Our September Meeting Info

Our speaker this month is Ed Kennedy of Huntsville, AL.  His topic is – “Horses In The War Between The States”
When the War Between the States began, the armies on both sides depended upon horses and mules almost exclusively to move artillery, supply wagons, and cavalry in the field. The US Army developed systems to obtain horses in large quantities but the Confederate military depended much more on individual soldiers to do so.  The result was the huge mobilization of equines into military service.  Find out the hows and whys in “Horses in the War Between the States”.

Lt. Colonel (Retired) Ed Kennedy is an Army “brat” whose family is from Mississippi and South Carolina.  He is the descendant of Confederate soldiers from South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama.  He grew up interested in the military history of his family whose members have served in every conflict beginning in the Revolutionary War. Two of his sons have served in the military in the Persian Gulf (Navy) and in Iraq (Army).

See you Tuesday, September 17th at the Fort Negley Visitors Center at 7 PM for our monthly meeting.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Some of you have spam blockers or servers that prevents the receipt of this newsletter by email.  Please make the needed changes so that you can continue to get the monthly newsletter from this email address.  Thanks very much.

May is also our fiscal year so dues are due at this meeting.  The dues fee schedule can be found in the newsletter.  If you did not pay dues yet please plan on paying your annual dues at this meeting.  If you have a name badge then you are current with your dues; if you do not then you are not dues current.  Our dues money goes to fund our excellent speakers and allows us to donate to preservation causes. Without the dues money we cannot do either so please pay your dues!

August Meeting Info!

August 20th, 2019 – Our 123nd meeting!!  We continue our tenth year. 

 

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, August 20th, 2019, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  – “General George Gordon Meade: A Leadership Reappraisal”

 

George G. Meade has not been treated kindly by history.  Victorious at Gettysburg, the biggest battle of the Civil War, Meade was the longest-serving commander of the Army of the Potomac, leading his army through the brutal Overland Campaign and on to the ultimate capture of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Serving alongside his new superior, Ulysses S. Grant, in the last year of the war, his role has always been overshadowed by the popular Grant.  This first full-length study of Meade’s entire two year tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac seeks to bring him out from Grant’s shadow and into focus as one of the top three Union generals of the war.

 

John G. Selby digs deeply into the primary sources to find a general bestride a large army he could manage well and a treacherous political environment he neither fully understood nor cared to engage.  An able career officer appointed to lead the largest and most important Union army in the aftermath of the debacle at Chancellorsville, the very apolitical Meade soon found himself in a political hot seat that ultimately cost him his most precious possession, his reputation.

 

Meade’s time as commander began on a high note, the defensive victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.  But when he failed to fight Lee’s retreating army that July and into the fall of 1863, the political knives came out, and he spent the winter of 1863-1864 struggling to retain his job as the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War sought to have him dismissed.  Confined by strategic and operational parameters established by President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton, and General Halleck, Meade saw his army reduced in size and his operational mobility restricted. Meade offered to resign when Grant was appointed commander of all the Union armies in March 1864, but Grant told him to keep his job.  Together, they managed the Overland Campaign and the initial attacks on Petersburg and Richmond in 1864.  This study uncovers a much more active role for Meade in the Virginia campaigns of 1864 than hitherto acknowledged, finding Meade to have more responsibility than usually presented for both the accomplishments and failures of the fighting that year. The study closes with Meade’s role in the Appomattox Campaign, which is another moment of victory and vindication for Meade and his army which is often minimized to enhance the success of Philip Sheridan.

 

By basing his study on the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, original Meade letters, and the letters, diaries, journals, and reminiscences of contemporaries, Selby shows that Meade was a much more active, thoughtful, and enterprising commander than usually assumed.  At the same time, this sensitive and reflective man accepted a position that was as much political as it was military, even though he knew that the political dimensions of the job might ultimately destroy his reputation, if not his livelihood. Meade predicted much of the criticism that surrounded him for the two years he led the army, but he stubbornly persisted in his job.    He paid a greater price than he anticipated for his leadership, and it is time to re-evaluate more positively his tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

 

     John G. Selby is professor of history at Roanoke College and the former holder of the John R. Turbyfill Chair in History at the same. A Civil War scholar, Selby wrote Virginians at War:  The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates and co-edited a large collection of published papers, Civil War Talks:  Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans.

 

Last Month’s meeting

 

We thank Michael Manning, retired Chief Ranger at Fort Donelson National Battlefield, for his illuminating program on the events at Baxter Springs, one of the most tragic events in “Bleeding Kansas” in the Civil War.  As the alternator on my van went out on my way down I sadly missed this program but did hear great things about it.  Hope everyone enjoyed it..

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

September 2019 – Ed Kennedy, historian/retired military – “Horses In The War Between The States”

October 2019 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

November 2019 – Dr. Tim Johnson, historian/author, Lipscomb University – “For Duty and Honor: Tennessee’s Mexican war Experience”

December 2019 – Donna Lucas, Gallatin, TN

January 2020 – John Cashon, historian/author – “Paducah, KY in the Civil War”

February 2020 – Dr. Thomas Flagel, author/historian – “The 1913 Gettysburg Reunion”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

 

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

 

Your dues for the 2019-2020 fiscal year will be due at this meeting if you have not paid as yet!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for sales each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

 

CIVIL WAR NEWS AND EVENTS

New Book Of Images by Noted Sherman Photographer George Barnard Now Available

100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Atlanta Campaign by Stephen Davis

The American Civil War was the first war in which both sides widely used entrenchments, repeating rifles, ironclad warships, and telegraphed communications. It was also the first American war to be extensively photographed. Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and Timothy O’Sullivan are famous for having made iconic photographs in the Civil War’s eastern theater. George N. Barnard deserves to be ranked in this top tier for his photographic work in the war’s western theater.   100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Atlanta Campaign, by Stephen Davis, presents a riveting collection of Barnard’s camera work. Most of the photographs are from Barnard’s time in Atlanta, mid-September to mid-November 1864, during the Federal occupation of the city. Some were published by him in 1866, but many more have appeared in the countless pictorial histories of the Civil War.   No comprehensive collection of Barnard’s Atlanta photographs has been published. With this volume, Stephen Davis attempts to advance the scholarly literature of Barnardiana. Two of the photographs reproduced in this book are believed never to have been widely published.   About the author: Stephen Davis of Cumming, Ga., is the author of four books on the Atlanta Campaign. He has been studying George Barnard’s photographs for decades.   We will have Steve speak to us in 2020 on this great new book!   Confederate Colonel Edmund Rucker Finally Gets A Biography   Edmund Rucker has military and other ties to Tennessee before and during the Civil War.  Starting with assisting in construction of several forts along the Mississippi River and then taking part in their defense, Rucker soon transferred to the cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest.  He was crucial to the victory at Brice’s Crossroads in June 1864.  Rucker was wounded and captured on the Granny White Pike in December 1864 in a rear guard action after the Confederate Army of Tennessee was defeated on the second day of the Battle of Nashville.   After the war, he joined with Forrest in some railroad ventures and then became an executive in the Sloss Iron and Steel company in the new city of Birmingham, Alabama, which helped spur the massive growth of the iron and steel industry in that state.  Fort Rucker, in Alabama, where U.S. Army personnel go today to become helicopter pilots, is named for him.   The book is entitled:  The Meanest and ‘Damnest’ Job: Being the Civil War Exploits and Civilian Accomplishments of Colonel Edmund Winchester Rucker During and After the War   Written by author/historian Michael Rucker of Peoria, Illinois, he married into the Rucker family.  We will have him down to speak to us in 2020.

