Rick McBee's Writings
Explore the magic of new ideas and books to read as well as see what books I have written, my favorite photos, my opinions on may subjects, including Science, Africa, the Caribbean, the Civil War, my Book Reviews, and Much More!
Book Review: Harlan Coben’s “The Final Detail”
I love a book that starts off with a first sentence that is like a three pronged hook that just reaches out and grabs you and leaves you flopping like a carp on the line. Where else but in a Harlan Coben book do you get as starter like this: “Myron lay sprawled next to a knee-knockingly gorgeous brunette clad only in a Class-B-felony bikini….” You got me even though she really didn’t have a lot to do with the murder!
Then I love the hulk-sized lady wrestler, Big Cyndi, who is big, tough, ugly as sin, yet smart enough to save all Myron’s info when the cops snag his computers. What a gal, faithful and willing to act as backup if Myron doesn’t have his alter-ego Win available.
Esmeralda is innocent from the start, Myron knows it, Big Cyndi knows it, yet she’s framed so completely that it really looks like she’s going to get fried for the murder of Myron’s baseball pitching client, Clu Haide. As a tag-team wrestling partner with Big Cyndi she can take care of herself.
Now the real character who kind of sends chills down your back is Myron’s alter-ego friend, Win. A man rich enough to find a guy hiding out in the Caribbean on a lonely island with the bikini girl. A guy who is passively aggressive to the point of your not knowing when he will take on the next couple of thugs in a pizza parlor, shoot up the town, intimidate a mobster, or just remove someone to clear the air a bit.
Coben has a knack for writing this kind of adventure, detective fiction and is well worth reading whether you are one a plane, at home or out with the lady in the B-Class felony bikini.
[[ASIN:1589827139 Rough Enough: Including Richard H. Clow’s Letters and Diary from the Civil and Indian Wars, 1865 – 1875]]
John Sherwin (Sher) Clow Civil War Vet. – Brother of Richard H. Clow
“John Sherwin Clow, 1836 – 1909, and the Civl War, Compiled by Catherine Clow, his daughter by the second wife. Closed Stacks: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, E476.69.C55
John Sherwin (Sher) Clow, was a Civil War Veteran and one of the older brothers of CW Vet. Richard Headley Clow, about whom I have already written a ton, including a book.
“Sher” is the nick name he used to differentiate himself from his father , John Stevenet Clow and which is used by Richard in his letters when communicating with his sister during the war.
The manuscript is 33 pages long and documents daughter Catherine’s written history of her father. It adds original information about the war both from the front, but also from the side of the women who waited at home for their men.
For instance: John Clow’s wife was… Celinda Burnap Clow, sister to Colonel William Burnap.
JOhn Clow enlisted and was mustered into service in Rochester, Minnesota on Sept. 3, 1864 and was paid a bounty of $33.33 with $66.67 due. He went to Ft. Snelling, St. Paul, Minn. and was immediately mustered into Co. K., 4th Regt. Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. On Sept. 19, 1864 the 4th Minnesota Regt. was ordered to Altoona, GA and attached to the 1st Div, 15th Corps, Army of Tennessee. Initially assigned to gurad duty on a million rations in Altoona. they were attacked on Oct. 5th 1864 by French’s Division attempting to recapture the town.
John Clow’s letter of 18 Dec.to “Grandma” (Sarah Wyman Redman), 1864 says: ” We left Altoona on the 12th of Nov. and arrived here (near Savannah) having marched a distance of nearly 250 miles. We came by way of Atlanta, McDonough, Clinton and Gordon, stopping occasionally to tear up railroads, burn buoldings, cotten, etc……The notes in my diary would fill a volume…There were 17 tons of mail came yesterday for Sherman’s army….”
A great long letter – you will want to read the whole thing. Also another written by his older sister, Agnes, to his wife, Celinda about health of the family and other women’s concerns. Well worth reading. I’ll do a bote on parts of it in another blog.
The manuscript can be gotten in full from the university library in Oshkosh. Cost is $5.00. Well worth it! The real point here as you look at the captivating photo of the man is to note his intensity as well as dress.
