I've used video cameras of varying quality on my site, (here, here and here), but I've been thinking hard about doing it more. The Go Pro HD examples found here have got me seriously considering their camera. Some of this stuff is heart-stopping in its quality. I've always dreamed of being able to re-create a cavalry charge on the bike as part of a ride. Maybe this is where it begins? Looks like my friends at Riders Discount are carrying if you order by phone or email. See the Facebook entry for the detail; http://www.facebook.com/ridersdiscount

Technorati Tags: none

Battlefield Biker is proud to announce that it is continuing its partnership with MSL Tours in 2010.


We will be reprising our incredibly successful Battle of the Bulge tour that saw more than 40 bikers enjoy the riding and the history of the Belgian and Luxembourgish Ardennes last year. Check here for the details.


Additionally, we are launching a new tour this year of the Normandy beaches where we will be visiting the battle sites of Operation Overlord / D-Day landings. I've toured this area many times and it is truly a tour not to be missed in your lifetime. You can see a short video of me and the D-Day beaches here. The detail of the tour can be found here.


We are incredibly excited about these tours and we have already had several bookings on each tour, so don't miss out. Book early and make 2010 the year you get in a great ride and see some great historical sites!

Technorati Tags: World War 2 World War II WW2 WWII

Battlefield Biker and MSL Tours continue our partnership by repeating our highly popular Battle of the Bulge tour. From the 1st through the 4th of May, we will be heading back to the beautiful Ardennes to experience great history and great riding. See the tour details below for all of the details, booking form, and Terms and Conditions. Right click on the images to download them with the "save as" command. Go here to find the tour on MSL Tours website.
We will also be running our brand new D-Day / Operation Overlord tour from the 4th to the 7th of June 2010. Click here for more details on that tour.
I hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: Ardennes Battle of the Bulge Christmas Wacht am Rhein World War 2 World War II WW2 WWII

Battlefield Biker and MSL Tours continue our partnership by announcing a new tour this year. From the 4th through the 7th of June, we will be running a tour of the Normandy beaches. See the tour details below for all of the details, booking form, and Terms and Conditions. Right click on the images to download them with the "save as" command. Go here to find the tour on MSL Tours website.
We will also be running our highly popular Battle of the Bulge tour from the 1st to the 4th of May. Click here for more details on that tour.
I hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: D-Day Normandy Swiss Normandy World War 2 World War II WW2 WWII

David Silbey will be hosting the rejuvenated Military History Carnival at the Edge of the American West blog.

You can submit entries here.

Please help us rejuvenate the MHC in 2010 by passing this notice around to the history aggregators and anyone else who will help drum up support.

Also, if anyone else would like to host an edition, please let me know.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War miltary history carnival

Once again, England is brought low by snow (or a few inches of rain, or wind, or leaves on the line, geesh)
Here in North Hampshire, we received the better part of an inch. I wonder how places that get snow more frequently deal with these problems? Judicious use of salt? England can't even buy that stuff without creating a market shamble of it.
With this kind of government incompetence on transportation at every level, I'm sceptical of the UK being able to help other countries deal with the extremes of climate change.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War

Here's a story of how a family that lost a son and a brother spent time together building a custom motorcycle to remember him. SPC T.J. Barbieri was killed in Iraq in August 2006, at the age of 24. SPC Barbieri served with the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. SPC Barbieri was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for his valor.

"When you lose someone, you always want to tell their story," Barbieri's father said. "When people see the bike, they start asking questions and I get to tell them about T.J."

T.J. Barbieri, a grateful nation says thanks to you and to your father and brothers in helping us remember who you were and what you did.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War

I hope so. This article makes a pretty good case for it. It quotes Wayne Lee at UNC-CH, one of my PhD supervisors. John Lynn makes the case that the sheer nastinest of the present war situation has made many wake up and take notice to the world we live in and maybe Military History has something to say about it.

Technorati Tags: academia American Civil War higher education military history universities war

A Buffalo Soldier who won the Medal of Honor in 1889 has been buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Missing in America Project helped get Mays moved to Arlington from the cemetery of an Arizona hospital. The Old Guard Riders provided the motorcycle escort.
My first unit was D Troop 2/9 Cavalry which was one of the great Buffalo Regiments. The other was the 10th Cavalry. I have previously written about Corporal Edward Scott of K Troop of the 10th and his action at Pinito.

Technorati Tags: 1800s 1880s 1889 Buffalo Soldiers Missing in America Project Old Guard Riders USA Indian Wars of the West motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history

The good folks of Harley-Davidson of Central Mississippi are putting on the seventh annual Trail of Honor in Jackson, Mississippi this weekend, 16 and 17 May 2009. There will be "real-life heroes, including former POWs, Medal of Honor recipients, Navajo Code Talkers and Tuskegee Airmen."

The Tuskegee Airmen should be a real draw. "Three of the famous African-American pilots will participate in a flyover by four T-6 training aircraft and a P-51 Mustang, the type of plane flown by the Airmen in World War II."

If I was anywhere near Mississippi, I'd be there this weekend. Sadly, I'm in Estonia right now sans bike.

Good riding to those of you who make it. Shake a few veterans hands for me if you get the chance.

More detail here.

Technorati Tags: 1700s 1800s 1900s American Civil War American Revolution American Revolutionary War Creek War Indian Wars Before American Revolution Mississippi Seminole Indian Wars US Civil War Vietnam War War of 1812 World War 1 World War 2 World War I World War II WW1 WW2 WWI WWII military history touring trail of honor mississippi

Jennie at the American President's Blog has just posted the renewed Military History Carnival. Check it out here.
Thanks, Jennie

Technorati Tags: American Civil War military history carnival

Campaign, Theatre or War?

The war involving the United States of America (USA) and the Creek Indians of 1813-1814 has its fingers in many historical pies. Does one consider the fighting a mere theatre or campaign of the War of 1812 or a separate war on its own? Were the Creeks part of an American Indian confederation or acting out a long festering civil war? If part of a confederation, were they allied with the British like their northern confederates? If so, should the British have forced the Americans to honour the Treaty of Ghent’s provisions on restoring land after the cessation of the War of 1812 as they did in the north? These are all legitimate questions, but the subtleties of the causes and effects of the War of 1812 make them almost indiscernible definitively.

