First Bull Run Field Guide

I just sent off a draft of a First Bull Run Field Guide to my editor at Weider History Group, Chris Howland.  Chris is my editor for Smeltzer’s Six-Pack in America’s Civil War, and also now at Civil War Times, in which the Field Guide is scheduled to appear.  (There is a very complex organizational structure for editors at Weider, and I admit to not fully understanding how they all work together and what the hierarchies are.)

If you’re not familiar with it, the Field Guide is a relatively new regular item in Civil War Times.  It basically consists of about ten spots to hit when visiting a particular battlefield or city, including places to eat and see that aren’t necessarily directly associated with the events in question.  The guide is a two page spread including photos and an aerial map with pushpins for the sites.  I tried to focus on less often visited sites.

The draft is rough and I’m sure will take a lot of tweaking.  I don’t know yet which if any photos they’ll choose (I took them all a couple weeks ago while on a stomp with Craig Swain).  This will be the first thing I’ve published in Civil War Times (assuming it cuts the mustard), which is an older and more widely read magazine than America’s Civil War.  With the sesquicentennial of the battle coming up in 2011, I’m hoping more writing gigs will pop up.