It’s been a very fruitful couple of weeks since my last post.
July 4th weekend I had a very successful and enjoyable event at the NWCWC Reenactment at the Willamette Mission State Park in Keizer, OR.
While at Willamette I met a man who’s ancestor was a slave who joined the Confederate Army as a medic. After the war he received a “Colored Man’s Pension” from his state. That’s the second instance I’ve come across where a slave received a pension for fighting for the Rebels. Before I started on this journey I’d always believed that the south wouldn’t let blacks (slave or freed men) put on a uniform). I guess if two different states saw fit to give a former slave a pension that the history books I’ve been reading were wrong on that account.
Tow other interesting facts I realized in working on the Q&A book is:
1. That the Union Army was a segregated Army. Yet the Rebel Army didn’t keep track of race on their enlistment records. So the Army that was supposedly fighting to free slaves was segregated and the Army that was fighting to keep slavery had slaves fighting to keep themselves in bondage.
2. That prior to the Civil War the supposedly evil General Robert E. Lee freed slaves that were under his control (his wife had inherited them from her father) and the supposedly righteous General Ulysses S. Grant, General Sherman, and possibly other officers as well, had slaves that served them all during their campaign to free the slaves.
Back to the Willamette Reenactment, I sold a fair amount of books, which is nice; but more importantly, talked to many people who signed up for my mailing list so I can update them on the progress of my new non-fiction book: “Questions from the North; Answers from the South.”
My plan is to release it on my website a month prior to releasing it on Amazon and Kindle. It’ll be at a discount. My purpose in doing that is to thank everyone who came by my table at several events and encouraged me in this effort.
Many have been amazed at the timing of the release of Q&A. I wish I could claim credit for the timing but I can’t. The Lord gets all the glory for that.
Last Tuesday, the night before I left on this book tour, I read most of Q&A’s conclusion to my 9 Bridges, Moonstruck Café Writer’s Group. They really liked what I had to say. The only problem is that after listening to their constructive criticism I realize I need to readjust the format before I send it to my editor. I’m planning on working on that while I’m on the east coast, I’ll keep you posted.
If you want to get more frequent and more detailed updates please e-mail me at: comesthesouthernrevolution@gmail.com and I’ll put you on my mailing list.
Speaking of discounts, I’ll be at the Ft. Lee Main Exchange on 13-15 July and the 2015 SCV Reunion in Richmond on 16-18 July. Anyone who mentions this blog at either event will get a 10% discount on any book(s) they purchase.
I look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime go to my website: jameselstad.com and check my schedule for an event near you.
Thanks for your support.
Jim
James R. Elstad 