User:Hlj

Folks, after eleven years, I have decided to "retire" from active Wikipedia editing. For the past couple of years, I have done little more than monitor my watchlist daily and revert some silliness. I no longer enjoy the process at this level and I'm usually so busy with other activities, such as cartography, that I can't devote any significant time to writing or improving articles. I will leave the remainder of my user page below as an archive. I have contributed a number of maps over the years. As an exception to my retired status, if any editor contacts me to report an error in one of my maps, I will consider updating it. I will be more responsive to individual emails than to Talk page messages. See the yellow box below. Hal Jespersen (talk) 15:24, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Check out my new mapping website, www.cwmaps.com/

Although I am a computer guy by trade (now retired), I have concentrated on American Civil War related topics since my first Wikipedia article on January 6, 2004. You can find out more about me on my personal website, www.posix.com. Here are some Wikipedia statistics and tools related to my contributions:

• contribs · cross-wiki · wikichecker· count · pages created · logs

If you would like to email me, which I would recommend if you intend to conduct a dialogue or ask a question, see this yellow box. Hal Jespersen (talk) 17:09, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Please click here to send me a private email

I have set up this page to display the long lists in multiple columns. This feature currently works only in Mozilla Firefox, I'm told. It sometimes is flaky and does not display the entire page. In those cases, I have found the resizing the width of the browser window and refreshing the page usually corrects the problem.

My contributions

Here's a list of articles I have created or modified substantially. I don't include articles that I've simply cleaned up, but only those for which I consider myself the principal (if not always the original) author. My favorites are listed in bold.

Style guide, bibliography, watchlist, maintained articles

• My Style guide describes style decisions I use for my articles, in the hope that others will follow my lead for Civil War articles.
• User:Hlj/Why is boilerplate language that I point to in the edit summaries about common reversions. Current sections in the file describe victory adjectives in battle boxes and how the names of battle articles are selected.
• My Bibliography keeps track of References I've cited and includes samples of book, encyclopedia, journal, and magazine references.
• My maintained articles (see those marked below with [M])
• My User:Hlj/WPlinks is a handy list of Wikipedia abbreviated links.
• My Campaign list is a dump of all the ACW Campaignbox templates, showing all the red links that could be fixed
• My Wikipedia awards and barnstars.
• My Zazzle page has tee-shirts and coffee mugs based on my Wikipedia maps.

Battles and campaigns

Some of the battle articles I've written include maps that I've created myself. I used Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator and have shared the source files on my website. On none of the these articles did I do the "battle boxes", although I usually correct them if I notice a problem. The ones that are marked with [M] are articles that I "maintain" by posting my name in their Talk pages. This is not done to denote ownership, but to provide a contact point for people with questions about citations, missing material, etc. The battle articles below are listed alphabetically by the name of the battle or campaign, ignoring First, Second, etc.

1. Battle of Allatoona [M]
2. Appomattox Campaign -- includes 3 maps
3. Atlanta Campaign [M]
4. Battle of Antietam -- 5 maps [M]
5. Battle of Arkansas Post
6. Battle of Beaver Dam Creek [M]
7. Battle of Belmont [M]
8. Bermuda Hundred Campaign [M]
9. Battle of Big Black River Bridge
10. Battle of Blackburn's Ford
11. Battle of Brandy Station -- map [M]
12. Bristoe Campaign [M]
13. First Battle of Bull Run -- 5 maps [M]
14. Second Battle of Bull Run -- 9! maps [M]
15. Battle of Buck Head Creek
16. Carolinas Campaign [M]
17. Battle of Cedar Creek -- 2 maps [M]
18. Cemetery Hill -- includes map [M]
19. Battle of Champion Hill [M]
20. Battle of Chancellorsville -- 6 maps [M]
21. Battle of Chantilly (description of battle only)
22. Chattanooga Campaign -- includes maps [M]
23. First Battle of Chattanooga
24. Second Battle of Chattanooga
25. Battle of Chickamauga (aka Chickamauga Campaign) [M] -- 8 maps
26. Battle of Chickasaw Bayou -- map [M]
27. Battle of Cold Harbor -- 3 maps [M]
28. Battle of Columbia -- map [M]
29. Second Battle of Corinth -- 3 maps [M]
30. Battle of Cross Keys [M]
31. Culp's Hill -- includes 3 maps [M]
32. Battle of Davis's Cross Roads -- map
33. Battle of Decatur [M]
34. First Battle of Deep Bottom -- map [M]
35. Second Battle of Deep Bottom -- map [M]
36. Battle of Drewry's Bluff [M]
37. Eastern Theater of the American Civil War [M]
38. Battle of Eltham's Landing [M]
39. Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road -- stub so far
40. Battle of Fort Donelson -- 3 maps [M]
41. Battle of Fort Henry -- 2 maps [M]
42. Battle of Fort Pillow -- I did 50-75% of the article [M]
43. Battle of Fort Sanders [M]
44. Battle of Fort Stedman [M]
45. Battle of Fort Sumter [M] -- I did about 75% of this article + one map
46. Franklin-Nashville Campaign [M]
47. Battle of Franklin (1864) -- 2 maps [M]
48. Battle of Fredericksburg -- 3 maps [M]
49. Battle of Gaines's Mill -- 3 maps [M]
50. Gettysburg Campaign -- 2 maps [M]
51. Gettysburg Union order of battle [M]
52. Gettysburg Confederate order of battle [M]
53. Battle of Gettysburg -- 6 maps [M]
54. Battle of Gettysburg, First Day -- includes a number of detailed maps [M]
55. Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day -- includes maps [M]
56. Battle of Gettysburg, Third Day cavalry battles -- includes maps [M]
57. Retreat from Gettysburg [M]
58. Battle of Glendale [M]
59. Battle of Globe Tavern [M]
60. Battle of Griswoldville
61. Battle of Hanover Court House [M]
62. Battle of Harpers Ferry -- map [M]
63. Battle of Hartsville
64. Battle of Haw's Shop -- 2 maps [M]
65. Battle of High Bridge [M]
66. Battle of Iuka -- 2 maps [M]
67. Battle of Jackson (MS)
68. Jackson's Valley Campaign -- 3 maps [M]
69. Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road [M]
70. Battle of Johnsonville [M]
71. Battle of Kelly's Ford [M]
72. Battle of Kennesaw Mountain -- 2 maps [M]
73. First Battle of Kernstown -- map [M]
74. Knoxville Campaign -- map [M]
75. Little Round Top (about 75% of article + 2 maps) [M]
76. Battle of Lookout Mountain [M]
77. Maryland Campaign [M]
78. Battle of Meadow Bridge (I expanded slightly and added citations) [M]
79. Battle of Mill Springs -- 2 maps [M]
80. Battle of Mine Run [M]
81. Battle of Missionary Ridge [M] -- map; I did not write a lot of the Thomas material, but cleaned it and cited it
82. Battle of Monocacy [M]
83. Fight at Monterey Pass [M]
84. Battle of Nashville [M]
85. Battle of North Anna -- 3 maps [M]
86. Northern Virginia Campaign -- map [M]
87. Battle of Oak Grove [M]
88. Battle of Old Church [M]
89. Overland Campaign -- 7 maps (not including battle maps) [M]
90. Peninsula Campaign -- map [M]
91. Battle of Perryville -- 6 maps [M]
92. First Battle of Petersburg [M]
93. Second Battle of Petersburg [M]
94. Siege of Petersburg -- 8 maps [M]
95. Battle of Philippi Races [M]
96. Pickett's Charge -- map [M]
97. Battle of Port Republic [M]
98. Second Battle of Ream's Station [M]
99. Battle of Saint Mary's Church [M]
100. Battle of Savage's Station [M]
101. Battle of Sayler's Creek
102. Seven Days Battles -- 3 maps [M]
103. Battle of Seven Pines -- map [M]
104. Sherman's March to the Sea -- map [M]
105. Battle of Shiloh -- 3 maps [M]
106. Battle of South Mountain [M]
107. Battle of Spotsylvania Court House -- 7 maps [M]
108. Battle of Spring Hill -- 2 maps [M]
109. Battle of Stones River -- 7 maps [M]
110. Battle of Totopotomoy Creek -- 3 maps [M]
111. Battle of Trevilian Station -- 3 maps [M]
112. Tullahoma Campaign -- map [M]
113. Valley Campaigns of 1864 [M]
114. Vicksburg Campaign -- 2 maps [M]
115. Siege of Vicksburg -- 3 maps [M]
116. Western Theater of the American Civil War -- overview with 5 maps [M]
117. Battle of White Oak Swamp [M]
118. Battle of the Wilderness -- 7 maps [M]
119. Battle of Williamsburg [M]
120. Wilson's Raid [M]
121. Battle of Wilson's Wharf [M]
122. Battle of Yellow Tavern
123. Battle of Yorktown (1862) [M]

