Greetings, New Readers

Yesterday, I received an email from a reporter for Foxnews.com. Kevin Levin had given her my name as someone to talk to regarding Maj. Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island, who died 150 years ago today, of wounds received at Bull Run a week earlier. She wanted to talk about Ballou and his famous letter in particular, and about the battle in general. I said fine and a phone conversation followed.

I briefly recounted Ballou’s story, and also recommended she contact Robin Young, author of a biography of Ballou. The whole conversation lasted maybe 15-20 minutes. The reporter also asked for permission to use certain images from Bull Runnings, all of which were my own photos, and I obliged.

The article appeared today, though I am not quoted in it (Kevin and Robin are). There is a photo gallery attached to the article, and a few of my photos are included. Those photos are linked to Bull Runnings as well. As a result, I’ve received about three times as many hits as usual today.

If you have stumbled upon Bull Runnings via a link on Foxnews.com, welcome. Browse a while. There’s lots of Bull Run stuff to see – check out the Bull Run Resources section for primary data like after action reports, letters, diaries, memoirs and newspaper articles written by participants. And of particular interest, this post with the audio of Ballou’s letter from the Ken Burns documentary, and this post that includes the photos in the gallery. Come back often: there are always new things happening here, 150 years ago.