In conflating these issues, however, the fighting and its consequences often get lost in too many other narratives that have larger aims. The fighting between a faction of the Creeks and the USA had an obvious start at the Battle of Burnt Corn, distinct campaigns by the Americans with no other purpose than to engage the Creeks, and a formal ending with the Treaty of Fort Jackson. Finally, would the war have occurred even if there was not a War of 1812? Almost definitely. Therefore, for the purpose of this essay, I will treat it as a separate war fought by an independent faction of the Creek Indians against the USA in an attempt to compare and analyse the various ways the conflict has been presented in written history. What this means, pragmatically, is that I will be comparing books with sections of books and chapters of books depending on the orientation of the book itself. Since so much of the history of the war has been written in the course of examining some of the actor’s lives, biographies will likewise be compared with war narratives and even geographical histories.

Introduction

The literature on the Creek War goes back to within 40 years of the war itself and has taken a near 360 degree turn. The early works were essentially works of local history and one focussed on the Creek War almost exclusively. These works not only viewed the war as a separate entity, but were conspicuous in trying to give a balanced account by including input from the Creek Indians who participated. In the first half 20th century, the works tended to go down one of two routes, Andrew Jackson or the War of 1812. In the Jackson works, the general who concluded the war with the Creeks at Fort Jackson takes center stage and the narrative is mostly about the will of ‘Old Hickory’. In the works on the War of 1812, the story intertwines Tecumseh and the war to the north in the beginning and the British and the battles for Mobile and New Orleans in the south at the end of the War of 1812. In both of these avenues, the voices of the Creek participants are few and often overly generalised. If the turn has not been full, it has at least been substantial, with recent books that focus on the war with the Creeks (and by extension the Seminoles) and provide a primary source link to the British, American and Spanish actions. In other words, the Creek War is linked to the British effort in the south, but far more tenuously than many previous War of 1812 works had examined, helping the Creek War stand more on its own. I’ll examine selected works of these four strands in order.

Early, Local History

Any Creek War library will include, and probably start with, Albert James Pickett’s History of Alabama and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi from the Earliest Period. Pickett published his wide-ranging book in 1851. Pickett moved to Alabama with his parents in 1818 at the age of 8 and knew many of the actors in the war. Although it looks a little simple by today’s notation standards, Pickett makes clear that he is trying to create a direct link to the words of the participants through personal interviews and/or examination of manuscripts and original sources. Unfortunately, he misses his own mark regularly where pages flow by with nary a source note (for example the Battle of Talladega). It breezes along in a small town newspaper kind of way, like everyone knows everyone else, which is probably how Alabama felt in 1851. An exception is the ‘Canoe Fight’ which has gone down in American folklore. Three American militiamen and a slave fought and bested eleven Creeks in a fight between two canoes in the middle of the Alabama River. In this case, Pickett provides a direct link through multiple sources to one of the more fantastics stories to come out of the war. Pickett has provided the basic story line for virtually every Creek War writer hence, so deserves the credit for being first, but it would not stand up to historical scrutiny today.

The same applies to H.S. Halbert and T.H. Ball’s The Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Halbert and Ball both lived and worked in the area of Alabama where much of the Creek War occurred. They published their book in 1895, but many of the interviews and oral histories go back into the 1870s. One is left wondering how much was written from memories gathered twenty-five years previous to their commitment to print. What notes there are are often in line and often show a heavy reliance on just a few major sources. At other times, the authors provide an introductory note to a chapter or section that broadly defines the works consulted and where they were found, but again very little specifics. Once again, many subsequent authors have used Halbert and Ball for inspiration in building a story line, but have had to find the specific historical sources themselves.

Jackson, the Great Man

One thing that both Pickett and Halbert & Ball do provide is an inclusion of all of the various campaigns directed at the deep back country of the upper Creeks. Two campaigns marched from Tennessee (east and west), one originated from the Tensaw district around Mobile and one began in central Georgia. I mention these facts, because the next group of books tend to underplay any campaign besides the one from west Tennessee, led by Andrew Jackson. Although the malady has been getting better in recent years, many of the books on Jackson have little to say about the broader Creek War.

The most prolific biographer of Jackson is Robert Remini. Remini is the author of a three volume biography as well as several more specific titles relating to Andrew Jackson. In this case, I will be a little unfair to Remini as his more detailed books take more care to mention the other campaigns, but his The Battle of New Orleans : Andrew Jackson and America’s First Military Victory is the Remini exception that proves the Jackson rule, especially older Jackson works. In the first chapter, Remini sets the stage for the Battle of New Orleans by recounting the Creek War that had been concluded by the Treaty of Fort Jackson. In six pages of narrating the main events, Remini never mentions any other campaign besides Jackson’s. Anyone who knows the Creek War through an Andrew Jackson biography is at risk of not knowing anyone else was involved. I’ll not be too hard on Remini, though, as he is known as an keen researcher into all of the primary materials.

All is not lost with Jackson biographers, though. Another writer who takes a broader view of Jackson’s effect on the old southwest is John Buchanan with his Jackson’s Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters. Buchanan explains Jackson’s character as a product of the people of the old southwest and the unrelenting surge of those people into the southern Indian lands. Although not in great detail, which is fair enough given the book is about Jackson, Buchanan gives creditable space to the march from Georgia, the campaign from the Tensaw and east Tennessee. Another recent book that takes the measure of other American’s contributions to the Creek War is Sean Michael O’Brien’s In Bitterness and Tears: Andrew Jackson’s Destruction of the Creeks and Seminoles. O’Brien also provides the linkage to the Seminole war of 1818, but that is out of our scope in this essay.

The Broader War Narratives

Next are the works on the War of 1812 in general with sections committed to the Creek War. One of the most respected authors of the War of 1812 is Reginald Horsman who wrote The War of 1812 and The Causes of the War of 1812. Horsman gives a balanced and respectable, if short, summary of the Creek War whilst stating his belief that it was ‘only indirectly connected to the main Anglo-American struggle’. A contemporary of Horsman is Harry L. Coles who also titled his book The War of 1812. Although well told and having a respectable 15 pages on the Creek War, Coles provides no notations and only a suggested reading list for each chapter.

