1. News from Fort Ticonderoga.

Former SYWA Journal editor Bill Protz sent me the following information concerning events at Fort Ticonderoga. According to the brochure he sent me, reconstruction of the West Demi-lune has been completed and the process of restoring the Southwest Bastion are under way. These two capital projects are totaling more than $750,000 and are necessary for the preservation of this historic site for many years to come. Plans are also afoot to restore the historic East Barracks creating the Mars Education Center. This $10 million capital project will preserve the east flank of the fort, the northeast bastion, the historic French ovens, and the southeast bastion/powder magazine. Those who have visited the fort in recent years no doubt have observed some deterioration and settling of the walls of these bastions. It is good to know that these problems will be rectified. The brochure also mentions several re-enactment events which I assume are held annually; the War College of the Seven Years' War, and the Grand Encampment of the French and Indian War. I have attended the latter as a re-enactor and can testify to how much fun it is to play "soldier" around an authentic historical site!

Fort Ticonderoga is a private, not-for-profit education institution open to the public. For further information on programs, hours, or how you can help with the restoration, call: (518) 585-2821 or write: Fort Ticonderoga Fort Road Box 390 Ticonderoga, NY 12883

2. Articles of War has New Address: As mentioned in the last issue of the Journal, Articles of War has moved to New Mexico. The new address is: Articles of War Ltd. 3 Rodeo Road Silver City, NM 88061-8710 Phone: (505) 534-8840 FAX (505) 534-8842 EMAIL: warbooks@aol.com WEB SITE: www.articlesofwar.com

Owner Bob Ruman indicates that the new store will carry more titles than the old, including a lot of Seven Years War-era titles.

3. Seven Years War Association Web Site. Rich Black is hard at work designing a web site to replace the current one that is not very up to date. It's looking good so far, and I hope to have it up and running very soon.

4. Letter Section. A number of members have written expressing a desire to see a letters section included in the Journal. I think this is a fine idea. Thus I have included a few excerpts here.

5. Andrew Paolini writes from Canada:

"How about a return to the letters-to-the-editor section? And I certainly hope that the occasional membership directory will remain a part of the SYWAJ." As one can see by reading the "Review and Outlook" section of this issue, I certainly do plan to have a membership directory out by the end of this year, if not before.

6. Maurizio Bragaglia, writing from Italy via e-mail, expressed a wish to see someone write an article comparing and contrasting the various rules sets that have been written, and are available, for the Seven Years War time period. I know that I'm not qualified to embark on such a project, as I've only personally played "Final Argument of Kings," "Drums of War Along the Mohawk," and "Warfare in the Age of Reason." Perhaps one of the readers is a collector of rules sets and would like to take on this daunting project.

New Book by Jeremy Black

The prolific military historian Jeremy Black has yet another book in print. Entitled Warfare in the Eighteenth Century, this is a glossy, hardbound, 224-page book chock full of pretty illustrations, many in color. The basic thesis of the book is to provide a non-eurocentric overview of military conflicts around the world during the eighteenth century. His emphasis is that although the vast majority of literature written on eighteenth century warfare is concerned almost exclusively with events in Europe, that, in fact, the most successful military power of the era was China, and that the largest land battle of the century took place in Asia. The number of conflicts mentioned is too great for Black to provide anything more than a cursory overview of world conflicts. Nevertheless, this book might be a good starting point for those wishing to research non-European military events. The book retails for $29.95 in the US, $44.95 in Canada, and £20.00 in the UK, and can be found or ordered through most quality bookstores. I've seen it for sale at Barnes & Noble. I ordered my copy through Border's Books. No doubt "On Military Matters" probably also carries it. It is published by Cassell Publishing as part of their "History of Warfare" series.

Information is Needed.

On a recent trip to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, I stumbled onto a remarkable book entitled: "Theatre de la grande guerre commencée en M.DCC.LVI; ou, Histoire generale de toutes les campagnes, depuis cette epoque jusqu'à la paix, entre les armées respectives des puissances belligerantes, en Saxe, en Boheme, en Silesie, en Moravie, en Prusse, en Pomeranie, en Westphalie & sur le Bas-Rhin, &c . . . Ouvrage important, sur-tout pour les militaires, & composé . . . d'après les memoires les plus autentiques. Enrichi d'une collection choisie de cartes et de plans. Tome premier, Campagnes de 1756 & 1757."

It was published at The Hague in 1761. This is book one of a multi-volume work. However the library only has the first volume. Is anyone is the readership familiar with this work. If so, can you tell me if other volumes were published? A number of rather obscure and little-known actions are described in this work, whose author is unknown. Included are such actions as the Attack of Hirschfeld, Feb. 20 1757, the first battle of Landshut, August 14, 1757, the Affair of Gotha, September 19, 1757 – this last one is a most intriguing little action involving Prussian general Seydlitz stopping the advance of a large French and Imperial force in march column using a hussar regiment deployed in 20 demisquadrons and caracoling against the advancing enemy troops! This book also covers more well known actions such as Rossbach and Breslau.

The table of contents, if I remember correctly, said that it was to run to six volumes. Volume two was to include my favorite battle to obsess about, the battle of Hastenbeck. The volume that they have also includes 35 folding maps, plans, and tables. If anyone has any information either on this work or on the above battles, please contact me.

By the way, for those members who live close to Ann Arbor, I highly recomment the University of Michigan as an excellent source of information on the Seven Years War and the War of Austrian Succession. Save for the books in the Special Collections department, most books are easily accessible, and the university doesn't mind if you make photocopies. Do be aware that a lot of the books are stored in a special location know as the Buhr storage facility. This is done to forestall deterioration. However you can go there and have the books paged and read them there.

9. A Report of Fort Loudoun Closing

I received the following e-mail from Bart Redmon. It had been sent to him by Robert W. Stone and concerns the status of this famous historical site. Bart forwarded it to me, and I thought it may be worth repeating.

"Bart, I'm probably sending you old news, but I just heard that the governor of Tennessee has decided to close Ft. Loudoun (along with seven other parks including Ft. Pillow). . . . He [Governor Sundquist] say's it's part of a necessary cost-reduction plan and that he is closing parks which don't support themselves. According to the official figures, though, Ft. Loudoun is running at capacity usage in all seasons save winter. You can help by spreading the word out your way that the Fort needs HELP. Anyone who is concerned can and should express their outrage [rather than risking offending a person in high places, I would suggest expressing concern rather than outrage. – Editor] to the governor by calling (615) 741-2001 or writing : The Honorable Donald Sundquist Office of the Governor State Capitol Nashville, Tenn. 37243-0001 dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us

Please get as many people out your way as you can interested.

Thanks, Wes"

(This is only a figure of speech. I would never consider slapping a euphoric spiritualist.

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