From the Archives of the New York Times

I mentioned a couple of days ago that the New York Times was making its online archives available free of charge. I took advantage of that today to look up the news story about a famous American Civil War battle that my great-great-grandfather led (and lost) for the Union. The news story is mentioned in The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch, by Jeffrey William Hunt, which I've finally started reading. Apparently the account published in the Times wasn't terribly accurate, and as it came weeks after Appomattox, it was not a welcome in the North as a reminder of the slaughter that everyone was hoping to put behind them. As uncomplimentary as the story is, I can't get over the wonder of being able to read it on my computer, 142 years later. Wow.