Tom Clemens makes his debut in the blogosphere today on The Maryland Campaign of 1862. That’s also the title of his two-volume series coming soon from Savas-Beatie: a carefully annotated edition of General Ezra Carman’s life’s work.

Tom's book, cover

Volume 1: South Mountain arrives mid-May 2010.

Among other things, Tom promises to use the site to get some of the hundreds of letters from battle veterans to Carman and the Antietam Battlefield Board online. Those eyewitness accounts formed much of the factual basis for Carman’s iconic narrative of the battle.

Tom’s new website/blog uses WordPress software, with a custom visual design built on the Thematic framework. I can recommend this software combination to anyone who wants to get online quickly, while still serving clean, fast-running and compliant code, with simple maintenance and vast flexibility in visual appearance.

In short, the tool doesn’t get in the way of the content.

WordPress makes it easy for Tom – who is not a web guy by profession – to maintain both the content and the look & feel of his online home down the road.

Good blogging and welcome, Tom!

8 Responses to “New blog: the Maryland Campaign of 1862”

  1. Andy Walters says:

    Tom,

    I cannot wait for this work to become available. Would you please tell me how this work is different from Pierro’s work.

  2. Brian says:

    Hi Andy – You can ask Tom Clemens about the new book(s) directly over on his blog!

  3. Tom Clemens says:

    Andy,
    Since I have not seen you on the blog site, and others may rightly wonder the same thing, here is a short answer. My version is more in-depth in terms of the amount of information provided. I have more footnotes, and they discuss much more than Pierro’s. He was identifying source, I analyze them, discuss the reliability of them and use more of the letters to the Battlefield Board to identify where Carman got his information. My version has maps, 22 of them! It also has several pictures of scenes of the campaign and 3 pictures of Carman. BTW, the other version’s picture of Carman is incorrect. Savas Beatie has done a nice job of putting it in an attractive and readable format, and cheaper too!

  4. Andy Walters says:

    Tom,

    Thanks for the information. I have a Civil War library of over 4100 books. In my reading I find footnotes and maps essential. Thank you for the reply. I look forward to picking up and reading these two volumes.

  5. Stephanie Crane says:

    I became interested in Antietam for a grad. school project and now can’t wait until your work is ready for release.This sounds like a history teachers dream book

  6. Larry Freiheit says:

    Tom,

    Both Maj. Gen. Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana and Brig. Gen. Ezra Ayers Carman should be happy of the correct photo! Carman I’m sure was happy not to suffer the fate of Dana at Antietam, however.

    I am anxious to get your book both from Amazon and the ANB bookstore. Congratulations again and I look forward to volume 2 and your magazine article.

  7. Pamplin Historical Park says:

    Hello,

    I have read your blog and thought that you and some of your followers may be interested in an annual symposium we host at Pamplin Historical Park. If you are interested in attending or need more information please feel free to contact us. More information can be found on our website as well, http://www.pamplinpark.org. We hope you will be interested in attending!

    Thank You,
    Pamplin Historical Park and
    The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
    (804)861-2408 Office
    (804)861-2820 Fax

  8. Roy Hunter says:

    I am looking for information on the 38th GA
    at Antietam .

    rghunter3@juno.com

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