Announcing our 546th Meeting
Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Lost Gettysburg Address

Presented  by David Dixon

         
David Dixon earned his M.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts in 2003. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and magazines. Most focus on Union sympathizers in the Civil War South. 

David spoke at the 2016 Sacred Trust Talks in Gettysburg and has delivered nearly 100 talks to audiences across the country. He appeared on Civil War Talk Radio and other podcasts. He hosts B-List History, a website that features obscure characters and their compelling stories. You may download free pdf versions of his published articles on that website at www.davidtdixon.com.

David’s latest book is the biography of German revolutionary and Union General August Willich and will be published by the University of Tennessee Press in September 2020. It highlights the contributions of more than 180,000 German-American immigrants to the Union effort in the Civil War. Transatlantic radicals like Willich viewed the war as part of a much larger, global revolution for social justice and republican government. David is currently writing a biography of U.S. and Confederate Congressman Augustus Wright of Georgia.

The Lost Gettysburg Address

Few remember Edward Everett's oration that preceded Lincoln's famous address, but hardly anyone is aware of Kentucky native Charles Anderson's oration, which concluded the day's events. The speech was never published, and the lost manuscript only recently uncovered at a ranch in Wyoming.  Dixon argues that the three featured speeches of November 19, 1863 need to be viewed as a rhetorical ensemble to better understand the political context of the Gettysburg dedication.  The back story to this is the saga of Anderson himself, a slaveholder who sacrificed nearly everything to help Lincoln save the Union. An escapee from a Confederate prison in Texas, he became Lincoln's emissary to Great Britain. He then nearly died commanding a Union regiment at Stones River. He eventually became governor of Ohio. These are just some of his amazing adventures during the war.

In Memoriam

Dr. James I. “Bud” Robertson Jr. 

July 18, 1930 – November 2, 2019

     We regret to inform you that James I. “Bud” Robertson Jr., passed away on Saturday, November 2, after a long battle with cancer.  He had spoken at our round table over 40 times beginning in the 1960’s and always looked forward to coming to Kentucky.  He will be greatly missed by all the Civil War community.  

     William C. “Jack” Davis said, “For fully six decades Bud Robertson was a dominant figure in his field, and a great encouragement to all who would study our turbulent past during the middle of the 19th century,. Moreover, amid a conversation that can still become bitter and confrontational, his was a voice for reason, patience, and understanding. In the offing, he has become virtually ‘Mr. Virginia,’ a spokesperson for the commonwealth past, present, and future. His voice is now sorely missed — and irreplaceable.”

Announcing Our 545th Meeting
Friday, October 11, 2019 

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

Presented by Robert Lee Hodge 

 Born on Stonewall Jackson’s birthday, Robert Lee Hodge has had a keen interest in America’s Civil War history since age 4. Over the course of more than 30 years, Hodge has worked on several history-based films—from dramas like ABC’s North and South and TNT’s Gettysburg and Andersonville, to many programs on The History Channel, Arts and Entertainment Channel, and the National Geographic Channel, to his own Civil War documentaries, which have won 5 Telly awards and a regional Emmy in 2007. Hodge has been featured on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation and Soundscapes, NBC’s Late, Late Show, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the PBS program Going Places, and C-SPAN II’s Book TV. Robert has also written for The Nashville Tennessean, Civil War Times, America’s Civil War, The Washington Post, and North and South magazine. He played a major role in, and appears on the cover of, the New York Times’ 1999 best-seller Confederates in the Attic—hosting Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz on an eclectic and memorable Civil War tour-de-force of historic sites. 

 Robert has been a historical researcher, primarily at The National Archives and Library of Congress, working with nationally-recognized experts. He also was principle researcher on Time-Life Books 18-volume series Voices of the Civil War and The Illustrated History of the Civil War. Hodge’s interest became preserving historic green space when he interned with the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission in 1992. He has organized battlefield preservation fund-raisers that have garnered over $160,000. He also serves on the board of directors of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (the CVBT); an organization that has protected over 1,300 acres at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, since 1996. Hodge was featured on the National Geographic Channel and Time magazine in 2011, wrote for The Washington Post during the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and was a researcher for the U.S. Army in 2013. In 2016 he wrote the script for the film at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. In 2017 he appeared in The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show and Chinese Central Television about Confederate monuments and Civil War memory. 

In 2019 Hodge started blogging for the Emerging Civil War. ECW is currently running his “Yellowhammers and Environmentalism” series about Evander Law’s Alabama Brigade’s route of march to Gettysburg. He’s also writing about the loss of historic green space.

