Second Battle of Frankfort avoided
thanks to strategic movement of books

Ever hear of the 2010 Battle of Frankfort?

Thanks to Joseph Burgess it was avoided by the strategic movement of hundreds of Civil War Books.

It’s an interesting story that’s best told in Joe’s own words. Here it is:

A confrontation that neither side wanted

By JOSEPH BURGESS

It was a skirmish that could have become a battle that neither side wanted. The physically superior force decided that an advance to the rear would be sound tactics, and the Battle of Frankfort was avoided.

A Kentucky Civil War engagement that has been overlooked for some 150 years?  Well, no.

This engagement took place in late summer, 2010. My long-suffering wife fired a warning shot across the dinner table, announcing that she understood my urge to continually buy – and receive as gifts – Civil War books. She also didn’t mind my continually buying bookshelves, although wall space was getting scarce. But boxes with hundreds of duplicate and otherwise unwanted books occupying a bedroom had to go.

With permission from Battle of Perryville Festival organizers, I peddled books on South Buell Street the first weekend in October – the first of three annual forays to the historic Kentucky village.

Sales were good each year, but generally approximated continuing book purchases and gifts. The bedroom-book warehouse lived on. The threat of battle re-emerged.

In 2013, longer-suffering wife suggested that sales efforts include the August U.S. 127 Yard Sale. There, an antiques dealer encouraged my selling at Shelbyville’s Ruby Rooster Antiques Mall, downtown on Main St. (U.S. 60-East). In September, I strategically emptied the bedroom and began Shelbyville operations.

Visitors to “The Rooster” will find some 500-plus vintage to newer titles (as of late-March restocking), including sets, with many classics and some rarities. Most are gently used, in good to fine/as-new condition. Selections are shelved by general topics, which makes browsing easier.

My wife blesses visitors who help keep the bedroom tidy and battle at bay. So do I.  As William T. Sherman said, “War is hell.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Joseph Burgess is a twice-retired public communications/media relations/publications editor and secondary school teacher. A great-grandfather and a great-great uncle (brothers) were Union soldiers (11th Kentucky Infantry Regiment) from Butler County. In an extended family that also has included U.S. Army veterans of World Wars One and Two, the Korean War and the Cold War, he is the only veteran officer of the U.S. Navy – Vietnam era.)