Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War

My middle child was assigned a self study project. After much thought, he came up with two potential ideas, Dragons and the 18th Massachusetts.
I can’t tell you how happy I was that he picked my beloved 18th Mass.

So last night I took part in my first interview with him where he asked me close to 25 questions about the unit and what it and the soldiers went through. It was also pretty weird to sit there and want to overwhelm him with information that was stored and my brain but instead wait for him to ask specific questions.

It’s going to be a month long process and tonight was just the start. I left him with homework though, lots and lots of reading. Besides the short history of the 18th that appears on our website, he’ll have “Fighting with the Eighteenth Massachusetts” by Thomas Mann, and then his article “A Yankee in Andersonville”.

I really don’t know how it will end. Too be honest, I am scared to death I am going to completely force him away from anything dealing with the Civil War much less the 18th. I hope he gets bit by the same bug that myself, Donald and Steve has. Hopefully, I’ll get him to post a couple times during the next month with his progress.

I hope all of you will enjoy it as much as I am right now.