American Civil War Monuments

Irish Brigade Monument

Sickle’s Avenue

Gettysburg National Military Park

                     

Text and Photo courtesy of  LCWRT Member Charlie Moore   

     The Irish Brigade, originally organized by Thomas Francis Meagher, was led at Gettysburg by Colonel Patrick Kelly.  The brigade was made up of 5 regiments: the 28^th Massachusetts, 63^rd New York, 69^th New York, 88^th New York, and the 116^th Pennsylvania. The brigade had been shattered at both Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and arrived on the battlefield at Gettysburg with only 532 men in the entire brigade. 224 of these men were in the 28^th Massachusetts. The other four regiments averaged only 75 men each.

      On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, the Irish Brigade and 3 other brigades of Brigadier General John C. Caldwell’s Division of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's 2^nd Corps charged across the Wheat Field and momentarily pushed out the Confederate troops who had taken possession of it.  Caldwell’s Division was shortly forced to retreat after being hit by heavy Confederate reinforcements.  The Irish Brigade suffered 221 casualties during their brief encounter at the Wheat Field, or 40.5%.  The monument was dedicated on July 2, 1888, the 25^th anniversary of the battle. At the base lies a life size Irish Wolfhound in bronze, representing faith and devotion.

Saturday, December 9  

Announcing Our 524th Meeting

The Spirit of Henry Clay and Kentucky in the Civil War

 Presented by James C. Klotter

The Spirit of Henry Clay and Kentucky in the Civil War

            Henry Clay was known as 'The Great Compromiser.' But he had been dead for almost a decade by the time the Civil War started and compromise after compromise failed to keep the conflict from starting. But Clay's lingering influence lived on long after his death and it would still prove crucial in shaping Kentucky's course during the conflict, and, by extension, the nation's future. In this talk, the State Historian of Kentucky brings to bear the work he has done for a study of Clay that will be published next year by Oxford University Press.

            We are glad to welcome back a distinguished historian and author, James C. Klotter.  James is a native Kentuckian, and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Kentucky. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of almost twenty prize-winning books, including the standard works on Kentucky used at the elementary, secondary, and college level. Among his books are:  William Goebel: The Politics of Wrath; A New History of Kentucky; Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950; and Kentucky Justice, Southern Honor, and American Manhood (which won the Governors’ Award in 2007 for the best book on Kentucky history published over the past four years).

                Most recently, he coedited Kentucky Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky, 1792-1852. Dr. Klotter’s study of Henry Clay and the American presidency will appear early next year from Oxford University Press.

                Jim Klotter was the Executive Director of the Kentucky Historical Society for many years. He currently serves as Professor of History at Georgetown College and is the State Historian of Kentucky.

Amercian Civil War Monuments

1^st and 3^rd Mississippi Infantry, African Descent Monument

Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Dedicated February, 14, 2004

Photos and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

The newest monument at the Vicksburg National Military Park honors former slaves from both Mississippi who served as soldiers in the Union Army.  The monument depicts two black men, one a soldier and the other a slave helping a wounded black soldier.  The monument depicts the slave looking back on the institution of slavery.  The wounded soldier represents the sacrifice for freedom, and the soldier with the rifle depicts the slaves’ fight for freedom.  More than 180,000 blacks served in the Union army while many others served in the Union navy.   Over one-third of the African –Americans who served in the army lost their lives during the Civil War, most from disease.

LCWRT 523rd Meeting
The Day the South Really Lost the Civil War

Presented by James I. Robertson Jr.

Sunday, November 19

We are once again honored to have our longtime friend and Life Member of our Round Table, James I. ‘Bud’ Robertson Jr. visit us.  He is without question one of the preeminent Civil War scholars and lecturers of our time.  So many times in the past he has enlightened our members with informative and entertaining talks.  ‘Bud’ has written and edited over 20 books and countless articles and reviews during his distinguished career.   His latest book is “CIVIL WAR ECHOES—Voices From Virginia 1860 - 1891”.  His magnificent biography of Stonewall Jackson won eight national awards and served as the basis for the movie ‘Gods and Generals’.