Of a more recent publication, A.J. Langguth’s Union 1812 commits a chapter to the Creek War. However, it takes a celebrity cant to telling the story by using the characters of Davy Crockett (famous frontiersman) and Sam Houston (later President of Texas). Crockett and Houston indeed were involved in Jackson’s Creek campaigns, but hardly played decisive roles. Although Langguth is an academic, he uses a non-standard notation style which makes it very difficult to follow his citations. This practice along with his penchant for character based story telling detracts from its academic quality.

Local, Connected and Detailed

As an antidote to the non standard citation style and character driven narratives, we have J. Leitch Wright Jr.’s Creeks and Seminoles which takes a broad view of the nation that made up the ethnic group we have called the Creeks. Although Wright only addresses one chapter to the war, it is refreshingly different by providing context from the Creek side of the conflict. Wright, an academic at Florida State University, cites his sources and his research is happily detailed which gives the book a feel of real authenticity. Paired with its original voice about the ethnic voices within the Creek nation, we are able to see how the Creeks developed both a strong nativist streak and a more ambivalent strain to white settlement amongst other rivalries. He also sheds some light on how far some of the Creeks were integrated with the Shawnee war effort to the north.

Finally, there is Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans 1812-1815 by Frank Lawrence Owsley Jr. This is probably the most complete and original work on the Creek War. Owsley gives a detailed account of the causes and military actions from each campaign and also integrates the Gulf of Mexico campaign after the Treaty of Fort Jackson. So far, so much the same. However, Owsley performs a real service to the long suffering Creek War reader. Owsley has gone back to all of the primary sources, British, American, Creek and Spanish, to construct a detailed picture of how the Creek War spilled over into the Gulf campaign naturally, if haphazardly. Owsley goes even further. He says that the Gulf campaign begins and ends with the British connections with the Indians as military forces and that winning the Gulf campaign was the largest success of the whole War of 1812. Owsley’s citations and bibliographical information are a dream for the serious student of this conflict.

Conclusion

The literature of the Creek War has seen an evolution from local, informal history to the war history through the actions of a great man, to relegation to a small chapter in a larger story to the return to local history that documents extensively its connections with the outside world. With this upward spiral, we can see trends that help us all write better history. We must look to the primary sources first and fill in the story line with secondary sources. We need to find the context that makes the local more networked. we have to challenge assumptions of identity and motives. And most of all, we must show our work!

Bibliography;

Buchanan, John (2001), Jackson's Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

Coles, Harry L. (1965), The War of 1812 (Chicago and London: Chicago University Press)

Halbert, H. S. and Ball, T. H. (1895), The Creek War of 1813 and 1814 (Montgomery, Alabama: White, Woodruff & Fowler)

Horsman, Reginald (1972), The War of 1812 (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode)

Langguth, A. J. (2007), Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence (New York: Simon & Schuster)

O'Brien, Sean Michael (2003), In Bitterness and in Tears: Andrew Jackson's Destruction of the Creeks and Seminoles (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger)

Owsley, Jr., Frank Lawrence (1981), Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans 1812-1815 (The University of Alabama Press)

Pickett, Albert James (1851), History of Alabama and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi from the earliest Period (Charleston: Walker and James)

Remini, Robert. V. (2001), The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory, (Penguin (Non-Classics))

Wright, Jr., J. Leitch (1986) Creeks and Seminoles: Destruction and Regeneration of the Muscogulge People, (University of Nebraska Press)

Technorati Tags: Creek War War of 1812

The Military History carnival is alive and kicking. The next edition will be at the American President's Blog on 15 March 2009. Please submit your submissions here.

For reasons not entirely clear to me, Blog Carnival would not allow the old Military History Carnival to change the host from Gavin to me. Therefore, I have created a new carnival innovatively called the "Military History" carnival, rather than the old, "Military History Carnival." Meet the new carnival, same as the old carnival.

Let's call it a re-launch and get some posts up there.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War military history carnival military history motorcycles battlefield touring

As you may have read at Gavin's place or here, Battlefield Biker is the new home for the Military History Carnival.

I will attempt to get a January Edition up here, but I am in search of a February host. Please let me know by dropping me a line here.

The Basics can be found here. Guidance for Hosts can be found here.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War military history carnival military history motorcycles battlefield touring

Notes for Hosts

How to become a host

If you’d like to host the Military History Carnival, just leave a comment or e-mail me. The only requirement is that you have a blog and know how to use it. It doesn’t have to be about military history, and you don’t need any experience of hosting a carnival. This page should tell you everything you need to know. If it doesn’t just ask me.

The carnival takes place around the middle of every month, but the exact date depends on what is most convenient for you. The date needs to be fixed before the previous carnival is posted, so that the host can give full details of the next edition. You will also need to give me an e-mail address which you want submissions sent to. This doesn’t have to be the same as your normal e-mail address. It can be a good idea to set up a temporary address just for carnival submissions.

Calls for posts

You should post calls for submission on your own blog a week or two before the carnival, and a reminder a few days before. The exact number and timing is up to you. I will also post calls for posts on the History Carnivals Aggregator and here at Investigations of a Dog. Other bloggers might post calls, but you can’t necessarily rely on it.

You need to give the date of the carnival, the e-mail address for submissions, and a link to the submission form. The address is:

http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_6584.html

This address always stays the same, and the page will automatically update itself when the host changes, so you don’t have to do anything there.

You should also make the date limits clear: the carnival covers the 20th century and everything earlier. Posts which are only or mainly about events after 1st January 2001 are not eligible. Posts should be recent, preferably posted since the previous edition of the carnival.

As well as the basic information, it helps to say something about how inclusive the carnival aims to be and how broad our definition of “military history” is. Some people who have written interesting and relevant posts might not think of themselves as military historians and might not realise that their posts can be included. We need to encourage as many people as possible to get involved.

