Battling for the Bluegrass: The Perryville Campaign

The Louisville Civil War Round Table was delighted to host our speaker Chris Kolakwoski on Dec. 5. Chris returns to Louisville from a year's stay in Atlanta, and we were very happy to welcome him back to the Round Table and to Kentucky.

Christopher L. Kolakowski was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Va. He received his BA in History and Mass Communications from Emory & Henry College, and his MA in Public History from the State University of New York at Albany. Chris has spent his career interpreting and preserving American military history with the National Park Service, New York State government, the Rensselaer County (NY) Historical Society, the Civil War Preservation Trust, and Kentucky State Parks. He has written and spoken on the Civil War, American Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and both World Wars. The Civil War at Perryville: Battling for the Bluegrass State is his first book and is now available in bookstores and through Amazon (click here) Chris just finished a year as Chief Curator of the National Museum of the Army Reserve in Fort McPherson, GA; on 25 October 2009 he became Director of the General George S. Patton Museum of Leadership in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

More links to information on the Battle of Perryville:

http://perryville.net/
http://battleofperryville.com/
http://perryvillereenactment.org/

2010 Field Trip: Atlanta Campaign“From Chattanooga to the Chattahoochee”

We will be going to Georgia April 14-18, 2010 to study the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 from its commencement south of Chattanooga until the crossing of the Chattahoochee River north of Atlanta. This will include several major battlefields and sites associated with this decisive military campaign. Our guide will be Gregg Biggs who is an expert on the Atlanta Campaign. For those looking to read up on the Atlanta Campaign before the trip, Albert Castel’s Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 is far and away the best book available. For a general overview of the campaign, Richard McMurry’s Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy is a great book.

Bud Robertson Will Be Our 50th Anniversary Speaker
At the Novemebr meeting, we were happy to announce that Bud has accepted our invitation to be the speaker at our 50th anniversary meeting that will be held January 22, 2011. Go ahead and mark this date on your calendar, as it will be a very special celebration for our Round Table.

Preservation News:

Congress Approves $9 million to help Preserve Civil War Battlefields
(From the CWPT newsletter)
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
Last week, Congress approved a $32 billion appropriations bill for the Interior Department. Hard as it is to swallow that big megillah, in the middle is a sweet spot: about $9 million in matching funds to help preserve Civil War battlefields.
The Civil War Preservation Trust, just one of the groups fighting to rescue battlefields threatened by development, says it has saved over 28,000 acres in 20 states. Our own Central Virginia Battlefield Trust has preserved almost 900 acres. Their efforts, and others like them, have saved much more than land--they have preserved history and, in doing so, have honored the sacrifice of all who fought in that terrible struggle.

But much remains to be done. Preservationists assert that 30 acres of battlefield are lost each day. With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War hard upon us, this is the time to focus our efforts (and our dollars) toward keeping important battlefield land from the bulldozers.

Sen. Jim Webb was on the front lines of the effort to get the $9 million commitment in the Interior bill. Now it will be up to state and local governments and preservation groups to find the matching funds. When a battlefield is lost, it's lost for good. We have much to learn from the Civil War, and much yet to contemplate. There's no better place than a grassy field, ground hallowed by the sacrifice of those who fought there, to start that process.

December 2009 Quiz:
 
1.  In 1861, when did the Union and the Confederacy observe a day of Thanksgiving?
 
2.  In a telegram sent on December 22, 1864, General Sherman presented President Lincoln with what he called "a Christmas gift."  What was it?
 
3.  Encouraged by the Union victory at Chattanooga, President Lincoln decided the time was right to begin to look further into the future.  What Proclamation did he issue on December 8?
 
4.  Who were not included in the Proclamation?
 
5.  What military governor of a Union-held Southern City did President Jefferson Davis call a felon and an enemy of mankind in the fourth week of December 1862 and why? 

November 2009 Quiz Answers:
 

1.  Near what city did about 16,000 Confederates keep about 72,000 Federals at bay in October 1862?  Perryville, Kentucky (only about 20,000 Union troops were involved in the battle)

2.  What was the size of the railroad trestles at Muldraugh's Hill, KY, destroyed by John Hunt Morgan,CSA during his Christmas Raid?   They were eighty (80) feet tall and five hundred (500) feet long.

3.  What city was the hub of every railroad linking Richmond, VA with the eastern Confederacy?   Petersburg, Virginia

4.  Who said, "Somewhat like the boy in Kentucky who stubbed his toe while running to see his sweetheart. The boy said he was too big to cry and far too badly hurt to laugh."?  When?  Why? Abraham Lincoln made the comment when asked how he felt about the results of the New York elections of November 1862.

5.  Who supposedly said, "Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell!"?  When? According to CSA Major Henry Kyd Douglass, on July 12, 1864, Lieutenant General Jubal Early, CSA, made the comment to him after the Confederate raid on Washington, D.C. 