Biographies

The bold entries are those articles that I like the best. Those marked with [M] are maintained articles (see above for explanation).

1. Edward Porter Alexander
2. Richard H. Anderson
3. Lewis Addison Armistead
4. Turner Ashby
5. William W. Averell [M]
6. Romeyn B. Ayres [M]
7. John B. Bachelder [M]
8. Old Baldy (horse) [M]
9. William Barksdale [M]
10. Francis C. Barlow [M]
11. James Barnes (general) [M]
12. Ed Bearss
13. P.G.T. Beauregard [M]
14. Henry L. Benning [M]
15. David B. Birney [M]
16. Braxton Bragg [M]
17. John M. Brockenbrough [M]
18. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr. (primarily the military parts)
19. Don Carlos Buell [M]
20. John L. Burns [M]
21. Ambrose Burnside [M]
22. Daniel Butterfield [M]
23. John C. Caldwell [M]
24. Bruce Catton [M]
25. Benjamin F. Cheatham [M]
26. Philip St. George Cooke [M]
27. Samuel Cooper (general) [M]
28. Darius N. Couch [M]
29. Jacob Dolson Cox (I claim about 75% credit for this one) [M]
30. Samuel W. Crawford [M]
31. George B. Crittenden
32. George Armstrong Custer (all the Civil War information and considerable cleanup of the remainder)
33. Lysander Cutler [M]
34. James Dearing
35. Thomas Devin [M]
36. Abner Doubleday [M]
37. Jubal Anderson Early [M]
38. Richard S. Ewell [M]
39. John B. Floyd [M]
40. William B. Franklin [M]
41. William H. French
42. William Gamble (general) [M]
43. Richard B. Garnett [M]
44. John W. Geary
45. John Brown Gordon [M]
46. George S. Greene [M]
47. David McMurtrie Gregg [M]
48. Henry Wager Halleck [M]
49. Wade Hampton (primarily ACW part) [M]
50. Winfield Scott Hancock [M]
51. William J. Hardee [M]
52. Herman Haupt [M]
53. William Babcock Hazen [M]
54. Henry Heth [M]
55. Ethan A. Hitchcock (general) [M]
56. Theophilus H. Holmes
57. John Bell Hood [M]
58. Joseph Hooker [M]
59. Jedediah Hotchkiss [M]
60. Oliver O. Howard [M]
61. Benjamin Huger (general) [M]
62. Andrew A. Humphreys [M]
63. Henry Jackson Hunt [M]
64. David Hunter [M]
65. Alfred Iverson, Jr. [M]
66. John D. Imboden
67. Bushrod Johnson [M]
68. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson [M]
69. Joseph E. Johnston [M]
70. William E. Jones [M]
71. James E. Kelly (artist)
72. James L. Kemper [M]
73. Judson Kilpatrick (ACW historical parts)
74. James H. Lane (general) [M]
75. Evander M. Law [M]
76. James H. Ledlie [M]
77. Fitzhugh Lee [M]
78. William Henry Fitzhugh Lee [M]
79. James Longstreet [M]
80. John B. Magruder [M]
81. Joseph K. Mansfield [M]
82. John McCausland
83. George B. McClellan [M]
84. John Alexander McClernand
85. Alexander McDowell McCook [M]
86. Lafayette McLaws [M]
87. George Meade [M]
88. Dixon S. Miles [M]
89. George W. Morell
90. Albert J. Myer [M]
91. William "Bull" Nelson
92. John Newton (engineer) [M]
93. Richard James Oglesby
94. John C. Pemberton
95. J. Johnston Pettigrew [M]
96. George Pickett [M]
97. Gideon Johnson Pillow [M]
98. Alfred Pleasonton [M]
99. Leonidas Polk [M]
100. John Pope (military officer) [M]
101. Fitz John Porter [M]
102. Stephen Dodson Ramseur [M]
103. John F. Reynolds [M]
104. Robert E. Rodes [M]
105. William Rosecrans [M]
106. John Sedgwick [M]
107. Paul Jones Semmes
108. Philip Sheridan [M]
109. Daniel Sickles [M]
110. Franz Sigel [M]
111. Henry Warner Slocum [M]
112. Edmund Kirby Smith [M]
113. William "Extra Billy" Smith [M]
114. William Farrar Smith [M]
115. George J. Stannard [M]
116. Alexander P. Stewart
117. Adolph von Steinwehr
118. George Stoneman [M]
119. J.E.B. Stuart [M]
120. George Sykes [M]
121. George Henry Thomas -- Civil War portions [M]
122. Lorenzo Thomas [M]
123. Lloyd Tilghman [M]
124. Alfred Thomas Torbert [M]
125. Traveller (horse) [M]
126. Isaac R. Trimble [M]
127. Régis de Trobriand [M]
128. Emory Upton [M]
129. Strong Vincent [M]
130. James S. Wadsworth [M]
131. Gouverneur K. Warren [M]
132. Alexander S. Webb [M]
133. Alpheus S. Williams [M]
134. James H. Wilson [M]
135. Horatio Wright [M]
136. Samuel K. Zook [M]