Receiving submissions

Once the deadline for the previous carnival has passed (usually the day before it’s published) the submission form will start forwarding new submissions to the address that you specified. The e-mails will all be titled:

BlogCarnival submission - “military history”

You should set up a rule/filter to move them into their own folder so it’s easier to keep track of them. It’s also a good idea to keep a copy of the information somewhere else. I usually set up a draft post in Wordpress and copy the links into it as soon as I get them. The e-mails which come via the submission form will contain all the links and other information you need, including a block of HTML code which you can copy and paste into your blog. Although I’d recommend changing the wording of the links in the final version (otherwise the carnival won’t be very interesting to read!), this code is useful for making a draft copy of carnival submissions.

Some people will send submissions direct to your e-mail address. These might contain less information, but all you really need is the permalink to the post. Make sure you have a permalink which points directly to the post in question, not the link to the blog’s main page.

You don’t need to acknowledge receipt of submissions. It’s waste of your time, and most people don’t expect a reply. They will know that their post has been included once the carnival is posted. If you find that you have to reject a submission, it’s best to avoid entering into correspondence with the person in question. Nobody has an automatic right to be included, and as host your decision is final. If anybody tries to argue about it, just ignore them.

Most carnival submissions come in the last week, so don’t worry too much if you don’t get any for a while. I will also submit some of my own picks, but you don’t have to use them.

Finding more posts

Don’t rely on getting enough submissions to make a whole carnival edition. You will probably have to look for some more posts yourself. The Cliopatria blogroll is the best place to find history blogs. Don’t limit yourself to the “Wars and Warriors” category. There will be many relevant posts in blogs under other categories. You might know of some other places to find good blogs. Use your imagination. We don’t want the carnival to always include the same blogs, so it would be good if you can come up with anything different.

Selecting posts

As host you have the responsibility for deciding which posts to include in the carnival. You don’t have to include every submission you get if you don’t want to, but it’s usually best to include everything you get unless it’s ineligible - we don’t want to discourage people from submitting. You should be prepared to include posts whose points of view you don’t agree with. This carnival aims to be as inclusive as possible.

It’s usually best to pick only one post per blog unless someone has written some really outstanding posts. A mulit-part series of closely related posts on the same topic can be counted as one post.

Posts should have been posted since the previous edition of the carnival, unless they’re outstandingly good and have been missed before.

You should reject any post which doesn’t meet the criteria for inclusion. You don’t have to explain rejection to anyone. It’s best to avoid entering into correspondence with people who submit unsuitable posts. If you ignore them they’ll go away. If they provoke a reaction it only encourages them.

Remember that this carnival defines history as everything up to the end of the 20th century. Posts which are wholly or mainly about events which happened after 1st January 2001 should not be included. In practice you won’t be able to avoid posts which mention current events, but they should be mostly about something historical. The date limit doesn’t include publication of books, discovery of new evidence, memorialisation and anniversaries of past events etc.

Military is defined as broadly as possible. Tenuous links are fine (for example see some of the posts I included in the first edition), but posts which have absolutely nothing to do with war or armed forces should be rejected.

Posts should meet some basic standards of proof and objectivity. Do not include posts which contain serious factual errors, blatant lies, unfounded conspiracy theories, or extremist propaganda. How to define this is up to you, but you can always ask me for advice if you’re not sure about a particular post.

Putting the carnival together

About 15 posts is enough for a carnival, but you can include more than that if you want to.

You can divide the posts up however you want, for example by period, geographic area, theme, or anything else. Or they don’t necessarily have to be in any particular order at all. Just do whatever you think looks right.

The carnival should be accessible to everyone with an interest in military history, not just academics, or hobbyists, or other specialists. Try to keep the style of your writing informal but don’t be too flippant. Treat all the bloggers included with respect, and don’t make any condescending remarks about posts you’ve included, even if you disagree with their points of view.

Use the permalinks that have been submitted (or that you’ve collected) to link directly to the posts. There’s no need to link to the main page of the blog as well as the post - it creates extra work for you and can get confusing for readers. You should also include the name of the blog and/or the blogger.

The carnival should be more than a collection of links. Try to say something about each post and why it’s interesting. This only needs to be one sentence, but try to grab the reader’s attention and draw them in. You can look at other blog carnivals for inspiration.

At the end of the carnival you should give the date of the next edition, a link to the host blog, a link to the submission form, and the e-mail address that the next host has specified for submissions. I will give you this information before the carnival date.

Posting the carnival

You should post the carnival edition on your blog on the agreed date. There isn’t any particular time when you have to publish by, and as bloggers are scattered through different time zones, dates are fuzzy around the edges. You should aim to post the edition by the end of the day in your time zone. If you’re really organized you could even put it together the day before and set the timestamp so that it appears at midnight, but you don’t have to.

Once the carnival is posted you should e-mail me to let me know, or leave a comment on the Military History Carnival main page giving the permalink to the edition. Your work is done, and you can relax. I will take care of posting on the History Carnivals Aggregator and updating Blog Carnival.

If you host your own blog and bandwidth is an issue, you should be aware that hosting the carnival is likely to bring in between 100 and 200 extra visitors per day for a few days.

If there’s some emergency and you can’t get the carnival posted on the agreed date, let me know as soon as possible so that we can postpone it or get a subsitute host.

[Please only comment on this page if you are volunteering to host, or if you have a question which isn't answered above]

Technorati Tags: American Civil War military history carnival military history motorcycles battlefield touring

Welcome to the new home of the Military History Carnival

This is the main page for the Military History carnival, a monthly blog carnival which rounds up the best blog posts on the history of war, armed forces, and related topics, from ancient history up to the end of the 20th century. Our aim is neither to glorify nor condemn war, but to see it as an integral part of history which needs to be better understood.

Current edition: Military History and Warfare, 14th December.

Next edition: Host needed urgently - if you want to do it please get in touch. You can still submit posts using the submission form.

Hosts needed for: April 2009 onwards.

Blog Carnival page

What is a blog carnival?

A blog carnival is a collection of links to posts at other blogs, usually on a certain theme. It happens at a different blog every month (or whenever) and the owner of that blog acts as host, selecting posts to be included and putting it all together. Other people can suggest posts to be included, either their own or other people’s. It’s a good way of cross-promoting blogs, creating a sense of community in the blogosphere, and collecting the best posts on a particular topic.
What is the Military History Carnival all about?

“Military history” suggests different things to different people, but this carnival aims to be as inclusive as possible.