Forgotten Elements of the Civil War

Forgotten Elements of the Civil War

The LCWRT welcomes back James I. “Bud” Robertson, Jr. on November 15. His topic? Forgotten Elements of the Civil War. Dr. Robertson, a native of Danville, Virginia, is currently Alumni Distinguished Professor in history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He has written and edited over 20 books and countless articles and reviews. His latest book is a collection of essays co-edited with William C. Davis, Virginia at War, 1863. Among his other books are The Stonewall Brigade, General A. P. Hill, Soldiers Blue and Gray, Civil War Sites in Virginia, and of course his award winning Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend.. He received his B. A. and Litt.D. degrees from Randolph-Macon College and M. A. and Ph.D degree from Emory University, where he studied under famous Civil War historian Bell I. Wiley. He served as Executive Director of the U. S. Civil War Centennial Commission and has been honored with several major awards including the 1987 Fletcher Pratt Award, the 1988 Jefferson Davis Medal and the Freeman-Nevins Award.

His many books are available at Amazon.com - click here

New Book on Perryville is Released

LCWRT Member Chris Kolakowski's new book Perryville Battling for the Bluegrass has just been released by History Press. As the former Director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, Kolakowskit is in an admirable postion to write on the Perryville battle. The book was recently reviewed in the Courier-Journal by Ric Manning in which he described Chris as “a good storyteller” with an “engaging” style. The 190 page book will be the subject of Chris’s talk at the December 4 LCWRT meeting. After a stint in Atlanta with the National Museum of the Army Reserve, Chris has returned to Kentucky and is now the Director of the Patton Museum at Fort Knox.

And it's available here

LCWRT's New Web Site Address

The Round Table website has moved to louisvillecwrt.yolasite.com. Please visit and see the wealth of information about our Round Table including newsletters, history, schedules, field trips, and links to other Civil War sites of interest.


November 2009 Quiz:

1.  Near what city did about 16,000 Confederates keep about 72,000 Federals at bay in October 1862?
 
2.  What was the size of the railroad trestles at Muldraugh's Hill, KY, destroyed by John Hunt Morgan, CSA during his Christmas Raid?
 
3.  What city was the hub of every railroad linking Richmond, VA with the eastern Confederacy?
 
4.  Who said, "Somewhat like the boy in Kentucky who stubbed his toe while running to see his sweetheart. The boy said he was too big to cry and far too badly hurt to laugh."?  When?  Why?
 
5.  Who supposedly said, "Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell!"?  When?

October Quiz Answers:
 
1.  In May of 1863, Union forces under Generals McClernand and McPherson defeated General Pemberton's Confederate forces in what battle?
The Battle of Champion's Hill outside of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

2.  At Front Royal on May 13, 1862, troops from the 1st Regiment (Union) and the 1st Regiment (Confederate) from the same state faced each other head on.  Which state were they from?
  Maryland

3.  Six Confederate Major Generals were killed in action during the war (Cleburne, Ramseur, Rodes, Walker, Stuart and Pender).  When and where was each killed or mortally wounded?
Patrick Cleburne: November 30, 1864 at the Battle of Franklin, TN.
Stephen Dodson Ramseur: October 19, 1864---Mortally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek or Belle Grove, VA and died the next day.
Robert Emmett Rodes: September 19, 1864 at the Third Battle of Winchester, VA.
William Henry Talbot Walker: July 22, 1864 at the Battle of Atlanta, GA.
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart: May 11, 1864---Mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, VA and died the next day.
Dorsey Pender: July 2, 1863---Mortally wounded on the Second Day of the Battle of Gettysburg and died on July 18, 1863.

4.  Early in 1862 President Lincoln declined the offer of what from the King of Siam?
He declined the offer of war elephants on February 3, 1862.

5.  What were the first "Negro" nations to be diplomatically recognized by the United States, and how did this come about?  
On June 5, 1862 President Lincoln signed a bill granting him authorization to appoint diplomatic representatives to Haiti and Liberia.

In Memoriam: LCWRT Life Member Ace Elmore

LCWRT Life Member and Past President Fletcher L. "Ace " Elmore passed away Oct 13, 2009. The son of F. Leigh Elmore Sr. and Kathleen Prince Elmore, Ace was a decorated Navy combat aviator during World War II, a graduate of the Unversity of Richmond, a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Sons of the American Revolution, and a docent at Locust Grove. Ace was a past president of both the Louisville and St. Louis Civil War Round Tables and was awarded a Life Membership in the LCWRT. A member of the Filson Society, he also published the Civil War diary of his uncle, J.E. Whitehorne, a Confederate veteran.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Mary Wheeler Elmore,four sons, F. Leigh Elmore (Lorraine), of Kansas City, Stuart H. Elmore (Barbara) of Columbia, MO, Jeffrey P. Elmore of Huntsville, AL and William H. Elmore, of Louisville; two grandsons, Andrew L. Elmore, of Kansas City and Patrick H. Elmore, of Atlanta; and a sister, Cora Sue Spruill, of Tappahannock, VA.

We enjoyed his presence, and Mary's, on many field trips and at many meeting over the years. He will be missed.

Wilson Greene Speaks at the LCWRT

Wilson Greene

This past Saturday at the 449th Meeting of the LCWRT,the speaker was the excellent Will Greene on “Confederate Leadership in the Petersburg Campaign”. Mr. Greene broke down the leadership issues of the campaign, effectively running though the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederate generals.

Wilson Greene has spoken to us on a number of other occasions the last being in October 2005. He also served as our tour guide for the 1998 Petersburg field trip. He is a graduate of Florida State University and Louisiana State University with degrees in American history. He served for 17 years with the National Park Service at a variety of historic sites including Petersburg National Battlefield, Fredericksburg, Independence National Historical Park, and Gulf Islands National Seashore. In January of 1995, he became the Executive Director of Pamplin Historical Park and the Museum of the Civil War Soldier, which has become one of the premiere Civil War attractions in the country.

He was a founder and the first Executive Director of the Association for thePreservation of Civil War Sites (now the Civil War Preservation Trust) from 1990 to 1994, where he was instrumental in preserving numerous battlegrounds for future generations.

Wilson has authored five books and over 20 articles over the years. Among his books are Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion: The Final Days of the Petersburg Campaign and Whatever You Resolve to Be: Essays on Stonewall Jackson which has recently been republished. His latest book is Civil War Petersburg: City in the Crucible of War. He is currently working on a 3-volume history of the Petersburg Campaign.

2010 Field Trip: Atlanta Campaign
From Chattanooga to the Chattahoochee
The LCWRT will be going to Georgia April 14-18, 2010 to study the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 from its commencement south of Chattanooga until the crossing of the Chattahoochee River north of Atlanta. This will include several major battlefields and sites associated with this decisive military campaign. Our guide will be Gregg Biggs who is an expert on the Atlanta Campaign. More details will to follow.

New Web Site Address!

The Round Table website has moved to http://louisvillecwrt.yolasite.com. Please visit and see the wealth of information about our Round Table including newsletters, history, schedules, field trips, and links to other Civil War sites of interest.

Researcher Seeking Information on Louisville Flag Maker

Greg Biggs is seeking any and all information regarding Louisville based flag maker Hugh Wilkins. Wilkins made flags for Union Kentucky regiments, some Ohio regiments and at least one Tennessee Union regiment.Biggs has copies of all of his papers from the Kentucky Archives in Frankfort for the flags he made for Kentucky units but there must be more out there somewhere. If you know of any sources please contact Greg Biggs, Clarksville, Tn CWRT at Biggsg@charter.net

2009 – 2010 Dates
Sunday November 15: Bud Robertson “Forgotten Elements of the Civil War”

Saturday December 5: Chris Kolakowski “Battling for the Bluegrass: The Perryville Campaign”

Saturday January 16: Jim Ogden “TBA”

Saturday February 13: Eric Wittenberg “Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg”

Saturday March 13: Lawrence Lee Hewitt “Civil War Deserters Who Didn’t: The Untold, Unknown Story”

Saturday April 10: William C. Davis “TBA”

Saturday May 8: Joe Reinhart “McCook’s Dutchmen: The 9th Ohio Infantry Regiment”

September 2009 Quiz Answers:

1. What was Abraham Lincoln's salary during his first term as president?
$25,000

2. When Lincoln was assassinated, what was found in his wallet?
He had a pencil, a Confederate five-dollar bill, and news clippings of unrest in the Confederate army, emancipation in Missouri, the Union party platform of 1864, and an article on the presidency by John Bright.

3. In the Lincoln White House were "Bob", "Jack", and "Jib". Who were they?
"Bob" was a cat, "Jack" was a turkey, and "Jib" was a dog.

4. What kind of legal will did Lincoln have?
Strangely enough for a lawyer, Lincoln died without drawing up a will. When he was killed, his son Robert asked family friend and Supreme Court Justice David Davis to take charge of the estate.

5. Lincoln was the only American president to have what?
A patent, No. 6469, for his invention of a device to lift boats over shoals without having to unload their cargoes. The patent was granted on May 22, 1849, but was never manufactured. His scale model is at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

October Quiz:
1. In May of 1863, Union forces under Generals McClernand and McPherson defeated General Pemberton's Confederate forces in what battle?

2. At Front Royal on May 13, 1862, troops from the 1st Regiment (Union) and the 1st Regiment (Confederate) from the same state faced each other head on. Which state were they from?

3. Six Confederate Major Generals were killed in action during the war (Cleburne, Ramseur, Rodes, Walker, Stuart and Pender). When and where was each killed or mortally wounded?

4. Early in 1862 President Lincoln declined the offer of what from the King of Siam?

5. What were the first "Negro" nations to be diplomatically recognized by the United States, and how did this come about?

Nathaniel Cheers Hughes: Sept. 12

Sept. 12, 2009:

We welcome back our good friend Nathaniel Hughes to start our 49th year. A Marine Corps veteran, he has had two careers. One has been in preparatory school work, as a teacher, coach and headmaster. He also taught graduate and undergraduate classes at the University of Memphis.
His second career has been in writing history. Nat has published twenty-three books, the first, a biography of Confederate General William J. Hardee in 1965 and his latest, ‘Yale’s Confederates’ published in 2008 by the University of Tennessee. He received his BA from Yale, and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina.

Nathaniel Hughes’ topic for Saturday night will be "Private Secretary to the President, the Life of Burton Harrison."

Opportunity to Save Money on Dinner Buffet!!

This year we are offering members a chance to save $25.00 ($50.00 for a couple) on the buffet dinners at the meetings. Here is how it works: prepay in September or October for all nine meetings, and pay $200.00 per person instead of the $225.00 it would cost if you paid individually for all 9 meals. Obviously you must be reasonably certain you will attend all nine meetings to get the savings. There will be no refunds or exceptions made once the money is paid.

Membership Renewals

It is now time to pay the annual membership fees of the Round Table. Remember any amount you give above the basic or family membership fee is tax-deductible since the Round Table has tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization. The additional funds raised through Patron memberships allow the Round Table to take a more active role in the Preservation of Civil War battlefields and sites and help pay the costs of bringing the very best Civil War speakers to our meetings.

Please send your membership renewal to: LCWRT, 1028 Sarah Drive, Louisville, KY 40219-4923

2009 Fall Field Trip: Newburg, Indiana

The free Fall Trip will be to Newburg,Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 24th to tour the Civil War sites associated with Stovepipe Johnson’s famous raid on Newburg, Indiana. The guide will be Ray Mulesky. More details to follow in the newsletter and at the meetings.

We Have a New Web Site Address
Our Round Table website has moved to www.louisvillecwrt.yolasite.com. Please visit and see the wealth of information about our Round Table including newsletters, history, schedules, field trips, and links to other Civil War sites of interest.

A Message From Our New President, Tom Lively

It is my privilege to serve as your president for this year. For the next nine months you can spend three hours a month learning more about one of the most interesting wars our forefathers fought. I want to encourage all of you to attend all nine meetings. Recognition will be given in the May meeting in 2010 for those members who attend all nine meetings.

I would like to encourage all of you to talk about the LCWRT with your family, friends and associates. Many of them are not aware of what we do and how easy it is to join. Before I became a member, I thought there was an academic qualification to join. Most people do not understand that all they need is an interest in learning more about the Civil War.

It is now time to pay your annual dues. In these times of economic troubles, I know we have members who are concerned about the cost of the annual dues and particularly about fitting the cost of the meals in their monthly budget. The Board of Directors has voted not to raise the cost of the dues or the meals. I would like to ask that those of you who can afford to do so, to become a patron member. It is the additional funds that the patrons provide to the LCWRT that allows us to provide the quality of speakers, programs, meals and activities that we all enjoy.

Tom Lively, President
 
New Officers Elected for 2009-2010

President: Tom Lively
President-elect: Art Boerner
Secretary: Holly Jenkins-Evans
Treasurer: Harriette Weatherbee
Board:
Art Boerner,Leif Bunting,John Davis,Holly Jenkins-Evans,Lowell Griffin,Doug Krawczyk,
Charlie Moore,Don Meyer,Marc Oca,Tom Lively,Harriette Weatherbee,Bryan Winslow,Joe West

September 2009 Quiz:

1.  What was Abraham Lincoln's salary during his first term as president?
2.  When Lincoln was assassinated, what was found in his wallet?
3.  In the Lincoln White House were "Bob", "Jack", and "Jib".  Who were they?
4.  What kind of legal will did Lincoln have?
5.  Lincoln was the only American president to have what?

LCWRT Awards 2009 Preservation Grant

We are pleased to announce the presentation of the LCWRT 2009 Preservation Grant to the Shelby County Historical Society for the "Simpsonville Slaughter Project". This grant will enable the SCHS to finish their work commemorating the site of the Jan. 25,1865 action in which 22 troopers of the 5th United States Colored Calvary were killed and 8 wounded. The Shelby County Historical Society has already completed studies to determine the location of the mass grave, installed a bronze state highway marker and has received a grant to create a paved shoulder area on Hwy US 60. The $1000 grant from the LCWRT will be used to pay for the final phase of the project, an adjacent area for 22 MIA 'In Memory of' markers from the Veterans Adminstration and a flag polewhich will fly both the black MIA and American flags.

The Hunley

LCWRT May Speaker: Richard W. Hatcher

A native of Richmond, VA, Rick graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BA in U.S. History in 1973. He has worked for the National Park Service since 1970, working at Richmond National Battlefield, Colonial National Historical Park at Yorktown, VA, Kings Mountain National Military Park, SC, and Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, MO. Since 1992, Rick has served as the Historian at Fort Sumter National Monument, which includes Fort Moultrie, and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site.

Rick serves on the South Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial Advisory Board, the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust Advisory Board, and is the Fort Sumter NM liaison officer with the Charleston Civil War Round Table. Plus, he is a member of the Southern Campaign of the Revolution Heritage Area Study team.

His publications include: co-author of This Hallowed Ground: Guides to Civil War Battlefields, Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), and Wilson’s Creek, The Second Major Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It (University of North Carolina Press, 2000). In 2000 it was a History Book Club alternate selection, and in 2001 it earned the Missouri State Historical Society, History Book of the Year Award.

The Hunley

In 1861, Horace L. Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson began building the first of three submarines to support the Confederate war effort. The first two were either scuttled or lost while under tow. Undaunted the men began building a third submarine and by mid-July 1863 a new "diving boat" was completed.

Shortly afterwards the "Fish Boat" was offered to Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard in defense of Charleston and in early August the submarine arrived in the city. Not long afterwards an accident occurred during which the submarine sank and five crew members drowned. After its recovery, Horace Hunley assumed command of the vessel and named it the H. L. Hunley. Then in October, during a test dive in Charleston Harbor a second accident resulted in his death and the deaths of the entire crew.

Recovered a second time, the Hunley was assigned to Lt. George E. Dixon who recruited and trained a new crew. On the night of February 17, 1864, they attacked and sank the USS Housatonic, and although the Hunley was lost, its successful mission marked the first sinking of an enemy ship by a submarine in combat in world history.

Located in 1995, the vessel was raised on August 8, 2000. From that time to the present the Hunley’s interior has undergone excavation. The remains of the eight crew members were recovered and subsequently buried on April 17, 2004. Hundred of artifacts were located within the sub and a wealth of information has been discovered not only about the submarine’s construction and operation, but also about the crew. Conservation efforts are ongoing with an eye toward complete preservation and eventual display of the boat in its own museum.


Books, Books, Books!
There will be copies of our speaker’s book, Wilson’s Creek for sale at the meeting. These will be hardback first editions that normally sell for $39.95 and we will have them for $20.00. Also Rick is planning to bring 25 reproductions of the famous "Dixon coin." This is the $20 gold piece Dixon had in his pocket when wounded at Shiloh, kept as a good luck charm that was recovered from his remains found on the Hunley. It sells for $10.00 and all proceeds go the Hunley conservation fund.

Book Donations
We are currently accepting book donations for our door prizes. If you have Civil War books you would like to donate, please bring them to one of the meetings and give them to Lowell Griffin our door prize coordinator. Thanks to everyone who can donate

2009 – 2010 Dates
Saturday May 9 Rick Hatcher "The Hunley"
Saturday September 9 ? "TBA"
Saturday October 10 Will Greene "Confederate Leadership in the Petersburg
Campaign"
Sunday November 14 Bud Robertson "TBA"
Saturday December 5 Chris Kolakowski "TBA"
Saturday January 16 Jim Ogden "TBA"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MAY 2009 QUIZ:

1. A relative of President Lincoln was at Salem Church during and after the battles of Chancellorsville. Who was he and what was he doing?
2. On April 25, 1865, two young boys, nephews of the Confederate European agent James D. Bulloch, supposedly watched Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. Who were they?
3. What were some of the military factors that led to Lincoln's reelection in 1864?
4. Who swore Abraham Lincoln in as the sixteenth president on March 4, 1861?
5. How did the youngest Lincoln son get his nickname?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
APRIL 2009 QUIZ ANSWERS:

1. In 1864 Abraham Lincoln ran for reelection as a member of what party?
It was the National Union Party, a coalition of Republicans and War Democrats.
2. The parents of Thomas Lincoln became concerned because he had not learned to read by what age?
He had not learned to read by nine (9) years of age.
3. What was the name Abraham Lincoln typically used to address his wife?
He addressed her as "Mother".
4. What were the tragic results of the fire in Lincoln's private stables, a brick building on the White House grounds between the mansion and the Treasury Department?
Lincoln's two horses, the two belonging to his secretaries, Tad's pony and the one that was considered Willie's pony even though Willie had died the previous year all perished on February 10, 1864.
5. What happened to Lincoln's personal copy of the Emancipation Proclamation?
It was donated to the Chicago Historical Society in 1864 and was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chancellorsville Field Trip

Ellwood, where the grave of Stonewall Jackson's Arm is marked

Excellent weather, a fantastic tour guide in National Parks Historian Greg Mertz and a fascinatign site made the 2009 LWCRTl Spring Field trip as a resounding success. The tour focused on the Chancellorsville battlefield, plus extra trips to pertinent sites in Fredersicksburg, Old Salem Church, Ellwood in the Wilderness Battlefield Park and Guinea Station. While there has been a great deal of development in the area, the battlefield parks are a joy to visit.

A small sampler: On the field with the always gracious and well infomed Greg Mertz

Ellwood on Wilderness Battlefield, part of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park

Roadside New Jersey Monument

LCWRT members at Old Salem Church

Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties

Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties

On April 10, in recognition of the Bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the Round Table is pleased to welcome Frank J. Williams, the recently retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and one of the country's most renowned experts on Abraham Lincoln. He is the author or editor of over thirteen books on Lincoln, and has lectured on the subject throughout the country. He has amassed an unsurpassed private library and archive that ranks among the nation's finest Lincoln collections. In 2000, the Chief Justice was appointed to the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to plan events to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln this year.

Since 1996, Chief Justice Williams has served as founding Chairman of The Lincoln Forum, a national assembly of Lincoln and Civil War devotees. For 9 years, he served as President of the Abraham Lincoln Association and, for 14 years, as President of The Lincoln Group of Boston. He is currently at work on an annotated bibliography of all the Lincoln titles published since 1865. His book of essays, Judging Lincoln, was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2002. He, with Harold Holzer and Edna Greene Medford, has written The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views, Social, Legal and Pictorial just published by Louisiana State University Press. His latest book, Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America’s Greatest Leader, with William D. Pederson, was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2009. He also serves as Literary Editor of the Lincoln Herald where his quarterly Lincolniana survey appears.

You will not want to miss this special evening as the Round Table celebrates the birth of fellow Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln.