American Civil War Monuments
Civil War Soldiers' Monument
Main Street and Elm Street, Route 1
Searsport, Maine

 all photos courtesy of LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans

This granite shaft with marble plaques was erected in 1870 between Mt Ephraim and Goodall Streets in coastal Searsport. then  moved in 1896 in front of the then new Masonic and Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street near Elm.  On two marble plaques the monument lists the names of 18 Searsport men who fought and died from these Maine units:  the 4th, the 1st Mounted Artillery, the 1st Cavalry, the 2nd Cavalry, Heavy Artillery, and 2 who enlisted in other states:  the 13th NY Artillery and the 113th ILL Regiment. It is flanked by a pair of iron cannons.
 From https://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=46641 : 
"Local legend claimed that one of the tablets had been engraved with the name of a living man who had paid a volunteer to enlist in his place. The enlistee was killed but the name engraved was the surviving individual. Subsequent research in 1982 by Charlene Knox Farris revealed legend to be fact."

Re-dedicated July 4, 1990.

Inscription:

A Tribute To Our Citizens Who fought in defense of the Union 1861-5 

Announcing our 544th Meeting

Sunday, September 15, 2019        

Inglorious Passages

presented by Brian Steel Wills

We are pleased to welcome back to our Round Table Brian Steel Wills.  He is the director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, after a long tenure at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. 

He is the author of numerous works relating to the American Civil War, including a new volume – The River Was Dyed with Blood: Nathan Bedford Forrest and Fort Pillow.

His other titles include: A Battle From the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest Reprinted as: The Confederacy’s Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forrest. This work was chosen as both a History Book Club selection and a Book of the Month Club selection.

He also authored The War in Southeastern Virginia, released in October 2001, and No Ordinary College: A History of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, (2004), both by the University Press of Virginia. Gone with the Glory: The Civil War in Cinema appeared in 2006. An updated edition of the James I. “Bud” Robertson, Jr., Civil War Sites in Virginia (Virginia, 2011) arrived just in time for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, and in 2012 and 2013, Brian authored George Henry Thomas: As True as Steel and Confederate General William Dorsey Pender: The Hope of Glory.

In 2000, Dr. Wills received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the state of Virginia, one of eleven recipients from all faculty members at public and private institutions across the state. He was named Kenneth Asbury Professor of History and won both the Teaching award and the Research and Publication award from UVA-Wise.

Inglorious Passages

"Inglorious Passages received the Harwell Award at the Atlanta Civil War Round Table for the best book of 2017, and it was a finalist for the 2017 Emerging Civil War Book Award.  In my talk, I will try to shine a light on those stories of individuals that went to war and didn’t come home and try to understand the full element of what those stories involved.  I think back on a Georgia recruit who’s spelling was challenged, but he would talk about the “vakants” in the ranks, and he said that those folks would not be able to rejoin the circle of friends—and he couldn’t spell “circle” either—or be around the fireside. Those places would never be filled. That made me think that those individuals need not be forgotten."

American Civil War Monuments
Soldiers Monument
Belfast Memorial Hall, Church St. 
Belfast, Maine 

 Photos and text courtsey of LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans

This very simple granite shaft is situated in front of Belfast's Memorial Hall. Sited with field pieces, it was dedicated on May 30, 1924. The cost of $1750 was paid for by Grand Army of the Republic groups and private citizens.
  
Very simply inscribed:
GAR 
The Boys of 1861 to 1865

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.  

American Civil War Battlefields 

Battle of Wildcat Mountain 

Camp Wildcat 

Laurel County, KY

Photos and Text courtesy of  LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans

The Battle of Wildcat Mountain, also known as Camp Wildcat, was located outside London, Ky. The Laurel Home Guard Reservation was the site of CSA Gen. Felix Zollicoffer's camp.

Fought on October 21, 1861, this small battle was the first Union victory in Ky, effectively ending the Confederate incursion under Brig Gen. Felix Zollicoffer. Zollicoffer and his force of approximately 5400 men had entered the state and occupied the Cumberland Gap. The camp at Wildcat Mountain was established by Col. Theophilus T. Garrard and his small force of 975 men under orders by USA Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas in order to block the Wilderness Road and secure the river ford on the Rockcastle. After Garrard's request for reinforcements, Thomas ordered Brig. Gen. Albin Schoepf to reinforce the heavily outnumbered Garrard, the Union forces numbered approx. 7000. Schoepf and his troops arrived at Camp Wildcat on Oct 20. The nest day, the Union troops were able to repel the Confederate attacks. Zollicoffer and his troops retreated to Cumberland Ford by the 26th. 