Military is defined very broadly. It includes all levels of armed conflict — there will be no rigid definition of what is and isn’t a war — and all military experiences during peacetime. At the risk of offending latin purists, it includes navies and air forces as well as armies. Weapons, tactics, strategy, uniforms, insignia, equipment etc are all interesting and important, and so are relationships between war and society, culture, race, gender, sexuality, disability, and the non-human. Preparations for and aftermaths of wars are as significant as the wars themselves. Opposition to war needs to be considered alongside the conduct of war. Representations of war in literature, films, TV, games etc are just as valid objects of study as empirical evidence of reality (although fictional representations should be related to the real world — no fictional universes please).

History is defined as the 20th century and earlier. This is an arbitrary limit intended to keep out polemic about current affairs. There are plenty of other places where you can argue about Iraq. Posts about events which happened after 1st January 2001 will not be included in any edition of this carnival. This restriction does not apply to historiography — posts about books published after that date are welcome, as long as the book itself is not about the 21st century. Posts on current or recent stories about things like memorialisation of past conflicts or treatment of veterans can also be included.

There will be no distinction between academic and non-academic, amateur and professional, or traditional and new. As long as your post is interesting, accessible, and within the scope of the carnival it will be considered.

Although you don’t have to be a qualified historian to be involved in the carnival, please make sure your posts meet some basic standards of proof. Arguments need to be backed up by evidence. This doesn’t mean that traditional methodology is privileged. If you’re capable of mounting a theoretically sophisticated challenge to the epistemological foundations of the empirical paradigm, you’re welcome. If you don’t know what that means, then just stick to the facts and you’ll be fine.
Can I get one of my posts included in it?

Yes, as long as it fits in and the host thinks it’s good enough. You can submit your own posts or posts by other people, but please don’t submit more than one post from the same blog by the same author. Posts must be within the scope described above and have been posted since the last edition of the carnival. You can submit links by e-mailing the host of the next edition, or by using the submission form. Hosts and dates of the next and previous editions are shown near the top of this page.

Posts should be more recent than the last edition of the carnival, as the idea is to showcase the best recent posts.

No more than 25% of the posts in one edition of the carnival should be about the same war. So far this limit hasn’t been reached so although there are lots of American Civil War blogs, we’d like to encourage more ACW bloggers to submit posts.
Can I host it?

Yes. As the carnival is hosted at a different blog every month, we always need more hosts to keep the carnival going. You don’t need advanced technical skills to be a host: as long as you know how to use e-mail and write a blog post you’ll be fine. Hosting a carnival is a good way to bring more readers into your blog. Host blogs don’t have to be exclusively or mainly about military history. Anyone who’s interested and committed can have a go. If you’d like to host, just leave a comment on this page, or e-mail me. Carnivals take place around the middle of the month, but the exact date is negotiable. Guidance notes for hosts are available here.

Host blogs must be written in English but posts in other languages can be considered at the host’s discretion.

Please only leave comments on this page if you’re offering to host, or if you’re the current host and you’re letting us know that you’ve posted the carnival.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War military history carnival military history motorcycles battlefield touring

Interesting new battlefield find of Roman artifacts in northern Germany that indicates that the Romans were still active in the area two and a half centuries later than conventional wisdom had posited.
Sounds like the opening of Gladiator was near spot on!

Technorati Tags: 200s none motorcycle motorcycle-touring motorcycle touring military history military-history battlefields

I am very happy to announce that Battlefield Biker has teamed up with MSL Tours for our first tour! It is scheduled for the 3rd-6th July 2009. Please use the contact form with the BB_MSL_Tour category option, for more information.

Technorati Tags: 1900s 1940s 1944 Ardennes Offensive Battle of the Bulge Belgium December France Germany Luxembourg Operation Watch on the Rhine Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein World War 2 World War II WW2 WWII motorcycle touring battlefields motorcycle military history MSL Tours

I just read an US Army article about how Reservists keep their history alive to prepare for the future. It really brings home the concept that each unit that goes out needs someone to keep track of the actions of the unit. Each forgotten action is a lost chance for a future army to learn.


Fortunately, the multitude of blogs and the electronic diaries.... in addition to the official historian roles will help recover many of the lost memories. I believe that a combination of official and unofficial narratives, along with evidence, will help us create better 'soldier's histories' in the future. In fact, I hope to write some of them.

Technorati Tags: Reserves World War II motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history

Sorry to all of my loyal readers (yes both of you). I have not been posting much new lately, but it has been for good reason. I recently started a Master of Arts in the History of Warfare in the War Studies department at King's College London.

I am thoroughly enjoying it, but the reading and writing schedule has not left much time for Battlefield Biker lately. I hope to get better soon and even post some of my assignments here, especially book reviews. We'll see if Battlefield Biker readers are more or less forgiving than my professors.

I've got 2 professors of serious professional reputations and am soaking up their expertise. Alan James is teaching my core History of Warfare module and my Imperialism module. Andrew Lambert is teaching my Navies and Seapower module. Each module is a combination of lectures, seminars and writing. Their is a heavy emphasis on the research and historiography which is one of the main reasons I decided to go to King's.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for Battlefield Biker, but was running up against my own limitations in research and writing skills, so I decided to take this MA to improve both.

Stick with me and I promise to post some new stuff.

Technorati Tags: Historiography History of Warfare King's College London London none

I've spoken to South London Motorrad and they have confirmed to me that they have a F 800 GS in stock right now. I've attached a picture I took of a F800GS, but the one South London Motorrad has is the grey and black colour scheme.


Get down there and get while the getting is good!

Technorati Tags: BMW F 800 GS Caterham F800 GS F800GS none

I'm happy to welcome Mike Bunn and Clay Williams to Battlefield Biker to talk about their new book titled, The Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812. It is published by The History Press. You can see my review of the book here.

Battlefield Biker (BB) - Why did you write this book?

