While Waiting for Word

While waiting for word from The Johns Hopkins University Press, I’ve turned my attention to the stack of thirty or so manila folders piled on my desk. Each represents a Union soldier carte de visite added to my collection while writing and researching the Confederate manuscript. One of the soldiers, Capt. John Emory Bryant of the Eighth Maine Infantry, is the first man North or South I’ve ever researched that has had his biography written in book form. Carpetbagger of Conscience: A Biography of John Emory Bryant (The University of Georgia Press, 1987) by Ruth Currie-McDaniel, recounts his story with emphasis on his post-military career as a Freedman’s Bureau agent in Georgia. Currie-McDaniel has also edited a collection of letters written by his wife, Emma Spaulding Bryant: Civil War Bride, Carpetbagger's Wife, Ardent Feminist: Letters and Diaries, 1860-1900 (Fordham University Press, 2006).

I look forward to reading both.

The Path to Publication

A new tab on the Web site is a timeline that breaks down my book journey into four phases: Hunt for photos, research and writing, feedback, and editing. More phases will be added as the project matures. A separate but related chart plots dots along the same timeline for postings on this blog, and email exchanges with the publisher.

After the AQ

Bob Brugger has forwarded the AQ and the manuscript to an independent reviewer for evaluation for The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Small World

The first profile in the manuscript, Capt. Richard Curzon Hoffman, a Marylander who served in the Twenty-first Virginia Infantry and the Thirtieth Battalion Virginia Sharpshooters, is also the subject of a sketch written by Bob Brugger, The Johns Hopkins University Press acquisitions editor who played such an important role in Union Faces and the current Confederate project. Bob is working on a book of past presidents of the Maryland Club, including Hoffman. I plan to incorporate some of Bob’s research into my profile.

Manuscript Reviewer Weighs In

Bob Zeller, author of the Civil War In Depth, and president of The Center for Civil War Photography, kindly reviewed the manuscript and supplied this comment:

"With his meticulous research and a journalist's eye for good stories, Ron
Coddington has brought new life to Civil War photographic portraits of
obscure and long-forgotten Confederates whose wartime experiences might
otherwise have been lost to history. This is more than just a fine
compilation of Civil War photographs."

AQ Out

Completed the Author’s Questionnaire this morning!