Working The Trapline — Civil War Scouts; A Quick-Step; Dunmore’s War; The Perfect Rifle

 

Patrick O’Donnell’s The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations is a strong candidate for book-of-the-year for Frontier Partisans. Just an outstanding piece of work — strong research into an under-reported aspect of the Civil War, presented as a cracking narrative. 

The book has shown good legs. O’Donnell is still out on the trail, telling this compelling story. The International Spy Museum has excellent programing, including a fine podcast. O’Donnell spoke at the museum recently, and his lecture is posted here. Well worth your time.

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This here Rigby in .375 H&H may well be the perfect rifle. It’s a hammer, and it’s exceptionally beautiful — the same kind of “best cut” functional piece of art I was immersed in at the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association event. Just breathtaking.

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A bit o’ period music for y’all — an Irish quickstep favored by the British Army’s 17th Regiment of Foot. Gotta have a lively recruiting tune to get the lads to take the King’s Shilling…

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The Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia produced a program marking the 250th anniversary of Lord Dunmore’s War, which we’ve been exploring around our campfire. See here and here. I’ll have a post on the Battle of Point Pleasant on the anniversary of that epic slugfest on October 10.

If you’re interested in a deep dive into this pivotal moment, these presentations are worth your time: