Announcing Our 538Th Meeting
Saturday, May 11  

How Johnny Got His Gun: The Confederate Supply System

Presented by Greg Biggs 

The son of a World War Two U.S. Army Air Corps/U.S. Air Force officer, Greg Biggs is a Chicago area native.  He attended college at the University of Tampa in Florida and Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.  He has been a student of military history for 55 years with interests starting with the ancient Greeks and going through military affairs of today. Within this he specializes in the Revolutionary War, Frederick the Great, the Napoleonic era and the Civil War.  He is also a student of tanks and armor doctrine as well as World War Two in all theaters.  Greg lectures on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War Two across the country to roundtables, museums, historical societies and conferences.  

     Greg was also lead historian on the Civil War Fort Defiance Interpretive Center project in Clarksville, Tennessee. Greg's Civil War articles have been published in Blue & Gray Magazine, Citizen's Companion, Civil War News, Civil War Regiments journal, Civil War Trust's Hallowed Ground, Battle of Franklin Trust's Battlefield Dispatch and several Sons of Confederate Veterans publications as well as a chapter in a recent book on the Tullahoma Campaign and has a forthcoming article in Civil War Times.  He has also done research for several noted Civil War authors and their book projects. 

     Greg is also a recognized authority of Civil War flags.  He has been published on the topic numerous times and has consulted with museums, auction houses and private collectors over the years. He is a text editor and essayist for the authoritative Flags of the Confederacy web site (www.confederate-flags.org). An experienced tour guide, Greg has led many Civil War battlefield tours for civilians and staff rides for the U.S. Army and the Israeli Air Force including the Fort Donelson Campaign, Civil War Clarksville and Guerrilla War, the Tullahoma Campaign, Chickamauga and Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign and Where The River Campaigns Began - Cairo, IL to Columbus, KY. Greg lives in Clarksville, Tennessee with his school teacher wife Karel and their four cats (named for Civil War cavalry officers). He is president of the Clarksville CWRT and program chair of the Nashville CWRT and has been involved in the CWRT movement since 1987 while living in California.  

How Johnny Got His Gun: The Confederate Supply System

An examination of the Confederacy’s military supply system, surveying the food, manufacturing and raw materials areas of the South.  Covering the military departments that handled various aspects of supply, this also looks at the great Confederate supply successes as well as the failures, in addition to their effects on military campaigns.  A number of myths will be debunked such as “the agrarian South” which was actually quite industrialized.