Links to Mr. Williams' works on www.amazon.com:

Judging Lincoln
The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views, Social, Legal and Pictorial
Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America’s Greatest Leader

And click here for additional amazon.com listings for Frank J. Williams

2009 Field Trip: Chancellorsville Fees Are Due
If you have not paid your field trip fees in full, please do so now. They are now past due. You can mail your check made out to LCWRT with Field Trip on the memo line to Harriette Weatherbee, 1028 Sarah Dr., Louisville, Ky. 40219. The cost of the trip includes bus transportation, guide, hat, gift for guide, picture quiz, Saturday night meal and pizza/beer night. If you signed up for the field trip and are not going, please contact Harriette and let her know.

Book Donations
We are currently accepting book donations for our door prizes. If you have Civil War books you would like to donate, please bring them to one of the meetings and give them to Lowell Griffin our door prize coordinator.

MARCH 2009 QUIZ ANSWERS:

1. John Brown was sentenced to death by what authority and on what charge?
The Commonwealth of Virginia found him guilty of inciting insurrection and hung him. The United States Government did not charge him with treason or anything else.

2. What Southern state is believed to not have had troops fighting for both the North and the South?
Technically none. SOUTH CAROLINA did not have any white troops fighting on both sides, but it did have black troops fighting for the Union.

3. Name the six (or seven) Union officers who became President of the United States.
Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley. (Andrew Johnson was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and served as military governor of Tennessee during the war.)

4. Who was the freed black called "one of the highest placed and most productive espionage agent of the Civil War," and what position did this person hold for part of the war?

Mary Elizabeth Bowser was a spy in Richmond's Confederate White House. As a trusted domestic employee, she used her position to access top-secret information, which she passed on to Union operatives within the city. She worked closely with Elizabeth Van Lew, in whose family she had once been a slave.

5. By late 1864, who commanded what was probably the most experienced Union Army?
General William T. Sherman's army had many men who were reenlistments and had fought in many of the major battles in 1863 and 1864. Although the Union Army of the Potomac was larger, it had the higher percentage of new replacements.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

APRIL 2009 QUIZ:

1. In 1864 Abraham Lincoln ran for reelection as a member of what party?

2. The parents of Thomas Lincoln became concerned because he had not learned to read by what age?

3. What was the name Abraham Lincoln typically used to address his wife?

4. What were the tragic results of the fire in Lincoln's private stables, a brick building on the White House grounds between the mansion and the Treasury Department?

5. What happened to Lincoln's personal copy of the Emancipation Proclamation?

March Speaker: Michael Peake

March 14 Meeting

The LCWRT will meet Saturday, March 14 and we ae pleased to welcome Michael Peake as our speaker. Mr. Peake is a Louisville native with fraternal ancestral Kentucky roots going back to the 1780s in the Nelson and Marion County regions of the State. He has researched the 32nd Indiana for over 14 years, and since retiring from Federal service in 1996, he has devoted his time to compiling the history of the regiment, and the Germans of both armies in the Civil War. He has published several articles and has released two books on the regiment’s December 1861 baptism of fire in central Kentucky. The Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and the Indianapolis German Heritage Society has posted his second book, Indiana’s German Sons, Baptism of Fire: Rowlett’s Station 1861, online in its entirety at:

http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/peake/

His March presentation will be "German Blood Shed In This War" and will provide an overview of German participation in the Civil War with the First German, Thirty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry as the prime example of the more than 50 German infantry regiments that served the Union during the war. A unique aspect of the presentation will include the use of original war period artwork created by regiment officer Captain Adolph G. Metzner who fashioned a notable collection of over 120 sketches, drawings, and paintings during his period of service with the 32nd Indiana in the Western Theater from August 1861 until September 1864. Only a small portion of this historically significant Civil War art has ever been published, and the general public has viewed little of the collection.

at amazon .com: Blood Shed in This War: Civil War Illustrations by Captain Adolph Metzner, 32nd Indiana

The 2007-2008 Patron Members

The following members have given generously to help our Round Table continue to provide quality programs for our membership. Thank you!

Win Ahrens
Tom Lively & Susan Givan
Jerry & Sharon Armstrong
Brad &Miranda Luppino
John & Mary Bellucci
Thomas Mackey
Everett Bethune, Jr.
Bob & Linda Marrett
John & Faris Bilby
Janet Marshall
Art Boerner
Reed & Janice Martin, Jr.
Bob & Judy Bortner
Vivian McDonald
Bob & Barbara Braverman
Don & Peggy Meyer
Doug & Barbara Brown
Charlie Moore, Sr.
Leif & Anna Bunting
Sonny & Betty Neurath, Jr.
John & Joy Davis
Marc & Jill Oca
Dave Deatrick, Jr.
Howard & Joyce Patton
Ken & Melissa Draut
Sheldon Rein
Monty & Holly Jenkins Evans
Joe & Virginia Reinhart
Sean & Mary Fore
Kerry Short
Dale & Donna Gettelfinger
Kurtz Simmons
Len Gross & Emily Durrett
Jim & Carol Simpson, III
Bill & Rose Mary Hambleton
Dick & Wilda Skidmore
James Pryor Hancock
Thomas & Mary Lee Speckman
Doug & Bobbi Harper
Matthew & Lori Sweat
Dave & Sue Hoffmann
John Thomas
Jack & Virginia Holt, Jr.
Don Van Slyke
Gary & Jackie Hopkins
Harriette Weatherbee
Maurice Jeffries
Bob & Sandra West
Al & Janet Jozik
Bryan & Cindy Doyle Winslow
Chris Kolakowski
Doug & Margaret Krawczyk


February 2009 Quiz Answers:

1. When did Abraham Lincoln first meet his vice president, Hannibal Hamlin?
Election Day, 1860

2. What two cabinet members tried to force General McClellan's resignation while Lincoln still relied upon him?
Edwin M. Stanton and Salmon P. Chase

3. What political leader slipped into Washington by night in February 1861?
Abraham Lincoln

4. What did Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Samuel Clemens, Alexander Stephens and Ulysses S. Grant have in common?
They all suffered from bouts of depression (as did Sherman).

