Two weekends ago my husband and I took a little trip to Santa Fe. We spent a very delightful morning wandering through the New Mexico History Museum.
New Mexico's History Museum has a lot of history, even without the exhibits it contains. It is housed in a building called The Palace of the Governors, which was built by Pedro de Peralta soon after the King of Spain appointed him to be the governor of a Spanish territory that covered most of the American Southwest. That was 1610. Governors appointed by Spain, Mexico, and America have used the building, and it has served many other functions besides governor's mansion and museum. It is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States.
New Mexico's History Museum has a lot of history, even without the exhibits it contains. It is housed in a building called The Palace of the Governors, which was built by Pedro de Peralta soon after the King of Spain appointed him to be the governor of a Spanish territory that covered most of the American Southwest. That was 1610. Governors appointed by Spain, Mexico, and America have used the building, and it has served many other functions besides governor's mansion and museum. It is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States.
I went specifically to see the relatively new exhibit on New Mexicans who served during WWI, but I don't have much to report on that.
What did impress me, though, was a snare drum that I hadn't noticed before.
This snare drum, the label indicated, was found in the Pecos River about a decade after the Battle of Glorieta Pass.
What did impress me, though, was a snare drum that I hadn't noticed before.
This snare drum, the label indicated, was found in the Pecos River about a decade after the Battle of Glorieta Pass.
Willie, as I imagine him Those of you who've read Valverde, the first book in my trilogy of Civil War novels set in New Mexico, will know that it has a Confederate Drummer Boy named Willie. Willie is a fictional character, but this is exactly what I think he looked like: small and dark eyed, with a pale, round face. The drum that he would have carried into the battle of Valverde and, if he were there, the Battle of Glorieta Pass, looks very much like the one that was found abandoned in the Pecos River.
I'm presently writing a first draft of Glorieta, the second book in the series, and I'd had other plans for Willie than for him to lose his drum in the Pecos River. However, sometimes real life interprets fiction. I just may have to have him lose his drum in the river somehow.
I'm presently writing a first draft of Glorieta, the second book in the series, and I'd had other plans for Willie than for him to lose his drum in the Pecos River. However, sometimes real life interprets fiction. I just may have to have him lose his drum in the river somehow.
Valverde is available in paperback and ebook from Amazon. If you want more information on Valverde, or would like to buy a signed copy directly from the author, click here.
There is also a drummer boy in The Bent Reed, my civil war novel set in Gettysburg.
There is also a drummer boy in The Bent Reed, my civil war novel set in Gettysburg.