See my other links at: http://www.amazon.com/author/rickmcbee
and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rough-enough-richard-mcbee/1114682075.
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough,” Set #10, Chapter #7: How Bad Does the War have to be to be “Rough Enough?”
In Chapter 7 we follow Richard Clow beyond the intense shelling and attacks on April 1, 1865 into the second day of the assault in which Petersburg finally falls to the combined Union forces and General Lee begins the long painful flight to the West across much of the State of Virginia to end at Appomattox Court House and surrender.
Richard Clow only writes 6 lines to his sister on the 9th of April, giving some indication of his own state of exhaustion after following the Confederate retreat across the hills of Virginia.
“I am alive and in good health. We have been marching for some days and I have not had a chance to write. I can only say a few words now while the Regt. is in a large field waiting for orders.
I am quite well and just as leave fight as eat. Write and tell Father so I never heard from him since I enlisted. I expect to be home soon for we have done our part.
I was one of the first in the rebel fort April 2nd. It was rough enough.”
When I first read this letter, I was struck by those last two words “rough enough.”
I thought to myself, “What does it mean for a soldier who has been fairly verbal in describing his experiences to just say to his sister that it was “rough enough?”
Since he has already described some pretty difficult situations, What is it that he is not telling us? Is it because he in fact is too exhausted? Doesn’t he have enough time? Or is it something that he has yet to come to terms with and put in enough perspective to be able to verbalize?
He doesn’t write another letter for six days (April 15), but when he does, it is a mixture of worry, hope and perhaps some despair as to what has happened and what will happen. It begins with some optimism but you can see that there has been a lot of stress:
…”I am well and having a good time at foraging as the army has never been here before. The boys know how to relish good things as we have been cut very short rations for some time….”
Then we get the crux of the problem after another ten lines:
…“I lost my best chumb in the battle of the 2nd of April. He was hit in the side of the neck….the only hope was to press forward amid the the shower of lead and iron…”
The letter end on another note that shows how his world view has changed:
…”I will be back on the old farm again some day, I hope.”
Nothing is completely sure in life after going through a war.
What would it take for you to say,”It was rough enough?”
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough” set #9, Chapter #6: How do you attack across these kinds of defenses?
On April 1, 1965, Richard Clow describes a part of one of the charges on probably Fort Mahone, often described as one of the strongest built forts on the Confederate line around Petersburg.
“We could hear each charge they made. The rebs would run with a kind of yelp like so many hounds and our boys would would rush on cheer and shout which could be heard for many miles around.”
A part of the charge would have been over open ground. But once the charge got close to the fort, they faced walls of abatis and fraises which consisted of sharpened brush and stakes respectively, in front of mud filled steep walled ditches.
The picture above only show a small portion of a defensive pattern outside a fort. Here you can see an approximation of the shape of Union Fort Steadman with those walls and trenches with cannon peeking out. A formidable obstacle.
The men looking out over the cannons had a different view. Their flanks had obstakles over which the enemy had to climb or skirt, and their cannons peered right through various portals in the for to strafe the enemy as they came forward. In seeing these on the battlefield of Petersburg, you realize why the battles became blood baths. 
It is small wonder that Richard Clow in a later letter note that, “The streams flowed red…”
How do attack such defenses without loosing 1000 or 5000 men?
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough,” Set #8, Chapter #5: What Happens When Soldiers get too Accostumed to the Death and Destruction of War? Did These Men Develop PTSD Type Symptoms?
The brain of a person who is associated with the long term violence and death of warfare has to either come to terms with that situation and rationalize some of the things that they see, or they begin to go crazy. This is seen as why soldiers returning from the front lines can have a hard time communicating what they experienced, saw, or did when relating to their non-combatant friends and families.
Consider the following point:
A. We hear Richard Clow trying to depersonalize the other side and ‘laugh it off’ in Chapter 4 when he notes, “It looks so funny to see the ditches full of dead Johneys (his spelling) as they call them.”
B. Several weeks later, around March 12, we begin to hear some different things in Richard’s letters:
1. He recognizes that he is in a vulnerable spot at Fort Alexander Hays on te front lines when he says, “…it is a rather weak place compared to the others (meaning the other forts) and we expect they will make a break here if they do anywhere.”
