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On Sunday evening, I returned from a twelve-day vacation. In thinking back on it, I realize now that I hardly gave a thought to the Civil War in the trans-Mississippi while I was gone. Part of that is no doubt due to the fact that I vacationed in Boston then went on a cruise from that city to Montreal. Ports of call were Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax; Sydney, Charlottestown, and Quebec City. It was my first time to visit Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the province of Quebec so there were fresh and exciting things to see and learn about each day.

My only brush with the Civil War occurred while visiting the Brattle Bookstore in Boston where I enjoyed perusing a nice selection of rarities. I purchased for an extremely reasonable price ($75.00) a copy of Richard Eddy’s History Of The Sixtieth Regiment New York State Volunteers published in 1864. Normally, I do not purchase many items relating to the eastern theater, but James M. Ransom, a captain in the unit, owned this copy. It is fascinating to read through the book since he made a number of markings and some notations through about half of the book. The bookstore also had a copy of my Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Correspondence of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864; it pleases me to know that my book has made its way to Boston.

It’s great to be back and postings about the war in the trans-Mississippi will follow soon!