I wanted my 400th post to be something meaningful...

Last night, as I was thumbing through one of my books, I came upon these heart-wrenching letters. The first one was written by a dying member of Co. B, of the 79th Ohio Volunteer infantry to his father back home. His penmanship deteriorates as the letter continues, and the parchment in which it was written on was stained repeatedly in the author’s blood. It is a sad story indeed, but also bittersweet as at least the young man named William G. Sears had an opportunity to say goodbye to his family.

Field Hospital
Resacca, Ga., May 29, 1864.

My Dear Father: This is perhaps my last letter to you in this world. I was shot through the right lung at the battle of Resacca, Ga., on Saturday, May 14, and was conveyed to the hospital where I have been ever since. I now believe myself to be dying. I can't see that it is possible for me to live. I love you, father, dearly. Remember me to all my friends. I am doing the best I can. I want you to come after me soon, and take me home, and bury me by the side of my mother, and then place a tomb-stone at the head of our graves.

I have honestly done the best I could for my country, and if she is only saved I shall not regret that I have fallen a sacrifice upon her alter. May God love and prosper the American Republic.

I bid you a final farewell. From your affectionate son,
Wm. G. Sears.

That letter was followed by another one written by a mortally wounded Confederate soldier named J.R. Montgomery to his father. It was also covered in blood and clearly testifies to the severity of its author’s wound. As the letter continues the words become difficult to read, and the writer struggles to fit everything on the page. You can also see the faith of the boy come through in his last words. (I pray that I have half of this gentleman’s grace and composure when my time comes.)

Spottsylvania County, Va., - 1864

Dear father – This is my last letter to you. I went into battle this evening as courier for Gen. Heth. I have been struck by a piece of shell and my right shoulder is horribly mangled, and I know death is inevitable. I am very weak, but I write to you because I know you will be delighted to read a word from your dying son. I know death is near, that I will die far from home and friends of my early youth, but I have friends here too who are kind to me. My friend Fairfax will write you at my request and give you the particulars of my death. My grave will be marked so that you may visit it if you desire to do so, but [it] is optional with you whether you let my remains rest here or in Mississippi. I would like to rest in the graveyard with my dear mother and brothers, but it is a matter of minor importance. Let us all try to reunite in Heaven. I pray my God to forgive my sins, and I feel that His promises are true and that He will forgive me and save me. Give my love to all my friends. *** My strength fails me. My horse and my equipments will be left for you. Again a long farewell to you. May we meet in Heaven. Your dying son.

J.R. Montgomery

OK, apparently now you can't even display the Confederate flag when teaching Civil War history in High School. Seriously folks...

This is one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever read (article quoted below). Shame on you Superintendent Boreilli. You have completely missed the point of the Battle Flag being represented here. It was being displayed within the context of TEACHING the Civil War. (You will also note that the plaintiff in the article is 19 years old and still in High School. Perhaps that says more about this school district than it’s reaction to this incident.)

Quoted from the Gloucester County Times: FRANKLIN TWP. A history class display on the Civil War that included a Confederate flag drew the attention Tuesday of district officials following a complaint by a student. The flag was removed, said Superintendent Frank Borelli. "One person felt uncomfortable," Borelli said. "He raised the question. It was taken down." "I was shocked to see it," said Aaron Reyes, 19. "There are other ways to display stuff." The flag was part of an overall display that also included the American flag of the period, information about the Union and Confederate armies and replica bullets of the period. "If it was just a (Confederate) flag hanging there, I would be terribly upset," Borelli said. The superintendent said the district will review the matter as it relates to future displays of symbols that some find upsetting. "I'm sure we will act accordingly," Borelli said. Nicole Reyes, Andre's mother, said she "appreciated Mr. Borelli's prompt action" to remove the flag.

Tip of the hat to reporter Emily Battle here at The Free Lance-Star for pointing this out on her blog, and congrats to our neighbors down the road in Richmond for making the APA’s (American Planning Association’s) list of the TOP 10 GREAT PLACES IN AMERICA: STREETS category. Of course this honor was bestowed upon Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue, perhaps the best looking place that I’ve ever seen within a city.