2. He recognizes that he is not immortal and invincible when he becomes careless on picket duty when sniping at the other side and was nearly killed, “…how the balls did sing around the pit was a caution. One struck the pit just a few inches above my head and fell down in some water. I fired 75 rounds of ammunition that night and it was then they fired at the flash of my gun.”
3. He realizes that the other guys, the Confederates, are also human beings who have human emotions, “…the rebels that come into our lines are dressed in gray uniforms all torn to pieces and they look very worn and discouraged.”
4. There is an almost cavalier attitude at times about death and the dead remains of the Confederate soldiers, “We go into the woods here and kick about solid shot and shell and skulls as many as we take a notion to.”
With these kinds of phrases being sent home in letters, it is probable that what the men were exposed to was significantly worse and these thoughts were putting things into a warrior perspective which may have not been healthy once they got back to civilization in Boston after the end of the war.
The documentation of the period would indicate that there may very well have been a number of men who developed what we today call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unfortunately, except for a few keenly observant doctors of the time, for the most part battle fatigue was simply treated with rest, a few good meals and then back to the front lines.
What kinds of similarities do you find in today’s combat descriptions of men on the front lines when they suddenly realize that war is not all that the folks back home who glamorize and glorify it would have you believe?
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough” Set #7 – Chapter #4: Can You Empathize with Richard Clow on This Passage?
Here’s a passage from “Rough Enough,” my Civil War book detailing Richard Clow’s Enlistment, Training, Combat, Reenlistment for the Frontier, Indian Conflicts, Marriage, Life on the farm, Mining for Deadwood Gold and moving on to Oregon.
Do you empathize with this section of his letter dated Feb. 23, 1865 on board the Steamship De Molay?
“I had rather a hard time on board the boat. They put 350 of us in the after hold. It was dark as pitch almost and only one small hole to get out by. There was just room for us all to stand up in it and when it came to lie down in it we were five tier deep and if you wanted to get out from the back of the crud you would have to crawl over all the rest of them and they would put a knife into you. A great many were served this way. I came through all right though.”
For me, although I can never truly understand the living “hell” that those men went through, it does bring back memories of two awful, yet very memorable passages across the Atlantic: one in the Spring of 1960 (March), and the other in the Fall of 1960 (October) aboard the Dutch Ship Maasdam and the German Ship Seven Seas respectively.
Our only source of escape from seasickness (the illness itself, the smell of the illness and the messes of puke left everywhere) during the five days of storms on each of those 7 day voyages was to wake up, grab your clothes and get out into the cold and the rain on deck. Then nip into the dining room, wolf your food and get back out on deck again before you know what came up all over the place.
By standing in the rear of the ship out of the direct wind and rain and watching the horizon and waves we managed to hold things together, eat a couple more meals and wait until dark. Then it was a mad dash to the bunk in a tiny cabin with six of us in it and fall asleep to the rocking and not get sick. If you went into the toilet, you had to literally scream to prevent yourself from gagging due to the smell and shut your eyes while sitting on the can to prevent yourself from seeing the mess all around you.
The crew couldn’t keep up with the upchucks!
The only enjoyment during the day, once we got into the storms was to brave the wind and icy rain and follow the safety rope handrails to the open foredeck near the bow where a three foot high sheet metal rail stood fast against the storm.
There we would stand, faces into the wind, squinting our eyes, laughing, and watching the bow of the ship bury itself into the depths of a giant wave. Then, watching as the bow rose up towards the sky and the ship plowed over the mighty crest, a wall of water was thrown back towards us. Across the decks it came rushing, reaching higher than our heads. With grins like the fools we were at ages 16 and 11, my brother and I would wait until the last possible moment when the wall of water was almost upon us.
Then with shrieks of laughter we would duck down into the protective hollow behind the wall as the water roared and crashed into the wall and above our heads, leaving us unscathed. With fire in our eyes we would repeat the adventure for hours until a poorly timed duck soaked us to the skin or a passing crew member shepherded us back to safety with a warning.
Back to the acid stinking air of the hold, back to thoughts of seasickness and back to dreams of doing it again tomorrow.