Miscellaneous

1. Cavalry in the American Civil War [M]
2. Cemetery Ridge [M]
3. Council of war [M]
4. Devil's Den [M]
5. Field Artillery in the American Civil War [M]
6. Gettysburg Battlefield -- terrain and history of the battlefield, but another editor has been making extensive changes and I no longer maintain it
7. Hardee hat
8. List of horses of the American Civil War [M]
9. Military crest
10. Signal Corps in the American Civil War [M]

The following were originally written by me, but they have gone through so many contentious edits that I no longer claim credit or pay much attention to them any more:

1. Lost Cause of the Confederacy
2. Naming the American Civil War
3. Turning point of the American Civil War

Unit histories

1. Army of Mississippi
2. Army of Virginia
3. Army of the Potomac
4. Confederate States Army
5. Iron Brigade
6. Stonewall Brigade
7. Union Army -- I wrote the first half (all before the Casualties section)
8. II Corps (Union Army)
9. III Corps (Union Army)
10. VI Corps (Union Army)
11. IX Corps (Union Army)
12. XI Corps (Union Army)
13. XII Corps (Union Army)

Menu templates

I also created this template, although it has been enhanced considerably by others since its introduction:

This one, too:

To-do list, battles

I invite anyone to select items from my to-do list and work on them before I get a chance to do so. In those cases where I would like to reserve an article for myself, I have annotated them. Bold items are short-term priorities for me. The ones that are marked simply "needs footnotes" are ones I consider well written articles with solid references, but do not meet current Wikipedia standards for in-line citations. Note that this is not an exhaustive list of all the work needed for Civil War battle articles, but is a list of articles I am interested in creating or improving. When a campaign is listed, it implies that the battle articles in that campaign probably need expansion, too.

