Welcome to the special Civil War issue.

This issue is dedicated to James B. Lewis, Elaine Gattenby and the rest of the staff of the Stones River National Battlefield Park. They were very helpful during my tour of the park. Their work is very representative of all the staff members at the many parks, state and national, that I visited on my tour. I was impressed by their dedication and knowledge to ensure visitors enjoy a memorable visit to all of the facilities. Elaine arranged for my annual membership card to be delivered to my hotel in Jackson, Mississippi (it arrived before I got there on 7 December).

Another person that I wish to thank is Ken Hansgen, who gave me my first professional tour at Shiloh. He operates a one-man tour service and can be reached at www.ShilohGuide.com.

And lastly, Sherry Henry, one of the many guides serving the Vicksburg National Military Park, who truly enlightened me about the siege operations of this city.

The majority of the following articles are about the various ACW sites that I visited over the past few weeks (23 November – 9 December). I am very fortunate to have friends living in Vienna, Va. (near Washington, DC), who kindly accommodated my dog and me for the start of this venture. I like to travel with at least one other, but this was not possible for the bulk of the tour so my dog, Allie (Wheaten Terrier), acted as a mascot and walking companion. She is quite enamoured with travel and likes to recline on her personal pillow (covered in small paw printed pattern) in the front passenger seat. From here she can either sleep or observe the passing countryside. I can reach over to scratch her frequently and she responds by licking my beard.

I travel with still and video cameras (the latter can also take still photos), which I then download to my laptop computer for editing. Some of the results are then added to the newsletter to complement the articles.

One of the problems that I faced was that of doing much of the trip with only Allie as my companion. She is good company, but lacks even rudimentary skills in conversation and more importantly, navigation! As a result, I had to drive and to navigate concurrently, which did result in some meandering about the countryside.

I did have “Piercing the Heartland” and “Paths of Glory” by Jim Miles, which cover the operations of the US Army of the Cumberland and the CS Army of Tennessee (formerly of Mississippi), and are good tour guides for reaching the many locations described in the books from Shiloh to Chattanooga. Unfortunately, Jim’s advice to travel with a (human) companion was not possible. Nonetheless it is very good advice.

Fortunately, I had a flexible schedule that could be amended (and was several times) to accommodate all the mishaps along the routes from A to B and beyond.