Glory B

From: ROBT BACON
Date: October 6, 2010 7:48:51 PM EDT
To: David Chapman
Subject: Glory b.

Hi David,

My daughter Marnie was so happy to meet you in the Berkshires recently.

As you do, I also have an interest in the Civil War, but Marnie may have overstated mine. I have only been to two civil war battle sites -- once to Gettysburg and twice to Manassas or Bull Run.

Reading Killer Angels certainly set me off.


A tour of Gettysburg by a friend from Pennsylvania clinched the deal. The fact that a friend from Connecticut does tours there didn't hurt either.

I have read quite a few books on the subject, especially biographies or autobiographies, or some simply on particular places.



Stonewall Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Diaries, Balls Bluff, Mount Vernon, Lee's Arlington house, Savannah, John Mosby, Fort Sumter from Charleston, Fort Pulaski, scores of books on General George Armstrong Custer (he married Libby Bacon), Booth, Kit Carson, Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forest.

I have visited the house where General Grant died. It is in upper New York State. And Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln met his end. Also I went to Joshua Chamberlain’s house in Maine.

Do you remember in the movie Gettysburg, where at the end of Little Round Top, Chamberlain holds his sword to the neck of one of General Oates’ officers of Alabama -- for his surrender – at the same time as that officer pulls the trigger pointed at Chamberlain’s head . . . but his pistol is empty?



Later in life, that officer actually visited with Chamberlain at his home in Brunswick, Maine. How weird is that? Mrs. Chamberlain found out that her husband had joined the Union army by reading it in the local newspaper.

In my reading pile, I have General A.P. Hill's book by James I Robertson Jr.



and Gettysburg Requiem, about the life of William C. Oates.



Oh, and then there was The Civil War by Ken Burns.



Wow. My daughter Kezia graduated from the same college as him, Hampshire, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

I have a blog post that I have just finished. I will send it along to you.

Any interest in the French and Indian War or the Revolutionary War?



I have read: The Battle of Brooklyn, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Paul Revere, Andrew Jackson, Robert Rogers of Rogers’ Rangers, Sam Adams, John Hancock Brown brothers, Sons of Providence, Jesse James, poetry by L. Cohen, Brooklyn Was, 1776 , . . . to name a few. I have been to Saratoga, General Philip Schuyler's house in Schuylerville, New York (one of his daughters married Hamilton). Martin Van Buren's house, also in New York. Bunker Hill and Valley Forge, Fort Anne, Fort William Henry, Glorietta Pass, Little Big Horn and Fort Ticonderoga.

Living near Boston we have done Abigail and John's house tours a couple of times.



Lexington and Concord, of course. We actually live on one of Daniel Webster's original 1200 acres. His son was killed at 2nd Manassas. Recently on a trip to Lake George, New York, we visited the falls at Glen Falls that figured into James Fenimore Cooper’s book "Last of the Mohicans."

Currently I am reading about Samuel de Champlain.



He was quite a guy. He made twenty eight North Atlantic crossings in a Mayflower-type ship. He sailed past our town’s coast in 1605 on his way to Cape Cod. I thought the Pilgrims were first!

Fort Massachusetts, made of logs, was in North Adams, Massachusetts, where my wife Sandy and I both grew up.



I just lent the movie Gettysburg to Marnie. Now she will be hooked. Because of your recommendation, she has rented Glory.



She did not know of the magnificent bronze piece that sits in the Boston Common, honoring the black Massachusetts 54th Regiment of Glory fame. It is near Cheers. Too bad it starred Ferris Bueller.

Have you read any of Nathaniel Philbrick’s books, Mayflower or The Last Stand?



You probably think by now that I like American history.

And you? Drop me a line, please.

Bob Bacon
(tocino is Spanish for bacon)


From: David Chapman
Date: October 9, 2010 2:21:41 PM EDT
To: robertotocino@verizon.net
Subject: Civil War History

Hi Bob!
Nice meeting you. Hopefully, we will meet in person one day. I met your lovely daughter (Marnie) in Lenox, Mass. She was introduced to me by my daughter (Carla). They are long time friends.

Carla shared with her that I am a Civil War Buff and former Civil War Enactment Cast member with a US Parks and History Production Company. I worked as a US Park Ranger for 30 years as a seasonal.

Marnie and I had a wonderful discussion. It was amazing to me how brilliant she is with knowledge concerning the Civil War era. By reviewing your broad intellect concerning all the books you have read, places you have visited and other involvements, I can see why your daughter is well versed.

I told her about my opportunity to star in the movie (“Glory”) with Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and other stars -- along with my own guys in the 54th Mass Regiment. She was quite impressed. However and unfortunately, I had to cancel, because we were scheduled to depart to South Carolina (the movie site) on March 15, 1989. My Father passed on the 7th and was funeralized March 11th.

The Movie was great.

Anyway, we will continue sharing knowledge.

Take Care,
Dave