This accolade came as no surprise to me. After all, who would not be impressed by the beautiful landscape and towering statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee, Jackson, and Stuart? I was also pleased to see that four of the ten streets reside in the South. So come visit us people, we need your tourism dollars to keep our taxes down. :)

Sorry in advance for the lack of Civil War-related posts this week, but it’s been a BIG one for me in regards to the baseball-history side of my career. The posts below denote that. Don't worry, I'll be back in the trenches next week.

I did have 2 wonderfully productive meetings with the remaining two churches in my regional book and I finished another chapter as well. I have some upcoming news on my friend Mort Kunstler’s latest release here in Fredericksburg (details to come), a feature on John Adams Elder (the Confederate/Painter) in the Free Lance-Star, and some excerpts taken from several private letters sent by Sgt. Richard Rowland Kirkland. Stay tuned.

Baseball fans, you’ll want to read on…
(And Jen G., good luck. May the best team win.)

Yesterday I received the ‘long-treatment’ of a script that is being developed based off of my essay "Pride” of the Yankees, which tells the story of Jackie Mitchell. Last year, I optioned the piece to a very talented and ambitious producer named Gretl Kruse.

Gretl is an up-and-coming filmmaker who has high ambitions to create educational television shows for young people. She earned her bachelors degree at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN where she majored in Theater and Education. During her stay in St. Paul Gretl wrote, directed and produced three children's plays, all of which dealt with issues of acceptance including, sexism, racism, and understanding. She won two awards for her creative ambitions including, the Hamline/Hancock Collaborative Service Award and the Raygor Award, both for outstanding community service and creative input into the field of education. She recently graduated with at M.F.A. in Film and Television Producing from Chapman University in Orange, California. 

The draft version of the script that she sent was extraordinary and my wife and a couple female associates here even got teary-eyed when reading it. (Leave it to me to end up inspiring a “chick flick.”) Seriously though, this movie project is an important one as the plight of Jackie is truly an inspirational tale for girls and young women who deal with the issues of equality in sports every day. Unlike my study, the storyline of this piece is taking a positive approach to the story of Jackie and is still being tweaked. My approach was a little more tragic, but the perspective of this plot will encourage those who see it.

I am very impressed with Gretl and proud to be a part of this project. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as things progress. It is exciting to be branching out into other forms of media like radio and film – especially when the projects serve a higher purpose than my own. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackie Mitchell’s place in baseball history, here is a brief overview:

In 1931, the owner of the Southern Association's AA Chattanooga Lookouts signed a talented, 17-year-old pitcher named Jackie Mitchell. Desperate for an "edge" to increase ticket sales Joe Engel opted to bill his team as the ONLY club to feature a female on the mound and the demure Mitchell fit that bill. As was customary back in the day, major league teams often traveled the country playing against members of their minor league's farm system. This gave the locals an opportunity to see big league players in towns that did not boast big league franchises. It also kept the players in off-season shape - both in body and mind. In April of '31, the New York Yankees stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game, on their way home from spring training down south. Billed as a huge event due to the appearance of "Murderers Row", over 4,000 fans turned out along with scores of newspaper reporters and photographers.

Mitchell's pitching arsenal consisted of only 1 pitch - a dropping curve ball known as a "sinker" and she used it like no other ace had before (or after). A grinning Bambino took ball one, and then swung at (and missed) the next two. Jackie's fourth pitch caught the corner of the plate for a called-strike infuriating an embarrassed Ruth who promptly threw his bat and stomped back into the Yankees' dugout. Next up was non-other than "The Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig who followed the Babe's lead and swung at three in a row for "K" number two. In just seven pitches, Mitchell had sat down two of the greatest sluggers ever to don the pinstripes. A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman. It was a gross injustice and an obvious ploy to curb the embarrassment of their bruised male egos.

For my complete essay, visit Baseball-Almanac.

Last night I did my guest spot on Voice America Radio: ‘Championship Thinking’ with Host Jim Meier. Jim was a great host and I believe that we will be working together again in the future. The 45-minute show flew by, but I think I did fairly well. I have already received some good feedback and I guess that the more I do these – the better I’ll get. Now I have one under my belt. I had prepared 10 pages of notes in preparation for the show, but ended up ‘winging it’ as the conversation was very comfortable and free flowing. I will be posting the materials over on my website later this week. If you are interested, the show is posted in the archives online and is also available as a downloadable MP3 file.

