New Books

I’ve received three new books in the past week to help with my research on the 58th North Carolina Troops. They are: Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town [Knoxville] in the American Civil War by Robert T. McKenzie; Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia by Brian D. McKnight and The Terrible Time: The Civil War in Kentucky’s Bell, Knox, Laurel, and Whitley Counties by Wayne Taylor. I am looking forward to reading these.

The 58th North Carolina spent its first 13 months of service in east Tennessee (with a couple of forays into Kentucky). It was the 58th NC’s Colonel Palmer who was placed in charge of the recently captured Cumberland Gap in September 1862 as the rest of the Confederate army marched north to do battle. I am really looking forward to reading these books and maybe even expanding my writing about the area beyond the 58th North Carolina Troops.
Other North Carolina regiments, like the 62nd and 64th North Carolina Troops, were also at Cumberland Gap.

Appalachia has interested me for sometime. My own ancestors went from western North Carolina, through Cumberland Gap, and into eastern Kentucky not long before the Civil War. And, Cumberland Gap National Park has always been a great stopping point as we travel to my wife’s parents’ home in Berea. I’ve spent a lot of time in the area (even seen the Glacier Girl) and I look forward to returning soon.