James I. Robertson Jr. is a native of Danville, Virginia and a great grandson of a Confederate veteran of the Army of Northern Virginia.   He received his B.A. and Litt.D. degrees from Randolph-Macon College and M.A. and PhD degrees from Emory University, where he studied under famous Civil War historian Bell Wiley. He served as Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission working with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.  He has been honored with several major awards including the 1987 Fletcher Pratt Award, the 1988 Jefferson Davis Medal and the Freeman-Nevins Award. Bud continues to speak at seminars and other venues around the country and has finished ‘A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary: J. B. Jones’ that was recently published. 

Dr. Robertson recently retired from being the Alumni Distinguished Professor in History at Virginia Tech.  Since our founding in 1961, Bud Robertson has been a frequent and favorite speaker and we welcome him back once again for what will be a very special evening.

“The Day the South Really Lost the Civil War”

For 150 years historians and Civil War Round Tables have argued when the Confederacy reached its "high water mark"--when the signal came that the South's attempt at independence was going to fail.  A host of critical points has been proposed.  Antietam, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg traditionally lead the pack. Dr. Robertson plans to examine the possibilities and offer his own nomination as the Civil War's turning point.

American Civil War Monuments

Gettysburg National Military Park

Monument to the 2^nd,3^rd,4^th,5^th,& 6^th Vermont.

Photos and Text courtsey of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

These five Vermont Regiments made up the First Brigade, of Howe’s Division, of Sedgwick’s 6^th Corps. They arrived about 5:00 P.M. on July 5^th after a march of 33 miles from Manchester Md.  Upon arriving they were placed on the extreme left of the Union line with only 1 regiment, the 5^th Vermont, placed on picket duty.  On the morning of July 3^rd they moved a short distance and took position with their right flank on the east slope of Big Round Top and their left flank on Taneytown Road.  They remained here until the end of the battle  The brigade, under the command of Col. Lewis Grant suffered only 1 casualty, that being one man wounded by artillery fire.  The brigade came to the battle with 1916 men.  

The inscription on the monument tells the complete story of this Vermont brigades casualties during their time of service. Of the total number of 11,137 who served with the brigade over its period of service, 4,704 became casualties.  2,439 gave their lives to the Union cause: 1,128 killed and mortally wounded in action, 1,009 died of disease, died in Confederate prisons, 302.  Another 2,265 were wounded but not mortally. Gettysburg was a complete anomaly for them.

American Civil War  Sites
Fort Duffield
Ohio River
West Point , KY  

Photo and Text by LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

At the confluence of the Salt and Ohio Rivers in Hardin County, Kentucky, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, ordered the construction of a fort some 300 feet above the city of West Point to protect his supply base there and to protect Louisville from attack via the Louisville-Nashville Turnpike.  Work began on September 3, 1861 and was completed by the end of the year. Current research tells us that 48 Union soldiers died of disease there, the majority being from the 9^th Michigan Infantry. This impregnable fortress was never challenged; however, its strategic location no doubt played an important role in Civil War Kentucky.

American Civil War Battlefields
The Shirley House
East of the Third Louisiana Redan
Vicksburg National Battlefield
Vicksburg, MS

Photo courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell

The home of James and Adeline Shirley, this house is the only Civil War era structure left on the Vicksburg Battlefield. During the siege of Vicksburg, this handsome home was surrounded by dug out shelters that protected Union soldiers from Confederate artillery.  While they were slave owners, the Shirleys were Union sympathizers, and their son Qunicy "joined the Union troops fighting at his doorstep fighting the Confederate troops."

From the NPS: "On May 18, 1863, as the Confederate rear guard fell back into the Vicksburg defenses, soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses in front of their works. The Shirley barns and outbuildings were quickly burned to the ground, but the soldier assigned to destroy the house was shot before he could apply the torch. 

Mrs. Shirley, her 15-year-old son Quincy, and several servants, were caught in the cross-fire as Union soldiers approached Vicksburg. Fearing for their lives, they remained in the house huddled in a chimney corner for three days before Mrs. Shirley tied a sheet to a broom handle and had it placed on the upper front porch. The frightened occupants of the 'white house' were finally removed by Union soldiers and given shelter in a cave."

 After the siege, this damaged and abandoned house was used as a smallpox quarantine hospital by Union troops.  Property of the US Government since 1900, the house has been restored to its Civil War era appearance. 

