Dick, thanks for the suggestion about the external hard drive. I've read a little about them, and I think when I get a new computer sometime this year, I'll go ahead and get one. I've had my computer for several years, and little things are starting to go haywire with it (not counting the ones I've inflicted on it).

I think most people would find Dr. McPheeters' book pretty boring. But for people like us, with ravenous appetites for Civil War "trivia", it's an absolute treasure. His experiences epitomize the old saying that a soldier's life is months of routine, punctuated by moments of sheer terror. The meticulous detail of his diary gives us a real "you are there" sense of what life was like in the backwater of the war.

If you get ahold of "Rebel Watchdogs", I think you'll find the civilian passport system described therein very interesting. The book also lists all known provost-guards (very skimpy on the Trans-Mississippi though).