If  Zollicoffer had been successful, the Confederates would have been able to occupy the important central area of Kentucky, along with its forage, horses and potential troops with a force of 5400 and few losses. With the loss at Wildcat Mountain, they would have to make a much costlier and ultimately unsuccessful attempt a year later in October of 1862. 

American Civil War Monuments
Memorial Arch 
6th and Washington St., Heritage Park
Junction City, KS

Photo and Text  by LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans

This impressive, 35 foot high Civil War Memorial Arch stands in Heritage Park in Junction City, Kansas. Not bad for a town with a population of 2684 in 1880. Planned and built by the veterans of the Union Army, as a tribute to the those who died during the American Civil War, the arch was dedicated on September 8, 1898. The arch is 23 feet wide with a white bronze soldier atop as well as two 8-inch mortars.

The following inscriptions are both on the arch itself and on replica plaques on a pedestal behind the arch, recently dedicated on April 9, 2019.

Left front of the arch:

In God We Trust 

In Memory Of

The Soldiers And Sailors Of

1861-1865

Who, Inspired By Patriotism

Freely Offered Their Lives;

For The Maintenance Of

An United Country

Right front of the arch:

1861-1865

Total Enlistment 

2,778,304 

Killed in Battle 

67,050 

Died of Wound Received in Action 

43,012 

Died from Other Causes 

240,458

Announcing Our 537th Meeting
Saturday, April 13

The Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign 

Presented by Chris Mackowski 

Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief of Emerging Civil War and managing editor of the Emerging Civil War Series. He is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Among the books Chris has authored or co-authored are The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy’s Greatest Icon-and the Birth of Its Greatest Legend, Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg July 1, 1863, and That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-5, 1863. He was a 2014 finalist for the Army Historical Foundations' Distinguished Book Award for Chancellorsville's Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church. Chris has had six of his plays produced and he serves on the national advisory board for the Civil War Chaplains Museum in Lynchburg, Virginia. His latest book is The Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign. 

The Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign

 The stakes for George Gordon Meade could not have been higher. After his stunning victory at Gettysburg in July of 1863, the Union commander spent the following months trying to bring the Army of Northern Virginia to battle once more and finish the job. The Confederate army, robbed of much of its offensive strength, nevertheless parried Meade’s moves time after time. Although the armies remained in constant contact during those long months of cavalry clashes, quick maneuvers, and sudden skirmishes, Lee continued to frustrate Meade’s efforts. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Meade’s political enemies launched an all-out assault against his reputation and generalship. Even the very credibility of his victory at Gettysburg came under assault. Pressure mounted for the army commander to score a decisive victory and prove himself once more. Smaller victories, like those at Bristoe Station and Rappahannock Station, did little to quell the growing clamor—particularly because out west, in Chattanooga, another Union general, Ulysses S. Grant, was once again reversing Federal misfortunes. Meade needed a comparable victory in the east. And so, on Thanksgiving Day, 1863, the Army of the Potomac rumbled into motion once more, intent on trying again to bring about the great battle that would end the war.

Announcing Our 536th Meeting
Saturday, March 9 

Earning His Spurs: General John B. Hood in 1864

Presented by Stephen Davis 

Stephen Davis of Atlanta has been a Civil War buff since the 4th grade. He grew up in Atlanta, attending Margaret Mitchell Elementary and Northside High. At Emory University, he studied under the renowned Civil War historian Bell Wiley. After a Master’s degree in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he taught high school for a few years, then earned his Ph.D. at Emory, where he concentrated on the theme of the Civil War in Southern literature. He’s also taught at Oglethorpe University. 

Steve is the author of a new history of the Atlanta Campaign, published by Savas Beatie as two paperbacks:  A Long and Bloody Task: The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton through Kennesaw to the Chattahoochee, May 5-July 18, 1864 and  All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign from Peachtree Creek to the City’s Surrender, July 18-September 2, 1864. His book, What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta, was published by Mercer University Press in 2012. In a review in Civil War News, Ted Savas calls Steve’s work “by far the most well-researched, thorough, and detailed account ever written about the ‘wrecking’ of Atlanta.” He is also author of Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, Joe Johnston and the Heavy Yankee Battalions (2001). He served as Book Review Editor for Blue & Gray Magazine from 1984 to 2005, and is the author of more than a hundred articles in such scholarly and popular publications as Civil War Times Illustrated and the Georgia Historical Quarterly. 

