On this day, June 17, 1861, the Battle of Vienna, Virginia, occurred

[EYESORE 9001]

1. I remember finding out as a child the physical location of civil war battlefields

It was disconcerting to see how close some of the battles were to Washington. I set my thinking off in different directions, feeling thankful that confederate military leaders hadn’t planned a ‘surgical strike’ on President Lincoln and other key figures. No doubt their plans would include strategic locations, like Capitol Hill.

Intrusive thoughts compelled me to switch from civil war to a series of biographies about white men who ostensibly ‘tamed’ the west. Thus began a mental revolt against so much I’d learned so far, but that’s a different story.