Last spring, in one of my posts of Catalina Island, I made a post (March 26) with some thoughts of how the C.S.S. Shenandoah affected the California coast.  In this post I want to feature a new friend, a fellow Civil War reenactor in California. His name is Alonso Chattan.  His  Living History persona is Alonzo Goodblood, Major, Medical Services.  He attends the Fort Point events in San Francisco. In addition to  his passion for Civil War history, he plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and Uilleann pipes.  He has a great love for Celtic music.

Alonso says there is a good bit of Civil War reenacting in the Bay Area and in Northern California.  He says they have large groups of Civil War reenactors, including the NCWA and ACWA .  He adds:
“Angel Island and Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge on the San Francisco side as well as several forts were manned throughout the war to prevent Confederate ships from entering the bay. Never fired a shot in anger. I am told the only time it happened was when a British ship entered the bay and its flag was furled. The garrison on Angel Island fired across its bow; the Brits thought it a salute and, fortunately, the flag unfurled and was visible thus avoiding an incident.
“The rangers at the fort told us that and I have no reason to doubt it. I hope you do get to visit Fort Point. It is a marvelous piece of period architecture. The walls are a fantastic bit of brick artistry. California granite was used for the staircases. Really worth a trip to visit.”

I am going to have a post about Clan Chattan, which Alonso belongs to, in the future.  Here is a great Living History photo of Alonso.

Civil War Fiction

Books about the Civil War continue to be churned out. I think the War Between the States must be one of the most popular topics to write about. Through the years, I’ve managed to build up a respectable library on the War, both of fiction and nonfiction. Some of the literature is very good, some VERY bad—badly written, full of inaccuracies and stereotypes and misinformation. I’m working on a book for one of my publishers, Booklocker, on how to write about the Civil War, and I’m designing a college-level course on Civil War fiction. This book is on the list of my future projects, and as soon as I get a lot of rat killing done, I can see to it.

As an English teacher for both the high school and college levels, I’ve read and taught many books about the Civil War that are in the genre of fiction. If you’re a teacher, or just one who is interested in reading good Civil War fiction, here’s a list of a few of those books with some comments.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. An all time best seller and classic on the Civil War—and with good reason. I don’t think anyone has written anything comparable. It is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, few in the modern generation have read it. Few have even seen the movie, one of the greatest movies of all time.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier The movie was good, the book is better, but as they say, “Never judge a book by its movie.” This novel is rich in detail, honest about the Confederates who fought in the war, and more or less written from a Confederate-friendly point of view. His second epic novel on the Civil War didn’t have as much success, in spite of the big bucks he received for it.

Andersonville by McKinlay Kantor. When I first began reading this novel, I was expecting more of the usual Yankee-point-of-view misinformation and propaganda. I was delightfully surprised. An honest representation of both sides and an unsettling description of this Georgia prisoner of war camp.

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. Okay, I know this is a commonly taught book, on at least one AP list I’ve seen, and I know it presents the dynamics of a divided country (and families) well, but the ending spoiled it for me. The ending (with a deus ex machina feel to it) promotes the “Saint Lincoln” myth. I suppose Lincoln was capable of acts of kindness on occasion, but for every deserter he spared (as in this story) he executed or arrested many more, including civilians.

The Writings of Ambrose Bierce: Bierce is best known for his story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” which is rightfully a standard inclusion in high school and college anthologies. Bierce actually wrote a collection of Civil War Stories and it is worth reading. Though he was a Yankee, he writes about the war with the venom of a Copperhead (Democrats in the North who opposed the war). Definitely worth reading. I recently taught his haunting story, “Chickamauga” in my college American Literature class.

Stephen Crane: Crane is the author of The Red Badge of Courage which has been a classic for a long time. This is a great novel. Though the main character is a Yankee soldier, it is NOT a anti-South book. Rather, it reflects the philosophy of Naturalism which Crane embraced. A beautiful and well-written novel. Crane also has a collection of short fiction about the War entitled, The Little Regiment and Other Stories. This is also a good read.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel should be read in conjunction with God’s and Generals and The Last Full Measure by Jeffrey Shaara, Michael’s son. As I’m sure you know, God’s and Generals was made into a movie. Killer Angels was the basis of the movie, Gettysburg. There are Youtube segments of this movie and I even found a study guide for Gettysburg.