• Appomattox Campaign -- User:Donner60 has expressed interest in tackling this
• Battle of Averasborough -- expand, needs maps
• Atlanta Campaign -- expand, improve maps
• Bermuda Hundred Campaign -- expand, needs maps
• Battle of Bentonville -- expand, needs maps
• Battle of Big Bethel -- expand
• Bristoe Campaign -- expand all battle descriptions and provide footnotes
• Carolinas Campaign -- expand
• Battle of Champion Hill -- expand, needs footnotes
• Second Battle of Charleston Harbor -- expand, map, move OOB
• Battle of Chantilly -- needs footnotes
• Confederate Heartland Offensive -- expand, reconcile overlap with Battle of Perryville, needs footnotes
• Siege of Corinth -- expand tiny article
• Battle of Cross Keys -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism; needs map
• Battle of Five Forks -- needs map, footnotes
• Battle of Fisher's Hill -- expand stub
• Fort Fisher -- clean up sloppy writing, replace awful maps
• First Battle of Fort Wagner -- expand
• Second Battle of Fort Wagner -- improve footnotes, add map
• Battle of Front Royal -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism
• Battle of Gaines' Mill -- needs more detailed map, expand battle beyond 4 paragraphs
• Battle of Glendale -- needs more detailed map
• Battle of Hunterstown -- expand short article, needs map
• Battle of James Island (Secessionville) -- expand, map
• Knoxville Campaign -- needs better footnotes, maps
• Battle of McDowell -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism
• Battle of Malvern Hill -- needs footnotes, more detailed map
• Battle of Mine Run -- needs more details, footnotes
• Battle of Monocacy -- needs footnotes, more battle description, media (movie)
• Mud March (American Civil War) – expand, map
• Battle of Nashville -- expand battle description, improve map
• Battle of New Market -- reorganize and expand so that VMI cadets do not dominate the text
• Battle of Opequon (Third Winchester) -- needs map and footnotes
• Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War -- expand stub (I have this at a very low priority)
• Battle of Pea Ridge -- provide more detail on the battle itself, needs Refs and footnotes; clean up sloppy references to Stand Watie
• Siege of Petersburg -- upgrade about 2/3 done, languishing for now
• Battle of Port Republic -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism
• Second Battle of Rappahannock Station -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism
• Battle of Raymond -- copyedit, ranks, etc.
• Red River Campaign -- put into format of other campaign articles
• Battle of Sayler's Creek -- expand short article
• Sherman's March to the Sea -- needs footnotes
• Battle of South Mountain -- expand description of actual battles, needs maps, footnotes
• Tidewater Campaign -- create (Longstreet's operations in southeastern Virginia in the spring of 1863)
• Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War -- expand stub (low priority)
• Valley Campaigns of 1864 -- I am considering the creation of three subarticles for this overview
• Vicksburg Campaign -- expand
• Battle of Wauhatchie -- needs better footnotes, modern map
• Battle of Wilson's Creek -- key 1861 battle needs expansion, maps
• First Battle of Winchester -- rewrite to remove NPS (public-domain) plagiarism
• Battle of Yellow Tavern -- needs map, footnotes, headings

To-do list, bios

For those that I have annotated "needs footnotes," I am suggesting that these are the more important, more visible articles, whether or not I am the principal author. For shorter articles that have a small number of references, footnotes are good, but lower priority. For the great majority of these, the tiny lead paragraphs need to be expanded to summarize the contents of the article. Bold entries are ones I am prioritizing higher than the others for now.