5. What did Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Nathan Bedford Forrest, James Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart and William T. Sherman have in common?
They lost children before and/or during the Civil War.

MARCH 2009 QUIZ:

1. John Brown was sentenced to death by what authority and on what charge?

2. What Southern state is believed to not have had troops fighting for both the North and the South?

3. Name the six (or seven) Union officers who became President of the United States.

4. Who was the freed black called "one of the highest placed and most productive espionage agent of the Civil War," and what position did this person hold for part of the war?

5. By late 1864, who commanded what was probably the most experienced and large Union Army?


Harold Holzer at Cincinnati Round Table May 21

The Cincinnati Civil War Round Table is extending an open invitation to area Round Tables to attend its May 21, 2009 meeting. One of the speakers in greatest demand in this the year of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday is the well-known Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer. The details required to make your reservation for this limited seating event are provided below. His talk will be, How Lincoln Became President --- In Ohio. The meeting will be held at the Drake Center, 151 West Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati. Ohio. The dinner begins at 6:30 and cost is $27.00. The speaker portion of the meeting begins at 7:30. You can attend the speaker only part of the meeting for $5.00. Reservation are required eight days in advance for both the dinner and the speaker only option by using the reservations link at http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/; emailing homanfamily@fuse.net; or by calling 513-861-2057.

Feb 14th - Valentine's Day Meeting

Dr. Charles Roland speaking in Albert Sydney Johnston, Jan. 2009

February Speaker: Greg Biggs
We welcome Greg Biggs on his first visit to our Round Table. He is a former Associate Editor of one of our favorite magazines, Blue and Gray Magazine and is the current President and Program Chair of the Clarkesville, Tennessee Roundtable. Greg is a member of the Advisory Board, Center for the Study of the Civil War in the West; Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, and he has been a flag consultant to various state museums including Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina and the Texas Civil War Museum.

He has published many essays and articles in a variety of historical publications. Greg is the author/co-author of forthcoming books: Tattered Banners: Alabama’s Civil War Flags and I Go To Illustrate Georgia: Civil War Flags Of Georgia Troops, and he is currently writing the forthcoming book Volunteer Banners: Tennessee’s Civil War Flags for the Tennessee State Museum/University of Tennessee Press. He has led several tours of Civil War Battlefields including one of the Fort Donelson Campaign for the Filson Historical Society.


The Topic: Nathan Bedford Forrest: Napoleonic Cavalryman


Beginning with an analysis of how Napoleon fought battles using cavalry on a tactical basis as well as in the pursuit phase, this lecture details how most Civil War commanders failed to properly use cavalry in a Napoleonic sense. A brief history of American cavalry and its doctrine transits to how Gen. Forrest properly used cavalry both tactically and in pursuit during all phases of his military career. Napoleonic standards are applied to three of his battles. The lecture is designed to challenge conventional Civil War thought.


2009 Field Trip: Chancellorsville April 15-19

We will be going to Virginia in April 2009 to study the Campaign and Battle of Chancellorsville! National Park historian Greg Mertz will be our tour guide. The dates for this trip are April 15-19. We will be studying the entire campaign including cavalry raids, Second Fredericksburg, and Salem Church. The cost of the trip includes bus transportation, guide, hat, gift for guide, picture quiz, Saturday night meal and pizza/beer night.
Bus riders - $375.00
Car riders - $325.00
Non Tour - $60.00


Field Trip Hats for Sale

We have several different field trip hats of various colors for sale. These caps are top-quality and will be offered at the next meeting for the ridiculously low price of $10.

Book Donations
We are currently accepting book donations for our door prizes. If you have Civil War books you would like to donate, please bring them to one of the meetings and give them to Lowell Griffin, our door prize coordinator.

The Wilderness in Crisis!

Update on the Wilderness: From the Fredericksburg News…
The so-called "Wilderness Wal-Mart" in Orange County is catching grief from both North and South--and elected officials on both ends of the political spectrum.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a conservative Republican from eastern Texas, has expressed to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott his "profound disappointment" about the giant retailer's plan to build a Supercenter beside the Civil War battlefield. In a letter written last week, he urges Scott to give the matter "immediate reconsideration."
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Vermont--a haven for independent-minded Democrats--are holding hearings on the issue. Vermont troops suffered their worst casualties of the war in the Battle of the Wilderness, turning back a Confederate attack that threatened to split the Union Army.
The Vermont Senate and House are considering whether to ask Wal-Mart to move the store farther from the entrance to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, according to Howard Coffin, a Civil War historian and author who lives in Montpelier, the state capital.
Wal-Mart is proposing to build a 139,000-square-foot store atop a ridge less than a quarter mile from the park, on commercially zoned land.
Nationally significant Civil War sites, "such as the tract of land for your proposed development, are not where commercial development needs to be in America," Poe wrote Scott. "They should be set aside and untouched for present and future generations of Americans to visit so as to never let them forget the past and the lessons they taught."
Poe noted that the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, established by Congress to study the historical significance of such places, "defined your proposed land for development as part of The Wilderness [battlefield]. There are countless other locations your company could look at for your development in this region."

