Last, evening, we had an most enjoyable time listening to Dr. John C. Inscoe speak at Lees-
McRae College as part of their John B. Stephenson Appalachian Lecture series. Inscoe is the author of several important texts on the Civil War in our region, most notably Heart of Confederate Appalachia and Mountain Masters, both of which I have found to be incredibly helpful in my research and writing. His topic was Women and guerilla warfare in Civil War Appalachia. While he covered a great deal of ground, he focused on a few critical events: the story of the Blalocks, the murder of Isaac Wilson, and the Shelton Laurel tragedy in Madison County. Unfortunately, when the time for questions came at the end of the event, some poor misguided soul was singing the praises of Rebels in Blue, the fabricated account of the Blalocks that was actually pulled by the publishers after it became clear that the author had created information out of whole cloth and credited them to non-existent sources. Dr. Inscoe handled the question gracefully and was a delightful speaker. If you ever get a chance to hear him, take it. If not, do read his books, which are important to any comprehensive understanding of the war in Appalachia.