American Battlefield Trust Raising Funds to Buy Land to Expand Stones River National Battlefield

Our member Howard Mann sent me this important note from the American Battlefield Trust and it indeed warrants inclusion in our newsletter as this will help expand a battlefield in Tennessee that badly needs to add more land to its holdings.  Stones River National Battlefield only owns a little over 20 per cent of the land out of the total battlefield footprint so this chance is terrific – and the price is right!  Also – a big THANK YOU to O’Reilly Auto Parts who decided to sell this important land rather than build their new warehouse on it which would have encroached on the view shed of the battlefield.  This site is along the Nashville Pike.  Well done!  As follows:

Have you ever found something that you thought you had lost forever? Perhaps a photograph, a letter, a piece of jewelry, or something else of great value to you?

If so, then you know exactly how I feel at this moment about the 42-acre tract we have a chance to preserve on the Stones River Battlefield (a.k.a. Murfreesboro) in Tennessee. The parcel is in the core of the fighting and, if saved, would help to connect two widely separated wings of the battlefield that are already protected by the National Park Service. On this land, the soldiers closed out a bloody 1862 and entered the new year with three days of fighting and nearly 25,000 casualties. The Union’s strategic victory at Stones River set the stage for campaigns into the heart of the Confederacy, while providing a much-needed northern morale boost.

We’ve had our eye on this particular tract for years, but when a private company purchased it for development, we thought all hope was lost.

Fortunately, we were wrong. The company that bought the tract, O’Reilly Auto Parts, appreciates the unique history of the property and has generously agreed to sell it to the Trust for preservation.

The purchase price is $4.0 million, but thanks to a state matching grant program created by the hard work of preservationists in Tennessee, together with federal funding, nearly the entire cost is covered. In fact, the Trust needs to raise just $170,000 of the total cost to secure this tract. (That’s a $33.94 -to-$1 match of your donation dollar!)

Please take a moment today to visit our website and read more about the history of this land, then give what you can to secure this precious American history for future generations.

Thank you for your generous dedication,
James Lighthizer
President
American Battlefield Trust

P.S. Please don’t let this incredible opportunity pass us by! We may never again be in a position to preserve such a significant tract of this crucial Civil War battlefield. I implore you to make the most of the $33.94 -to-$1 match by donating to save 42 acres at Stones River today.

https://www.battlefields.org/give/save-battlefields/save-42-acres-stones-river-battlefield?utm_campaign=062519&utm_medium=ask&utm_source=email

The yellow coded tract below is the land that can be saved with your and our donations!

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!!!!  A Large Selection of New Books Still Available at the Nashville CWRT This Month!

Danny Gilkey is a retired history professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and he recently donated hundreds of books for the Nashville and Clarksville CWRTs to sell to members and raise funds for speakers for each CWRT.  Thanks to his great generosity these will be available for sale at this month’s meeting!  So come prepared to shop and add some great stuff to your library all while benefitting your CWRT!   Help give these fine books a new home!  Besides Civil War titles, there will also be books on these subjects: colonial and Revolutionary War books, slavery, Reconstruction, later 19^th Century wars, World War 1, World War 2, Korea, Vietnam and Cold War topics.  Danny also made a most generous donation of some reference books to the Fort Negley library which is open to the public!

We appreciate those of you who bought from this great book selection last month!  The CWRT needs funds to keep getting in speakers and the book sales go towards that so thank you!  The prices for these great books or 50 per cent off or more so some great deals here for your library!  Please keep buying and supporting your CWRT!

Third Annual Congress of Civil War Roundtables – St. Louis, Missouri – September 20-22, 2019

The Civil War Congress was formed to help save and promote struggling CWRTs as well as to help new CWRTs get up and running.  The main design is to have programs that help a CWRT grow and sustain itself.  This is done through the various seminars that members and officers from the nation’s CWRTs can attend.  Also included are tours of local historic sites.

This year’s event is to be held in St. Louis at the Missouri Civil War Museum at Jefferson Barracks just south of the city.  Jefferson Barracks was an important U.S. Army post prior to and during the Civil War and many of the war’s best known officers served there as younger officers including Jefferson Davis, U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and more.  The Missouri Civil War Museum is a must-see with the story of the state that had the third largest number of battles being well told.  Loads of artifacts are displayed that help to tell the tale.

Learn from CWRT experts how they are addressing the issues of member recruitment and retention, marketing, fundraising and governance, participate in breakout sessions to discuss topics you define and network with CWRT leaders from around the country.  Find out how you can work with one another for a sustainable CWRT experience.  Eight great speakers will share what they do as well as offer historical lectures.

There will also be opportunities to tour the fabulous Missouri Civil War Museum, hear first-hand from General Ulysses S. Grant, find out how the Missouri guerrilla war was conducted and partisans were hunted through a presentation by author James Erwin and tour the nearby Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (White Haven).

To register for the conference please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-cwrt-congress-tickets-55844856469?aff=mcivte   The fee is $135 per person.

Lodging

 

Drury Inn & Suites St. Louis Southwest
5 Lambert Drury Place
St. Louis, MO 63088
Telephone: (636) 861-8300
www.druryhotels.com

USE OUR GROUP NUMBER: 2369307

 

Drury Hotels features the following:

 

Free Hot Breakfast – Start every day with make-your-own Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, KELSO+BROS® coffee and more.  Free hot breakfast is served daily from 6–9:30 a.m. on weekdays and 7–10 a.m. on weekends

Free 5:30 Kickback®* – Join us from 5:30–7 p.m. every evening to enjoy free hot food and cold beverages at our 5:30 Kickback®.  We feature a rotating menu of hot food, beer, wine, mixed drinks and soft drinks.

 

Free Wi-Fi Throughout the Hotel – Get the score, check your social networks or email family members from anywhere in the hotel – for free!

 

Free Soft Drinks and Popcorn – Freshly popped popcorn and a refreshing beverage make a great snack!  Stop by the lobby for free soft drinks and popcorn every evening.

 

On-Site Facilities – Take advantage of the business center, fitness center or pool while you’re away from home.  Print your boarding pass, finish a presentation or check e-mail in our business centers.

 

Please make your reservations by Sunday, August 18, 2019 to receive your group rate.  Reservations made after this date will be subject to prevailing rate and availability.   Reservations may also be made by calling 1-800-325-0720 and refer to your group number 2369307.

