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I generally will not have a lot to say, but, from time to time I will add something to this blog as the mood or conditions warrant.

October 10, 2023

As an historian you hear all kinds of statements concerning the American Civil War that are simply ridiculous. I have heard people mix up pirates and Civil War soldiers wearing Zouave uniforms…which was made all the more funny because pirates didn’t have any uniforms. Many people believe that all the soldiers in the Civil War were quite young when, in fact, the average age of the soldier was higher during the Civil War than during the Vietnam War. We hear people explain to their children that the common shelter ("pup") tent was small “because people were shorter back then. The soldiers could walk inside the tent standing up.” Yes...I really did actually overhear a parent explaining this to their child in all seriousness.

Just as people do not understand these smaller historical facts, most people simply do not understand the major concept of civil war any better than did the people of both north and south on the eve of the Civil War. It was commonly thought then that there would be one battle and that would decide the war. Maybe some people would be killed, but they would be some strangers. Instead they saw a four-year-long journey through Hell that laid waste to the countryside, and led to the deaths of seven hundred thousand American men – more than have been killed in all other conflicts that the U.S. has been involved in, from the Revolution through to the current time. This does not take into account the civilian deaths from the resulting starvation, murder, disease, etc. A generation of young men were killed, traumatizing their families, etc. The economic impact of losing that number of workers is astounding. The war left its mark on every aspect of life in the country and some areas of the country still foster ill-will to their former enemies even seven or generations later. Everyone knew someone lost in the war. It became very personal. It was no longer an abstract concept fought by strangers somewhere else.

So, today, when I hear someone bandying about the notion that “we need a new Civil War,” I know that the individual is uneducated in what civil war actually results in or what it means. A civil war is not the solution to the fact that people are taken in by “yellow Journalism” – yes, it is still going strong one hundred and twenty-five years after the Spanish American War – and believe false stories. A civil war is not a solution to the fact that people of the two major parties simply can’t deal with one another because of their egos. I suppose this is why the largest political “party” by far are now independents who have abandoned both main parties due to their inability to work together. Civil war means going against the Constitution, and that is not the way to fix things.

If those foolish members of society such as television pundit Greg Gutfeld or politician Sarah Palin call for a civil war, they probably do it to get another fifteen minutes of fame. I mean, they really could not be that uneducated, or quite frankly, that stupid. Civil war is not a subject to spread for momentary personal gain except by the most egotistical or uneducated. This is not something to take likely as every time it is suggested it makes the idea more legitimate. Let me explain what a civil war actually means.

• If there is a civil war, take a look at those around you – friends, loved ones – and picture which of those you would like to see killed in the war. Yes. A civil war will not occur “over there.” It would be here. In your town. In you neighborhood.

• Do you like having food, clothing, gas, etc.? Guess what…a civil war will shut down supply lines of all sorts. These items will not be readily accessible.

• How about electricity, water, natural gas, etc.? These items will be disrupted. Winters could be quite difficult.
  

• Do you think you will go to work and discuss your views with your co-workers? This is not likely in a civil war environment. Many companies will shut down as supply lines fall and facilities get destroyed. Co-workers will go off to war. You will quite likely no longer have your job and or your paycheck. This, of course, in a time when prices will skyrocket. At least you would have your retirement. No, not likely. The markets will completely crash, taking your 401 K with them.

• Do you think that maybe there will be some skirmishes, and then it will be all over? No. This would just lead to more polarization and hatred. It will be long and damaging. You may want it to stop, but then it will be too late.

• What about the U.S.’s standing in the world? It simply won’t have standing any more. Its will deplete its power – its military might and its riches - at home. Other nations – like China – will simply do as they please and the U.S. will not be in any condition to act as a deterrent. If you think that will not happen, remember that during the Civil War, France installed a government of its choice in Mexico because the U.S. was too distracted to deal with the Monroe Doctrine! If and when the U.S. ever gets itself back together, it will find that it is no longer the leading world power, or possibly not even in the top five. The dollar certainly will no longer be the world standard.
  

