Blood and Daring (53 page)
Authors: John Boyko
My mother’s voracious reading and her fascination with documentaries and current events stirred my interest in politics and the past. Later, historians Donald Creighton and J.M.S. Careless turned that interest to passion, convincing me that Canada’s story was fun and rich with fascinating characters. Bruce Catton introduced me to the Civil War, and then, on so many of my visits to Gettysburg, the encyclopedic knowledge of battlefield guide Ed Guy inspired me to learn more. Shelby Foote, Ken Burns and James McPherson took me deeper into the war’s beguiling world. The overarching lesson I have learned is not just that history is interesting but that it’s important. I have come to believe that the only way we can understand where we are, and have any sense of where we should go is to know where we have been. Otherwise we are condemned to stumble along as amnesiacs, constantly confused, surprised and gullible. To all who encouraged, instructed and provoked new questions, I am grateful.
I owe a debt to many talented people at the Trent University and Queen’s University libraries, the Archives of Ontario in Toronto and Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Their professionalism and skill at helping me access their materials, and their willingness to bring more from elsewhere, were invaluable. Thank you to Ken Armstrong, Pete O’Grady and James Arnett, who volunteered source material.
I am indebted to Princeton’s James McPherson, University of Waterloo’s Debra Nash-Chambers and Jane Errington of Queen’s University. Each combed an early draft for factual errors and made
helpful suggestions. The editing skills of Lisa Clark, Linda Pruessen, Caleb Snider, Jane McWhinney and Craig Pyette all improved my often sloppy prose.
Daphne Hart of the Helen Heller Agency is my hard-working literary agent and I am grateful for her ongoing support and encouragement. I am grateful as well to Knopf Canada publisher Anne Collins for seeing merit in the book and to Craig Pyette who, with Amanda Betts, shepherded it through its many stages. I thank everyone involved at Random House of Canada Ltd. and Random House Inc. in the United States, as well.
Partners of authors all agree that living with a writer is not easy. My greatest debt is owed to my dear wife, Sue, who lost me for hours and sometimes days when I time-travelled back to the nineteenth century and occasionally had trouble getting all the way home. To Sue I owe everything.
John Anderson
, The Story of the Life of John Anderson, the Fugitive Slave, ed. Harper Twelvetrees, London 1865;
William Henry Seward
, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-21907;
Sarah Emma Edmonds
, Library and Archives Canada, Frank Thompson: Her Civil War Story, AMICUS 11061614 nlc-10242;
Hon. Jacob Thompson of Miss
. from the Brady-Handy Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-cwpbh-02851;
George Brown
, Library and Archives Canada, Hunter & Co., Canadian Intellectual Property Office fonds C-009553;
Sir John A. Macdonald
from the Brady-Handy Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-122757
J
OHN
B
OYKO
is the author of four previous books, including the critically acclaimed
Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation
and
Last Steps to Freedom: The Evolution of Canadian Racism
. Called by the
Globe and Mail
“a distinguished scholar of Canadian political history” and praised by the
Winnipeg Free Press
for his “encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian history,” John Boyko has earned degrees from Queen’s, Trent and McMaster universities. He is a former dean of history and currently an administrator at Lakefield College School, and an op-ed contributor to newspapers across Canada. He lives in Lakefield, Ontario.