July Meeting Information

Our speaker this month is Michael Manning of Clarksville, TN.   His topic is – “The Massacre at Baxter’s Springs”

Bleeding Kansas began in 1854 with the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed for the citizens of a territory to determine if they were to be a slave or free state.  This resulted in six years of warfare prior to the start of the Civil War and which lasted far into the Reconstruction period.

One of the worst tragedies occurred on October 6, 1863, when Gen. James Blunt and about 100 men were met near Baxter’s springs by the notorious William Quantrill and 450-650 quasi-Confederates masquerading as Union Troops.  As Blunt’s band was preparing a musical salute the enemy fired. The surprise attack prevented organized resistance, and though Blunt escaped nine-tenths of his men were killed. The raiders also attacked Lt. James Pond and 95 men encamped at the springs. This force was likewise caught off guard but resisted until the enemy retired. This battle or massacre was indicative of how bloody Kansas really was.

Our speaker this month has been with us before – our own Mike Manning.  Michael J. Manning retired in 2015 as Chief Ranger of Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Tennessee.  He served with the National Park Service for 26 years.  He holds a Master’s Degree in Military History from American Military University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  He’s also a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

See you Tuesday, July 18th at the Fort Negley Visitors Center at 7 PM for our monthly meeting.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Some of you have spam blockers or servers that prevents the receipt of this newsletter by email.  Please make the needed changes so that you can continue to get the monthly newsletter from this email address.  Thanks very much.

May is also our fiscal year so dues are due at this meeting.  The dues fee schedule can be found in the newsletter.  If you did not pay dues yet please plan on paying your annual dues at this meeting.  If you have a name badge then you are current with your dues; if you do not then you are not dues current.  Our dues money goes to fund our excellent speakers and allows us to donate to preservation causes. Without the dues money we cannot do either so please pay your dues.

June Meeting Info!

Our speaker this month is Brad Butkovich of Atlanta, GA.   His topic is –  “The Battle of Allatoona Pass”

Atlanta, Georgia, the industrial, food distribution and shipping center of the Confederacy, fell to the Union forces of William T. Sherman on September 2, 1864.  John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee fell back first to Lovejoy Station and then moved west to Palmetto, GA so as to be on the railroad from Alabama, part of his new base of supplies.  After reorganizing the army , losing some commanders (notable William J. Hardee) and feting Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Hood soon planned to move north hoping to draw Sherman out from Atlanta and defeat him badly enough to force him to withdraw from Georgia.  It was a forlorn hope at best, but in a campaign of maneuver, moving over many of the same battlegrounds that had been fought over on the way to Atlanta, Hood ruptured the railroad to Chattanooga that supplied Sherman in several places and set his sights on the Union garrison at Allatoona Pass, where warehouses bulged with food, something Hood would badly need as the campaign progressed.  He sent a single division to attack the Federals who were heavily entrenched on two hills above the pass and some of their units were armed with repeating rifles and were supported by artillery.  The attack was a defeat for Hood and it would help to exacerbate his food problems for the rest of the campaign.  Was it the last battle of the Atlanta Campaign or the first of Hood’s Tennessee campaign?  Come see this month at the Nashville Civil War Roundtable!
Brad Butkovich has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Georgia Southern University. He has published several books on the American Civil War including studies on the Battle of Pickett’s Mill and Allatoona Pass. He has always had a keen interest in Civil War history, photography and cartography, all of which have come together in his current projects. He is currently working on a 3 volume release of Ezra Carman’s Antietam manuscript with a heavy emphasis on maps and visual content.  His books will be for sale at the meeting!

See you Tuesday, June 18th at the Fort Negley Visitors Center at 7 PM for our monthly meeting.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Some of you have spam blockers or servers that prevents the receipt of this newsletter by email.  Please make the needed changes so that you can continue to get the monthly newsletter from this email address.  Thanks very much.

May is also our fiscal year so dues are due at this meeting.  The dues fee schedule can be found in the newsletter.  If you did not pay dues yet please plan on paying your annual dues at this meeting.  If you have a name badge then you are current with your dues; if you do not then you are not dues current.  Our dues money goes to fund our excellent speakers and allows us to donate to preservation causes. Without the dues money we cannot do either so please pay your dues.

March Newsletter and Meeting Notice!

March 19th, 2019 – Our 118th meeting!!  We continue our tenth year. 

 

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, March 19th,  2019, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  – “In Memory of Self and Comrades: Thomas Colley and the 1^st Virginia Cavalry”

 

Thomas W. Colley served in one of the most famous and active units in the Civil War; the 1^st Virginia Cavalry.  The regiment fought in battles from First Manassas to the defenses of Petersburg.  Colley left his home in May 1861 as part of the Washington Mounted Rifles reporting to training camp in Richmond, Virginia.  Colley was wounded during the war in three different engagements; Waterloo Bridge in 1862, Kelly’s Ford in 1863 and lastly at Haw’s Shop in 1864.  The latter wound caused the end of his service for it involved the amputation of his left foot.

 

The program this month is based on his wartime recollections and service compiled into a new book by historian Michael K. Shaffer.  Mike has spoken to us before on the Civil War in Washington County, Virginia and we welcome him back for this new book and program.

 

Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, instructor, lecturer, author and newspaper columnist.  He is a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War in the WesternTheater and Georgia Association of Historians.   Shaffer teaches course at Kennesaw State University’s College of Continuing and Professional Education and lectures to Civil War groups across the country.

 

He will have copies of his book for sale at the meeting.

 

 

Last Month’s meeting

 

As I was not able to make the meeting I cannot review Scott Sallee’s program.  We thank him for the presentation to us.

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

April 2019 – Shayne Davidson – “Seventeen Men; 25^th USCT”

May 2019 – Dr. Peter Carmichael, author/historian/director of Gettysburg College Civil War Center – topic TBA

June 2019 – Brad Butkovich, historian/author – “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign”

July 2019 – Michael Manning, retired National Park Service Chief Ranger – “The Massacre at Baxter’s Springs”

August 2019 – Dr. John Selby – “General George Meade” (From his new book)

September 2019 – Dr. Tim Johnson, historian/author, Lipscomb University – “For Duty and Honor: Tennessee’s Mexican war Experience”

October 2019 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

 

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

 

Your dues for the 2018-2019 fiscal year will be due at the May 2018 meeting – LAST MONTH!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already.  Your dues go to bringing in our speakers, donating to causes, etc. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for silent auctions each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

CIVIL WAR NEWS AND EVENTS

 

Stones River and Franklin/Nashville Campaign Tour With the Civil War Roundtable of the District of Columbia of Washington, DC

 

Our friends of the Civil War Roundtable of the District of Columbia of Washington, DC., are coming to Middle Tennessee for a Civil War tour from April 5 through 7, 2019.

This tour explores the multi-year struggle to gain and maintain control of Middle Tennessee. Tennessee, particularly Middle Tennessee, like Virginia, was a battleground state. Tennessee saw battles within a year of seceding and the fighting continued to the end of the war. We visit two of the greatest of these conflicts at Stones River and at major sites of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign.

