Broadening our reach....

From John Hennessy:

Here is Stonewall Jackson at the Centennial Re-enactment of First Manassas,, 1961, a topic we will explore in future posts.

My apologies for being distracted from blogging lately–some heavy business at the park and vacations have intervened to rob of almost all thinking and writing time. It was indeed my intent to slow the pace of posts on here, but certainly not to the extent you have suffered of late.

As many of you know, I have written a great deal about Manassas over the years. There was a time when I was completely Manassas-ed out, and had little desire to read, speak, or see another word about Manassas.  But, have recovered from all that, and lately have been doing a lot of reflection on what I did and did not to do as it relates to the Civil War landscape around Manassas. One of the things that strikes me is the degree to which, in two books on the battles, I almost completely ignored the civilian landscape upon which the battles took place–hardly delving deeper than identifying property owners, with a few details added here and there. Lately I have been doing some prep work for a tour I’ll be doing at Manassas as part of the 150th–a walk through the former community of Sudley. And so I have re-engaged a bit on things Manassas, and I have enjoyed it a good deal. Not surprisingly, there are as a result a few things I’d like to write about related to Manassas. Rather than start another blog, I have decided simply to expand the scope of this one a bit to range northward from Fredericksburg occasionally.

I do this without any desire to intrude on the bloggish turf staked out by Harry Smeltzer over at Bull Runnings, a site I enjoy and respect very much (and recommend to you highly). Harry’s work is largely focused on compiling sources related to the battle; mine will be to occasionally look at issues of landscape, some mysteries, and maybe a few conundrums as they relate to Manassas.  We will not be leaving Fredericksburg behind…but will be simply broadening the scope of the blog a bit.  I’ll have a few Manassas-related items in the coming weeks, as well as a look at “Sit-in Corner” in Fredericksburg, and more.

I will concede that the business of blogging is a bit consumptive and exhaustive. For me, this expansion of the scope is a bit of a boost with respect to interest and energy.  I hope Noel, who has considerable expertise in things related to Northern Virginia, will join in on the discussion as well–as he has so often on things Fredericksburg related.  Onward.

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