People seem to have this odd feeling of nostalgia for the Civil War period. I find it fascinating too. I have studied it for years. I have read diaries that show the horrors and the miracles. I can stand on a Civil War battlefield and see the action in my mind. However I certainly don’t advocate for civil war as a means of working out our issues (simply accurate telling of the truth via reputable media is a better approach). Of course…that nostalgia many people have today for the war was not held by those that actually lived through it. The survivors formed close bonds to those they served with, but often could not sleep at night from the horrors they had witnessed. We now know about PTSD. Back then, they had it too, but they just didn't know what it was or how to deal with it. The veterans came home changed men, many dealing with things they could actually deal with or even talk about. They said that they hoped that no one would ever have to go through "that" again. Those that did not survive were those seven hundred thousand empty chairs around the family tables. Those families certainly would not recommend this route.

The American Civil War was fought for a variety of reasons, all much more deep than simply believing false television news from people who make their ratings and money from stirring up discontent that we see today. There were constitutional issues such as whether the states or the federal government had the right to make certain laws (“states rights”).  States rights showed up in issues as diverse as taxation  and slavery, etc. The right of a state to secede from the country was the actual major Constitutional issue and was the true issue over which the war was fought. Though we don't like to admit it now, the horrible institution of slavery itself did not become an issue of its own until later in the war. The basis on the war began was the right to secede, not slavery. In short, we have no major constitutional issues such as these today. We have stupidity. Stupidity is not a reason for civil war.

The major issues today are…hmm… seems to be if the election system works. No evidence has yet been found to say that the election system was unfair or did not work. There are a lot of claims, but not one has been upheld in court as there was simply no evidence. That is not a partisan statement. It is a statement of fact. People have to realize that Facebook is not a news source and is no more reliable than your crazy Uncle Bernie (because, quite frankly, the news on Facebook comes from everyone's crazy Uncle Bernie. That is how it functions). Is the false claims something to kill your neighbor over? No. If you don’t like the outcome of the election, then perhaps your side – and the other side – should work to find common ground as has been done for over two hundred years in this country, not suggest killing each other.

I remember the days when the at Speaker of the House Thomas P ("Tip) O'Neill and President Ronald Reagan would fight for their partys' ideals during working hours, and then get together as friends later in the evening. What an amazing concept!

Remember the famous slogan "only you can prevent forest fires?" Well, only sanity can prevent civil wars. Our leaders are showing very little of that lately, so we must react to their insanity with sanity, and quit repeating the suggestion that civil wars are good.

July 29, 2023

TURBIFY may be gone, but they had one last shot, and blew it. Turbify had been sending me emails stating that my account would renew on July 16. As the migration to Bluehost had just been done, I needed to wait 48 hours to cancel my account. The 48 hours would end on July 15...so I cancelled on July 15. Turbify sent me an email confirming that I cancelled on July 15. Then I received my credit card bill and found that they had charged me for another year! I contacted Turbify with a copy of their email concerning the renewal date and a copy of the email confirming the cancellation was completed a day before the renewal date. Turbify claimed that in spite of their repeated emails stating that the account would renew on July 16, it actually renewed on June 16! I explained again that they repeatedly notified me that July 16 was the renewal date and explain that I had no need to go in and check my account since they were sending me notifications with the renewal date. I referred them to their emails! Of course, the customer service person could not resolve this, but had to send it to a higher level. A few days later, I got another email stating that the issue had to be kicked up even one more level. Lastly, and most surprisingly, Turbify finally refunded the amount.

But really...Turbify is that messed up that they cannot even send out a correct renewal date email? Wow. It appears that their business side is as badly messed up as is their technical side.

Again, my review of Turbify is to run from them. They are technically incompetent, and cannot handle basic business issues!

Now, with the migration completed to a reliable host, I can begin focusing more on content and less on hours of technical work. In time - possibly two years - I can get the readership back to where it was before Turbify reared its ugly head in my life.