Our guide, Jim Lewis, leads us through the decisive engagements of the 1862 and 1864 fighting for the region. Jim has been a Park Ranger with the National Park Service since 1991. Since 1997, he has been at Stones River National Battlefield. He became its Chief of Interpretation & Cultural Resource Management in 2016. Jim has researched and presented dozens of interpretive programs at Stones River National Battlefield and across the country on a variety of Civil War topics. He has also produced numerous interpretive publications and exhibits for the National Park Service.  Jim is a terrific historian and guide.

Members of the Nashville CWRT do not have to pay the full ride since they are not coming from DC but there is a few for the bus.  For more details please email Susan Claffey of the DC CWRT and tell her you are with the Nashville CWRT.  She will be able to take care of your questions.  Her email is – susankclaffey@cwrtdc.org

Kennesaw State University in Georgia Holds New Civil War Seminar – March 23^rd, 2019

The Railroad War: Transportation’s Critical Role in the Civil War

 The Center for the Study of the Civil War Era at Kennesaw State University will hold its 16th Annual Civil War Symposium on March 23, 2019 from 9 AM to 12 PM at the KSU Continuing Education Center in Kennesaw, GA.

 

This year’s theme is “The Railroad War: Transportation’s Critical Role in the Civil War” with presentations by Dr. Brian Wills, Director of Center for the Study of the Civil War Era; Dr. Gordon Jones, Senior Military Historian at the Atlanta History Center; and Thomas Parson, Historian and Author.

The Symposium is free and open to the public – NO RSVP NECESSARY

 

EVENT LOCATION:

KSU Center Rm. 400

3333 Busbee Drive, Kennesaw, GA 30144  (only four hours from Middle Tennessee)

For more information please email Sarah Rudick at – srudick@kennesaw.edu

The Final Books From The Late And Noted Author And Historian Kenneth Hafendorfer Available – Stocks Are Low

 

Many of you know of, have met or have read the numerous Civil War books by Kenneth Hafendorfer of Louisville, KY.  His specialty was the war in Kentucky and he wrote about Perryville (the first author to do so and he and updated that book), Mill Springs, Wildcat Mountain and the Confederate retreat from Kentucky in the Fall of 1862.  Sadly, he passed away a couple years ago but not before finishing his new two volume set on the war in Kentucky in 1862.  I have a set of these massive books and the detail is stunning as one would expect from his books.

 

His daughter Jennifer contacted me to let me know that only ten sets of this new book series remain out of the 108 he had published.  The set is $170 plus tax and shipping.

 

If you are interested please contact Jennifer at – jennifer.hafendorfer@gmail.com – and let her know that you are interested in the set.  You will not regret it and he will be missed.

 

 

New Book on the Battle of Johnsonville, TN Due This Fall

Many of you will recall when we had Clarksville native Jerry Wooten speak to us about the attack on the Union supply depot on the Tennessee River at Johnsonville in early November 1864.  Jerry was superintendent for that Tennessee State Park for a number of years before moving to Bicentennial Mall in Nashville.

Jerry has written a new book on the Battle of Johnsonville and it will be out this Fall thanks to Savas Beattie Publishers of California.  Be sure to put this one on your Christmas books list.  Well done Jerry!

 

 

 

January Meeting!

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, January 15^th,  2019, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  –  “The Woman Behind the Man: Three Fascinating Confederate Couples – Mrs. John Gordon, Mrs. Sam Watkins and Betty Taylor”

 

What ties together a midnight wedding during the fall of Richmond or risking court-martial for a few hours with a sweetheart?  Fanny Gordon, was she the Confederates’ secret weapon?  This month’s program is a light-hearted look at Confederate couples General John B. Gordon and Fanny Gordon, Tennessee’s own Sam Watkins and ‘Jennie,’ and Confederate staff officer Walter Taylor and Bettie Saunders.  These men are well known to Civil War buffs but how much do we know of the ladies in their lives?

 

These fascinating ladies will be the topic of this month’s interesting and fun program that will also include a side excursion into the softer but infinitely complex side of General Robert E. Lee through his surprisingly flirtatious correspondence with young women.  Lee, while sometimes portrayed as a somewhat stoic man who often kept his emotions in check, was indeed quite the ladies man.  Loyal to his wife, of course, Lee was more than happy to receive the attention of the women of the South.

 

Our speaker this month is Donna Hartley Lucas holds a bachelors degree in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Nashville School of Law.  She is president of Historic Sumner, Inc. which publishes The Old Sumner Times-Record retro newspaper and is tour creator/presenter of The Gallatin Ghost Walk history/mystery tour. She has participated in cemetery tours and civilian re-enacting groups since 1995.  Hartley Lucas is a fifth generation native Texan and a member of the Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Austin.

 

We hope you will join us for a fun and informative program this month.

 

Last Month’s meeting

 

We thank Susan Witsofsky, aka Ski for coming down and filling us in on the numerous happenings in Dover and Stewart County, Tennessee.  Not only were the big battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson fought there but two other attacks on Dover plus numerous skirmishes against Confederate cavalry raiders and guerrillas including the notorious Jack Hinson.  Marion Morrison, John Wayne’s grandfather, fought in Dover and Stewart County in the 83^rd Illinois Infantry as did Virgil Earp, Wyatt’s older brother.  Stewart County was a vital cog in the Union supply line along the Cumberland River and as such remained a military target for the rest of the war.  Thanks Ski for letting us know about this history.

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

February 2019 – Scott Sallee, author/historian/Nashville CWRT

March 2019 – Michael Shaffer, author/historian, Marietta, GA

April 2019 – TBA

May 2019 – Dr. Peter Carmichael, author/historian/director of Gettysburg College Civil War Center – topic TBA

June 2019 – Brad Butkovich, historian/author – “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign”

October 2019 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

 

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

 

Your dues for the 2018-2019 fiscal year will be due at the May 2018 meeting – LAST MONTH!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already.  Your dues go to bringing in our speakers, donating to causes, etc. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for silent auctions each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

 

 

December meeting notice and Newsletter!

December 18th, 2018 – Our 115th meeting!!  We continue our tenth year. 

 

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  –  “Stewart County, Tennessee in the Civil War”

 

Those of us in Nashville and Davidson County, TN, having the much larger county population wise, often forget that one of the biggest Civil War battles in our area was northwest of us in Stewart County – the Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign.  What happened there affected Middle Tennessee for the rest of the war and directly led to the capture of Nashville by the Federals in February 1862.

 

But how much else do we know of Stewart County in the Civil War?  What units were raised there?  What other events took place there in terms of battles, raids, guerrilla activity and more?  How were the locals affected by the war literally outside of their front doors?  How did the small town of Dover (some 400 people at the time) deal with three battles fought within its limits in 1862?

 

Answering these and other questions is our own “Ski,” Susan Witzofsky, a well known expert on many things Stewart County historically.  She will inform us of the hardships of the people from war time and into Reconstruction; the loss of boats on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and so much more.

 

Local historian Susan “Ski” Witzofsky is a graduate of APSU. She retired from TVA Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area after more than twenty years. During her tenure she managed campgrounds.  She is also a noted authority on Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area including Stewart County Tn. and Trigg and Lyon Counties in Ky.

