Confederate Heritage Weekend

The Ekton Historical Society will be hosting Confederate Heritage Weekend on April 10th and 11th. They will be serving Jackson's Stew, a meal served in the Confederate Army.

If Jackson's Stew is anything like hardtack, the visitors to the Society will be going to two places afterward: McDonalds and the dentist. The soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia did not call themselves "Lee's Miserables" for nothing.
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Civil War Joke-Recruitment

Conscription in the Confederacy did not recruit. It corraled men into service.

No one learned this better than the four Quakers who were conscripted in London, Virginia and brought to Lee's headquarters in Orange Court House. When told to fall in, the men refused, saying that they would follow but not fall in. After the gentle persuasion of several steel bayonets, their resolve evaporated and they fell in and marched to camp.

Source: The Court Jester website
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An Ill-Omen

A local Pennsylvania newspaper just reported on a poll in which nearly two-thirds of Adams County residents support a casino near Gettysburg.

As I've said before, the struggle will revolve around the opinions of the residents there. Of course, this could be a case of push polling. However, if this poll is to be believed, then the casino will be built. The local politicians will blow with the wind.

For these reasons, the CWPT and other organizations need to engage in a public relations campaign to win over the local people. Only such an effort will keep the casino from getting a permit.
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Casino in Gettysburg-It's All About the Locals

That's right. The people of the Gettysburg area will be the most decisive factor in whether a new casino will be established there.

Like the situation with the Wilderness Wal Mart, public sentiment will decide if this bit of economic development will go forward. The area has lost many businesses in the past decade and the number of tourists has declined. The people may decide that the economy needs a casino.

The job of Civil War preservationists will be to convince them otherwise. That is where the CWPT and other organizations need to focus.
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This is a change

How about that? A town that actually wants to preserve a Civil War site. The town of Hartford, New York is working to rebuild the crumbling foundation of a building that once served as a recruitment site for the Union Army. It is the last known Civil War recruitment site in all of New York State.

After the Wilderness Walmart and Gettysburg Gambling, it is heartening to see a municipality that wants to maintain a Civil War site. If only we could ship the local water to Orange County, Virginia and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Civil War Joke-No Complaints

During a retreat, a slightly wounded man complained that he had to walk to the rear.

A more seriously wounded man told him to hush up and said,"There is a lad over there with his head shot off and he's not making a complaint at all."

Source: Patrick O'Flaherty, History of the Sixty Ninth
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New Jersey

On this day in 1865, New Jersey rejected the 13th Amendment ending slavery. The state had a grand total of nine slaves. That institution needed an economy of scale to be remotely useful. What were those slaves doing that they had to be kept in bondage? As I last recall, New Jersey grew no cotton or tobacco. That was a serious case of misplaced priorities.

As a New Yorker, I am mortified over the fact that they currently have a better hockey team. In any conversation, I can now hold this historical fact over a New Jerseyan's head. That and the bad road signs.
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