When he first heard the voice on his answering machine, local historian and author Tom LeGore wasn't sure if he believed it.
"My wife and I were sitting out on the deck and we thought we heard a phone message," LeGore said. "We checked the machine and this voice said, 'This is Newt Gingrich and I would love for you and your wife to join me for dinner at The Antrim to discuss a project.'"
The LeGores did go to The Antrim where they did in fact meet former Speaker of the House Gingrich and accomplished author William Forstchen, who explained to LeGore that they wanted to tap his expertise to help them write a novel about Gettysburg.
"We didn't talk politics, just history. We sat at The Antrim until close till 1 a.m. and the next morning, we piled into our van and drove the roads of Carroll County," LeGore said.
Now 67, LeGore said that reason he could draw the attention of an author and a major, national politician in the year 2000 was due to the fact that he has made Civil War history, and the history of Carroll County in particular, his life's work.
Long before Gingrich came calling, when LeGore was still in high school, he walked from his family's home in Union Mills up to the Shriver Homestead and began chatting with Frederick Shriver Klein, a professor of history at Franklin and Marshall College and inheritor of the Homestead.
"I was a 16-year-old boy looking for something to do in the summer," LeGore said. "I just walked up to the homestead one day and talked to [Klein] and began a bond that continued till the day he passed away."
Within a year of their meeting, the Historical Society of Carroll County tapped Klein to write a book about the Civil War history of the county and Klein invited LeGore to join the project.
LeGore promptly dove into what would become the passion of his career, researching historical documents, letters and period newspaper accounts to piece together a story of the past.
At a time when most counties produced small pamphlets about their Civil War history, LeGore said that within a few months, they had enough material for a 200-plus page book with illustrations.
The book sold some 2,000 copies in its first press run, according to LeGore, and copies ended up in the possession of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
"Nobody has really come up with anything as definitive since then," LeGore said. "We still get calls from historians asking for more information."
In 2003, the state tapped LeGore to write the text for the 18 Civil War Trail markers in Carroll County, and in 2006, LeGore put together a plan to install a granite monument to the men - both Union and Confederate - who fought and died during Corbit's Charge in the battle of Westminster, an event that LeGore did much to popularize.
"I thought the monument was a terrific idea," said former Westminster Mayor Tom Ferguson, who helped secure city funding for the monument. "[LeGore] is infectious with his enthusiasm. He's absolutely passionate about the history, particularly as it relates to us and our area."
Much of LeGore's expertise centers on the Pipe Creek Line, the battle line running from Manchester to Middleburg where Union Gen. George Meade had hoped to engage the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, instead of Gettysburg.
According to author William Forstchen, how history might have been different had the battle of Gettysburg been fought instead in Carroll County is one of the big "what if's" of the Civil War, and was the basis for the novel he had been discussing writing with Newt Gingrich, research for which had brought the pair to Westminster.
"I walked into your incredible county historian office there in Westminster," Forstchen said. "I mentioned that a friend and I were looking at doing a 'what if' novel about Gettysburg, and they told us immediately, 'you've got to talk to Tom LeGore, he's the expert.'"
Forstchen reported this to Gingrich that night at The Antrim in Taneytown, Gingrich left his voice message, and the group met the next day.
"I have met a lot of historians and I was gape mouthed," Forstchen said. "Tom knew about the alternate [Gettysburg] scenario."
By 2003, the group had a New York Times best seller on their hands with "Gettysburg: A novel of the Civil War," to be followed by "Grant Comes East," and "Never Sound Retreat."
According to Forstchen, LeGore's involvement was absolutely essential.
"Tom LeGore was the crucial element in helping us to put together a novel," Forstchen said. "His knowledge of Civil War history and your county in particular is like an encyclopedia. He is a great historian."
For LeGore, the experience of working with Forstchen and Gingrich was a high point in his career.
"We became steadfast friends, we still talk to them on the phone," LeGore said. "The chemistry was just right and it was one of those experiences that you can never replace with anything else."
Today, LeGore said he is slowing down somewhat, but has no plans on stopping - area Civil War history is his life's passion.
"We could have moved anywhere, but we decided stay here and do what we love," LeGore said. "We are even going to be buried in the Evergreen Civilian Cemetery in Gettysburg."
LeGore secured the plots, which are nearby those of Civil War Heroes John Burns and Jennie Wade, for $100 when he was just 16, proving he could look ahead as well as search the past.
"I used to kid my wife when we were courting, 'I'm a land owner,'" LeGore said. "I didn't tell her until later that it was a cemetery plot."