 

Ski has served on Boards for local organizations including Friends of Fort Donelson,

Friends of National Wildlife Refuge and Cross Creek Refuge, Stewart County Historial Society.

Ski is an active participant in these and other organizations.  Ski also conducts historical tours, local school programs and, UDC, SCV, programs.  In addition to her interest in all historical aspects of the Civil War, LBL and Stewart County History she enjoys fishing, hunting, and picking wild mushrooms. Other interest include researching local history, families, cemeteries, Iron Industry, Ft Donelson National Cemetery, and local Civil war Units.  Ski is always interested speaking and sharing information.

 

We hope you will join us for a fun and informative program this month.

 

Last Month’s meeting

 

In October, Gerald Augustus taught us with the important Battle of Campbell Station (now Farragut, TN), the first battle of the Knoxville Campaign of November, 1863.  Confederate General James Longstreet’s Corps, with attached units from Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, was in a footrace with Union General Ambrose Burnside to take or hold Knoxville which sat astride the important road and railroad network connecting Tennessee with Virginia.  Sadly, while most of the period battlefield is now gone, the program used current and old images of it to show us all how the running fight took place.  This is a fine program about one of the lesser known fights of the war and we were glad to have Gerald with us.

 

The November speaker has been rescheduled for October 2019.

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

January 2019 – Donna Lucas, historian – “The Woman Behind the Man: Three Fascinating Confederate Couples – Mrs. John Gordon, Mrs. Sam Watkins and Betty Taylor”

February 2019 – Scott Sallee, author/historian/Nashville CWRT

March 2019 – Michael Shaffer, author/historian

May 2019 – Dr. Peter Carmichael, author/historian/director of Gettysburg College Civil War Center – topic TBA

June 2019 – Brad Butkovich, historian/author – “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign”

October 2019 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

 

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

Your dues for the 2018-2019 fiscal year will be due at the May 2018 meeting – LAST MONTH!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already.  Your dues go to bringing in our speakers, donating to causes, etc. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for silent auctions each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

 

CIVIL WAR NEWS AND EVENTS

Some Great Events Coming Up At Fort Negley in Nashville This Month

Fort Negley is having some wonderful events this month starting on Saturday, December 15^th, members of the 13^th USCT will be setting up at Fort Negley along with General George Thomas and President Abraham Lincoln to help commemorate the 154^th Anniversary of the Battle of Nashville.

 

The program also includes these events:

 

– 10:00 am The Battle For Nashville (film), 58 minutes
– 12:00 pm Near Death Experience: Civil War Nashville and the Question of Recovery presented by Dr. Thomas Flagel (this is a terrific program)
– 1:30 pm 8th Minnesota Infantry presented by John Allyn

 

And on Tuesday, December 18^th from noon to 1 PM, historian Dr. Tim Johnson, a noted expert on the Mexican-American War, is giving a program based on his new book on Tennessee’s Mexican War experience.  Using letters, documents and more, Dr. Johnson has discovered very interesting facts on how they felt about their mission in Mexico.  His new book will also be on sale at Fort Negley during their Lunch and Learn series for December.  Be sure to bring your lunch and be ready for a fine program.

 

Of course the Nashville CWRT meets later that night at 7 PM.

 

Please support your local Civil War sites and their programs!

 

Battle of Nashville Preservation Society Holds Great Tennessee Campaign Seminar

 

On Sunday, December 2^nd, the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society held a wonderful seminar with four speakers on various aspects of the Tennessee Campaign.  The event was very well attended with people from across Middle Tennessee and several from Alabama.

 

Let’s hope that this is the first of other planned similar events by BONPS.  Very well done event folks and thanks for your hard work!

 

Program Chair Greg Biggs Will Not Be At the December Meeting

 

Nope – Tennessee is too warm this time of year so I will be speaking to the Twin Cities CWRT in Minneapolis that evening where it will be assuredly colder and thus cannot make the December Nashville CWRT this month.  The speaker, Ski, is a good friend and really knows her stuff about Stewart County so you will enjoy her.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and will see everyone in January, 2019.

November Newsletter and Meeting info (we’re cancelled)

Hello,

Due to several circumstances, including the possibility of bad weather (read snow), the November meeting of the Nashville CWRT is canceled.  Our scheduled speaker will be rebooked for 2019 and we are looking forward to his program.

In the meantime, some local Civil War programs of interest that we hope you support by attending.

Belle Meade Plantation Carriage House Conversations – Thursday, November 15th, 2018

Our friends at Belle Meade have a wonderful speaker series and the program for November is a great one.  Local Nashville historian Brian Allison, a gifted historian and terrific speaker, is presenting the program, “Seeing the Elephant: The Soldiers Experience in the Nashville Campaign 1864.”

The program begins at 5:30 and is free to the public.  For further information please email Andy Blair at andy.blair@bellemeadeplantation.com or call (615) 921-2525.

Battle of Nashville Preservation Preservation Society Announces Tennessee Campaign Seminar – Sunday, December 2, 2018 at Fort Negley

On Sunday, December 2, 2018, the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society in conjunction with Fort Negley will host a one-day symposium in the Visitor Center auditorium during which four outstanding speakers will explore numerous interesting topics, ranging from Hood’s decisions after Atlanta to Civil War medicine.

The Symposium is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Admission is free to BONPS members whose dues are current.  Members can pay their $20.00 individual or $25.00 family annual dues in advance (payment is easy; just click on http://www.bonps.org/about-us/join/ ) , or they can pay at the door.  BONPS is encouraging its interested members to pay their annual dues for 2019 ASAP to help BONPS continue to preserve portions of the Battle of Nashville battlefield.

Admission is also free to members of Civil War Roundtables and the public.

The list of speakers is well-known to anyone with a serious interest in Civil War history:

GREG BIGGS:  Greg is a well-known historian and Civil War flag expert, who is heavily involved in the Clarksville and Nashville Civil War Roundtables.  He will speak on the status and condition of both armies as Atlanta is evacuated and Hood starts what will be the Tennessee campaign.  Gregg is a wonderful speaker who will hold your attention;

STEVE DAVIS:  An author and historian who lives in the Atlanta area, Steve will present his topic “The Bonnie Blue Flop”.  This presentation will be centered on the official records and communications, and lack thereof, between Hood, Beauregard, Richmond, and others as Hood evacuates Atlanta and begins to formulate his Tennessee campaign.  Symposium organizer Philip Duer noted that “This is a great presentation, one you won’t want to miss as it really cements the sequence of events of the beginning of the campaign and exposes the disjointed command of the Confederate Army.”

TOM FLAGEL:  A Columbia State Community College professor and author of many Civil War books, Tom will speak on the inability of the population in the ever-shrinking Confederacy to obtain battlefront news from Southern newspapers and periodicals.  “Anyone who has heard him speak will tell you he is a dynamic presenter.  I have heard this presentation and it is a good one,” Duer said.

