I've posted before about an upcoming history of the August 5, 1861 Battle of Athens. The most recent edition of Clark Kenyon's Camp Pope Bookshop newsletter mentions that he is still hard at work preparing it for publication. It now has a title, Skim Milk Yankees Fighting: The Battle of Athens, Missouri (did they even have skim milk back then?), and the planned release is for August '07.
Another upcoming book of Civil War Iowa interest is Jeffry Burden's editing of regimental adjutant Samuel Pryce's mammoth unpublished history of the 22nd Iowa Infantry (no pub date set). Preliminary information about two 14th Iowa publications is also provided: a reprint of Soldier Life (1907) by Benjamin F. Thomas and a new regimental history written by a unit member descendent (publisher as yet undetermined).
Of course they had skim milk. All you do is skim the cream off the top rather than stirring it back in.
ReplyDeleteGreetings! Anonymous' comment is creme de la creme (!). The title for my book came from a letter written the same day after the fight by 1st N.E. Mo. Home Guard private John T. Hiller. Hiller wrote: “As they claim they can whip 5 to 1 and as some of their party said they did not know about these skim milk yankees fighting they may find out to their sorrow.”
ReplyDeleteBy the time he wrote this, "they"--the Mo.State Guard--had indeed found out, having retreated pell mell under Home Guard fire. So, the proof of the metaphor was, in this case, not in the pudding; the Home Guard proved to be creamier (?), richer (?), less anemic (?), more full-bodied (?), what (?), than their State Guard antagonists originally suggested.
Best,
Jon Cooper-Wiele (civilitea@peoplepc.com), author of Skim Milk Yankees Fighting: The Battle of Athens, Missouri (forthcoming December 2007/January 2008 from Camp Pope Bookshop under the able proprietorship and editorship of Clark Kenyon), Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Hi Jon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and for your comment about the title. I've been following your progress with Clark for a long time and am anxious to see the final product.
DW