The First Step

They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem.

When I was five years old I checked out my first book from the Port Arthur Public Library.  It was a picture book about the Civil War.  I don't know the name of it, but I do remember that it was a big book (at least in my five year old mind) and had a hard red cover.  I have been addicted to the war ever since.

It certainly didn't help matters that I grew up around my great-grandmother who was born in 1898.  She knew several Confederate veterans as a child and even attended a United Confederate Veterans reunion with her Uncle.  When she wasn't threatening to "settle my hash", she told me stories about the veterans she had known in her childhood.  She and I probably watched Gone With the Wind about a hundred times!  It was her favorite movie.  Thanks to her, I'll never wear a hat inside.  She has been gone for 19 years, but I still miss her.

I cannot explain the deep abiding passion I have for the Civil War.  It is certainly stronger than my fear of clowns.  Or my love of redheads..  Since I first opened that book 30 years ago, I have been unable to escape the hold that the Civil War has on me.

This blog will explore some of the areas of the war that are of particular interest to me.  And I will also explore why I have this connection with those traumatic years.  Maybe I will find some answers.  And maybe I will just end up with more questions.

I have been an occasional adjunct history instructor, though adjuncting is a tough way to make a living.  So I work full time in a field unrelated to history by day and study the past by night.  I am available to give presentations on Civil War topics anywhere in the Greater Houston/Southeast Texas area.  I normally do several each year and I always have room for one more.

My name is Lee Hutch.  And I am a Civil War addict.