What I'd like to get straight is exactly where and when he was. Was he in Virginia as well as later being with Hood
in the '64 campaign? My brother, Dr. Allan D. Charles, teaches history and German at USC-Union and is the official
historian of Union County and has written its official history as well as other more esoteric volumes such as The
History of Dentistry in SC...BUT he is only interested in the paternal side of our family, the Charles side and has done
much, much research on, say, Anderson W. Charles, one of our great, greats in the war, but absolutely nothing
regarding the maternal side, which includes J. J. McDaniel. He's quite busy right now teaching and writing and is not
interested in delving into poor, neglected J. J. I asked him some questions and all he came back with was "you know
more about him than I do" and then sent me more info on Anderson Charles. Older brothers should, ahem, actually
be more helpful than that. So I find myself on my own trying to turn J. J. into a real, living person who mattered. I am
a writer of sorts and have a lot of online things wherein that is my sole motive, to take a piece of the past and make it
real. I was a history major at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC and my whole aim in wanting to teach history was to
make it...more. One of my professors only wanted from his students that they be able to list every single losing Vice
Presidential candidate in order, complete with dates, etc. For me, I find myself philosophically involved with the fact that
every single past 'now' was just as present, just as real, mattered just as much as all the moment-by-moment 'nows'
that we each experience. For me, history is the people who lived it, what it was like for them, what they thought about,
cared about, feared, loved, and it's important to me that that not be lost. Because my husband's work brought us to
Pittsburgh in 1974 and I have been here ever since, I've gotten involved in the history of western PA which is all around
me, especially given that ol' George W. hisveryself was here so much. For the last 2 1/2 years I've lived more easterly out
of Pittsburgh, a bit toward Johnstown, which has led my natural curiosity to delve deeply into the great flood of 1889
and I wrote a book about it, peopled with characters I invented mixed in with actual folks because I wanted to make the
experience of that flood a real thing. I've walked the streets of Johnstown up and down, gone out to the old clubhouse,
stood at the edge of what is left of the dam, and even walked down to the bottom of what was the lakebed, trying to
get a feel for it. Now that I find that I am J. J.'s only surviving progeny who gives a damn about him, I'm thinking of trying
to make him live in pages I might write and therefore this research on him has taken on an added importance to me and
I simply cannot do what I'd like to do in his honor without tracking down his whens and wheres. I have a lot of stories
about him after the war that were passed down but only a small dribble during the war. So absolutely whatever help
anybody here can give me would be vastly appreciated because I cannot breathe life into his bones if I don't know where
his bones have been. I'm so pleased to have literally stumbled across this site where the people are both friendly and
knowledgable. I've felt quite on my own with this thing and now I don't. So my heartfelt thanks to any and all of you
who feel inclined to offer me advice and help.
Jo