A Big Announcement

Seventeen Hundred: that is how many emails that I estimate I have received in the past four years since I started working on the book on the 58th North Carolina Troops. For the past three days, I have been working on sending an email to each of the persons sending me one of the seventeen hundred emails, telling these folks that they can preorder the book. Dozens have responded. Needless to say, I’ve been a little on the busy side.

So, I guess it is time to tell the rest of you: the book on the 58th North Carolina will be out in a couple of weeks, and I am taking orders for signed copies. Here is the announcement that I have been sending to all of those folks:

Greetings! I hope this finds you well on the first week of fall 2010. A while back, I sent out an email to which you graciously responded. I was looking for information for a book that I was working on, a history of the 58th North Carolina Troops. I finished that book late last year, and I am happy to announce that it will be released in two weeks.

The 58th North Carolina Troops was a Confederate regiment made up of men from the mountain counties of North Carolina, primarily Ashe, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, Caldwell, McDowell, and Avery (created in 1911) counties. The regiment, the largest to come from North Carolina, contained over 2,000 men, and fought in battles like Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Dalton, Resaca, Kolb’s Farm, the battles for Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Bentonville. The 58th North Carolina was surrendered at the Bennett Place in Durham in April 1865. All told, the regiment lost 355 men during its three years of service.

Like my history of the 37th North Carolina Troops, the history of the 58th North Carolina is based upon letters, diaries, battle reports, and post-war reminisces composed by men who served in the regiment. It is their story. In chronicling their experiences, I consulted modern battlefield studies, and even visited each of the places where they fought. The book, 259 pages in length, contains maps, photographs, rosters, and information on where they fought, where they camped, even what they ate.

As mentioned in my emails to you, I am having a pre-release sale. The paperback book retails for $38 from the publisher. For the next two weeks, I am going to take pre-orders for signed copies for $32 (shipping included). There are two ways to take part. You can visit my web page and order from there (www.michaelchardy.com) , or I will accept checks or money orders sent to: Michael C. Hardy, PO Box 393, Crossnore, NC 28616. To help me out, please include in your correspondence to whom you would like the book shipped and/or signed. Back several years ago, I offered a similar deal for the history of the 37th North Carolina Troops, and I shipped about 150 books in three days.

The book will also be available from other vendors, or you can order it from your local book store.

I will be traveling around the state, doing programs and book signings for various groups. If you would like me to come and speak to your historical society, SCV Camp, or UDC Chapter, drop me a line, and we will see what we can set up.

Well, there you have it. The long-awaited release of The Fifty-eighth North Carolina Troops: Tar Heels in the Army of Tennessee (McFarland 2010).