Although hardly a historian by trade, training or education I feel strongly about sharing what I do know about the 17th CVI and its soldiers with anyone who cares to listen, read or visit. I do speak on the regiment (although not so much now as in the past – not because I don’t want to but because it is hard to find the time).

I used to collect “things” that had connections to the 17th CVI but I now consider myself a collector of information. What I do collect I share. This site has gone through many changes since it started in 1997, all of which have been in an effort to find the best ways possible to share what I know and what others know. Most of the information found here has been lost for generations. A lot of it has hidden in attics and basements and storage rooms. Thanks to many, many people a lot of it has come to light once more.

I’m always looking for new material to post online on 17thCVI.org. Letters, photos, newspaper articles (scans of the original and transcriptions (please! ) are always welcomed, as is well-researched original materials (and I always look for the references). Please don’t send me stuff that is copyrighted unless it is with permission…everything on this site is either public domain or used with permission (to the best of my knowledge). If there is something that’s yours and shouldn’t be there, let me know.

About comments – the blog posts are always open to comments with a couple caveats. First, I moderate them. It’s my site and I like to keep things on topic, clean, and respectful. I won’t edit them unless they do not meet those 3 requirements. I don’t allow email addresses or phone numbers because I don’t think the owners of those things want them splashed across the internet. Second, I don’t allow commercial concerns to comment. Advertisements belong elsewhere. Third, I don’t always post links to other blogs or sites unless they are places I go to fairly often myself. Been there before and it is a pain keeping up with lots of links that often end up broken.

One final comment about me (and also about this site) – 17thcvi.org would not exist without the generosity of many people who have been willing to share items in their possession, transcribe poor photocopies of 150-year-old newspapers, and so on. I do my best to make sure that these folks are properly acknowledged when they wish it (and those who do not want to be are not), whether for the use of the material or the work they did to make it available.

When others use the material they find here without bothering to credit the source it is more than disheartening…even the stuff that is public domain usually took a fair amount of work to get it on this site. If you are going to use something please remember where you found it – and where I found it – and give credit where credit is due.