Oh, I see where you were going now. Yes, I agree with your exasperation, but all we can use with any certainty are the memoirs of men who actually were at Lawrence, and hope they stuck to the straight and narrow when they got around to writing it down. Remember that some of those guys waited until 1909 or so and their memories were not always the best.

One source who interviewed lots of guerrillas right after the war was John N. Edwards for his book, "Noted Guerrillas." I can throw out anything Edwards wrote about the Yankee side--I mean commander's name, the units involved, and especially the tremendous number of Yanks the guerrilas killed. It appears that Edwards was simply not interested in being factual about the Yanks. That was not what his book was about. I understand that. Unfortunately, on some actions Edwards included a long list of southern men who took part, but I don't have a lot of condidence in those lists. I am certain Edwards was correct about some of those names being at certain fights, but I also get the impression that he salted names into some accounts just like some cooks make Mulligan Stew--just throw a bunch of things into it for the overall effect. This does not give me a lot of confidence in his writing. When I can corroborate Edwards with other sources, then I feel better about citing him as a source for a particular action.

We need to be careful of the danger to tweek the writing to come out "more satisfying," like we wish it had ended. Where would we be if folks tweeked their family tree just to spice it up or bury something they don't like? I have seen this, too, and if it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

In John Ford's 1962 film after the Jimmy Stewart senator character told the reporter how things really happened all those years ago, the reporter said as he left "Well, when the American people are given the choice between the truth and the legend, they take the legend every time. No sir, I won't print what you just told me. Good day, Senator."

I said this before, but please give me the truth and I can find a way to live with that. I'm tired of being lied to. The lie is just harder to take.

Well, that's my opinion. I remember what we used to say in the Army about people's opinions...

Bruce