GDG- Howard Michael Madaus - OT

[Biggsk at aol.com]

GDG members,
 
It is with great sadness that I report the recent passing of Howard Michael  
Madaus on Saturday, July 21st at his home in Cody, WY.
 
Some of you may know of Howie and some might not - but he was a giant in  the 
fields of Civil War flags as well as Confederate (and other) firearms.   This 
is a huge hole on our knowledge of the material culture study of this era  as 
well as many other areas of American military history.
 
Although being more known as a flags historian, Howie was also former  
curator of the Buffalo Bill Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, WY. for a number of  
years.  His book (he was co-author) on Confederate firearms of some years  ago is 
the definitive study of those weapons.  In addition to this museum,  Howie was 
also assistant curator of the Milwaukee Public Museum and former chief  
curator of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA.  He was also a  museum 
consultant for pretty much any museum that holds significant military  
artifacts.
 
He was widely published in the journal of the Company of Military  Historians 
and the defunct British Journal of the Confederate Historical  Society, 
mostly on flags (which included his fine essay on Confederate flags at  
Gettysburg), and wrote the ground-breaking study of Confederate flags of the  Army of 
Tennessee back in the 1970's, which is the bench-mark for all future  books on 
military flags to follow.  He also did a book on Confederate naval  flags and 
one on the flags of the Iron Brigade.  His last book, released a  year or so 
ago, was co-written with Dr. Whitney Smith of the Flag Institute  entitled "The 
American Flag; Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict."
 
He was working on the revised book on CS Navy flags and his long-awaited  
trilogy series of books on Confederate flags when he passed away.  He was  also a 
co-founder (along with myself and a few other flag historians) of  the 
scholarly Flags of the Confederacy website (_www.confederateflags.org_ 
(http://www.confederateflags.org) ) to which he  contributed from his vast database of 
flags knowledge.  He was always  willing to share his information with anyone on 
flags and weapons and many  authors that have written books on both topics owe 
him a great deal of gratitude  for his amazing research of over 40 years.
 
Howie was my friend and mentor and I had so much more to still learn from  
him.  I am grateful for what he taught me over the years about flags but  what I 
know fills a drinking glass whereas what he knew filled a good sized  
swimming pool!
 
He will be sorely missed by everyone in the military museum community as  
well as many aspects of the Civil War community.  I will miss him  tremendously!
 
Just thought you might like to know.
 
Greg Biggs
 



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