Wikipedia:Peer review/11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment/archive1
I've listed this article for peer review because I eventually want to nominate it to GA, and perhaps FA one day and am looking for feedback specifically to get it to GA status. I believe this is one of the most developed articles regarding a Civil War regiment. Thanks for your time, Daysleeper47 (talk) 17:10, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
- Done Needs to be longer: it's currently unsatisfying short. It hooked me in but didn't deliver :)
- Done Under-wikilinked (first mention of Abraham Lincoln, Union, Confederacy etc). Not everyone knows who they are.
- Done Dates: Days/months/days should be wikilinked so they appear correctly in browsers ie some people use month/day format, others prefer day/month. (It's a setting in Preferences). Months should be written out in full.
- Done Perhaps a paragraph or two something on the history/origins of original zouaves (in general)
- Reply: I added a paragraph on Ellsworth's intro to the Zouaves.
- Done How did the zouave idea get from Colonial French Africa to New York?
- Reply: See above, article explains the origins of the 11th. Other Zuoave units had other influences.
- A description/explanation of the colorful/eccentric uniform?
- Glorious color picture of the zouave in his finery would be good.
- I thought the battle honors detail was insufficient.
- Reply: I expanded Bull Run, which was their only major combat. Other skirmishes were noted, but I am currently lacking in a lot of resources other than those found online.
- Any explanation for their incredibly light fatality rate (around 5%, using your figures)?
I'd strongly suggest taking a look at some of the fort articles I've created. The 11th New York is frequently mentioned in a lot of the sources I consulted, and I've got a few pictures in them that might be useful to you when building this article. I don't recall offhand if the 11th New York participated in the construction of any of the forts around Alexandria, but in either event, they're considered one of the first units to cross the Long Bridge into Northern Virginia in the days following the secession of that state. Also, I'd be happy to volunteer to copyedit the article if/when you need someone to do so. Drop me a line on my userpage, and I'd be happy to do so. I do think there's a lot of room for expansion first, however. JKBrooks85 (talk) 20:51, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
I've made a few typo fixes and grammar corrections. Some remaining issues:
- More interwiki links are needed.
- In the section about Marshall House, "on the way down the stairs" could use some clarification.
- "O'Brian was also short lived" is unclear - I presume you mean he was replaced, but it could be taken to mean he was killed.
- The sentence about Hampton Roads is in dire need of a rewrite.
Thanks for an interesting read. I hope you're able to expand it per the others' comments above; I'd be happy to copyedit it more thoroughly later if needed. Maralia (talk) 23:11, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
I have updated the article with some minor mods. As a general comment, if you are intending to seek FA status, you should attempt to find some secondary sources as refs, such as books about the battles in which they fought. I am not too excited about these regimental histories that are often simply rehashes of web summaries.
- Unit histories generally include the dates of command for their commanders.
- What is the meaning of "distinguished themselves for their foul conduct"?
- "O'Brian was also short lived" -- does that mean he died?
- It is not good practice to hardcode thumbnail sizes because users can set their preferred size; I removed these.
- Note that Ellsworth was the first 'conspicuous' casualty of the war, as it says in his bio article. Daniel Hough at Ft Sumter was the first. Hal Jespersen (talk) 21:45, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
AZPR
editA script has been used to generate a semi-automated review of the article for issues relating to grammar and house style. If you would find such a review helpful, please click here. Thanks, APR t 02:42, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
This article struck me as well written, well organized, and well referenced. I'm no expert on this historical period, but the article seems fairly comprehensive. I did have a couple minor concerns, however. First, there are stylistic inconsistencies in the references section. Look closely at the two published secondary sources in this section (Foner's overview of Reconstruction and the 19th-century historical text). This problem can be handled in a minute. Secondly, you might mention that cynicism about the war was common among New York's working-class whites well before the draft riots. The draft riots were an expression of longstanding attitudes of resentment and disillusionment toward the war. This terrible episode raises a couple of questions. Why were so many of the city's poor whites out of sympathy with the stated ideals of the Union cause? Why did they target African Americans, who were, if anything, worse off than them? Answers to these questions will shed light on a question more central to your topic: Why did volunteer recruitment "stall." Overall, I think this article should have no problem meeting the standards of the GAC. I believe it has the potential to achieve FA status. Best, -- twelsht (talk) 16:20, 20 December 2007 (UTC)