Larry,
I appreciate the mention, but we all make mistakes no matter how well we research and consult. When all is said and done, at least we discover the truth, and I can tell that is what you are after, too. I applaud the open and straight-forward way you acknowledge a couple of small points I made, but please remember that in my mind, this takes away little from the fine work you do. In fact, Larry Wood's stock just went up several notches in my humble estimation. I like the way you reference your resources in the books you write, I own several of them, and I cite your books often both in my works and in my responses to forums like this one. If you write, there will be errors. Same with me. Now, go back on the mound and pitch.
It may be of little consolation to you that Jim Ryder or Rider was about the most secretive guerrilla leader in all of Missouri during the war. There were only a few bushwhacker bosses who protected their private lives and families well enough to walk away from Missouri's horrible guerrilla war with minimal collateral damage. I would call Jim Ryder the poster child for doing that. He was that slick, and his wife's response to the provost marshal's office on 9 March 1865 in Chillicothe, Livingston County, righr after she filed for divorce from Jim Ryder proved that to me. If you haven't seen this remarkable discourse before, you can find it edited by Wayne Scfhnetzer in "Tribulations of a Bushhwacker's Wife," in "The Blue & Grey Chronicle," Independence, MO Vol. 9, Number 5, June 2006. Either Talitha Alice Rider was telling the truth or she was a great actress in the performance she gave that day in the PM office.
Many years ago some of my drill sergeants (all combat veterans) repeatedly used the phrase to me and each other: "If that's the dumbest thing you do today, the rest of the day should work out all right." I gather that phrase was coined in a combat zone, and if anybody knows, please get back to me about it.
My father-in-law repeatedly tells me regarding my historical research and writing: "Bruce, you weren't there, so how do you know?" The answer is that I am only as good as my sources, and how well I corroborate those sources, but I wouldn't dare tell such a thing to my fathter-in-law. His question is always correct, and I have it as sort of a motto.
Bruce