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>> ix Acknowledgments Every student of history owes a great debt to the organizations and archivists who make reconstruction of the past possible. The Kansas State Historical Society, the Ohio Historical Society, the University of Notre Dame Archives, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives are treasures—as are their respective staffs. I must express great appreciation to Nicole McDaniel at Angelo State University, as well as to her industrious students in English 4360, Professional Editing—including Amanda Cooper, Cate Cuba, Mindy Armitage, Tyler Carson, Christine Stone, John Phair, and Patricia Larson. I also greatly appreciate the encouragement given to me by my senior scholars, notably Arnoldo DeLeon and Joe Zheng. Their professional engagement, as well as their friendship, has meant much to me since my arrival in 2009. Before I came to Texas, I had spent eighteen years in Lancaster, Ohio, home of the Ewing dynasty. It is entirely due to the efforts of the fine folks at the Fairfield Heritage Association (FHA) and the Sherman House Museum that I developed an interest in the Ewing family. To Diane Eversole, Joyce Harvey, and Frank and Laura Bullock: thank you for persuading me in 2005 that it would be a good idea for me to grow a beard, wear a heavy woolen outfit, and play General Hugh Ewing on a hot fall evening at the former Ohio fairgrounds. Subsequently, I had the pleasure of joining Andy McGreevy, an Ohio University–Lancaster history colleague, on FHA-sponsored tours of Gettysburg and Springfield. I must also thank one Ohioan and three Pennsylvania friends for their insights on Civil War–era politics: Chris Phillips, Randall Miller, Michael Birkner, and Van Beck Hall. As a graduate student at Pitt, I always knew Van Beck Hall was well read. After one conversation with him at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Historical Association at which he rattled off numerous works related to the economic history of the Kanawha Valley saltworks, however, I realized something else: he is always the smartest man in any room. Debbie Gershenowitz at NYU Press believed in this project and worked tirelessly to see it come to fruition. She is, without a doubt, the best book editor I have ever had. x << Acknowledgments Finally, I thank Theresa Heineman and our two wonderful children, Natalie and Grace, for their encouragement. Working on this book has been a lot like going back to graduate school, but so much better than the first time around because of their presence in my life. ...

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