July 15, 2023

TURBIFY IS GONE!! At least from this website. After fighting with TURBIFY since February, I gave up. TURBIFY could not fix the issues that it created on the website with their faulty data migration when Turbify forced the website to be migrated from Yahoo Website Services. After copious research I opted to move the website to a new host - Bluehost. The site has been migrated. Interestingly, in talking to the person heading the migration, I showed him the error messages I have been receiving...the same error messages I have shown to Turbify for months...and he said "Oh, it looks like they have screwed up your permalinks." That would explain the issues I have been seeing. Unfortunately, this is something that Bluehost cannot fix...they cannot undo Turbify's mistakes!

So, in short, Turbify put me back several years in growth. but Turbify is gone, and I can move ahead.

If you ever have the thought of looking for a webhost, don't consider Turbify. In fact, run from Turbify.

March 3, 2023

So…its been a bit rough. How do I put this simply. TURBIFY DESTROYED MY WEBSITE!

This website has been with Yahoo Small business for years. That has not been pretty as Yahoo Small Business was changed to Yahoo Small Business / AaBaco and now Turbitfy. In the first changeover, they migrated my data and thoroughly messed it up. The migration lost all of the page descriptions and keywords, and scrambled some of the .html coding. The website survived. Starting about 3 years ago I made an effort to step in and correct all of the crap that resolved from the last migration after simply not dealing with it for many years. It took three years!!!

Now, Yahoo Small Business has become Turbify and migrated data again, and required me to change my “name servers” through my domain registrar. The results have been a nightmare from which I am not sure the site can recover. Since February 16, the date of the Turbify data migration, the site has lost two-thirds of its visitors. Apparently people out there are not able to find the site. I know that if I use the on-site search engine that is found on the site’s main page, 95% of the results return a “404 webpage not found” error. This has only occurred since Turbify migrated the data. Simultaneous to that my ftp site was no longer able to access the website, something I was eventually able to resolve.

In the last week have spent nearly 9 hours on calls and chats with Turbify and Network Solutions (the domain registrar) trying to resolve the issues. Turbify has been no help. In fact, once, during the conversation with their help desk, they killed off the entire site.

What appears to be the situation now Is that out on the web there appear to be links that point to my webpages, but the files indexed by Turbify do not have the .htm or .html suffix on the address, so links cannot find them apparently.  I don’t understand why the index with pages without .htm and .html exist since the pages always had the suffixes and still do. Now, I have gotten an email from Google indicating that I have pages with 403 and 404 errors…which will impact the site's ranking...and I cannot do anthing about it on my end. I tried re-uploading my entire site. I created, uploaded and submitted a new sitemap...but nothing worked. Again, thanks Turbify.

I have no idea how to repair this damage since it really has nothing to do with me or the website I have uploaded. It has to do with something Turdify did (did I write TURDify…I surely meant Turbify). Years of work are going down the tubes thanks to them.

The most recent chats with Turbify have indicated that an enhancement will be coming out that will address my issue. I asked directly if other people are experiencing the same issue, and the support person reluctantly indicated that I am not the only one. The person could not tell me when the enhancement (read as correction) will be issue. I tried to get them to narrow it down to the next day, next week, next month or 2034...and they would not narrow it down. My case has been escalated and I should hear from them next week. Of course, the last time they said they would get back to me, they called me at 4:00 AM to say that my website was working fine...but there as really no improvement and we were just woken up in the middle of the night.

Thank you Turbify on a job horribly done. I can only assume that the name Turbify comes from the word “turbidity” which means “the quality of being cloudy, opaque, or thick with suspended matter.” Sewage and puss from an infected wound have  high turbidity. Much like Turbify. DON'T USE TURBIFY!!!

Update #1: Turbify had stated that they had their software engineers working on the issue, and gave me a case number. I was told I would hear from them in 3 to 5 working days. That would have been last week. As of that time, the case number does not even show up in my "open cases" list. I guess it should tell me something that they have an "open case" list on the dashboard. Anyhow, they also have a place where I can see the errors noted on the website. My error list IS 18 PAGES LONG...and that was only in the last day!