DR. JIM ATKINSON:  A BONPS board member for many years and a Vanderbilt physician practicing and teaching in the pathology department, Jim will speak on the state of Civil War battlefield medicine during and at the end of the war.  This should be a very informative presentation and sure to dispel some myths.

Donuts and coffee will be available in the morning and a light snack at lunchtime.  BONPS members are encouraged to make sure that their membership is up to date.  Seating is limited so please email your reservation to Ellen Duer McClanahan.  Her email is as follows:  edmcclanahan79@gmail.com

The Nashville Civil War Roundtable resumes in December.  See you then – have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Greg Biggs/Nashville CWRT

September Newsletter & Meeting Notice

September 18th, 2018 – Our 113th meeting!!  We continue our tenth year.  We now meet on the THIRD TUESDAY of each month!

 

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, September 18th, 2018, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  – “The Red River Campaign – Politics, Cotton and Failure”

 

At this month’s meeting we will cross the Mississippi River to its western side to explore a land and water mission for which the Union hoped to claim Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.  The goal was to end Confederate control of the entire Southwest. Taking place between March 12 and May 20, 1864, the campaign has been written off as militarily insignificant, but Lincoln and his planners had much more in mind than battle. France’s emperor, Napoleon III, had renewed ambitions for a Western empire in an extremely cotton-rich region and with the Monroe Doctrine on hold, he felt free to invade Mexico. In one of the most complete victories of the war, one bright young Confederate tossed a large Union army AND navy out of the region and dominated the field for the remainder of the war. Complete entrapment narrowly missed, the Union saved a major wing of military and naval power whose loss might have meant starting over in the lower Mississippi Valley, perhaps even giving up New Orleans and Mobile.  Sadly, the campaign tied up a large number of troops that would have been with Sherman in Georgia, Gen. A.J. Smith’s XVI Corps (right wing).

 

Returning to speak to us is Kent Wright.  Kent is a member and former program chair of the Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table in Huntsville, AL.  A degreed Mechanical Engineer, Kent was a startup test engineer and trainer for nuclear plant operations for the General Electric Company. For the final 17 years of his career until retirement he was a nuclear training instructor for TVA. He was also a former nuclear navy steam propulsion specialist who has taken an interest in the steam navies of the mid-nineteenth century. Kent has devoted at least 30 years to research and writing of naval aspects of the American Civil War. He has given several round table talks on various Union and Confederate naval topics including ironclads, blockade and counter-blockade operations, river warfare, and international affairs associated with Civil War naval operations.

 

Kent is our resident area expert on all things Civil War Navy and knows his stuff!

Last Month’s meeting

 

Nancy McEntee, perhaps one of the most fascinating speakers we have ever had in terms of her personal accomplishments, regaled us with the story of Union Quartermaster Captain Webster Colburn and his time in Tennessee and the Civil War in general.  Presented with knowledge of the topic, and based on a large collection of letters from Captain Colburn in the hands of a personal friend who is his descendant.  Humor, sadness, frustration and more permeated Captain Colburn’s time in the Union Army and all of this and more was presented to us last month.  We thank Nancy for coming to speak to us.

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

October 2018 – Gerald Augustus, author/historian – “The Battle of Campbell’s Station, Longstreet’s East Tennessee Campaign”

November 2018 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

December 2018 – Susan Witsofsky, historian – “Stewart County in the Civil War”

January 2019 – Donna Lucas, historian – “The Woman Behind the Man: Three Fascinating Confederate Couples – Mrs. John Gordon, Mrs. Sam Watkins and Betty Taylor”

June 2019 – Brad Butkovich, historian/author – “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

 

Your dues for the 2018-2019 fiscal year will be due at the May 2018 meeting – LAST MONTH!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already.  Your dues go to bringing in our speakers, donating to causes, etc. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for silent auctions each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

 

CIVIL WAR NEWS AND EVENTS

Vetfest – A Celebration of American Military Veterans – Franklin, TN, Saturday, November 10, 2018

 

This year’s Vetfest will take place at historic Harlindale Farm in Franklin.  Located at 239 Franklin Road just north of downtown Franklin and the Harpeth River, this annual event celebrates American military veterans.  This year the whole family can attend and see entertainment, veterans owned businesses, a Kid’s Zone and much more.  Food trucks will be on hand.  The event begins at 9 Am and ends at 5 PM.  For more information please visit their web site – http://www.vetlinx.org.

 

A Message From Jim Lighthizer, American Battlefield Trust

 

Dear Friends,

 

My name is Jim Lighthizer — and it is my privilege to serve as president of the American Battlefield Trust, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today.

 

Since the founding of the Trust’s first predecessor organization — the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites — in the summer of 1987, we have successfully saved more than 50,000 acres of American battlefield land in 24 states.

 

But we have not reached this milestone alone.

 

Preservation is a partnership — and our success is rooted in working together with partners at all levels of government and individuals from across the country and around the world who share our passion for American history.

 

Suffice it to say: I would be hard-pressed to name a group of people more passionate about that history than the men and women of the Civil War Round Table community.

 

And, now more than ever, the Trust needs your help.

 

Earlier this year, Congressman Jody Hice of Georgia introduced H.R. 6108, the Preserving America’s Battlefields Act, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants Program — a successful, dollar-for-dollar, federal matching-grants program that promotes the preservation of battlefields from the Civil War, Revolutionary War and War of 1812.

 

The grants provided by this program, competitively awarded by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program, encourage state and private-sector investment in battlefield preservation. It is impossible to overstate here just how essential these grants have been, and remain, to the success of the Trust’s mission.

 

The battlefields saved as a result of the Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants Program are among the most famous in American history, including Antietam, Md.; Appomattox and Fredericksburg, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; Chickamauga, Ga.; Gettysburg, Pa.; Princeton, N.J.; and Shiloh, Tenn.

 

Currently, the program is authorized at $10 million per year; the Preserving America’s Battlefields Act would double that amount to $20 million annually. This figure includes up to $2 million a year for the restoration and interpretation of high-priority battlefield sites, helping to transform these battlegrounds into genuine heritage-tourism destinations.

 

I have attached a copy of the bill to this e-mail, with space at the top for supporters to be able to print and personally sign on as citizen cosponsors. I and all of us at the Trust would be grateful if you could circulate this attachment in turn to the members of your Civil War Round Table, then collect the signed copies and send these back to the Trust in a single batch for us to utilize in our ongoing advocacy effort to ensure the successful passage of this legislation.

 

Thank you for your consideration as well as your support — and we look forward to hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact Paul Coussan of my staff with any questions regarding this effort via e-mail at pcoussan@battlefields.org or via phone at 202-367-1861, ext. 7218.

