How we know what we know

Library of Congress 1866

Corporal here. This post is simply an explanation of where we get our knowledge on subject matter.

From an academic perspective, it looks like we aren't "citing our sources" as they say.  The reason for that is we are often writing things in much the same way as we would tell people in the field.  We aren't going to tell people "On page 143 of Hard Tack and Coffee he says..." to the average person.  I do like to cite when I get photographs from the Library of Congress as they are not taken by myself, Jade or a member of my family at a reenactment.

But where do we get the information presented here? Study, study, study.  Both of us have enjoyed history for years and yes, I went to college for it.  History is a passion for any reenactor. But that is still not explaining where exactly we get the information from.  We have several sources.

Our first source is of course books.  Neither of us are professional historians so we do read others work.  Often when writing the more technical posts I'm boiling things down from twenty pages or more to a few paragraphs to aid in accessibility in this format.  When I get the opportunity I will cite books I use frequently on this post so stay close to your telegraph.

The second resource is other reenactors.  We aren't all experts in all things. We both have learned much just listening to other reenactors at events.  They have done the research already and it helps a great deal.  My head wouldn't be so full of Civil War trivia without them.

Our last major source is the internet. It is readily available and occasionally an article can come from there that triggers a thought or a full post. Sometimes I've used it to verify a piece of information that I know but don't have at my fingertips.

If a source is not made clear, as it usually won't be directly cited, please message us on our Facebook page or leave a comment at the bottom of a post. We will do our best to give the source books at least.

In the end, we hope that this blog will inspire others to either become reenactors themselves or just get out the books and study because we sparked an interest.

-Corporal

Source Citing:

Internet:
Two I've used often is the United States Library of Congress and the Soldiers & Sailors Database.

Book Citing to follow.

Alan T. Nolen, The Iron Brigade: A Military History (1st Indiana University Press Edition, 1994) original Copyright 1961.

Photograph Citation:

Wakely, G. D., Copyright Claimant. Interior of Library of Congress. Washington D.C, ca. 1866. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2010646112/. (Accessed March 25, 2018.)