• Richard H. Anderson -- needs footnotes from 2ndBR to Spots.
• Lewis Addison Armistead -- needs footnotes, more detail in CW section
• Henry L. Benning -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• John C. Breckinridge -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr. -- needs footnotes
• Don Carlos Buell -- expand ACW section, needs footnotes
• John Buford -- improve footnotes, document "selected the site" claim (or not)
• Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician) -- needs footnotes
• Daniel Butterfield -- needs more Refs
• Darius N. Couch -- needs more ACW detail, footnotes
• Samuel W. Crawford -- needs more Refs, footnotes, provide photo caption
• George Crook -- clean up: needs Refs, way too much Cloyd's Mtn
• George Armstrong Custer -- needs footnotes
• Ulric Dahlgren -- expand tiny article
• Jubal Early -- needs footnotes
• Nathan Bedford Forrest -- needs better Refs, many more footnotes
• William B. Franklin -- needs more Refs
• John C. Frémont -- expand ACW section, remove giant quotation, needs more footnotes and Refs
• William H. French -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• John W. Geary -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• David McM. Gregg -- needs more Refs
• Charles Griffin (general) -- expand tiny article
• Wade Hampton -- needs footnotes
• Herman Haupt -- needs footnotes
• Samuel P. Heintzelman -- expand short article, needs footnotes, more Refs
• A.P. Hill -- expand short article
• Theophilus H. Holmes -- expand short article
• Joseph Hooker -- needs more footnotes
• Oliver O. Howard -- needs more footnotes
• Andrew A. Humphreys -- footnote Tagg quotation
• Henry Jackson Hunt -- needs more Refs and footnote claims
• Stephen A. Hurlbut -- needs Refs, expand short article
• John D. Imboden -- more Refs and footnote lengthy quote
• Stonewall Jackson -- needs footnotes
• Albert Sidney Johnston -- needs footnotes
• William E. Jones -- footnote quote
• August Kautz -- mention famous Wilson-Kautz Raid
• Philip Kearny -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• Joseph B. Kershaw -- needs Refs, expand short article
• Erasmus D. Keyes -- needs more footnotes, expand description of Peninsula Campaign service
• Judson Kilpatrick -- needs footnotes
• Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski -- needs more Refs; verify Alaska job
• James H. Lane (general) -- needs more Refs
• William Henry Fitzhugh Lee -- needs more Refs, expand ACW
• George Washington Custis Lee -- expand stub
• John B. Magruder -- needs footnotes
• John McCausland -- needs footnotes
• Alexander McDowell McCook -- rewrite ACW section for smoother flow, add Refs
• Irvin McDowell -- expand short article
• Lafayette McLaws -- widen references beyond basic bios
• Nelson A. Miles -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• George W. Morell -- expand small article
• John S. Mosby -- clean up numerous article warning box issues
• William "Bull" Nelson -- refresh, headings, expand, more Refs, maint
• Edward Ord -- expand ACW section; more Refs, footnotes
• John Parke -- expand tiny article
• Alfred Pleasonton -- needs more Refs
• David Dixon Porter -- expand tiny article
• Stephen Dodson Ramseur -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• Thomas H. Ruger -- expand small article
• Winfield Scott -- needs more Refs, footnotes
• John Sedgwick -- needs more Refs (Tagg for one), footnotes
• Daniel Sickles -- needs more footnotes
• Franz Sigel -- straighten out early battles, per Heidler ref; needs more Refs, footnotes
• Edmund Kirby Smith -- expand 1862 description; needs footnotes
• Isaac Stevens -- expand CW section, needs Refs
• George Stoneman -- needs footnotes
• Edwin Vose Sumner -- expand ACW section, needs footnotes
• Richard Taylor (general) -- needs footnotes
• George Henry Thomas -- needs footnotes for analyses, expand Chickamauga
• Alfred Thomas Torbert -- expand short article
• Lucius M. Walker -- clean up (note Talk page)
• J. H. Hobart Ward -- exp early life & Mex; CW: cite intro para; exp GB & '63-'64 service; exp Post
• Cadmus M. Wilcox -- expand actions at: 1stBR, BoWillB, BoGlen, BoSlCh; cite GB; expand '64-'65 service

To-do list, miscellaneous

• Army of the Potomac -- expand history and discuss command controversies, political implications; needs footnotes; command history into table
• Confederate States Army -- not a very good article, superficial, needs expansion, Refs
• Cavalry in the American Civil War -- needs footnotes
• Council of war -- needs Refs
• Field Artillery in the American Civil War -- needs footnotes
• Gettysburg Battlefield -- needs footnotes
• Turning point of the American Civil War -- needs footnotes (well, it actually needs to be deleted--not a good article anymore)
• Union Army -- needs footnotes, and Refs for the second half (Casualties...); clean up description of war's end