I am very pleased (and extremely humbled) by the emails that I have received over the last couple days by those who were in attendance at my lecture on the historical churches of Fredericksburg during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era. Many of them were filled with wonderful compliments of which I am very thankful for and several thanked me for quote: going out of my way to reveal the struggles of soldiers, civilians, slaves, secessionists, and unionists. I will be posting the entire transcripts and slides over on my website in the next week.

Most surprising was a phone call that I received by relatives of the Lacy family who were prominently featured in two parts of that presentation. They were in the audience on Thursday (unbeknownst to anyone) and thanked me for presenting both an “accurate and balanced” account of the historical events that took place here in Fredericksburg. It was an honor to say the least to have that kind of validation by the descendants of your subjects. They were kind enough to email me copies of some special materials from their own research to enjoy.

I was also approached by a local heritage organization about putting together a test-run of my walking tour project. The concept is called “Footsteps of Faith under Fire” and if coordinated properly, will enable me to take tours to each individual church so they can experience the history in person. Perhaps my friends at the NPS would entertain the notion as it is a rich topic that is far too often forgotten.