So, You’ve heard from me. How do you relate to Richard Clow’s experience?
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough” set #6, Chapter #3 : Being Cheated out of the recruitment bounties?
How do you entice people to join up to fight a war that has suddenly become a blood bath and everyone knows it?
That became a question for both the Union and Confederate Armies and their governments. One of the solutions was to pay an additional bounty or enlistment bonus to the new recruits who were willing to take on a three year enlistment in the Union Army and a one year enlistment in the Confederate Army.
Richard Clow’s Letter home on Feb, 5, 1865 states what he thinks he heard from the recruiter.
“I am a soldier once more…. The bounty we were to receive was $125 cash and $425 next Tuesday/ $200 next payment and our $16 per month or, if not, we could have $1220 and take it by installments making it so that if we were discharged before our time was up we would lose a good part of it…So I thought I would make sure of it. I am in for three years….”
On Feb. 11th, 1865 Richard Writes again, this time with a bit different amount,
“I send this money being part of the $20 which I received of my (bounty?) one hundred 80 more coming. You will keep a look out for some money. I do not know whether it will go by express or by mail, by mail I think the paymaster is to send it. I gave into his charge…..”
On Feb. 15, 1865 writing in response to a letter from home Richard says:
“You need not feel alarmed about my bounty for I am looking out to make all I can. If they will cheat me what will they do to those poor ignorant ….?”
SO WHAT HAPPENED? It appears Richard got the wrong info. or was cheated out of a lot of bounty. How do you interpret what he wrote home?
How does this philosophy work today? Would a $100.00 bonus tempt you? $1,000.00? $10,000.00? How does a bonus have to compare to the living wage and average annual salary of non-skilled and/or skilled workers in order to get them to enlist?
Do we still have “Bounty Jumpers” today who try to take the money and run? What is the penalty now versus what happened in the 1860’s?
What happened to the bounty that began at $100.00 during the first year of the Civil War by the time we get to 1864 and 1865?
What does our military pay today for an enlistment or reenlistment bounty to retain key members of the armed forces? Is this a logical use of money when one considers training costs for a new replacement?
Reader Questions for “Rough Enough” #5: for Chapter 2- Equipment Provision and Bounties to later Volunteers in the Union Army.
As you read through the second chapter of Rough Enough it is important to remember that the military has treated it’s volunteers quite differently over the ages. This treatment has to do with enlistment periods as well as equipment provided.
In 1776 the War of Revolution Era, virtually every soldier in the First Continental Army started off as a volunteer and had to initially provide everything all the way from weaponry to clothing and at times even food. The period of service was often for as long as the volunteer had the feeling that he was involved in a cause that he was able to believe in and could give up enough time from the family farm or business in order to take up arms and be a soldier. If planting time came on the farm and a farmer needed to go home and plant crops, he just went home.
By the time of the American Civil War, or War of Rebellion as it was often called by the Union soldiers; there was a standing Army for the United States with issuance of uniforms, weapons and equipment for the regulars. The terms of service also in writing with a contracted commitment by the soldier to serve for a defined period of time.
Now let’s move to the last portion of the Civil War. What do you see as the causes behind that fact that Richard Clow and others were asked to provide their own bedding, mattresses, boots and even winter clothing? What was going on that made this a necessity for the later volunteers in the Union Army, whereas it wasn’t so at the beginning of the war?
In addition, how had the system of paying an enlistment bounty changed during the Civil War? What were the reasons for this change? Why would you pay an enlistment bounty for an infantry soldier but not for an engineer?
What is the difference in the thinking behind giving a bounty in the Civil War and the thinking today about giving bounties for enlistment and reenlistment?
Why Amazon thinks you’re Stupid (Opinion Piece) reblog from Ionia Martin
Why Amazon thinks you’re Stupid (Opinion Piece).
