We’ve had some gratifying responses to our feature article on Canadian Civil War re-enactors in our summer issue. The communications officer for the American Civil War Historical Re-enactment Society (ACWHRS), also sometimes known as “Miss Annabelle,” wrote “I was very pleased with the article you wrote and thank you very much, photos were great too. Also can I order more from you, of course I’d pay for them. I know some of our members would sure like to see the article.”
Then I got a letter from Tom Brooks of Gravenhurst, who stated “I was duly impressed. Rare is it for the flavour of Civil War re-enacting to be captured to the degree in which you did it. Kudos.”
He added, however, that contrary to what I had written, only 7,000 Canadians died in the Civil War. I had taken the figure of 14,000 from the ACWHRS program.
I checked with the communications officer, who replied “To receive a complimentary letter from Tom is a good thing…He is very impressed with your article and you. He thought it was one of the best articles he has seen.” She also said “Tom is the most knowledgeable person that I know of on Canadians in the Civil War… I would believe him as no one knows more than Tom on this subject and he has spent years researching it.” She said she had not seen the program handout but will look at getting it corrected.
Then she added the kind note “I can see that you are a person who likes to have their facts straight, which is a rarity to us when we have seen some of these articles that come out. That is one of the reasons I was also very impressed by yours and again for Tom to be complimentary about it is also a rarity.”
Although I made an honest mistake, I do like to get things correct, so I’ll be happy to make this correction. And this series of letters has to be one of the most appreciative ways of pointing out an error, that I’ve ever had!
