[7 a.m. Thursday, February 16, 2006]

It feels like I haven’t heard from myself this good while. I have been reading, reading. Sam Watkins and then Elisha Hunt Rhodes. And a bit of re-reading – Far Memory by Joan Grant.

[Watkins, who had been a private in the Confederate army, wrote a book of memoirs called Company Aytch. Rhodes began as a private and rose to the rank of colonel in the Union Army. All for the Union is a book compiled from his diary and letters by his great-grandson. Both men were extensively cited in Ken Burns’ “Civil War” series.]

I wound up liking Elisha Hunt Rhodes very much, though I suspect that he and I would be farther apart in temperament than Sam Watkins and I would be. But his political opinions and his determination to do his duty are very appealing. He found that he liked army life. I don’t think that Sam Watkins ever would have, even if he’d been paid and fed. But then Watkins joined after he was 30, and Rhodes before he was 20.

All right, to work. Joseph, what is your reaction to Watkins and Rhodes? And do you communicate “up” there? And, does my watching “the Civil War” facilitate communication for you somehow? And, what in general is your life there? (May want others on that last question.) And don’t think I don’t suspect prompting when I come up with bright questions like these. Continue reading 32 – God-fearing men

[Thursday, February 9, 2006]

(8 p.m.) Mr. Lincoln. I have a pretty good idea what you want to talk about. I’m ready if you are ready.

I had given thought to the state of the nation as we would find ourselves with the end of the war. It is an abiding regret that I could not offer my guidance in this crisis as I had through the war itself, for I believed that I understood the situation as no man could who had not been in my position. Continue reading 31 – Lincoln on America’s task

[Now came a development that maybe somebody smarter would have foreseen, but it certainly bowled me over.]

[Thursday, February 9, 2006]

[Joseph, continuing]

If the war had ended with 1864 and Lincoln hadn’t gotten killed, there’s so much could have been better. Mr. Lincoln had been thinking about things, the way he did, and he knew the problems

You’ve been talking to him.

Yes I have, and yes you can too. This one ain’t a whim like the last idea you had.

Whew! A little overwhelming, the idea of it. Can I talk to him directly, or through you or how?

This ain’t entirely your idea. It’s set up, just be ready. Continue reading 30 – Lincoln on his source of strength

The process of talking to the other side progressed in increments. At least, that’s how it happened for me. First came guidance, then came “past lives” whenever they are really, then came this close connection with Joseph. And I suppose on my life’s calendar on the other side, February 9, 2006 is marked in red. That’s the day it moved up a step as you will see not in this post, but in the next one, Chasing Smallwood – 30. But you need to have read this one (which is a continuation of this same session) to be prepared for that one.

[Thursday, February 9, 2006]

(12:50 p.m.) Joseph, you know that I am very interested in the Civil War material, but I feel others looking over our shoulder, and I know you know it. What is your aim in telling me all this, or would you rather not say?

It will emerge. It has been emerging, in fact. Some things are better seen than described. You don’t want the advertising to overwhelm the product. Continue reading 29 – Andersonville