it says there at the top.

I tried to set it up so that new posts automatically update to the page, but apparently I can only link between my blog and my personal wall, not the page.  So I’ll still be doing that manually.