Well, it's gone. I emailed the Branch-Lane manuscript to
Savis Beatie this morning. No, I have no idea when it will be published. It took
longer to write than I thought. But I think it is good. Detailed. And it’s even
under my 150,000-175,0000 word estimate (just barely). Twenty years of research
went into that one.
I can't really put my finger on just when I commenced my
research into the brigade. Of course, it began when I started working on the
history of the 37th NC regiment. That was my first book. But I don't have an
actual date. It was in Boone, in the Belk Library at Appalachian State. And it
was probably something like, "hey this regiment was local (two companies
from Watauga County), and hey, there is no book about them." So, I set out
to tell their story.
Given all the years that I have spent as an interpreter and
reenactor, like the book on the 37th NC the Branch-Lane brigade history is written from
the soldiers’ perspective. It is not a top-down approach, looking at grand
maneuvers and the theories of war. Instead, it comes from the smoke-filled
trenches and vermin- infested winter quarters that the soldiers shared with
family and friends. As I've said all along, it is their story. I'm just trying
to fill in the pieces surrounding them as they tell it.
Over twenty years, I've collected thousands of pages of
material, many that never got used. When I started working on the 37th NC book,
I found and photographed as many graves of members of that regiment as I could.
I think I used two, maybe three in the final manuscript. So I've got maybe
three hundred photos of graves that never made it. I took all of the primary
source material that I collected and put it in six three-inch notebooks, one
for every regiment, and one for the brigade. This does not include books of
letters or diaries, like Harris's book on the 7th NC, or Speer's 28th NC letters
which was published several years ago. At some point, I'll probably break down
those notebooks, moving the contents to other notebooks for future projects.
For now, they'll probably stay here next to the desk, the same spot where
they've been for two and a half years.
But then, this project is more than just words. It's been a
part of my life. I've visited every field where they fought, save Ox Hill (figured
I'd probably just get arrested). I really can't tell you how many times I have
driven Jackson's flank march, or stood next to the North Carolina monument at
Gettysburg, looking across that field (Lane's brigade was to the left of that
piece of bronze and stone). I've been to the graves of Branch in Raleigh, and
Lane in Auburn, and countless other cemeteries like the ones in Winchester and
Spotsylvania. I've had the chance to portray members of the brigade at
reenactments and living histories, like Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Petersburg, and
seemingly countless other sites. And, on a few occasions, I've given tours,
speaking about the brigade and its members at New Bern, Hanover, and at Pamplin
Park.
It's kind of odd, sitting here, able to see the top of my desk.
I've still got some filling away to do, but almost everything is back in its
notebook. There they sit, waiting for me to pick it up,
and trace down some source that I had jotted in my notes.
I'm going to take a little time off from the ANV. Not too much,
but a little time. I've already got another ANV project on my mind, but I need
to go and write something else in between (that is the ADHD in me). And when I
get started on this new ANV project, I'll be building upon my research in the
Branch-Lane brigade, it will be the foundation stone for this new idea (you'll
probably not hear anything about this one until the first of the year).
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