My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[Rob Wick]

Thanks Roger, I was able to read them just fine.

That is an extremely curious situation. After my earlier post I reviewed what Hanchett wrote and he seemingly accepts Eisenschiml's story about his father at face value. But given that Otto was born in Austria and had no first-hand memory of his father's battle service, it seems to me the possibility is far likelier that the senior Eisenschiml might not be telling the truth, or extending it somewhat.

Consider the following. In 1962 Eisenschiml was the main speaker at the annual meeting of the Illinois State Historical Society and he spoke on the battle of Shiloh. Yet, except for the introductory paragraph which was obviously written by the editor of the journal, Eisenschiml doesn't mention his father. In his 1946 book The Story of Shiloh, Eisenschiml mentions his father in passing in the introduction, while most of the introduction is a paean to DeLong Rice, the superintendent of the battlefield at the time Eisenschiml visited.

I think the father embellished his role and Otto accepted it without question as many sons would.

Best
Rob