Clay Williams (CW) - Mike and I have a love for this time period in Gulf South History. We had previously worked together at the Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi History and had done lots of research on the Mississippi Territorial Period (1798-1817), which included the Creek War and the War of 1812, for a future exhibit. Mike eventually left to take another job in Georgia and the exhibit never took place due to Hurricane Katrina closing the Old Capitol. Mike and I have stayed in touch over the years and wanted to do a large project again together and the Creek War and its related Gulf Coast campaigns of the War of 1812 looked like a perfect fit. We had already done some research, and it is a topic that is basically unknown to many. Mike and I love to visit historic sites and so visiting and documenting these areas where these key events took place would be a key portion of our book and we so we decided to take the project on.

Mike Bunn (MB) - We certainly didn't set out to write a book at first, though. It's a project that just grew once we got into it and realized the possibilities and discovered how much info we had to share.

BB - Will you tell us a little about the format of the book ( I love it). i.e. timeline, biographies, geographic points of interest, some original documents and the essay. How did you work out what you wanted to do with the book?

CW - Mike and I initially referred to the book as a sourcebook-a one-stop shop for gathering information on the conflict. We knew it was not going to be a long narrative and didn't want it to be one. We targeted it for the general public and wanted it to be easily accessible and this was what we came up with. Again, Mike and I have stated this was not to be a new definitive study of the conflict, but a book that hopefully introduced the topic to the many that have no idea about it and that its format would make it easy to peruse and enjoy without getting bogged down with long narratives and too many footnotes. There were components that we wanted in it that we thought be helpful, a time line, a great bibliographical essay, original documents, as well as site locations. Again, I will say the book grew out of the idea to visit these sites, many marked and many unmarked, and document them for the public-the whole historic preservation and interpretation idea.

BB - How did you work as a team? Did you split duties?

CW - Yes, we split duties. By splitting the wars into 4 campaigns, meant we were both responsible for two-that meant doing research, locating historic sites, writing the narrative text as well as the text for the historic sites and the bios for those participants in our respective campaigns, locating graphics, etc. We also split the various other portions as well such as Mike wrote the Origins of War and I wrote the Conclusion. Each of us would write a first draft, then submit to the other for editing and suggestions. Mike and I work very well together in that regard. We don't have large egos and we can each tell the other that something he wrote was garbage. It was a great pleasure to work with Mike. We both have such a love for the study history and are eager to do projects of this nature.

MB - We started working like that when we worked together at the Old Capitol. We have written so much together that it was easy to critique each other's writing. Editing can be a touchy process for many, but fortunately not for us. We didn't edit so much as fine tune what we knew we were each trying to say. We were truly on the same page and as I look back on the work, I don't think readers will be able to tell which section was written by who; it comes off as one voice.

BB - The bibliographic essay was great. Who inspires you in this field? i.e. clear source display.

MB - Their are a lot of authors we like and we both have ridiculous personal libraries. As far as this topic specifically, though, I'd have to say that Robert Remini, Frank Owsley, Jr., and Henry S. Halbert and T.H. Ball stand as the foremost inspirations. Remini is a master storyteller, Owsley wrote what we consider to be the definitive study of the conflicts we cover and was the only one to rely exclusively on primary sources, while Halbert and Ball produced one of the first serious studies of the wars. The fact that they co-authored their work made them an especially significant inspiration for us.

CW - Not sure I have an answer for that. I know Mike and I both enjoy books that are well documented and have great bibliographies so we can find other books, articles etc. that touch on a topic we like and can search ourselves. I know our wives would agree that we both spend waaaay too much money purchasing books.

Editor's note... Don't ever let the Mrs. Bunn, Mrs. Williams and the Battlefield Bikette meet in the same room. The pressure to eBay the libraries may get too strong.

BB - What role did technology play in the writing of the book? i.e. online research, collaboration software, Skype, IM, etc?

CW - Not too much-Some small online research, but mostly through books and articles. E-mail is a wonderful thing-cheap for Mike and I to contact each other as well as for us to contact historians located across our theater of war. Mike and I met many local historians who had done great research on their particular area and we were able to combine alot of their research into this book.

MB - As Clay says, this was not a tech-heavy project. We of course have the website and relied on a digital camera and photoshop, but email was about as advanced as most of it got.

BB - Other than Andrew Jackson, which historical figure(s) jumped out at you and made you wish you had more space for biographical detail?

MB - William Weatherford was a complex individual. He was as white as Creek, yet became one of the foremost Redstick leaders. During the war he was a fearless and intelligent leader. After the war, he returned to life as a planter in south Alabama and was apparently an accepted member of the community. He must have been fascinating.

CW - Agreed. William Weatherford is a great figure-We wish there was more information out there on him.

BB - In your opinion, how much of the Creek Indian war strategy, tactics and supply were informed or provided by the British directly?

CW - Hmmm, another good question.....I will say not much. Of course, the Creek War had basically ended before the British could become directly involved. However, please be aware that many of the Creek leaders, such as Weatherford, had as much European ancestry as they had Creek ancestry, so many had read or were familiar with "white tactics" of war.

MB - Yes, this was a war planned and fought by the Redsticks. Everything might have been different had the British managed to get involved earlier, but that is just conjecture.

BB - What was your favourite map of the book and/or research?

MB - For me, it was learning about Floyd's campaign with the GA militia. Two of the largest battles of the war were fought by troops under his command, but they remain among the most unknown battles of the war. There are no markers commemorating either of them, sadly. As far as maps, I am proud that we were able to create a series of them that detailed the battles of each campaign fairly accurately. So many of the ones we have seen are wildly inaccurate.

CW - Another tough question.....I enjoyed so much of the research. The War of 1812 sections concerning Mobile, Pensacola and Lake Borgne were so fascinating to me. Many have heard of Jackson's win at New Orleans, but the events leading up to it are really unknown and I liked delving into it. The contemporary maps created by Latour were awesome and I really liked all the maps we have created to help others understand the conflict. Maps are so essential when reading any type of military history. Nothing is worse than reading a detailed account of a battle or campaign and not having a reference map to chart the movements of armies.

BB - What use was GPS and geo tagging in your research?

CW - Not much, Our favorite map was produced by Delorme. They were awesome and got us out of many fixes.

MB - Yeah, topo maps got us back to civilization a few times when we thought we'd never see another paved road!

Editor's note; Delorme is a Battlefield Biker favourite as well. See Battlefield Biker's Ride Recommendations for specific Delorme maps for battlefield touring.

BB - What support did your employer's give to the book?