Honestly...I have seen slight improvement, but the site is still floating in 404 and 443 errors (404 is "page not found," and 443 means that Google is not being permitted to index the page. Supposedly this website issue has been given a priority...right.

Update #2: SO....we are now about 5 weeks into this problem. Turbify has failed in all respects. Some pages are still getting 404 errors (in spite of their saying it was corrected). My error log on Turbify continuously has error list comprising 20 pages, and that generally only covers the last 4 hours! I have called Turbify and was told that a case had been opened and I would hear back in 3-5 days. I didn't hear back. I opened up a written case. I uploaded the error log as part of the case. Turbify responded three days later asking for a screen shot. I added several. FIVE DAYS later, Turbify again responded and AGAIN asked for a screen shot. Is that customer service? Turbify has made no effort to address the errors. At this point I have little hope of Turbify solving this problem. They obviously take have to log so many customer responses an hour. This is obviously a big problem so they give me a meaningless answer and move on to the next complaint.

Update #3: March 25 - The issues continue. Turbify has YET AGAIN asked for the same information on the written case. Before they made the latest request and the written case seemed stalled, I opened another case through the Turbify customer service chat feature. This time they looked at the error data and "escalated the case" to a higher level. Of course, I have been told this before several times, and only once heard back, and that silly response was that the website was fine! Only today I have also been notified that the written case has been "escalated to the back end team." In both cases I have been told I will hear back in 3-5 business days...so yet another week and then maybe I will hear from the...er..."backside team." I rather think of the Turbify customer support collectively as the "backside team," if you know what I mean. In the mean time, the graph below shows the extent of the issue. This is a chart of the organic searches that the website receives. The big drop corresponds to the day Turbify migrated the data of this website on February 16th. Apparently, people performing organic searches are getting 404 or 443 errors, stating that the website cannot be found about 50% of the time.

Update 4 - April 7, 2023 - Turbify's terrible customer service continues. Turbify finally contacted me to tell me that they could not replicate the errors I have reported and asked me to supply more info. on these reputed errors. I pointed them to their own site. Turbify uses CPanel which provides their users with info. on their websites. CPanel has a section simply entitled "errors" ...so this is data Turbify is supplying to me. I uploaded a .pdf of the errors that their own site is reporting. The .pdf included errors that occurred only within the last four hours and was 19 pages long!! I have provided them with this information before, and they have access to it directly themselves. I have forced their staff to look at the errors (and that was difficult to do), only then would they admit that there was a problem. But now, their backside people...er... Back end people...cannot find this data. Simply unbelievable!! Turbify customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. We are approaching two months and they have yet to solve the problem...in fact, they cannot even find the problem event hough their own data is showing the errors! Avoid Turbify (formerly Yahoo Small Business) at all costs.

Update 5 - April 29, 2023 - Well...Turbify's "back end" (their term...but appropriate)  people seem to have failed. They closed out the case without solving anything. Of course, they did not contact me to tell me. They did not ask any questions. I forced the case to be reopened (or, actually opened yet another case). The situation has not improved. Search engines are apparently being denied access to the website consistently. I have asked about a refund since the site is not working properly because of their errors...I got crickets. I guess they can't afford it! I am not surprised as I look at Turbify's ratings. Anyhow I am being forced to move the website to a different host. I have never done that before, and have to determine if that involves migrating the bad data (the stuff Turbify messed up) or uploading new. Its a mess. Really...I encourage everyone to avoid Turbify. Its been a horrible experience. Don't let Turbify happen to you! Remember...Friends don't let friend Turbify.

November 18, 2022

I was asked is the collective memory of the Civil War more harmful than helpful?

Now there is a good question with sooo many aspects.

First we need to look at what was the collective memory is, how it has changed over time, and its impacts over time.