I’ll have more to say on the literature of the Civil War in future articles.

Jed Marum’s banjo and guitar picking is beautiful, intricate, and captivating. Every time I listen and see Jed, I learn something new. Go to his website (here) to hear some samples of his guitar work. But if you’ve ever wondered about how to best tune your guitar, I think Jed explains it well. This is an excerpt from his book, TIGERS AND RIVER SONGBOOK, Jed Marum’s Civil War Music 2006. (Used by permission). If you’re a guitar picker, I would highly recommend you add this book to your library.
CHORDS AND TUNINGS

You will notice that I list the chord forms I use, and not the exact chords for a given key. That is, if I capo at 2 and play C, F and G chords, I list C, F and G, even though technically I am playing D, G and A. I do this because this is the way most players talk about how they are playing. At large jam sessions, you’ll frequently hear someone ask “What key?” and the answer comes, “I’m in 2 and playing C.”

I have also written the chords for standard guitar tuning, though I often use VESATPOL on the recordings. I sometimes use Drop D and I play one song in this collection in DADGAD. I have described these tunings in more detail below. Also, some songs from the albums I play on banjo or banjola. In those cases I’ve described the guitar chords in standard tuning.

You can try the songs in those tunings – or you can try modifying some of the standard chords – something I also do frequently when using standard tuning.

A few examples:

•    Play the F chord while leaving open the A on the third string and play a G note within the F chord.
•    Play a C Chord with the middle E open, leaving a D note within the C chord.
•    For G you can drop the high G note, and play it open and have an E note within your G chord and to further suspend it, add a high D note on the third fret of the second string.
•    For A, drop the C# from the second string and play it open (B)

Playing with these modified chords in your accompaniment; sometime using the full chord, sometime adding “color” to it by playing one of these modifications – can give you added movement to the chord patterns.

About the Tunings

VESTAPOL tuning is open D. I drop the 6th sting to a D, leave the 5th and 4th stings tuned to A and D. Then I drop the 3rd string to F#, the 2nd string to A and the 1st string to D. For a quick guide for using this tuning, locate a 5 string banjo chord chart and apply the chord forms to strings 5 through 2. You’ll find they work perfectly – but you’re tuned lower, so your banjo G chord (all open) is a D on your guitar. Your banjo chart’s G, C, D chords will actually be D G, A on your guitar.

Tune your strings:

6 to 5 at the 7th fret
5 to 4 at the 5th fret
4 to 3 at the 4th fret
3 to 2 at the 3rd fret
2 to 1 at the 5th fret

Also note that your banjo chords do not cover the 1st and the 6th strings. You can experiment to discover how to extend the full chords, but you’ll also find that playing them open frequently gives you a pleasant, droning effect. This tuning gives you a nice set of partial chords up the neck and of course, bar chords are full and easy to use at 5, 7 and sometimes 2 or 5.

Drop D

Tune your 6th string to 5 at the 7th fret. This is the simplest of the tunings I use and it is popular among guitar players already. It most commonly used for songs in the key of D and sometime G. Generally speaking, you play your standard tuning chord forms allowing for the lower tuned 6th string. This tuning gives a powerful low end to your D chord and adds some new color to your accompaniment.

DADGAD tuning is similar to VESTAPOL, except you do not move your 3rd string from standard tuning, you leave it at G.

Tune your strings:

6 to 5 at the 7th fret
5 to 4 at the 5th fret
4 to 3 at the 5th fret
3 to 2 at the 3rd fret
2 to 1 at the 5th fret

This is a rich tuning and there are chord charts available but you’ll find that normal rules do not apply. I have simply developed the few chords I use for this tuning on my own through experimentation. I use a more rhythmic approach to accompaniment in this tuning, rather then harmonic. A few key chord comments can help you get started:

Playing all strings open with a finger on the second fret of the third string gives you something close to a D chord. Fret the 5th string at the 3rd fret and the 4th string at the 2nd fret, blunt the 6th string, play all others open and you have something like an A. Fret the 5th string a the 2nd fret and play all others open, you have a G.