January 2009 Quiz Answers:

1. Promoted at age thirty-four to major general after Fort Donelson, who was at that time the youngest of his rank in the entire Union army?
Major General Lew Wallace of Indiana
2. At the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, what future Union general voted fifty-seven times to nominate Jefferson Davis for president of the United States?
Benjamin Butler of New Hampshire
3. Who wrote "The Bonnie Blue Flag" and when and where was it first performed?
English-born entertainer Harry McCarthy wrote the song in the spring of 1861 and performed it first in Jackson, Mississippi.
4. Jefferson Davis regarded what site in the state he called his home state as "the Gibraltar of the West"? Vicksburg, Mississippi
5.During the Confederate retreat to Appomattox, who fought a close range pistol duel at the Battle of High Bridge on April 6, 1865, and what was the result?
Union Colonel Theodore Read fought the duel with Confederate Lieutenant Colonel James Dearing. Read was killed and Dearing was mortally wounded, dying on April 22,1865.

February 2009 Quiz:

1. When did Abraham Lincoln first meet his vice president, Hannibal Hamlin?

2. What two cabinet members tried to force General McClellan's resignation while Lincoln still relied upon him?

3. What political leader slipped into Washington by night in February 1861?

4. What did Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Samuel Clemens, Alexander Stephens and Ulysses S. Grant have in common?

5. What did Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Nathan Bedford Forrest, James Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart and William T. Sherman have in common?

48th Anniversary Meeting - Jan 18

Meet our Speaker: Charles Roland

On our 48th anniversary we are proud to welcome back a life member of the LCWRT, Charles Roland He has last visited us in January of 2005, and we are very excited to have him back. He is currently Emeritus Alumni Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. A native of western Tennessee, Charles Roland received his B.A. from Vanderbilt and his M.A. and Ph.D. from LSU. Dr. Roland was a combat Infantry captain serving in the European Theater in World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Purple Heart for wounds received in action in the battle of the Ardennes.

Charles Roland has held many positions in his distinguished career. He has been a Historical Technician for the National Park Service, a history Instructor at LSU, Assistant to the Chief Historian of the United States Army and a visiting Professor of Military History at the United States Military Academy. He was a Professor of History at Tulane University from 1952 to 1967 and Chairman of the History Department from 1967 until 1970, when he became Alumni Professor of History at the University of Kentucky.

Among his published works are The Confederacy, 1960; Reflections on Lee: A Historian’s Assessment, 1995; A History of the South(co-authored with Francis Simkins), 1972; An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War, revised edition 2002; and the definitive biography of Confederate icon A.S. Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics, new edition 2001. He is the general editor of the 13 volume New Perspectives on the South series published by the University of Kentucky and has published numerous other articles and essays on Civil War and American history. He recently completed My Odyssey Through History, Memoirs of War and Academe, which contains his account of his service in World War II and the Battle of the Bulge.

To find his available books at www.amazon.com click Here

2009 Field Trip: Chancellorsville April 15-19

The LCWRT Spring Field Trip to Virginia will study the Campaign and Battle of Chancellorsville. National Park historian Greg Mertz will be our tour guide. The dates for this trip are April 15-19. We will be studying the entire campaign including cavalry raids, Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church, and all related Stonewall Jackson sites.

The Wilderness in Crisis!

The never ending fight with rampant development gone wild continues as now the site of the Wilderness Battlefield is threatened by none other than corporate behemoth Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart execs have convinced the Orange County Board of Supervisors that controls development that it is a good idea to build a 141,000 square-foot-supercenter on 52 acres at one of the most historically significant crossroads in America, the intersection of the Orange Turnpike and the Germanna Road. This is directly adjacent to the Wilderness Battlefield and will open the door for the explosive building of strip-malls, fast food restaurants, gas stations and other stores. Already the Wilderness Crossing development that would pave 900 acres of the Wilderness countryside and rural landscapel is in the planning stages ready to move forward if Wal-Mart is successful.

Arrayed against the world’s largest company and the misguided county supervisors are 252 of America’s leading historians and preservationists who have recently sent a letter to the Wal-Mart executives. "The Wilderness is an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there, and it cannot be moved," read the letter signed by James McPherson, James McCullough, Ed Bearss, Ken Burns and nearly every other historian you have heard of. According to McPherson, "Every one of these modern intrusions on the historic landscape degrades the value and experience of that landscape." And he added that a Wal-Mart development at the proposed site would take development in the area "a quantum leap higher." Wal-Mart plans to proceed even though there are four other Wal-Mart’s within 20 miles of the proposed site.

To learn more about the Wilderness crisis, visit www.wildernesswalmart.com and www.civilarwar.org and find out what you can do to help stop Wal-Mart.