Archive : 10/2/07 - Chess as a Tool for Developing Baseball Intelligence 

COMING SOON: I also have some BIG news in regards to a film version of one of my baseball essays. I had optioned it to a producer in LA who just sent me the long-form treatment of the script outline yesterday. It is an extraordinary read and I’ll finally be sharing details here very soon.

It's time to brag a little on the offspring. Congratulations to my oldest son Dylan for achieving something that I never did… On Friday we received a letter from Massaponax High School informing us that our son (who is now a Junior) has lettered in Academics. This means that he has maintained a Grade Point Average (GPA) of over 3.5+ to date. Dylan is a perennial Honor Roll Student and is now in a Vo-Tech automotive program en route to attending the NASCAR Institute in N.C. upon graduation. The boy is gifted in the garage and wants to build racecars. I could not be prouder of him. My oldest daughter Madison also brought home straight A’s on her midterms. Thank the Good Lord that they got my wife’s brains!

It states: “The presentation of academic letters and pins represents a significant accomplishment by your son or daughter. ONLY those students achieving a G.P.A. of 3.5 or higher for the preceding school year are presented the awards. The milestone of a 3.5 or higher G.P.A. represents many months of hard work and dedication to academic excellence by your student, as well as strong support by you of your student’s efforts. The academic letter can be worn with pride as visible proof of academic excellence.”

We are also invited to attend an award ceremony and family reception on the 24th. I cannot wait. Even if I wasn’t always the most stellar student, at least I can live ‘academically’ through my kids.

In preparation for the Chess/Baseball-themed radio show that I am doing tomorrow, I was browsing through my old user account on Chess World. As soon as I have some free time, I’m going to go back and open up a new account. Unfortunately, I had been assigned to some tournament games that I never finished. (The ‘timed-out losses’ that resulted wreak havoc with one’s ratings.) Below is the annotation from one of my favorite games from an online tourney that I played a while ago. My opponent (a VERY talented guy from the U.K.) and I had played each other several times before and he beat me after 27 moves, 33 moves, and finally here in 43 moves. To those of you that don’t play Chess, this is a meaningless bunch of gibberish. Those that do play Chess can see that I clearly showed moments of both brilliance and idiocy. I just emailed this guy and hope to have a rematch. Maybe this time I'll make it to 50 moves before he nails me.

1.  d4 d5
2.  c4 Nf6
3.  Nf3 Bf5
4.  Nc3 e6
5.  e3 Be7
6.  b3 Nd7
7.  Rb1 Bxb1
8.  Nxb1 O-O
9.  g3 c6
10. Nc3 a5
11. Bh3 Bb4
12. Bd2 Ne4
13. Qc2 Qf6
14. Nh4 Qxf2
15. Kd1 dxc4
16. Be1 Qxe3
17. Bd2 Nf2
18. Kc1 Nd3
19. Qxd3 Qxd3
20. Bf1 Ba3
21. Kd1 Qxd4
22. Nf3 Qf2
23. Be2 Qg2
24. Rg1 Qh3
25. Bf1 Qf5
26. Nh4 Qh5
27. Ne2 Bc5
28. Bg2 Bxg1
29. Bf3 Qe5
30. Nf4 Qa1
31. Bc1 Be3
32. Ne2 Rd8
33. bxc4 Ne5
34. Ke1 Nd3
35. Kf1 Bxc1
36. Nxc1 Qxc1
37. Kg2 Ne1
38. Kf2 Rd2
39. Be2 Nd3
40. Ke3 Rd1
41. Ke4 Nf2
42. Ke5 Qg5
43. Nf5 Qxf5

This afternoon, I received an email from Kenny Rowlette of The National Civil War Chaplains Research Center and Museum Foundation. It announced that a screening of the film, “Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story,” will occur on Tuesday, November 13, at 7:00 PM in Room 1113 of the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. You can watch the trailer here.

The 48 minute film, based on material from Richard William’s Jr.’s “Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man’s Friend” gives an overview of the famous Civil War general's life, especially his Christian walk. A short panel discussion about the film and Jackson's religious life will follow. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. All proceeds will go to The National Civil War Chaplains Museum and Research Center Foundation. 

Don't miss this unique opportunity to discover how God impacted the life of one of the icons of the Civil War. For more info, please e-mail kgrowlet@liberty.edu.