I want to thank Chauston and Whitney for allowing me to post their art. Both of them were great students in my ENG 102 class.

Whitney Trisler: Art Education Major

One of the great aspects of working at a college is seeing great artists created. In my 102 class, Whitney Trisler is such an artist. She is an art education major, and this semester I’ve seen at least five of her charcoal pieces featured on the walls of Delta’s Eastgate campus. Here is a charcoal portrait Whitney created of one of my favorite artists–Bob Dylan, songwriter, musician, poet, and American icon. She is an excellent writer as well as an artist. This tells me she has her eyes and mind open to the world, as devoted artists tend to do.

Chauston Mason: Writer, Artist, and Student

Chauston is not an art major, he just likes to create good art. I found him to be a diligent and interesting student. Here is an image of a chair he painted. He managed to create wonderful depth in it. I am sure Chauston will do well at whatever he does.

Christmas decorations  (and sales) are now everywhere. One of my favorite Christmas songs and one I’ve included in my own little Christmas show is one I heard by the talented and beautiful Amy Grant. It’s entitled, “Christmas Lullaby.”  If you’ve heard one of her Christmas albums, you’ve heard it. Here are the lyrics, followed by the chords I figured out. Of course, my transcription of the words and my chords may be inaccurate. If so, please write me so I can correct them. I home this song blesses you this Christmas season as it did me. I did not include the key change as that is quite impractical for my acoustic program.  I couldn’t find a Youtube video of Grant doing this song, but if I do, I’ll post the link here.

“Christmas Lullaby” ( I Will Lead You Home)

Are you far away from home
This dark and lonely night
Tell me what best would help
To ease your mind
Someone to give
Direction for this unfamiliar road
Or one who says, "follow me and i
Will lead you home."

How beautiful
How precious
The savior of all
To love so
Completely
The loneliest soul
How gently
How tenderly
He says to one and all,
"child you can follow me an
I will lead you home
Trust me and follow me
And I will lead you home."

Be near me, lord jesus
I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
Bless all the dear children
In thy tender care
And take us to heaven
To live with thee there
Take us to heaven
To live with thee there

Chords: G C G D Em C D     G C B C G D Em C  G D G  (I capo on the third fret and it sounds like an Am7 can be substituted for the C chords I listed)

FREE CHILDREN’S BOOK: To help any aspiring children book illustrators or authors, I wanted to offer this gift. Thanks should go to the beautiful and talented Bonnie Barnes of Region XI for helping make this download possible.

TO DOWNLOAD A FREE SAMPLE OF MY NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK, THE SCOTTISH ALPHABET, GO HERE:

When I was in Little Rock as a speaker for the Arkansas Reading Association, the story of David O. Dodd was on my mind. I had intended to visit the school named after him, but my schedule prevented me. For today’s post, I wanted to share an excerpt from my story, “The Hanging of David O. Dodd” that is in my collection of short historical fiction–Stories of the Confederate South.  I’ve read everything I could find about Dodd, and constructed my story on the basis of the facts I found.  I hope to write a song about him some day.

The Hanging of David O. Dodd

Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging! Make the rope of his destiny our cable . . .—The Tempest I.1.16
January 8, 1864 Little Rock, Arkansas

The Arkansas River had frozen as hard as a miser’s heart.  Mary, along with her mother and father, joined the stream of Little Rock citizens crossing the ice-bridge to the grounds of St. John’s academy. The snow crunched beneath brogan and boot-clad feet, and the ice-face of the river moaned and creaked beneath the load of melancholy Southerners who trudged toward the Tyburn tree nightmare.

With children in arms and in tow, the Arkansas pilgrims converged onto the grounds of St. John’s College. Outside the stone building, a line of cadets, former classmates of the boy they have come to honor, stand at attention, wordless and weaponless in their white and gray uniforms. The Federal officers had heard rumors of trouble, so, near the gallows, lines of Federal soldiers stood stiffly at shoulder arms, their bayonets fixed. Mary hoped there would be trouble—a riot, an insurrection, something to bring grief to Steele and the 15,000 Federals troops who had invaded Little Rock.