American Civil War Sites
Windsor Plantation
Mississippi Highway 552
Port Gibson, MS

Photos and Text Courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

The Windsor Mansion was begun by Smith Coffee Daniel II in 1859 and completed in 1861.  Mr Daniel died a few weeks after completion at the age of 34. Basic construction was done by slaves.  Skilled carpenters and ironworkers were brought from New England for  finishing all woodwork and iron work for stairs.  The bricks for the 29 columns supporting the structure were made at a kiln that was located on the site.  The column’s capitals and balustrades were manufactured in St. Louis and then shipped down the Mississippi to the Port of Bruinsburg, and then transported to Windsor.  The total cost of the mansion was $175.000.

During the Civil War, Windsor was used as an observation post by the Confederates, who sent flag signals from its cupola across the Mississippi to forces in Louisiana.  It was used as a Union hospital after the battle of Fort Gibson, May, 1863.

American Civil War Monuments

The Henry Wirz Monument

Andersonville, Georgia

    

     Photo and Text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

Located outside of Andersonville National Historic Site, in the community of Andersonville, stands a lone monument, a memorial to Confederate Captain Heinrich Wirz.  Wirz served as commander of the Camp Sumter military prison for most of its 14 months of operation between 1864-65 and was later convicted of  the “war crimes” of murder and conspiracy by a Union military tribunal.  He was hanged in Washington, DC on November 10, 1865.  He was the only man convicted and executed for such crimes after the war. 

The monument, like the man for whom it is dedicated, was bathed in controversy during its conception and construction. Between 1899 and 1916 sixteen northern states dedicated monuments to the prisoners held at Andersonville.  In response to this monument building, and to honor Wirz and to vindicate his name, a site in the town of Andersonville, near the infamous prison, was chosen to honor him. Whether you believe him to be a villain, or a hero, Captain Wirz and the monument dedicated to his memory remain as reminders of a bitter and controversial time in our history.  The monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and dedicated May 12, 1909.

LCWRT Announcing Our 522nd Meeting

 Friday, October 13, 2017

"Grant Invades Tennessee: Forts Henry and

 Donelson”

Presented by Timothy B. Smith

We welcome back Tim Smith who will speak on his award-winning book, Grant Invades Tennessee: The 1862 Battles for Forts Henry and Donelson.

Forts Henry and Donelson are often described as key events in the Civil War, but they have never before been analyzed to the degree Timothy B. Smith does in his award winning Grant Invades Tennessee: The 1862 Battles for Forts Henry and Donelson, upon which this talk will be based. Smith offers a good dose of revisionism in examining tactical details of the fighting, the larger context of the actions, as well as the implications of the campaign. Smith will examine leadership, terrain, and consequences in this reevaluation of one of the most highly touted campaigns of the Civil War.

Timothy B. Smith, Civil War author and historian, is a native of Mississippi but now resides in Tennessee, where he teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Smith received both BA and MA degrees in history from the University of Mississippi and a PhD from Mississippi State University in 2001.  Pursuing his love of history, Smith worked for the National Park Service at the Shiloh National Military Park for seven years, where his interest in the Civil War was intensified. His main area of interest and specialty, besides the Civil War, is the history of Civil War battlefield preservation.

Tim Smith is widely regarded as the leading tour guide of the battle of Shiloh and of the siege and battle of Corinth. He is the author of a number of books including Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front, The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and Battlefield, Rethinking Shiloh: Myth and Memory, Shiloh: Conquer or Perish, The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America’s First Five Military Parks, and Corinth 1862: Siege, Battle, Occupation.

American Civil War Battlefields
The Dover Hotel 
Ft. Donelson National Battlefield KY/TN 

Photo Courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell

The Dover Hotel, also known as the Surrender House, witnessed the surrender of CSA forces under the command of Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner to then Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on Feb 16, 1862. These negotiations were the occasion of the “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works” statement that made an obscure Grant famous in the newspapers.  

The Dover Hotel was Buckner’s headquarters during the battle, a Union hospital after the surrender, and a survivor of the 1863 Battle of Dover. It remained in business until 1925. The structure was reconstructed by the Fort Donelson House Historical Association and the National Park Service. According to the Civil War Trust, “The hotel is the only original major battle surrender structure remaining from the Civil War.”

