Bryan S. Bush

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I am looking forward to my speech at the Highlands Library on Bardstown Road, which is located in the Mid-City Mall. The lecture is at 2 PM August 29 and will include a power point presentation. The lecture will be on Louisville During the Civil War. Bardstown Road had alot of activity during the Civil War. From Cave Hill Cemetery to the Speed mansion, soldiers were marching up and down Bardstown Road during much of the war.

Bryan has just reduced prices on three of his Civil War books in his store.

• Kentucky’s Civil War 1861-1865 (Hardcover) has been reduced from $37.95 to $35.95.
• My Dear Mollie: The Letters of Brig. Gen. Daniel Griffin has been reduced from $24.95 to $22.95.
• The Civil War Battles of the Western Theatre has been reduced from $39.95 to $37.95.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I encourage everyone to come out and see my lecture on August 16th, at the Memorial Auditorium on James Guthrie. If you have never heard of James Guthrie, you should as a Louisvillian. He is literally Mr. Louisville. He was the founder and president of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. He helped build the Jefferson County Courthouse, the School for the Blind, founder of the University of Louisville, founded out first fire department. The list goes on and on. I learned a lot myself. There will be a full powerpoint presentation to follow the lecture.

My Dear Fellow Readers:
I just got back from Midway, Kentucky and picked up two fantastic books at my favorite bookstore. I picked up Bennett Young’s Wizards in the Saddle and Adam Rankin Johnson’s book on Partisan Rangers. Bennett Young rode with Confederate General John Hunt Morgan, and lived in Louisville after the war. I also photographed the historical marker describing Sue Mundy’s raid on Midway, and I photographed the monument dedicated to the four Confederate soldiers executed by General Burbridge’s Order Number 59. I am putting together a lecture on Sept 19, with power point presentation on General Burbridge at Octagon Hall.

Check out this announcement on Louisville History & Issues: “Louisville During the Civil War Bus Tour, Saturday, October 10 — A Fun Event for Local History Buffs!“

There’s also a Facebook event set up for it.

Bryan will be leading the tour around many spots in Louisville, and will be selling/signing his book Louisville and the Civil War: A History & Guide.

My Dear Fellow Readers:
Good news! Schieffer Publishing is now laying out my latest book on Ghost Stories from Civil War battlefields. The projected release date with be spring 2010, just in the time for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.

12/10/09 update: Haunted Battlefields of the South is now released.

My Dear Fellow Readers:
This past Sunday I had a fantastic time at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. I arrived at the museum at 12 am on Sunday in order to be able to check out the new exhibit Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln. If you have not seen the exhibit, I highly recommended it. They have some very rare artifacts, such as Abraham Lincoln’s solid gold pocket watch made by Tiffany’s, his walking stick, his life face mask, a silk ribbon from his coffin. They also have artifacts from Mary Todd Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Robert Todd. They also have artifacts from Col. Frank Wolford, Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm, James Speed, Joshua Speed, and many other Kentucky related artifacts from the Civil War. They also mentioned General Stephen Gano Burbridge! It was nice to see how the exhibit tied together information from my two books on Burbridge and Lincoln and the Speeds.
As for the lecture, I had a good turn out and many of the folks afterwards asked quite alot of good questions. I would like to personally thank Megan Robertson and hope to work with the Speed Museum in the near future again.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I encourage everyone to attend my speech on Lincoln and the Speeds on Sunday July 12, at 2 PM at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. The lecture coincides with their new exhibit on Abraham Lincoln entitled: Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, which covers the topics of The Frontier World of Abraham Lincoln,The Lexington World of Young Mary Ann Todd, Lincoln’s Rise, Lincoln and Kentucky at War, Remembering Lincoln Then and Now. Give yourself plenty of time to listen to my lecture and visit the new display on Lincoln. I look forward to meeting everyone.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

For the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Carnegie Museum, under the direction of Sallie Newkirk, and Pam Peters with the Floyd County Historical Society Museum have asked me to be involved in a new exhibit on New Albany’s role during the Civil War. New Albany alone recruited three regiments: The 38th Indiana, the 23rd Indiana, and the 66th Indiana. Several generals came out of these regiments, including Benjamin Scribner, Daniel Griffin, Walter Q. Gresham, just to name a few. Pam Peters and I are coordinating facts. Amazingly there were many contrabands I did not know about who served in these regiments and I am learning more about the underground railroad. This should be a fun project and I am looking forward to working with Pam and Sallie.

My fellow readers:

Good news. I received an email from Dr. Blaine Hudson and he stated that he would like to have me as a presenter next year at their conference on Louisville During the Civil War.