 

Sincerely,  Jim Lighthizer

 

Braxton Bragg Tries Again: Another Chickamauga (Mis-ad) Venture – Tour of the Early Phases of the Chickamauga Campaign – November 3, 2018

 

The wonderful folks at the Kennesaw State University Civil War Center in Kennesaw, GA have developed another fine tour for Civil War buffs and this one is really good with a great guide – Chickamauga/Chattanooga National Military park Historian Jim Ogden and center director Dr. Brian Wills.  Here’s the details:

 

It was an angry Braxton Bragg who rode out of McLemore’s Cove on the evening of September 11th, 1863.  Recalcitrant subordinates had frittered away an opportunity to have crushed a significant portion of George Thomas’ Fourteenth Corps!  But while the 11th had proved to be (another) day of frustration, intelligence had been gathered that more clearly showed how widely separated were the major elements of the enemy’s force.  Perhaps there were still offensive opportunities.  Even before the 11th ended, orders began to stream from Bragg’s LaFayette headquarters to units unengaged in McLemore’s Cove—be ready to march at daylight.

There’s essentially a week between the missed opportunity of McLemore’s Cove (September 10-11, 1863) and what became the Battle of Chickamauga (September 18-20, 1863).  In this day long bus tour, we’ll look at Bragg’s second try for a battle in the West Chickamauga Creek watershed and set the stage for what did become the Battle of Chickamauga as we know it.  We’ll return to Bragg’s LaFayette headquarters and then ride with the North Carolinian as he went to join Leonidas Polk for a strike on Tom Crittenden; we’ll see ground of the Rock Spring-Lee & Gordon’s Mills venture and visit the surviving post-war Lee & Gordon’s Mills where the Assistant Commissary of Subsistence will provide us with our mid-day repast catered by Oakwood Cafe, the Dalton eatery that supplied our delicious meal in April!  We’ll then transition to an exploration of what became Bragg’s plan that does bring on the Battle of Chickamauga we know, in no small part thanks to the accurate intelligence gathered by the “Wizard in the Saddle” Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry.  We’ll visit sites like Leet’s Tanyard and Peavine Church that take us to the eve of the history book’s clash in the valley of the “River of Death.”  It will be a day that further illustrates that there’s much more to the Civil War than just the big battles and that as it was lived, it might have been a very different war.  Join us as BRAGG TRIES AGAIN!  – Jim Ogden

 

The fees are:  $69 for General Admission – $59 for Kennesaw Corps Members.  The fee covers the bus, tour guides and lunch.  The tour runs from 8 AM to 5 PM and leaves from 3391 Town Point Drive in Kennesaw.  To register online please go to –

 

https://epay.kennesaw.edu/C20923_ustores/web/classic/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=2160

 

Two Weeks Of Fury – The War in the Carolinas Campaign and Symposium – September 28-30, 2018

 

The Civil War in the West ended in the Carolinas when William T. Sherman took his veteran army that had marched from Atlanta to Savannah crossed over into South Carolina aiming to link up with Union forces under U.S. Grant in Virginia.  Facing Sherman was a ragtag Confederate army, veterans of what was left of the Army of Tennessee after the Tennessee Campaign and such forces as could be cobbled together to stop him under General Joseph Johnston, Braxton Bragg and others.

 

If you have never been to these sites then this tour is for you.  You will see the following battlefields – Monroe’s Crossroads (in the middle of Fort Bragg), Wise’s Forks, Averasboro and Bentonville.  Sponsored by the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield and others the tour also comes with a symposium featuring nationally known speakers Dr. John Marszalek and Dr. Craig Symonds.  Tours are led by veteran tour guides Eric Wittenberg, Wade Sokolosky, Mark Smith and Dr, Mark Bradley, all of whom have been published on this campaign.

 

For details and more call (910) 594-0789 Ext. 203 or visit the web site –

 

www.fobb.net/2018symposium

Civil War on the Internet?  Try the Cincinnati Civil War Roundtable’s Web Site

 

We all enjoy messing about on the Internet looking for Civil War and other historical things.  Most Civil War Roundtables have web sites but not that many offer what can be found on the site of the Cincinnati CWRT.  Articles of interest, presentations from their learned members, upcoming events in the Ohio/Kentucky region, book reviews, interesting people and much more can be found at – http://cincinnaticwrt.org/wordpress/newsletter/september-2018/

 

Cincy is only 5 hours from Nashville so if you find something on the site that you would like to visit, like Ohio troops training Camp, Camp Dennison, or the James Ramage Civil War Museum across the river in Kentucky, then this site will be fun and informative.

 

 

July Newsletter and Meeting Notice

July 17th, 2018 – Our 111th meeting!!  We continue our tenth year.  We now meet on the THIRD TUESDAY of each month!

 

The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on TUESDAY, July 17th, 2018, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN.  This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4^th Avenue South and 8^th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue.  Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.

 

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public.  Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

 

Our Speaker and Topic  – “A “Devil” Of A Situation: Forrest’s Attack on Fort Pillow”

 

As Confederate major general Nathan Bedford Forrest approached a small isolated fortification on the banks of the Mississippi north of Memphis in April 1864, he would soon become associated with one of the Civil War’s most infamous episodes.  The fall of Fort Pillow left the Union garrison of between 557 and 580 black and white Union troops with between 277 and 297 deaths or mortal wounds; 64 percent attributed to the black units and 31-34 percent to the white Tennesseans.  The toll for the attacking Confederates rested at 14 killed and 86 wounded.  The most devastating of the Union losses came early in the fighting when the commander, Major Lionel F. Booth, suffered a fatal wound while standing near one of the fort’s embrasures, forcing leadership to pass to Tennessee Unionist, Major William F. Bradford.       Forrest’s ability to recognize and take advantage of terrain features and other elements, the miscalculations of the Union commanders, and the panic attendant to the disintegration of the fort’s defense, including the chaotic nature of the fighting as it concluded, in addition to the attitudes and emotions of the combatants, all contributed to the unusually high loss of life for the defenders.

 

Following an investment of the fort, Forrest sought to achieve a surrender of the garrison.  The failure to accomplish this outcome left the Confederates with the necessity of subduing the defenders by assault.  Forrest’s men quickly swarmed over the parapet and scattered their opponents.  In the chaos and panic of broken and pursuing troops, any sense of order evaporated, especially below the bluffs on which the inner works were situated.  Many tried to surrender, while others plunged into the water to escape; still others continued to resist, all the while under a hail of Confederate fire.  A plan to cover the retreat with support from the gunboat New Era proved impossible on account of the earlier expenditure of much of the vessel’s ordnance and Forrest’s placement of Southern troops along the riverbank near the landing.

A United States Congressional investigation of the disaster resulted in the conclusion that “an indiscriminate slaughter” had taken place after the fort had fallen, “sparing neither age nor sex, white or black, soldier or civilian.”  This “massacre” had featured terrifying examples of brutality, including the burning and burying of live victims.  At the same time, Forrest consistently refused to accept that the deaths at Fort Pillow amounted to any more than would be attributable to combat and that his policy toward prisoners reflected accepted practices.  Yet, accusations of massacre and atrocity continued.  In any case, the Confederate capture of the fort, with its garrison of Tennessee Unionists and African American troops became the most controversial moment of his wartime career.