The initial collective memory was that perpetuated and institutionalized by the veterans of the Civil War themselves. The veterans – who were obviously the survivors of the war – were lucky enough to come home. In many cases they had developed a deep comradery with those with whom they had served. Most military units were local – formed in one location rather than recruited over a large area – so many of the men had a strong shared experience having served in the same locations and under the same circumstances. They formed organizations such as the G.A.R. (Grand Armies of the Republic) in the north and the UCV (United Confederate Veterans) in the south. These organizations kept the comradery alive through monthly meetings, events, and reunions. They honored their heroes. The organizations also aided those who were sick with small monetary stipends.

So what did this comradery create as a collective memory? The veterans knew the reasons for which they had enlisted, which had some individual variation, of course. However, for the most part, in the north the reason for enlistment was the preservation of the Union. In the south, the reason was states’ rights and to repel what was considered to be an invasion. This is quite different from what is commonly said today. Today it is often erroneously said that the war was over slavery. During the war and in its immediate aftermath the major point for both sides was the right of individual states to secede from the United States. This - secession - was the states’ rights issue that resulted in the war. The veterans knew this. They disagreed on whether the right of secession existed but the collective memory was that this was the reason for the war. Slavery was one of several ongoing states’ right issues that had been argued about for years, but neither side was going to war over slavery itself. In the north, the Emancipation Proclamation (which did not actually free any slaves in areas controlled by the north at the time) would not be issued until the war had been ongoing for nearly two years. It was issued not simply because it was the right thing to do. It was issued to keep European nations – namely Great Britain – from entering the war on the side of the south. At the time there were concerns expressed by many in the north that the Emancipation Proclamation would impact recruiting as it could be construed as beginning to change the focus of the war away from the preservation of the Union. Many northern men made it clear that they were fighting to preserve the union, not over slavery, as sad as that may be to admit today. In the south, the men were now fighting to protect their homeland which had been invaded. There are recorded interviews out there with aging Confederate veterans during which they were asked if they were fighting for slavery. They indicated that they really had not thought of that. They were fighting to protect their homes. Remember, the common southerner was not a slave owner. They could not afford it regardless of their belief for or against slavery.

It is notable the that veterans’ organizations which were the strongest advocates of the collective memory were made up of the survivors. Obviously, those who died in the war were not part of the organizations, nor were the families of the dead. Therefore, the glorious actions and their memories experienced by the survivors were perpetuated over the feelings of utter loss of the families of the dead. Over time, thankfully, it is also notable that an individual’s memory often begins to drop some of the horrors and remember the better parts (though many men dealt with PTSD then, but no one knew what it actually was). It was these memories – those of comradery, friendships formed in battle and glory, not those of death – that became the new collective memory over time.

This collective memory was handed down to the veterans’ children. They grew up knowing their fathers' comrades, attending the reunions with their fathers, etc. In fact, as the veterans began to pass into history themselves, the children formed organizations – Such as SUV (Sons of Union Veterans) and the SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans) to continue their fathers’ memories. Of course, they had no memories of the actual tragedies of the deaths of comrades in the field, only the memories of the comradeship their fathers experienced and childhood memories of stories told by old men, polished with years of re-telling.

These collective memories of the second generation had a strong impact on the next conflict in which the U.S. was involved – the Spanish American War. When war was declared, there was a mad rush to join the volunteer regiments. In fact so many regiments were being formed by the states that federal government stated that it would accept no more. The states responded by enlarging the accepted regiments by one-quarter – from nine companies to twelve companies. Still, there was great competition to get into one of these regiments. Very few underage men made it into the army (contrary to common opinion) since those who were not legally eligible were recognized and removed and legally eligible men took their place. One of the reasons for this outpouring was the collective memory of the lifelong comradeship experienced by these mens’ fathers in the Civil War. They sought the glory and comradery that their fathers had extolled as their collective memory of the war. Removed by a generation, the collective memory of the horrors of losses in the field was forgotten and was not in the collective memory of the second generation.