Directly ahead, she saw Minerva, a girlfriend, waving her hand. Mary returned the greeting and walked to her.  Minerva wore a heavy woolen black, hooded cape, and with her head bowed and hands stuffed inside a fur muff, Mary thought Minerva looked like a monk. The two girls, both sixteen, walked together to the line of large oaks that bordered the academy. They huddled together like the women who once gathered at the foot of the cross in the Gospels—another execution carried out by another brutal and powerful government. They spoke of David, of the holiday dances of recent weeks, of secret kisses, and walks. The north wind carried away their whispered words.

A woman’s voice called out, “Minerva! You need to join us now.”
Minerva coughed and touched her teary eyes with a white handkerchief embroidered along its edges with tiny red roses.  “I must return to my mother.  She is most upset by David’s troubles. She says it’s a sign of the end of the world.”
“Of our world perhaps.”
“How could this happen, Mary? How could they accuse David of being a spy?”
“I don’t know, Minerva. I don’t know.”
“I know you took a fancy to him too, Mary, but it breaks my heart to think of the Yankees hanging David. You don’t think he was a spy, do you, Mary?”
“No, of course not.”
“Mother says you must go to Vermont.”
“Yes.  It seems I’ve been exiled from Little Rock.  General Steele practically accused me of being David’s accomplice.  Father and I will leave the day after tomorrow.”
Minerva embraced her and said, “I will miss you, Mary.”

When Minerva left, Mary circled the tree until she saw David’s initials carved on the tree next to her own. She removed a glove and placed her bare fingers on the letters and she shivered as if she had touched magical runes. “Oh, David,” she whispered. “If only you hadn’t been such a showoff, writing down everything you saw and thought in that strange Morse code.  If only you hadn’t copied down what we heard those Yankees saying in my house . . . .”  Mary looked again at the gibbet that the Yankees had built that morning.   It was constructed of two tall timbers joined at the top by a rough crossbeam.  Beneath the crossbeam dangled a thick hangman’s noose.
Near the crude gallows, Alderman Henry seemed to be engaged in somber conference with a group of Little Rock citizens. With him stood Mr. Walker and Mr. Fishback, the attorneys Henry had hired to represent David. Mary’s father now conversed with two Federal officers who billeted at their house.  His eyes met Mary’s, then turned away.  Mary could sense the hurt, disappointment, disgust, and anxiety that he felt. “Daddy,” she sobbed, and she leaned against the tree and buried her face in her arm.
A hand touched her shoulder. “Don’t you dare cry, Mary,” her mother whispered.  Her voice was bitter, with an edge sharp enough to cut a Yankee’s throat.  “David needs you to be strong.”
“Daddy betrayed David to the Yankees,” Mary said.  “And he as much as admitted to General Steele that I was guilty too.”
“No, your father’s just making sure they don’t hang you as a spy’s accomplice or send you to Rock Island.  The Yankees would just as soon hang a woman as man. You’ve heard what they’ve done to women in Alabama and Georgia.”  Her mother handed her a handkerchief. “Now, wipe your face.”

*   *    *

*I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. If you have any questions about David O. Dodd, please send them my way. rickeyp@bayou.com.

Exam Week

This week is exam week at ULM and at Delta. VA College is after that, so time will be a priceless commodity for a while.

Though I may make another post later today, today’s post is the lyrics of “Angeline,” another song by Mickey Newbury.

ANGELINE

Yesterday’s newspaper
Forecast no rain for today
But yesterday’s news is old news,
The skies are all grey
Winter’s in labor
And soon will give birth to the spring
Sprinkled  the meadow
With flowers for my Angeline

Heartache and sorrow
And sadness unendingly find
Wings on her memory
And with them she flies to my mind
She stretched her arms for a moment
Then went back to sleep
While morning stood watching me
Ever so silently weep

She opened her eyes Lord
The minute my feet touched the floor
The cold hardwood creaks
With each step that I make to the door
There I turned to her gently and said,
“Hon, just look, it’s spring”
Knowing outside the window
The winter looked for Angeline
But yesterday’s newspaper
Forecast no rain for today.