 

The isolated post and its leadership had offered little match for the Confederates, but in the latter stage of the fight General Forrest lost control of his men, some of whom killed members of the Union garrison who should have been spared.  Fort Pillow fit into patterns of behavior in warfare that occurred before and after 1864 and elsewhere in that bloody year of the conflict.  The degree to which Nathan Bedford Forrest was a hero, as the “Wizard of the Saddle” despite the actions of April 12, 1864, or a villain, as Sherman noted with the name, “That Devil Forrest,” or more widely as the “Butcher of Fort Pillow,” has remained a matter of heated debate.

 

Brian Steel Wills is the Director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga.  He is the author of numerous works relating to the American Civil War.  His latest publication is Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths in the American Civil War (Kansas, 2017) and has just be named as the 2018 Richard Barksdale Harwell Award winner for the best book on a Civil War topic for the year 2017 presented by the Civil War Round Table of Atlanta.

 

His biography of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, A Battle From the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest (HarperCollins) is currently in reprint as The Confederacy’s Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forrest (Kansas).  This work was chosen as both a History Book Club selection and a Book of the Month Club selection.

 

His other titles include The River was Dyed with Blood: Nathan Bedford Forrest and Fort Pillow (Oklahoma, 2014); Confederate General William Dorsey Pender: The Hope of Glory (Louisiana State University, 2013); George Henry Thomas: As True as Steel (Kansas, 2012), which was the recipient of the 2013 Harwell Award; Gone with the Glory: The Civil War in Cinema (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006); The War Hits Home: The Civil War in Southeastern Virginia, (Virginia, 2001) and an updated edition of the James I. “Bud” Robertson, Jr., Civil War Sites in Virginia (Virginia, 2011).

 

Last Month’s meeting

 

Historian Aaron Astor gave us an in-depth study of the Civil War on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.  While some might list this as a near vacant zone, Dr. Astor showed that a lot of events took place in this region, which could be argued is Tennessee’s fourth region.  Beginning with the regions geography and how that influenced the political and military events in the region, Dr. Astor carried forward to the people and the main characters involved in what would become internecine warfare of a particularly brutal kind.  “Champ” Ferguson and “Tinker” Dave Beaty both were deeply involved in attacks against political foes as the Civil War swirled around them.  This was one of the most interesting and unique programs we have ever had – informative, entertaining and different – and presented by a fine historian.  We appreciate Dr. Astor coming to visit with us!

 

FUTURE PROGRAMS:

 

August 2018 – Dr. Nancy McEntee, author/historian – “Haversacks, Hardtack, and Unserviceable Mules; the Civil War Journey of a Union Quartermaster in Tennessee”

September 2018 – Kent Wright, historian/author – “The Red River Campaign”

October 2018 – Gerald Augustus, author/historian – “The Battle of Campbell’s Station, Longstreet’s East Tennessee Campaign”

November 2018 – Dr. David Gregg, pastor, historian – “John Bell Hood in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1864”

December 2018 – Susan Witsofsky, historian – “Stewart County in the Civil War”

January 2019 – Donna Lucas, historian – “The Woman Behind the Man: Three Fascinating Confederate Couples – Mrs. John Gordon, Mrs. Sam Watkins and Betty Taylor”

June 2019 – Brad Butkovich, historian/author – “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign”

 

Some of our speakers are authors and bring books to sell at our meetings.  Please support them by buying their books.

 

MEMBERS AND DUES – The membership has decided that every May will be our fiscal year.  Please plan on taking care of your membership renewals at this meeting.  The annual dues structure for the Nashville CWRT is as follows:

 

Single membership – $20
Family – $30
Military – Active duty and Veterans – $15
Military Family – Active duty and Veterans – $25
Student – $10
Senior (age 60 plus) – $15
Senior couple – $20

 

Your dues for the 2018-2019 fiscal year will be due at the May 2018 meeting – LAST MONTH!  Please plan on paying them at that month’s meeting if you have not already.  Your dues go to bringing in our speakers, donating to causes, etc. 

 

PLEASE PLAN ON PAYING YOUR DUES THIS MONTH SO WE CAN KEEP BRINGING IN GREAT SPEAKERS AND HELP SAVE CIVIL WAR SITES.

 

When your dues are paid you will be issued a new name badge with the fiscal year on it.  If you do not have a name badge then you are not current.

 

Our dues go to paying for speakers as well as donations for Civil War preservation causes especially those of a local nature.  Please be sure to pay your dues so we can offer the best programs possible for you!  We also utilize donated items for silent auctions each month to help add to the treasury.  If you have something you would like to donate for these auctions, please bring them to the meetings.  Books, art, or anything Civil War, works very well.  Thanks very much to all of you who have made such donations!

 

CIVIL WAR NEWS AND EVENTS

Vetfest – A Celebration of American Military Veterans – Franklin, TN, Saturday, November 10, 2018

 

This year’s Vetfest will take place at historic Harlindale Farm in Franklin.  Located at 239 Franklin Road just north of downtown Franklin and the Harpeth River, this annual event celebrates American military veterans.  This year the whole family can attend and see entertainment, veterans owned businesses, a Kid’s Zone and much more.  Food trucks will be on hand.  The event begins at 9 Am and ends at 5 PM.  For more information please visit their web site – http://www.vetlinx.org.

Congress of Civil War Roundtables Announce Annual Meeting and Tour – August 17-19, 2018

In 2017, the Congress of Civil War Roundtables met for the first time to discuss planning and other items designed to help sustain and grow the Civil War Roundtable movement.  This comes at a time when it seems that interest in the Civil War is declining what with schools not doing a good enough job teaching this important era and thus not helping to create a new generation of Civil War buffs who would join CWRTs.  The congress was the brainchild of Mike Movius of the Puget Sound Civil War Roundtable in Seattle, WA.  Numerous other CWRTs have joined in.

 

This nationally focused organization had a very successful first meeting in Centreville, VA, and now continue with their 2018 meeting to be held in Harrisburg, PA this coming August.

 

Sustaining and growing CWRTs is the focus of the CWRT Congress.  Last year, they held a very successful symposium hosted by the Bull Run CWRT in Centreville, VA.  (To read what attendees had to say, click this link: http://www.pscwrt.org/activities/CWRT-congress/2017-congress.html)

This year, the congress will be held in Harrisburg, PA hosted by the National Civil War Museum with assistance from the Harrisburg CWRT.  The agenda this year is much expanded to include a reception on Friday, August 17 including a behind the scenes tour of the museum and a presentation by Chris Mackowski on That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy.

On Saturday, the congress begins with “takeaways” including enhanced fundraising and speaker recruitment, no cost marketing, preservation and CWRT assistance and social media as the lynchpin to 21st century marketing.  Following the congress, there will be a book signing with eleven Civil War historians and authors, a networking opportunity and dinner at the museum.

On Sunday, Wayne Motts, CEO of the museum and licensed battlefield guide, will be conducting a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.

To learn more about the 2018 CWRT Congress, to register for the event and to get a discounted rate at a local hotel, click the button below or use the following link:

 

http://www.pscwrt.org/activities/CWRT-congress.html

 

We hope that you can attend this wonderful event.