Sadly, the rush to join the military during the war led to many deaths. The majority of the regiments formed were simply not needed and never left the U.S. Instead, they were brought together into training camps unprepared for the vast numbers. Disease spread quite literally like wild fire. The majority of the men lost in the war by a factor of ten were to disease, and the majority of those in camps in the United States. In short, men died partly because of an inaccurate collective memory

So what is the collective memory today? What is its impact? Today the collective memory of the war is quite different today. Children today are taught that the Civil War was fought to end slavery. This is a noble thought, but simply untrue. Still, as this is what is taught to the recent generations, it has become their collective memory viewed through the lens of more recent battles for equality and civil rights. This collective memory makes the Civil War a racial war with the forces arrayed against each other being that of anti-slavery versus white supremacy. General Grant is looked upon as good. General Lee is looked upon as bad...but Grant owned a slave. Technically, Lee did not (his wife did). This collective memory is harmful as it casts the history in an untruthful light with people citing the new collective memory as a reason for their views today and as a justification to take a militant stance. Taking a militant stance on an inaccurate view of history is always dangerous.  One only need to look at the grossly erroneous collective memory created by the Nazis concerning the role of Jewish people in history to see the dangers of false history and falsely-created collective memories. The Civil War is looked at as being glorious. War is never glorious. People die. They are forgotten. Their motives and beliefs are forgotten and construed by later generations for their own desires.

The collective memory that is missing is that the war was a sad and bloody mess. More Americans died in the Civil War than all other wars the U.S. has been involved in taken together. The Civil War - or any war - is not something to emulate, or mindlessly advocate. It is deadly business. The men who saw their friends lose their lives to sucking chest wounds, bleed to death from lost limbs, or die from dysentery understood this. The Civil War was not a war over slavery. It was not glorious. Saying it was plays into those promoting false and dangerous ideas today. The Civil War was and is horrible to contemplate. Anything based on false history can only damage and mislead.

March 11, 2021

We still intend to add an “Educator’s Corner” to provide some materials that educators may find useful when teaching about the war. We have seen some of the items being used and they have been a bit lacking. Maybe we can help improve on the resources available.

Lincoln and Roosevelt in 1906

June 17, 2020:

May 23, 2020:

April 24, 2020:

April 20, 2020:

I made a command decision. This website costs money to operate between URl registration, hosting fees, software, etc. Also it takes a lot of time. Sooo...if I am going to continue to do this, I have to break down and add some ads. I alwys resisted ads, but, after 24 years, it is time. I will will to make them no too annoying. The ads will be from Google Adsense, and the ads shown will be based on your searh history elsewhere. That means that the ads will be for something you had some sort of interest in. Sorry about this!

April 16, 2020:

The news has had a bit of Spanish American War irony to it about which I felt the need to commemorate!

The coronavirus, covid-19, has been raging around the world. It is not at all surprising to read that the virus has struck the military. The most notable case is that of the crew of the aircraft carrier, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The ship’s crew members began to show symptoms of the virus. In the crowded decks of this five thousand man floating city, there is no real way to stem the spread. Widespread quarantine and isolation is not practical, and the crew is still needed to allow the ship to function to fulfill its defensive role.

Apparently, the rapid pace of the situation outpaced the ability of the command structure to respond to the ship’s needs. The commanding officer, Brett E. Crozier sent a letter via email to other naval personnel in the Pacific fleet, as well as the entities such as the acting secretary of the navy, trying to enlist their aid in combatting the situation. Reportedly Crozier knew that the unclassified letter, passing outside of the naval command structure, could end his career. The letter, and the growing plight of the crew was shared beyond the original addressees, eventually made it into the San Francisco Chronicle. The navy brass and the administration were embarrassed by the situation and how it was exposed.

The letter had the desired impact. The shipped was docked, and the crew was partially removed and quarantined. By this time, hundreds of the crew had the virus. Though the crew is generally young and quite physically fit, some of the crewmen were hit hard, and so far, with the situation ongoing, one has died. Crozier himself now has the virus. As Crozier expected he was relieved of command, but cheered heavily by his devoted crewmen. The acting secretary of the navy travelled to the ship and in a speech castigated Crozier for being “stupid” and “naïve” for not believing that the text of his letter would not get out. In an ironic twist, the acting secretary was apparently too stupid and naïve to realize that his own comments would get out…and when it did, he was forced to resign!