Jewel Kilcher

The January issue of Cowboy & Indians features an article and interview with Jewel. This glossy, high quality magazine features an individual each month. I knew a few things about Jewel: that she lived in Stephenville, Texas with her now husband, Ty Murray, a seven-time World All-Around Rodeo Champion, that her song and poetry writing abilities are extraordinary, and that she was a decent actress (Ride with the Devil, a fine Civil War movie). She is one artist who paid her dues in life, made her music and made it her way. Joe Leydon’s article points out that Jewel lived in her car for the better part of a year. She played small clubs coffeehouses and “anywhere else she could pass the hat, or, when she was really lucky, receive payment based on the size of the crowd she attracted.” She said she began writing her own songs to have enough material for an act. The article continues, “Then she made the rounds of the venues open to eager nobodies . . . Jewel slowly accumulated a small but enthusiastic following in San Diego.”  Then through local broadcasts of a bootlegged tape, record company executives found her.

About herself, Jewel says, “I wasn’t doing popular music . . . I was a songwriter, I was a storyteller. I was a throwback to the types of music I like, which are–I don’t think serious is the right word, but just lyric driven. Nobody thought I had a chance in heck. Including me” (110).

Her artistic standards and individuality is why there’s always been a classification problem with her. Does she belong in pop or country genres? The article says, “Despite her absence on Country radio playlists, Country music fans gravitated to her concerts. ‘They woud hear my music because I was on . . . Leno or Letterman . . . So they’d find their way to me and I would find my way to them.’ ”

Pick up an issue  of Cowboy & Indians and read this article yourself. There are also some fine photos of Jewel inside.

Musicians News:

Jim Crowley – Dec. 11 Enoch’s. You should go experience the music of this Irish legend.

Jed Marum – Dec. 20 at Enoch’s. This Internationally known Celtic and Civil War musician is making history. You mark my words.

Here is a photo of me, along Louisiana Highway 165. When I took this, I was thinking of the epigraph in Fahrenheit 451 by Juan Ramon Jiminez, which says, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.”

Book Business News:

Here is a new video/interview of me at the Arkansas Reading Association in Little Rock. On the same page is another taken at the Texas Library Association.

Here’s another song by Mickey Newbury from his CD, Winter Winds.

Poison Red Berries

You know I don’t think much about her no more

Seldom if ever does she cross my mind

Yesterday’s gone Lord, it’s better forgotten

Like a poison red berry to die on the vine.

This morning at dawn Lord I pulled into town

Had some coffee and talked

With some old friends of mine

Laughing at all the good times they remembered

I remembered a time.

Lord I can see the bright lights back in Dallas

As Yesterday moves like a dream through my mind

I didn’t suppose I would ever forget her

And you know it took such a long time.

But I don’t think much about her no more

Seldom if ever does she cross my mind

Yesterday’s gone and better gortotten

Like a poison red berry it clings to my mind.

Black Friday: It’s raining. I’m sure the deluge will ruin shopping in our area, but maybe not. On the news I saw footage of shoppers shoving their way into stores. Some had a crazed look in their eyes. I’m locking myself up in the house to work on my writing and music business.

MASON: Here are three photos of my grandson. First, as Spiderman (his Halloween costume), and then two of an afternoon together in Forsythe Park in Monroe. He is riding the dragonfly in the first, then he wanted me to take a picture of him in my hat.

DUBACH:

On Nov. 7, I presented programs at Dubach High School.  The beautiful Amanda Cauley, a champion of literacy, arranged it.  Here are a couple of photos from that event. Part of my Civil War program involves teaching about Civil War Reenacting (Living History). I take both of my uniforms (Federal and Confederate, or if you prefer, Yankee & Rebel). The kids love to be dressed up. As I had on my Confederate uniform, this student had to make do with the Yankee getup. The second photo is of Amanda Cauley and a fellow teacher.  They wanted their picture taken with the Welsh flag I take to my presentations.

Dubach High School Reenactor