GREAT News for Notre Dame/Civil War and e-Readers!

Just got some great news from my publisher, The History Press: Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory will soon be available in several e-Book formats (!):

I’m writing with exciting news from The History Press. We’re continuing to pursue the rapidly expanding opportunities for electronic editions of our books, and we plan to include your title, Notre Dame and the Civil War, in a new batch of e-books that we will bring to market in the coming weeks. We believe that we can reach additional portions of the audience for your book with an electronic edition distributed through the most prominent e-book sales channels, and we plan to begin that process immediately. This will take up to twelve weeks to complete, and you do not need to take any action. We will be in touch again when distribution of your e-book begins.

Stay posted for more details!

For an interesting take on e-Book trends, check out the always interesting and reliable Ted Savas of Savas-Beatie at his "Publisher's Perspectives" blog, here.

Harry's Just Wild About "Notre Dame and the Civil War"!

I want to thank Harry Smeltzer for writing a very kind review of Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010) in his "Harry's Just Wild About" feature in the July 2011 issue America's Civil War magazine.

Excerpt:

"The author consulted an impressive array of unpublished archival materials to relate how the school...answered the call to arms when the time came. Wile detailing the experiences of the men - and nuns - in the field, Schmidt doesn't neglect campus life during and after the war."

Thanks, Harry!

And whether you get the magazine by subscription or pick it up at the newsstand, make sure to check out Harry's article in the same issue: "Irvin McDowell's Best-Laid Plans" - The general was surprised by a fresh contingent of Rebels at Bull Run - or not. It is really interesting and well-written!

And - especially - make sure to visit Harry's excellent blog "Bull Runnings - A Journal of the Digitization of a Civil War Battle"...it is one of the best and most popular Civil War blogs out there!

Read more reviews of Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory:

Patrick McNamara's Blog (here)
Civil War News (here)
Civil War Librarian (Rea Andrew Redd) (here)
Almost Chosen People/The American Catholic (Don McClarey) (here)
Confederate Book Review (Robert Redd)(review and interview!) (here)
Irish in the American Civil War (Damian Shiels) (here)
South Bend Tribune Feature (Howard Dukes) (here)

Sister Act TWO!

I'm pleased, honored, and humbled that The History Press - publisher of my recent book Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory - saw fit to extend me a contract for a new book project, tentatively entitled Galveston and the Civil War: An Island People in the Maelstrom.

You can read more about the book project and what I hope to accomplish here.

As it turns out, the Notre Dame project and the Galveston project share something in common: the role of Catholic sister-nurses!

I have written about the Holy Cross sister-nurses of Notre Dame and St. Mary's Academy several times on this blog (here, here, and here).

While the Holy Cross sister-nurses represented one of the largest contingents of Catholic sisters to serve as nurses, the sisters in Galveston - of the Ursuline order - represented one of the smallest, if not the smallest, contingent, but their contributions and sacrifices were no less important and their bravery no less intrepid.

According to the "Handbook of Texas Online":

URSULINE ACADEMY, GALVESTON. The Ursuline Academy at Galveston was established in February 1847 by Ursuline Sisters from New Orleans, who had arrived on January 16. The school, Galveston's first parochial school, was on a ten-acre campus. Attended by girls of all faiths, the academy opened in 1854, closed for a time in 1857 during a yellow fever epidemic, and was used as a hospital by both sides during the Civil War. The main Victorian Gothic building, constructed by Nicholas J. Clayton along with the convent in the mid-1890s, sheltered more than 1,000 refugees during the Galveston hurricane of 1900. A total of 306 students enrolled in 1930, and the girls' high school, elementary school, and kindergarten had an enrollment of 225 in 1940. In January 1947 the school celebrated its centennial, and by 1949 the campus comprised seven or eight acres with the academy building, a brick chapel, and monastery. Hurricane Carla damaged both the academy and convent in 1961, and the buildings were subsequently demolished. The campus chapel, redesigned by Clayton, stood from 1871 to 1961, while the convent remained from 1854 to 1973. In 1968 the Ursuline girls' school consolidated with Kirwin Catholic High School and the Dominican girls' school; it was renamed O'Connell High School for Msgr. Dan O'Connell.

See also at the "Handbook":

Ursuline Sisters
HARRINGTON, MARGARET [MOTHER ST. PIERRE]

I am really looking forward to telling their story as part of this new project!

I will use some of my favorite secondary sources on Catholic sister-nurses in the Civil War, sources on the history of Catholic institutions in Texas, the Archives of the Central Province of the Ursuline Sisters, and a rarely-used archival source that I will feature in a future blog post! If you have other ideas, let me know!