"It's been a long time, getting from there to here..."

The last month has been a bit busy for me and sadly, I've neglected my blog as a friend chided me. Since the last time I posted, I've been working with Josh Howard researching a raid by 300 British sailors and lobsterbacks in Currituck during the War of 1812. Most of the references are from local newspapers which gives us the perspective from the "Jonathan's" view but we wanted to dig a bit deeper and explore it from the British side. We've found the papers of the British officer in command, Admiral Cockburn (pronounced Coeburn), on microfilm in the Library of Congress. Josh is working on getting us a copy so we can begin looking for information on our little landing. I've also given talks on NC's Benedict Arnold, Michael Quinn (see a previous post for the history behind this gentleman) as well as another of my favorite topics, Torpedoes of the American Civil War. I've attended events at Richard Caswell site in Kinston and I just got back from the War of 1812 Grand Tactical at Jefferson Patterson Park, St. Leonard, MD. This last event has to be one of the best events I've attended in quite some time. Everything seemed to be well thought out with nothing left to chance. While Saturday was good with two scripted battles, Sunday was special as we started out fighting an unscripted tactical which morphed later in the day into the final scripted battle. Next up, a quiet Civil War Living History in Tarboro. I need a vacation!