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.