American Civil War Monuments

United Daughters of the Confederacy Monument

Shiloh National Military Park

Photo and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

This monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in memory of all Southern troops who fought in the battle of Shiloh.  In the center of the massive pedestal is a carved bust of Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston, the Confederate commander who was killed during the fighting in the afternoon of the first day. The two figures to the right represent an infantryman and an artilleryman. The front figure on the left stands for a cavalryman and the one with his head bowed represents a Confederate officer.  The central group represents a “Defeated Victory”.  The front figure, representing the Condfederacy, is surrendering the laurel wreath of victory to Death, on the left, and Night, on the right.  Death came to their commander and Night brought reinforcements to the enemy, and the battle was lost.  The monument was first proposed by the Savannah, TN, unit of the UDC in 1907.  After a ten year period of raising money, and various postponements, it was finally erected in May of 1917.   It was designed and sculpted by Frederick C. Hibbard.

LCWRT Special Event:

June 24, 2017

2017 Bourbon & Barbecue:

Tennessee Whiskey and Tennessee War

This year’s theme is “Tennessee Whiskey and Tennessee War”. We will welcome George Dickel Ambassador Brian Downing who will conduct a tasting of six George Dickel Tennessee Whiskeys.  We will also feature famous Civil War historian and storyteller Tom Cartwright who will speak on “Tennessee War”.  And we are very happy to once again have bourbon expert, author, and historian Mike Veach with us who will serve as our master of ceremonies. The program will begin at 4:15 on the patio overlooking the Ohio River and yes, we have a tent to protect us from the sun and any moisture that might fall from the sky. 

Immediately after the presentation at approximately 5:30, we will begin serving a buffet style BBQ picnic dinner that will be a delight to everyone’s taste buds!  Master BBQ chefs Marc Oca and Art Boerner will slow cook and smoke pork and ribs all day Saturday just for us.  

Thomas Y. Cartwright 

Saturday May 13
Announcing Our 520th Meeting
“The Fight for the East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg”
Presented by Eric Wittenberg

Eric J. Wittenberg was born in the Philadelphia suburbs. He was raised in southeastern Pennsylvania, and made his first trip to the Gettysburg battlefield as a third-grader. By the end of that trip, he was fully hooked on the Civil War. Eric is an alumnus of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and also has two degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in public and international affairs from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs as well his Juris Doctor from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law. 

Eric J. Wittenberg is an award-winning Civil War historian. His specialty is cavalry operations, with a particular emphasis on the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps. He is the author of seventeen published books. His first book, Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, was named the third winner of the Robert E. Lee Civil War Roundtable of Central New Jersey’s Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award as the best new work interpreting the Battle of Gettysburg of 1998. Other works of his have been chosen as main selections by the History and Military Book Clubs, and his work uniformly receives good reviews. He is also the author of more than two dozen published articles on Civil War cavalry operations. His articles have appeared in Gettysburg Magazine, North & South, Blue & Gray, Hallowed Ground, America’s Civil War, and Civil War Times Illustrated. 

Eric regularly travels the country to lecture on the war, and he is frequently asked to lead Civil War battlefield tours. Battlefield preservation work is very important to him. He sits on the boards of advisors of the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Friends of the Alligator, and has regularly worked with the Civil War Preservation Trust in helping to save battlefield land. He is an original member of, as well as past president and program chairman of, the Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable. He is the vice president of the Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Foundation and serves as one of 18 members of the Governor of Ohio’s Advisory Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. He maintains a popular and well-regarded blog, Rantings of a Civil War Historian, and is the owner and moderator of the popular Civil War Discussion Group Online. A native Philadelphian, he is a long-suffering fan of the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers, and is also an avid supporter of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Eric, his wife Susan, and their two golden retrievers live in Columbus, Ohio.  

The Fight for the East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg

In his talk, “Protecting the Flank: The Fight for East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg,” award-winning Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg will address the critical events that occurred on East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. However, you cannot understand these events without also understanding the fight for Brinkerhoff’s Ridge on the afternoon of July 2 that set the stage for the fight on East Cavalry Field. Come hear Mr. Wittenberg discuss these important events.