The whole situation took me back to an important event during the Spanish American War. In Cuba, after the naval Battle of Santiago and the battle of the San Juan ridge (“San Juan Hill”…but it was actually a series of ridges), the fighting basically came to an end. The troops in Cuba now faced a new enemy – disease! Yellow fever had been a great fear, and it began to infect the troops. As time went on, many companies were reduced to a handful of men able to stand for duty, and the number of men impacted rose into the thousands. Major General Shafter’s efforts only brought suggestions from the administration in Washington that the troops be moved into the mountains in an effort to allay the illness, a pointless suggestion given the actual terrain and the positions that the troops needed to occupy. The administration was loathe to bring the men home for fear of spreading the disease in the U.S. and exposing the true condition of the troops themselves.

The officers of various regiments knew something had to be done, but they knew that trying anything different than making requests through the chain of command would bring repercussions. The officers requested a meeting with Shafter, but knew that the situation had to be addressed in writing and would likely have to move outside of the normal chain of command. The officers knew that whoever would write such a letter likely see their career ended.

With generals unwilling to risk their careers, a colonel of volunteers (not a career soldier) took up the task. He explained the situation, made suggestions about where the troops could be placed in the U.S. The colonel signed the letter. The other officers signed off on the letter, basically attesting to it, but not taking responsibility. The  letter became known as the "round robin" letter. When the colonel handed the letter to Major General Shafter, Shafter did not accept it, but instead directed it to a reporter, something that was rather expected, if not planned. The letter soon appeared in newspapers across the country, and the deplorable condition of the troops could not be denied. The administration was forced to bring the troops back to the U.S., and replace them with new troops, mistakenly thought to be immune to yellow fever. The troops came home to a camp on Long Island, New York, which was named “Camp Wickoff.”

The move possibly saved thousands of lives, but the colonel had embarrassed the administration in Washington, especially Secretary of War Alger. Since the colonel was not a career officer and was soon being mustered out, there was not much retribution that could be exacted – except one thing. The colonel had deservedly been nominated for the Medal of Honor. The secretary of war refused to authorize the medal.

That colonel, by the way, was Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, future president and the namesake of the aircraft carrier under Crozier’s command. The two men are joined not only by the ship’s name, but by their actions to save their men.

Incidentally, Roosevelt eventually received his Medal of Honor but not until 2001, about eighty-five years after the old colonel’s death.

February, 2020:

This website started back in 1996, two years before the centennial of the Spanish American War. That was twenty-four years ago. We're now actually looking toward the 125th anniverary of the war. It is still a generally overlooked and forgotten event in the United States, but we will continue to try to educate the public about the war's importance

Anyhow, from 1996 until about 2010 - 2011 I managed to keep up fairly well with all of the data submitted. People geneerally do not realize the amount of time it takes to add things to the website and maintain is organization. The National Spanish American War Veterans' Gravesite Recording Project is particularly time consuming, but of imporantance in that the data has not ben brought together anywhere else. Because of the amount of unique information that people pull out of their basements and attics and send in, the Library of Congress chose this site as one of the first to be backed up as part of its "Minerva Project."

Of course, in about 2008 the Great Recession started. By 2011, the Recession was wreaking havoc with my business, and also Yahoo made a series of changes internally, and I suddenly found myself with no time to work on the website, let alone overcome the obstacles presented by Yahoo's changes. I continued to collect the data that came in.

Recently I was forced to delve back into the website when a reader reported that a website that this website had linked to had been hacked and was quite foul. I had to overcome various technical issues and regain site access to correct that situation. With this accomplished I was able to begin making other various updates. Now, with the coronavirus shutdown, and a reduction in my work hours to a normal 40 hour week, I have had some additional time to begin adding data collected over the past few years.

Though I will not be able to do as much as I used to do, I will continue working to add and update the site.

Thanks for your patience!