Although I’m an author and am fortunate enough to have about ten very good reviews on Amazon for my book, Rough Enough, I certainly believe that cutting off a review just because it is from someone’s relative if a bit simple minded. The gamesmanship of the persons who review others to make them feel happy about a book that may be mediocre is a mystery to me. I have reviewed a number of books on Amazon, GoodReads and other places because I like the book. Even in the case where I find a flaw, such as in James Rollins’ book Amazonia, I still rate it as I feel it is deserving and in tha case of that book, it was a jolly good read! I still have some weird dreams about his descriptions of the Yanomamo Indian (read Jivaro Indian for you ancients) methodology of shrinking human heads. I remember a friend who’s family actually had a real one back in the 50’s (I wonder what happened to that!).
So, yes, I agree with Ionia on her blog. Let them print what they write and let the reader read carefully and you will discern the truth for yourself.
Oregon Farmer’s Wheat Contaminated by Genetically Engineered Wheat. It could be “Blowin’ in the Winds!”
Below, I’ve an urgent note from the U. S. Government’s Center for Food Safety in Washington D.C.
This is something to cogitate deeply on while stirring the rolled oats on the stove for breakfast. I certainly hope you are aware of what is happening with genetic engineering and people and your food supply. I call it genetic tampering with the genomes of life.
The article below is a very good reason to wonder and worry about just what’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Monsanto seems to have possibly accidentally let loose one of their pollination experiments from Pandora’s box, or, it has just escaped by accident on the “winds,” from them or some farmer in another state, or, it has been purposely spread by bio-saboteurs, or maybe some pollen just blew off the foot of some poor migrating goose after it had some grain for dinner in a genetically modified field, miles and miles away, or,……..
Well, Whatever…..the genetic genie got out of the box and of course the goose and the wind are not going to be made responsible so the farmer who somehow inadvertently ended up with a patented gene in his field could get sued for violation of patent law by the owner who happens to have beaucoup bucks and seems to take on any and all violators.
Is this what freedom means in America? Is it “OK” to just muck around with the genomes of life and then patent them? Who says you can own the genes for corn? This genetic ownership Hogwash is being upheld by our court system to the detriment of a lot of farmers around the globe. Some of the genes are doomsday genes that cause a plant to not be able to produce viable seed and then they are sold to farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin American who depend on being able to harvest seed in order to survive.
It is time for some genetic legislation to limit the indiscriminate tampering with the genomes coding for people, our food supply, disease agents and life in general.
The non-regulated messing with genetic genomes could move the Doomsday Clock a few minutes more towards midnight. It’s time to write to your legislators and have them, and informed scientists in the field detail the kinds of responsibilities that individuals and corporations who tamper with the genetics of life must follow and what the consequences are for releasing these into the environment with no responsibility for “clean-up!”
Subject: Oregon Farmer Contaminated by Monsanto GE Wheat
Oregon Farmer Contaminated by Monsanto GE Wheat You may have read the news last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that unapproved, genetically engineered (GE) wheat was found contaminating an Oregon farmer’s field. The GE wheat, known as Roundup Ready, was developed by the Monsanto Company to withstand direct application of Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide.
This is the same Roundup Ready variety Monsanto tested from 1998-2005, but there has not been a field trial in Oregon since 2001, so it remains unexplained how the GE variety ended up there. After a decade of field trials, Monsanto abandoned its efforts to introduce the GE wheat in 2004 in the face of intense opposition from consumers, farmers, wheat millers and food companies, led by CFS and others. Now, U.S. farmers’ worst nightmare may be coming true: already some export contracts with Japan and South Korea have been suspended due to this contamination event, and more may be on the way.
CFS will do everything we can to right this outrageous wrong and ensure it does not happen again or spread further, but in order to do so we need your help!
If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, we want to hear from you:
– Are you a farmer and do you grow White Wheat?
– Do you or your business sell White Wheat?
– Do you have any other information about this contamination event that you think would be helpful to us?If so, please contact us as soon as possible at office@centerforfoodsafety.org
Thank you for everything you do,
Center for Food Safety
Center for Food Safety
660 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, #302
Washington DC 20003
phone (202) 547-9359 | fax (202) 547-9429
Contact Us: office@centerforfoodsafety.orgYou are subscribed to this list as jacksranch@skynetbb.com. You can manage your subscription information here, or unsubscribe here.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This material is protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No text may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission or proper citation. Please credit any and all use of our work product to: Center for Food Safety, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org.
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