American Civil War Monuments

Three Generals

South Loop, Kentucky Avenue, between Union and Confederate Avenues

Vicksburg Military Park

Photos Courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell

At Vicksburg, there are 4 very large busts on the South Loop of Kentucky Avenue of 4 generals, 2 CSA, 2 USA.  We already covered Ben Hardin Helm.

Left to Right:

Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge

Cost (by Federal Government): $565 bust, $208.91 pedestal

Sculptor: T.A.R. Kitson

Erected: 1913

Plaque reads:

John C. Breckenridge

Major General C S Army

Commanding Division

Johnston’s Army

Brig Gen C S Army Nov 2 1861

Major General Apr 14 1862

Born Lexington Ken Jan 16 1821

Died Lexington Ken May 17 1875"

“In May 1863, Breckinridge was reassigned to Joseph E. Johnston, participating in the Battle of Jackson in an attempt to break the Siege of Vicksburg. Vicksburg fell to Grant's forces on July 4, and Breckinridge was returned to Bragg's command on August 28, 1863."

Brig. Gen. William Vandever,

Cost: $550 for bronze

Sculptor: George T. Brewster

Erected: February 1915, Original Location: Iowa Circle

Plaque reads:

"Brig.General U.S.Vols

Commanding 1st Brigadier/ Herron's Division

Col.9th Iowa Inf. Sept.24 1861

Brig.Gen.U.S.Vols. Nov.29 1862

Bvt. Maj.Gen. Of Vols. June 7 1865"

“In 1861, Vandever was mustered into the Union Army as colonel of the 9th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers on November 29, 1862 and sent to command a brigade in the XIII Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. He returned to the Trans-Mississippi Theater to command the 2nd Division in the Army of the Frontier at the Battle of Chalk Bluff. He reverted to brigade command under Francis J. Herron during the siege of Vicksburg.“

Jacob G. Lauman, Brig. Gen.

Cost: $570 for bronze

Sculptor: R. Hinson Perry

Erected: March 1914

Original Location: Wisconsin Avenue

"JACOB G. LAUMAN

Brig. General U.S. Vols.

Commanding 4th Division”

“In 1863, Lauman led the 4th Division of the XVI Corps during the Siege of Vicksburg. He was relieved of duty by the order of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman shortly after the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, on July 16, 1863. He failed to properly execute orders on how to deploy his troops from his immediate superior, Ord, who accused him of wanton disregard for the orders that led to a heavy loss in casualties.”

American Civil War Monuments

Shiloh National Military Park

Shiloh, TN

  

 Photos and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore 

On April 7, 1862, the second day of fighting at Shiloh, J.D.Putnam of the 14^th Wisconsin Volunteers was killed while advancing against a Mississippi Battery.  Thomas Steele, one of the burying party, suggested that Putnam be buried where he fell, in front of an oak tree.  After he was interred his name was carved into the trunk of the tree.  In 1901 the Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commission visited the battlefield and noticed that only the stump remained, with Putnam’s name on it.  Thomas Steele, who was present, asked for the stump, and the Park Commissioners agreed.  Steele had it shipped to the G.A.R. Memorial Hall in Madison where it remained until it was destroyed in a fire in 1904.  Luckily, Steele had had the stump photographed.  The Wisconsin Monument Commission decided to reproduce it in granite and placed it on the exact spot as the original.  It was so placed on April 7, 1906 and now represents not only Putnam but his entire regiment.  Putnam’s remains were reinterred in the Shiloh National Cemetery in 1866.

American Civil War Monuments 

Ben Hardin Helm, CSA 

South Loop, Kentucky Avenue, between Union and Confederate Avenues

Vicksburg Military Park 

Photo Courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell

At Vicksburg, there are 4 very large busts on the South Loop of Kentucky Avenue. This one, erected in 1914, at a cost of $650 for the bronze, honors Ben Hardin Helm, and might be more in place at Chickamauga, where he died Sept. 21, 1863. Here at Vicksburg, he was not actively engaged, but “near the end of the spring of 1863, Breckenridge ordered Helm to deploy the brigade to Vicksburg, Mississippi to participate in General Joseph E. Johnston's unsuccessful attempt to break the siege”. Helm is buried in the Helm Family Cemetery, Elizabethtown, KY. Today, he is mostly remembered as Abraham Lincoln’s brother-in-law. 