CW - I did work on the book independently of my regular job with the Mississippi department of Archives and History.

MB - This was totally independent of our jobs.

BB - Did you have any great road trips together or separately in the research?

CW - Yes, the best part of the book were the trips Mike and I took together. We would meet in a central location in Alabama, drop off one car, and with maps and notes in hand, take off on a circular route to locate various areas. We took several long weekend trips. They were great, but exhausting. We would both leave our respective homes at like 6am, meet up 3 hours later, then drive around til dark, stopping at historic sites, then stay at a some hotel, then get up the next morning and repeat the process. It was always a great thrill to find a historic marker or monument off the beaten path after following some vague directions or such. Plus, those moments at Fort Mims, Horseshoe Bend, and Chalmette, overlooking the battlefield while we take photos still fills me with awe-to be on the actual ground where these momentous events took place. It is this feeling that Mike and I hope we can convey to our readers with our book.

MB - Clay and I have made many trips together, but as a group the ones for this trip were certainly the most rewarding.

BB - What was your favourite driving/riding road in your travels?

MB - Well although they were a little hazardous and difficult, I'd have to say all the unpaved roads we ventured onto were my favorite. When we did find old markers (placed in their location as much as 90 years ago when these dirt paths were thoroughfares) it was very rewarding. It gave us a sense we had truly discovered something people zipping by on the highways are missing.

BB - What's next for Bunn and Williams as a team or individually?

CW - Well, in the pipeline, Mike and I want to do a similar formatted book on the entire Mississippi Territorial period-early 1800s to 1820-tracing locations where events took place that eventually transformed this frontier area of the Gulf South into the states of Mississippi and Alabama. Again, this is such an unknown part of history that we are eager to inform the public about it and its importance.Not sure when we will be able to get into it. We are both still a little exhausted having completed this one book while both working full-time jobs. We both wish we could win the lottery or something and do this type of work full-time.

Thanks Gentlemen for a little insight to your work. It has been a pleasure reading the book and interviewing you. Please support practical scholarship like this by buying their book at the link below.

Buy Battle for the Southern Frontier and Delorme Maps from Amazon.com

Technorati Tags: 1800s 1810s 1812 1813 1814 1815 Alabama. Creek Indians Creek War local history New Orleans War of 1812 William Weatherford motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history historiography

Interesting article in The Times about the War of the Roses battle of Towton. It is still the bloodiest battle on English soil ever. Interesting information on the re-enactors and amateur historians too.
It is not far from Marston Moor if you want to make a day of it.

Technorati Tags: 1400s 1460s 1461 29 29th A1M B1217 Ferrybridge-to-Tadcaster road Lancastrians M1 March none War of the Roses Yorkists motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history

On Tuesday this week, I received the Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812, by Mike Bunn and Clay Williams in the mail. It is published by The History Press.

I absolutely devoured this book. This is my kind of popular history. Bunn and Williams have written a book of a great history, but also backed it up with lots of detail on the historical ground where the war was fought. Their bibliographic essay is a dream for those of us who like to dig a little deeper. They even include some of the source documents and illustrations in the book itself. Finally, they include lots of maps, location descriptions and images of historical markers that help us saddled adventurers find the pertinent locations on our travels.

Bunn and Williams break the story up into 5 parts...the origins of the war, war from the south northwards, from Georgia westwards, from Tennessee southwards and finally the Gulf campaign against the British. Each section has the basic history told, but also the key locations described in detail, so you can find them even if they are long lost and/or unmarked. So much of this era is only told when discussing Andrew Jackson. It is refreshing to see a book that gives a little room to the important operations around Mobile and west Georgia/east Alabama.

The book also has two things that I love in any history book which is a good timeline to start the book and a list of short biographies of all the main players. In fact, I like to read the timeline and biographies first to give me good mental hooks to hang the story on as I read. These are both tight, stand-alone references for anyone who wants to start a deeper study of the conflict.

I've already mentioned the detailed and helpful bibliographic essay, but the selection of original documents are also a great read. Of special note are the accounts of the Canoe fight and Tecumseh's speech to the Creek, which I have blogged about previously here. There is also a website to support the book that can be found here.

This book, by the author's own admission, is not meant to add a lot of new scholarship to the history, but in my mind it does what it is meant to do admirably. In some ways, I think the authors do not give themselves enough credit when it comes to their photo documentation of the historical sites as original research. I have read many accounts of this war, but have yet been able to visualize several of the important geographic features. An example is Emuckfau Creek. There are creeks that can be crossed with a leap, or barely getting your feet wet, or wade-able or only swimmable. When imagining the battle, it is hard to determine whether it was hard or easy to cross in the midst of a battle. However, Bunn and Williams answer that for me by giving me a photo on Emuckfau on page 89. No other factual account has done that for me. There are far too few military histories with adequate maps, good directions to the key points for travelers, concise biographies of key players, original images and solid bibliographies written in a way that does not intimidate new readers nor insult those who already come to the subject with some knowledge. This one does all of these things and does them well.

Great book. Bunn and Williams get a coveted Battlefield Biker helmet nod.

Buy Battle for the Southern Frontier from Amazon.com

Technorati Tags: 1800s 1810s 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 Alabama Andrew Jackson Creek War Ferdinand Claiborne Florida Georgia Jeremiah Austill John Coffee Mobile New Orleans Pensacola Sam Dale Talladega War of 1812 Wetumpka motorcycle touring battlefields motorcycle military history book review

As I do here occasionally, I have a posting from a guest blogger. This one is from uShip.com's Alyssa Moskowitz. uShip.com is a marketplace for shippers to bid for your shipping needs. They ship all kinds of stuff, but for these purposes, we're talking about motorcycle shipping.
I've agreed to let uShip.com do this, because I've never shipped a bike, but know some of my readers are looking for this type of info. Without further ado, here's Alyssa.

If you are a fan of touring all the great battle sites of history, there are likely few places you have always wanted to visit but could not due to the great amount of time it would take to travel there and back. Shipping your motorcycle, even just one way, can save you a lot of time and allow you to fit in more stops on your journey. Here are a few tips to help you prepare your bike before shipping it:

Remove Extra Items

Your carrier should provide insurance when shipping your motorcycle, but this does not cover accessories or other things being stored in the bike. Be sure to remove anything that is not a part of the bike itself, including any loose parts, since they will not be covered by insurance if they are lost, stolen, or damaged.

