Sunday, June 24, 2018

A Tip of the Hat to Newspapers

The Battle of Hoover's Gap was fought on this date in 1863, and you can see its location at the center-right of this map of middle Tennessee. The map, clearer than many a modern one, appeared on the front page of the July 1, 1863, New York Herald, as I discovered from a 2013 story in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette by Brian Mosely. The Herald also mentioned General Gordon Granger's report on the Union victory at Shelbyville, saving the bridge over the Duck River, which is shown at the bottom of the map.
The Hoover's Gap battle was won by Col. John T. Wilder's Lightning Brigade, and his corps commander, George Thomas, rode up with reinforcements that evening. This was all part of the Tullahoma campaign of Major-General William Rosecrans, in which the Army of the Cumberland fought and maneuvered the Confederate army of Braxton Bragg out of central Tennessee.

While newspapers continue to be the first draft of history, they are obviously under stress in this internet age, operating with lower resources and smaller staffs than a generation ago. But today's Albany Times Union finds space its Unwind section for a local authors round-up by Jack Rightmyer, which includes a short review of The Last Circle of Ulysses Grant. (Their web version is dated two days ago.) Since the book publishing business is under similar stress to newspapers, I appreciate the latter (including The Saratogian) doing their bit to keep civilization alive.

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