Plaque: 

BEN HARDIN HELM

Brig. General C.S. Army

Commanding Ken. Brigade

Breckinridge's Division

Johnston's Army

Cadet U.S. Military Academy 1847

2nd Lt. U.S. Army March 31, 1852

Resigned October 9, 1852

Col. 1st Ken. Cav. Oct. 5, 1861

Brig. Gen. C.S. Army Mar. 14, 1862

Mortally wd. in battle Sept. 20, 1863

Announcing Our 519th Meeting

“The Battle of Resaca”

Presented by Lee White

DATE: Saturday, April 8

William Lee White is a National Park Ranger at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, where he gives tours and other programs at the Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain Battlefields.

He is the author of Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, part of the Emerging Civil War Series, as well as several articles and essays on topics related to the Western Theater.

He also edited Great Things Are Expected of Us: The Letters of Colonel C. Irvine Walker, 10th South Carolina Infantry CSA. Over the years, he has spoken to many roundtables, historical societies, and other history-minded groups.

 Lee White has a new book coming out this October, Let Us Die Like Men: The Battle of Franklin.

"The Battle of Resaca"

The Battle of Resaca was the largest battle and the bloodiest of the Atlanta Campaign, yet it gets less attention than other battles, it was a learning experience for the soldiers on both sides that defines the rest of the campaign.

Following his withdrawal from Rocky Face Ridge, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston established a strong defensive position protecting the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca, where the railroad crossed the Oostanaula River. On the 13th, Sherman's men tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. Over the next two days, Sherman launched a series of attacks against Johnston's earthworks, which were largely repulsed. Confederate counterattacks by Hood's corps failed to dislodge the Yankees, who were in full force in front of the Rebel lines. On the 15th, however, a small Federal force crossed the Oostanaula River at Lay’s Ferry, effectively flanking Johnston out of his entrenchments and forcing the Confederates to withdraw.

American Civil War Monuments

East Cavalry Field

Gettysburg National Military Park

 Photos and text by LCWRT member Charlie Moore

The Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Gettysburg consisted of the 1^st, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th Michigan regiments under the command of Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer.  When Gen.Meade was given command of the Army of the Potomac on June 28^th he was told he could promote those he deemed worthy without regard to their rank or time in grade.  Custer was one of 3 cavalry captains who were jumped by Meade to Brigadier General. Custer and his men were pitted against the brigade of Confederate Brigadier General Wade Hampton composed of the 1^st North Carolina and the 1^st and 2^nd South Carolina cavalry regiments. This is where the Custer legend began, when he rode to the front of his brigade and shouted out “Come on you Wolverines!”.  He always led from the front and his men loved him for it. This cavalry battle was pretty much a draw but it did stymie the Confederate plans to hit the Army of the Potomac in the rear while the Pickett, Pettigrew, Trimble charge took place along Cemetery Ridge. The monument was erected in 1889 and is topped with a statue of BG Custer, and there is also a plaque on one side of the monument with a likeness of him.  Though he had met his end at Little Big Horn 13 years earlier, his Civil War troopers still loved and respected his memory.

 American Civil War Monuments

11th Pennsylvania 

Gettysburg National Military Park

Doubleday Ave.

Photos and Text by LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

The 11^th Pennsylvania Volunteers were presented with a Bull Terrier puppy soon after they were mustered into the Federal forces.  She was named “Sallie” after one of the more attractive young ladies who watched them train.  Her first battle was at Cedar Mountain in the spring of l862.  She also “fought” at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.  Her “fighting” consisted of running around and barking at the enemy and lending moral support to her fellow soldiers. She was with her regiment on the first day of Gettysburg as they fought on Oak Ridge.  When the 11^th was pushed back through  town Sallie remained on the battlefield watching faithfully over her dead and wounded friends.  When the battle was over on the 4^th of July members of the 11^th returned to the area and found her waiting for them,thirsty, tired and hungry.  Sallie remained with the 11^th until she was killed while “fighting” during the battle of Hatcher’s Run in February of 1864. She didn’t get a medal, but she was richly honored by her soldier friends by being put on their monument.  Good dog Sallie!