Check for Damage

Make sure to take a detailed inventory of any existing damage on the bike before sending it with the carrier. Clean the bike first to make it easier to see any imperfections. Taking pictures of the bike from several different angles, including detailed shots of any cosmetic damage, is a good way to document scratches or dings. This way, if any damage occurs during shipping, you can prove that they were not there before in case of a dispute.

Bike Preparations

Some companies will require that you empty or drain your fuel tank and disconnect the battery prior to transporting it. Check your carrier’s policies ahead of time to make pick-up run more smoothly. Also be sure your tires are fully inflated and fix any leaks.

Have a great time touring and ride safe!

Technorati Tags: cross continent long haul none overseas shipping uShip world wide motorcycle touring motorcycles Sunapee New Hampshire battlefields military history motorcycle shipping

Kevin Levin at Civil War Memory has an interesting discussion on how hard it is to write about the tactical aspects of Military History.

I agree that it takes a great imagination. It is hard to put incredibly difficult situations like battles into human terms. The noise, the fear, the confusion & the uncertainty of what is actually happening can contrive to rob any person of their senses. So, how does a writer of history capture that fact along with a smooth narrative? With great difficulty.

Technorati Tags: American Civil War motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history historiography

Cool article on US Revolutionary War marksmanship training of the militia.
I'm currently reading Patriot Battles: How the Revolutionary War Was Fought which is long on the specifics of the fighting, so this article really interested me.

Technorati Tags: 1700s 1770s 1780s American Revolution American Revolutionary War marksmanship militia rifles motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history

The new World Military History Blog has a concise history of the US Berlin Brigade.

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The remnants of the home that was used by the Washington family during George Washington's boyhood have been discovered at Ferry Farm. This find is viewed as an important link in the fairly tight geographical spread of Washington's life.
Fine rides in the area are here.

Technorati Tags: American Revolution American Revolutionary War Ferry Farm French and Indian War George Washington Indian Wars Before American Revolution Virginia motorcycle touring motorcycles motorcycle-touring battlefields military history military-history

As I do here occasionally, I am reviewing a product, area or service associated with motorcycle touring. In the process of traveling around New Hampshire and reading and thinking about the Revolutionary War in Indian Country, I had the opportunity to stay in the beautiful Sunapee Harbor area. This really is an area of outstanding beauty and history.

Sunapee Harbor is near the town of Sunapee, New Hampshire on the southern shore of Lake Sunapee. The area saw Loyalists, Patriots and Indians operate here in the Revolutionary War. The favoured son seems to be John Stark of Bennington fame, but many road-side historical markers mention the Loyalist Robert Rogers and his Rangers. The Indians had a particularly hard time in having to choose between Rebels and Redcoats when all most of the Indians wanted was to be left alone. There were Indians at Dartmouth College (30 miles from Sunapee) who had Patriot leanings, but also many of the Seven Nations' tribes (lower Canada) who sided with the British..... and many caught in between. Anyway, the Revolutionary War history of the area is fascinating.

The motorcycle touring is also superb in the summer months. Great backroads for twisties and forest trails for the more aggressive dualies are mixed with a good interstate system that allows you to cover big distance quickly when you need too. My favourite roads were around Kearsarge mountain. Additionally, the long run from Littleton to Hanover along highway 10 is excellent. Norwegian red barns along lush green rolling hills of western New Hampshire are an intoxicating mix for lazy riding and thinking. For you riders that like the big bike festivals, it doesn't get much bigger than nearby Laconia.

Finally, there seems to be many great many B&Bs, hotels and Guest houses in the area. Unfortunately, I got myself and friends locked into a week at one of the worst of them... for familes anyway. The Sunapee Harbor Cottages promote themselves as a family friendly establishment, but as best as I can tell that is only if your children like to sit quietly on the front porch and not make any noise. We had several run-ins with the Manager when our kids had committed the travesties of letting a screen door slam, allowing their ball to roll into the flowers and exploring the woods behind the cottages. The Manager had the really annoying habit of hanging her head out of her door and yelling at our kids (and insulting us) from 20 yards away. As the Manager felt our kids were completely out of control, because they lit a sparkler (2 July) and assembled a kite on the lawn, she decided to call the Sunapee Police over to witness her as she advised one of the couples in our group of all of our infractions. Finally, a small point for many, but a big one for some of us. Although promising wi-fi broadband, I was able to access Sunapee Harbor Cottages exactly 1 time in a week long stay. The Manager promised to get it fixed at first, but by the end, she took great glee in telling us she would get it working after we left just to spite us.

We really did have a great time in Sunapee Harbor, except for the lodging, so don't let that put you off. If you are a middle aged couple with no kids ( but don't mind lots of rules and a 15 minute haranguing session at the beginning of your stay ), then Sunapee Harbor Cottages might be for you ( the owner did not post my rather downbeat assessment of her establishment in her list of glowing reviews ). However, if you are a family with kids who like to do kid things, go to Sunapee Harbor Cottages at the peril of having the Police called for the crime of letting some burger grease drip from the grill onto the deck.

Get on the bike and enjoy rural New Hampshire in the summer. 4 Stars (the only thing that keeps the trip from getting the coveted Battlefield Biker 5 Stars is the wretched Sunapee Harbor Cottages)

UPDATE - Looks like I'm not the only one who feels this way about Sunapee Harbor Cottages. A further look finds another ...... and another ..... and another. Wow, here's a site that has multiple bad reviews (Travel Post has since deleted the property from their reviews). This list of bad experiences is pretty hard to ignore. By all means, go to Sunapee Harbor, but avoid the Sunapee Harbor Cottages.

Technorati Tags: American Revolution American Revolutionary War bad experience holiday Indian Wars Before American Revolution review review Sunapee Sunapee Better Business Bureau Sunapee Harbor Cottages Sunapee Police Sunapee-Harbor-Cottages terrible service trip vacation motorcycle touring motorcycles Sunapee New Hampshire battlefields military history Sunapee Harbor Cottages