|
|
 |
I am a product of Northern California: beaches, High Sierras, high school in the East Bay, plane spotting in World War II, seven years at Stanford. Starting in 1957, I was a physician and psychiatrist in California and New Mexico (always an interesting life), publishing several very dull medical books.
Around 1995, my wife Beverly and I began reading the Civil War records of misbehavior at the National Archives: just like today's tabloids, only wilder. We found that high school history left out all the interesting stuff. As you can see from my titles, we don't do battles or famous generals or comment on grand strategy. We do "human interest" stories (all true) of men terrified in combat, of women who miss having their men in bed, of abused horses, of loyal friends, of political conniptions, of the surprising ubiquity of prostitution, and of little byways: Was Lincoln gay? Why were so many of his bodyguards drunks? Was Robert E. Lee's favorite ranger just a horse thief? So, I retired from scuba diving (damaged ears), and from medicine (forty years is enough), and I'm having a great time. About my books – I don't think you'll find a boring one. |
Thomas P. Lowry was born and raised in northern California, far from any interest in the Civil War. In high school he was an Eagle Scout, played football (poorly), and sailed with his father. Seven years at Stanford ended in a medical doctor degree and still no interest in the Civil War. Internship in Minneapolis and three years of psychiatry training in San Francisco, followed by two years in the US Air Force Medical Corps, were educational, but still had no connection with history. Many years of private practice, a few years on the staff of San Quentin State Prison, and two years as medical director of New Mexico State Hospital, produced more memories, as well as Fellowship in the American Psychiatric Association and specialty board certification – but still no history bug. Those same years produced several medical books, which were widely ignored.
The passing years included more than one marriage and a total of four children-- all grown, all employed, all objects of parental pride. In 1980, a yellowed clipping told me that two great-uncles had served in the Union army. No names, just that they were stepbrothers of my great-grandfather. In the long search for these two soldiers, I learned much about Civil War records. I also learned that my ancestors were not famous, not officers, just two of the hundreds of thousands of unsung men who never came home. The standard book on the “common soldier” said that the sexual side of the war, for a variety of reasons, could never be studied. I am a contrarian and I began collecting material for a book on the sexual aspects of the war, which after having been rejected by 35 publishers, finally appeared in 1994. After a full-page favorable review in the New York Times, the book has sold 30,000 copies. Hardly Tom Clancy, but good for a non-fiction history book.
In 1986, I married Beverly and discovered that she loved old records even more than I. She was also better at reading old handwriting. (No typewriters in Lincoln’s time!) We began to travel east, to read and index the 75,000 Union army courts-martial. Beverly created a wonderful searchable computer database. Soon history overtook medicine. I retired; we sold the house in California; we moved to Virginia, and summarized not only the Union army trials, also those of the Union navy and what is left of the Confederate records. Our new friends sent us gleanings from their own work and interests. By 2005, it was clear that the records of sexual malfeasance in the Civil War were far more extensive than anyone had dreamed, indeed the America of the 1860s looked far different than portrayed in the other 50,000 Civil War books.
The resulting book shows the high points of over a thousand stories. To show each story fully would take shelves of books. For most readers, these “high points” will suit their needs. For others, the footnotes tell exactly where to find the whole story. While all this data was accumulating we developed several circles of friends: our commuter train friends, our archives friends, our neighborhood friends. We visited battlefields, unwound in Egypt and Jordan, hosted many visitors to DC, went to the Bahamas (researching their role in the war) and adopted a Jack Russell terrier. We love the four seasons. The database is far more than just sex. It has produced books on errant colonels, naughty surgeons, and female spies and smugglers. Three more books are percolating even now. Retired doctors are supposed to take up golf. I promise to do so after all the books done. But then I’ll 95. It’s been a good life. With luck, it will continue. WELL...there has been a glitch in this cheery prognosis. In January 2011, two Federal detectives showed up at my door, accused me of changing a Lincoln docume, pressured me with threats and false promises, got me to sign a statement, a false confession, and spread it world-wide on the Associated Press wire service. This has been shattering to our morale. For details see http://tomlowry.wordpress.com
The passing years included more than one marriage and a total of four children-- all grown, all employed, all objects of parental pride. In 1980, a yellowed clipping told me that two great-uncles had served in the Union army. No names, just that they were stepbrothers of my great-grandfather. In the long search for these two soldiers, I learned much about Civil War records. I also learned that my ancestors were not famous, not officers, just two of the hundreds of thousands of unsung men who never came home. The standard book on the “common soldier” said that the sexual side of the war, for a variety of reasons, could never be studied. I am a contrarian and I began collecting material for a book on the sexual aspects of the war, which after having been rejected by 35 publishers, finally appeared in 1994. After a full-page favorable review in the New York Times, the book has sold 30,000 copies. Hardly Tom Clancy, but good for a non-fiction history book.
In 1986, I married Beverly and discovered that she loved old records even more than I. She was also better at reading old handwriting. (No typewriters in Lincoln’s time!) We began to travel east, to read and index the 75,000 Union army courts-martial. Beverly created a wonderful searchable computer database. Soon history overtook medicine. I retired; we sold the house in California; we moved to Virginia, and summarized not only the Union army trials, also those of the Union navy and what is left of the Confederate records. Our new friends sent us gleanings from their own work and interests. By 2005, it was clear that the records of sexual malfeasance in the Civil War were far more extensive than anyone had dreamed, indeed the America of the 1860s looked far different than portrayed in the other 50,000 Civil War books.
The resulting book shows the high points of over a thousand stories. To show each story fully would take shelves of books. For most readers, these “high points” will suit their needs. For others, the footnotes tell exactly where to find the whole story. While all this data was accumulating we developed several circles of friends: our commuter train friends, our archives friends, our neighborhood friends. We visited battlefields, unwound in Egypt and Jordan, hosted many visitors to DC, went to the Bahamas (researching their role in the war) and adopted a Jack Russell terrier. We love the four seasons. The database is far more than just sex. It has produced books on errant colonels, naughty surgeons, and female spies and smugglers. Three more books are percolating even now. Retired doctors are supposed to take up golf. I promise to do so after all the books done. But then I’ll 95. It’s been a good life. With luck, it will continue. WELL...there has been a glitch in this cheery prognosis. In January 2011, two Federal detectives showed up at my door, accused me of changing a Lincoln docume, pressured me with threats and false promises, got me to sign a statement, a false confession, and spread it world-wide on the Associated Press wire service. This has been shattering to our morale. For details see http://tomlowry.wordpress.com
Beverly A. Lowry and Thomas P. Lowry sat in the reading room of the Archives for ten years, five days a week, reading and summarizing the trials. Beverly did 80% of the summaries and all of the data entry. After long experience as a court transcriber, Beverly discovered a new talent: the ability to rapidly read and summarize old handwriting. Each evening she entered the "catch of the day" into a computer dedicated to this database and never connected to the ever-dangerous Internet. An invisible and unappreciated part of her work was the regularization of court-martial files mistakenly filed in fragments a century ago. This identification and elimination occupied a year of full-time keyboard work.
Website design and Lincoln Memorial photograph by Daogreer Earth Works