American Civil War Monuments

Providence Spring House

Andersonville National Historic Site

Andersonville, Georgia

Photos and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

In the summer of 1864, tens of thousands of Union prisoners of war were suffering from disease and thirst at the Confederate military prison in Andersonville, Georgia.  On August 8^th, a five day period of rain began which ended in extremely violent thunderstorms.  Stockade Creek, which ran down the middle of the camp and was its only source of water, overflowed its banks carrying away large quantities of accumulated filth with its strong current.  A spring suddenly appeared within the stockade to give the men their first taste of cool, clean drinking water since their entry into the camp.  Before, they had to rely on the highly polluted waters of Stockade Creek and then only where it entered the camp.  Many of the men believed that the spring was the result of “divine intervention”. The spring was enclosed within a large stone shelter by Union veteran groups in 1901.  Providence Spring can be found on a slope below the reconstructed walls of the prison.  Of the 45,000 men incarcerated at Andersonville, more than 13,000 died.

Announcing our 518th Meeting
 “The Confederate Kardashian-Loreta Velasquez,  Rebel Media Celebrity and Con Artist”
Presented by William C. Davis
DATE: Friday, March 17  

We welcome back longtime friend of our Round Table, William C. “Jack” Davis.  He is one of the great Civil War historians of our time and as anyone who has heard him can testify, he is a great speaker.  He is a native of Independence, Missouri and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sonoma State University in northern California. He then spent twenty years in editorial management in the magazine and book publishing industry before leaving in 1990 to spend the next decade working as a writer and consultant here and abroad.

He is the author or editor of more than fifty books in the fields of Civil War and Southern history, as well as numerous documentary screenplays.  He was the on-camera senior consultant for 52 episodes of the Arts & Entertainment Network/History Channel series “Civil War Journal,” as well as a number of other productions on commercial and Public Television, as well as for the BBC, and has acted as historical consultant for several television and film productions, including “The Blue and the Gray,” “George Washington,” and “The Perfect Tribute.” 

In September 2013 he retired after thirteen years as Professor of History and Executive Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.  He is a three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award given for book-length works in Confederate History. His biography of John C. Breckinridge was nominated for a Pulitzer prize.  One of his most recent books is Crucible of Command: US Grant and R E Lee, The War They Fought and the Peace they Forged and we will have this at the March meeting.

His book The Battle of New Market is the basis of the motion picture Field of Lost Shoes.  He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and serves on several other consultative bodies, as well as being an occasional consultant to the Virginia State Police on cold case homicides.

"The Confederate Kardashian:  Loreta Velasquez, Media Celebrity, Con Artist, and the Making of a Confederate Myth."

We live in an era of self-created "media celebrities," but what we may not know is that this is not a new phenomenon.  Only the media have changed, but the process is unchanged since the Civil War.  One of the very first such people was a Confederate woman whose real name we may never know, but who cleverly manipulated the newspaper press to make herself the Confederacy's first and perhaps only true media celebrity.  Moreover, this woman--known to history as Loreta Velasquez though she used several names--wrote a book The Woman in Battle that continues to have influence today, even though it is almost entirely fictional in its account of her posing as a man, Lieutenant Harry Buford, to serve the Confederacy in combat, as a spy, blockade runner, and more.  The story of how a woman who was a teenaged New Orleans prostitute in 1860 turned herself into the equivalent of a 20th century movie star is fascinating, and that is only the beginning of a story that would take her well into the next century pursuing one scam after another.

American Civil War Battlefields

Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park

Olustee, Florida

                               Photos and text courtesy of  LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

This small park commemorates the site of Florida’s largest Civil War battle, which took place February 20, 1864.  More than 10,000 cavalry, infantry and artillery troops fought a five-hour battle in a pine forest near Olustee. Olustee is located in northern Florida, halfway between Lake City and Jacksonville. Three Regiments of U.S. Colored Troops took part in the battle, including the 54^th Massachusetts which was subject of the movie “Glory”.  The battle ended with 2,897 casualties and the retreat of Union troops to Jacksonville where they remained until the end of the war.