Civil War Charlotte update.

Happy New Year! I hope your 2011 was grand - mine was. And I hope you are looking forward to 2012 - I am.

Top project on my list for the first three months of 2012 is to finish Civil War Charlotte. So, I thought I would give you an update. I'm still researching, going through post-war newspapers right now. And, I'm finding lots of great stuff concerning the veterans movement following the war. I'm using an online search engine to go through the Charlotte Observer, using the simple keyword "Confederate." The downside is that it picks up every time the word "Confederate" is used: like advertisements for special rates for veterans going to national reunions in distant states, and the obituaries of prominent veterans from places like Atlanta and Richmond.  Each year (I'm in 1914 right now) produces between 500 and 700 hits. No, I'm not reading every one.

But there is some great information - like the annual veteran picnics at Mt. Zion in Cornelius, the Confederate memorial day programs at Elmwood Cemetery, and the monthly UCV meetings. There are also occasionally veteran reminiscences about war-time service, or reminiscences about war-time Charlotte.

I've been working exclusively on this chapter so far. There is nothing like it in any history of Charlotte that I've come across so far. I've got about 2,000 words on paper for this chapter, out of a projected 5,000.

I've also been working on photographs to illustrate the book. I ordered a watercolor of Camp Exchange, the temporary Union prison camp in Charlotte towards the end of the war.

Well, it is time to get back to work. I hope you have a great January!