Keith,
Thank you for your kind words and I hope all is well with your Richmond Howitzers. I hope to take a trip to Shiloh in November for a small gathering of members of a discussion group i'm in about the Battle of Shiloh. You have a good memory about my Shiloh book. Work has come to a standstill as I was getting too much writers block and my interest got off track. I plan to resume it but I have been saying this for 2 years. But , there is still hope.
Yes, I do know what false napoleons are and I think I did mention them to you. Maybe others would like to know. This might be a good post for the message board.
This trip to the Shiloh battlefield in November is a one day tour with Tim Smith, a civil war lecturerer, author and ex-Shiloh park ranger. This discussion group is concerned with the battle and some related operation and topics. If you like to visit and see the group, the address is shilohdiscussiongroup.com (no capital letters). I post here using Ron as my group name ( how did I choose that?).
I'm glad you found a craftsman to work on your gun carriages and other work wood. It sounds like his is a good one. Its nice to have trust in someone and their craftsmanship. I will go on his web site to see about his work.

The best to you and good health.
Ron