The Civil War:  I promise this story will end on a baseball note, so please stick with me through some battle history of the Civil War. My source is a fine book written by David Von Drehle, a Kansas City-based writer and editor-at-large for Time Magazine. I met David at a Rainy Day author event last winter and bought a copy of his Rise to Greatness – Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year. That year was 1862, and one of the perils was that George McClellan was in charge of the army and all but refused Lincoln’s prodding to become more aggressive in the war. McClellan was constantly saying he needed more supplies and men before he could mount a new battle. So he sat. In June, the flamboyant Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart  rode all the way around McClellan’s army for reconnaissance, and on his way cut telegraph wires, collected prisoners and horses and disrupted Union supply lines. Lincoln was not pleased. In October, McClellan was again declining to move when General Stuart made yet another bold dash around the Union army, looting a major supply depot and gathering livestock. Lincoln’s response:

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