Tuesday, August 18, 2020

A Writer's Journey: It Begins! by T. W. Harvey, Author & Historian


Guest Post 6

November 19, 1994, 3:00P.M

Shaker Heights, Ohio

It Begins!

          Whoa, that was one helluva movie. I went to see “Gettysburg” last Sunday afternoon at the Richmond Mall by myself. Paula decided to play tennis instead, and she was probably right. A lot of blood and guts in the Battle of Gettysburg, men losing arms and legs. Scene when Sergeant Kilrain died was heart-wrenching. The charge by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th Maine regiment was so real, first holding down the extreme left flank, at least that’s what they called it, then charging down the hill with bayonets since they had run out of ammunition. Killed, wounded, and captured a whole bunch of Confederate soldiers who had fought valiantly in my opinion. And, the music. Amazing. I bought the CD, and it’s playing right now. Boy, do I have the Civil War etched in my mind. I gotta see it again, just to get the feel for it once more. Loved the way the soldiers talked, both North and South. Pickett’s Charge was gruesome but looked really real. Tom Berenger as General James Longstreet. Beard was fake, but he was really good. Wow!

          Well, with that in mind, I decided to get to work on the letters, so, on Monday, after my run, I spread them out on the dining room table and began to look at them to get the dates they were written. The handwriting was perfectly legible and beautiful, and, as I worked my way through, I kept a legal pad with the name of the author and date it was written. When done with each one, it and its envelope, if there was one, went into an acid-free folder which went into the acid-free storage box. After each set of ten, I went into my study, made sure the Avery labels were aligned in my IBM Ink-Jet printer, typed in the author’s name and the date the letter was written, and printed them out for placement on the tab of a file folder. Tedious, yes, but I was learning something.

Most of them were written by Thomas S. Armstrong, my great-grandfather, to Francis Porter, who was my great grandmother. Some are addressed to her in Hopewell, Ohio and some to Clinton, Illinois. I have to find out about that. Then, there were some written by George W. Porter, also to Francis, his sister, as some of the salutations noted. But, I am still curious. She must have kept them and then stored them in the crates, but that begs the question. How in the hell did the letters get from Clinton, Illinois in 1866 or so to Cleveland Heights, Ohio in 1994? I’m beginning to think I will never know for sure, but maybe there’s some way I can figure it out.

Armstrong’s letters were written from places like Camp Goddard; Fort Donelson; Shiloh; Winchester, Virginia; and Libby Prison, wherever that is, or was. Porter’s were from the same places, except that after Shiloh, he wrote from Milliken’s Bend and Grand Gulf, Louisiana; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Kennesaw Mountain and Resaca, Georgia; and Atlanta. There was also one from Savannah. That’s in Georgia, too, I think. I wonder what story they tell, but they must be different. Armstrong in prison, I guess, and Porter near Atlanta. I thought I better get some books to tell me just what went on back then.

I finished cataloging the letters on Wednesday, wondering about the story, but right then, at 2 o’clock that afternoon, I had another matter to attend to. You see, after I put the box in a black trash bag to keep out the light, I drove down to the Western Reserve Historical Society to talk with Mrs. Hendershott about books that would provide me with the background that would help me understand the Civil War. She didn’t waste a moment, once I got the question out.

“The Shelby Foote Trilogy,” she said matter-of-factly. “There’s three books, The Civil War: A Narrative… For Sumter to Perryville, then Fredericksville to Meridian, and finally Red River to Appomattox. Seven hundred or more pages in each one. That’ll keep you busy, Mr. Harvey.” I asked where I could obtain them.

Loganberrry Books. It’s relatively new in my neighborhood in Shaker. On Larchmere.”

“Wow,” I said, “I can walk over there from my condo. If they don’t have Foote’s work, can I have them order it.”

“Surely.”

So, on the way back to my condo at Shaker Square, I found Loganberry Books, parked in the back and walked in.

There was an older gentleman, with white hair and glasses, putting books on the shelves. I approached him and asked if they had Shelby Foote’s Trilogy on the Civil War. I loved his answer… "Not right now, young fella, but I can get it for you.”

Well, now, I’m 47 years’ old, and he called me “young fella.” I just asked him to order the set of three for me and was told to come back in a week. He’d have them ready. Turns out he had been a history professor at Case Western Reserve University, retired, and was asked by the owner of Loganberry to help out. Lucky for me, he accepted. Wonder if he knows anything about the Civil War.

Stopping here. The Ohio State – Michigan game is on in an hour, and I need to get to Paula’s place to watch it.



About Dr. Harvey
Dr. T.W. Harvey is a retired Associate Professor of Finance at Ashland (Ohio) University. He has published two books, Quality Value Banking: Effective Management Systems that Increase Earnings, Lower Costs, and Provide Competitive Customer Service, with Janet L. Gray, and The Banking Revolution: Positioning Your Bank in The New Financial Services Marketplace. Further, he had articles published in both practitioner and academic journals.

Dr. Harvey has always been fascinated by the history of the United States and was grateful to have the opportunity to study it in detail while researching and writing Seeing the Elephant: One Man’s Return to the Horrors of the Civil War.

He was born and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He graduated from Hillsdale College with a BA in English, from Case Western Reserve University with an MBA in Finance, from Cleveland State University with a doctorate in management and strategy. He and his wife, Paula, reside in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.


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