Do Not Read This Post
Instead, force-march your corps over to Mysteries and Conundrums, to see the first installment of Mac Wyckoff’s analysis of the Richard Kirkland story. If you’ve followed that blog’s recent review posts on the fate of Stonewall Jackson’s arm (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), you already know you’re in for a worthwhile read.
What, you’re still here? Be gone, already!
Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
The entire Wycoff piece is available as a PDF at Michael Aubrecht’s blog at the movie site. He sent me a copy to read. Pretty persuasive that something happened along the lines of the Kirkland story. See what you think.
http://www.theangelmovie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=74
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
http://counterfire.org/index.php/features/53/6395
DMF, thanks for the link. I’m not familiar with this book, but it looks interesting. The reviews on Amazon are mixed, with a few really strong reviews and a couple that are completely dismissive. (One of the latter begins, “what utter trash,” and seems to be less concerned with the methodology or research than with the premise of the book itself. I’m not sure that really counts as a review.) Several say that the book is repetitive, which may well be the case.
I do think that opposition movements, North and South, often get overlooked in the broader, far-too-simplified public narratives about the war. There aren’t many monuments or memorials to those folks, but it’s absolutely an essential part of understanding the big picture. Vikki Bynum, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos, writes and blogs about Southern Unionists and other “unconventional” Southerners at Renegade South.
haven’t read it so i couldn’t say but thought it was interesting to see this being covered by a lefty brit journal/site. thanks for the renegade south tip.
Williams is the “People’s History…” guy, history seen through a Marxist lens. Which doesn’t disqualify it, but forewarned is forearmed.