A book of this digital regimental is in the works and should be available in paperback at Amazon before the end of the year. It will have some additional material but for the most part be a recapitulation of what’s here on the Web.
The tentative title is The Bloody Thirteenth, which is not very original, i.e. the bloody part. It has been used by other authors writing about other regiments. But it was the appellation given the regiment by its survivors, according to one man’s memoir, so it’s historically appropriate.
I’ll keep the price of the book as low as possible, figuring that most people who’ll be interested in it will be descendants of the men who served in the 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, and I want to do them a favor, not try to pay my bills off their interest in their heritage.
One advantage of the book form is that while it will be the regiment’s history as related here on the site it will be from start to finish instead of finish to start as is the format of a blog. Much easier to read in the usual way. If I could figure out how to turn the posts here around so they began with the regiment’s muster in 1861 first, instead of the surrender at Appomattox, I’d do it. If any reader knows how, I’d appreciate the advice.
13TH MISSISSIPPI INFANTRY REGIMENT 
Dick, I haven’t tried this, but you should be able to go into WordPress and change the date of publication for each post. Or you could make all the posts for one date but change the time so that each appeared in the order you wanted, depending on if there are enough minutes in a day to match the number of posts you have. It would be time consuming and essentially you would be re-posting each article. But it is one way to accomplish what I think you are after.
Thanks for the advice, Ralph. That IS a bit more labor intensive than I’d hoped for. I’d have something like 300 posts to change. But I might do it if no other method presents itself.
Congrats on the imminent publication of your blog in book form! What a great resource.
Thanks, Ron, but I don’t want you to misunderstand. It’s an independent effort on my part. No traditional publisher has ever expressed any interest. But I’m a professional writer and my wife is a professional editor, so we have the capability to do it ourselves. We already have three books of fiction for sale at Amazon, one of them a Civil War historical novel.
Yes, it seemed that way, but still great and certainly the way many folks are doing it these days! I will be sure to get a copy when it appears. By the way, do you think you’d do a Kindle version?
I plan to start in paper, Ron, assuming that people who would want it would want something more permanent than digital. If that proves to be more people than I expect, I would add a Kindle version. But ebook formatting is much more expensive than print-on-demand paper which is essentially free to the maker. If I could write html… but I can’t. My few attempts have been dreadful. 😉
Dick,
I am so elated that you are completing the book on the 13th. This is something that I have wished would happen for a long time now. Thanks for your dedicated efforts.
You’re welcome, Weldon. I’ll be pleased also to participate in seeing your ancestor Private Newton Nash of the Minutemen of Attala get the wider dissemination his literate letters deserve.
My great-grandfather Sergeant Thomas H Shockley was in D Company. Could you please let me know when your book is ready for purchase? Thanks
Thanks for the comment, Lee. I’m still indexing the book so it will be a while longer before it’s ready for sale. I’ll post about that when the time comes, hopefully before Christmas. Have you anything else you’d care to share about your great grandfather?
Lee, your great grandfather, Thomas Scanlan and my ancestor Francis M. Poore (my great grandfather’s brother) were apparently friends during the war all their lives afterward. I presume you have seen the photo of the three of them from about 1913.
No I haven’t. Don’t have any pictures of him. Could you please post it or email it? Also I found his gravestone on Find A Grave last night, he was in Company E and not Company D as the NPS site said.
Lee, email me at ralph_poore@yahoo.com and I will send you a link to the photo.