Now retired, Steve serves as Book Review Editor for Civil War News, the monthly national newspaper for buffs, for which he contributes a regular column, “Critic’s Corner.” Steve is also a popular speaker at Civil War Round Tables and historical societies around the country. He has spoken on “What the Yankees Did to Us” to the Round Tables of Buffalo, New York and Providence, Rhode Island (and got away with it!). He has given talks at the annual meeting of the American Civil War Round Table (UK) in London. His favorite event was a few years ago when he addressed President and Mrs. Carter and family on the role of Copenhill (the Carter Center) in the battle of Atlanta. 

Next year Mercer University Press will publish Steve’s next book, tentatively titled Flawed Image: A Study of John B. Hood’s Generalship in 1864.

American Civil War Battlefields 
Fort Sumter National Monument 
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina 

100-pounder Parrott rifles on their original carriages at Fort Sumter. 

Photo courtesy of LCWRT member Paul Fridell,

 text courtesy of LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans. 

Post Civil War, the U.S. Army Engineers leveled the damaged higher walls of the heavily battered Fort Sumter. When the gun casements were rebuilt, they housed 100 pound Parrott rifles. The Parrott guns were invented by Capt. Robert Parker Parrot who, after his military service, was the superintendent of the West Point Foundry. He patented the cast iron Parrot rifle with a wrought iron reinforcing breech band in 1861. 

Before the Civil War was over, and despite a reputation for shattering, both Union and Confederate forces were using the Parrott guns in a variety of sizes. These guns were made in sizes from 10 -pounders up to a 300-pounder. These 100-poumd Parrots were naval guns 138" in length and weighing 9727 pounds. Manned by a crew of 17, they fired either an 80 or 100-pound shell to a range of up to 6,900 yards for the 80-pound shell or 7810 yards with the 100-pound shell.

American Civil War Battlefields 
Fort Donelson, Tennessee
Lower Water Battery 

Photo and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

This is a view of Fort Donelson’s lower water battery facing the Cumberland River as it flows northward to its junction with the Ohio River. This lower battery and the upper battery which lies a few hundred yards to the south were armed with heavy seacoast guns. Fort Donelson and Fort Henry, which lies 12 miles to the west on the Tennessee River, were built to defend the water approaches to Confederate supply bases in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee. 

Fort Henry had already fallen to the Union forces of Brig. General Grant and Naval Flag Officer Andrew Foote on February 6th ,1862. Because of its poor location and the flooding Tennessee River, Foote was able to literally float his ships right up to the fort and force it into submission. 

Fort Donelson was a different story. On February 14th, untested Confederate gunners were able to defeat Foote’s Federal ironclads and timber-clad gunboats. Using the same tactics he successfully used at Fort Henry, Foote brought his gunboats very close to the Confederate artillery hoping to shell them in to surrendering. His flotilla became an excellent target for the Confederate guns however, due to flooding, the Confederate guns’ higher elevation and the slow movement of his heavy gunboats. After he was defeated, it was up to General Grant and his army to take the fort by storm which they did on February 16. Foote, a veteran naval officer who was wounded in the exchange later commented that he had been in numerous fights before with ships and forts ‘but never was under so severe fire before.’

American Civil War Monuments 
The Battle of Nashville Peace Monument
Nashville, Tennessee 

Photos Courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell 

Text Courtesy of LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans 

Giuseppe Moretti was commissioned to create the Battle of Nashville monument, dedicated in 1927 on Armistice Day. The monument honors both Union and Confederate troops as well as World War I soldiers with a young man representing WW1 soldiers holding two horses symbolizing Union and Confederate forces, these joined by a banner "Unity". Due to interstate highway construction in 1980s, the monument was left isolated in a small plot after also being damaged during a 1974 tornado. The monument was restored and in 1999 was moved and rededicated at the Nashville Battlefield Park just north of the Confederate line on the first day of the battle.

Battle of Nashville Dec. 15-16, 1864
Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood 
Combined Forces of Union Army under George Thomas 
After actions at Spring Hill where he failed to destroy John Schofield's Union forces, and then the disaster for the CSA that was the Battle of Franklin, Hood proceeded on to Nashville. There he faced the George Thomas's combined forces of some 55,000 men including John Schofield's XXIII Corps and Thomas J. Wood's IV Corps and was soundly defeated. 

Inscriptions from http://www.bonps.org/original/inscript.htm:

East Face (Main Face) BATTLE OF NASHVILLE 1864 

West Face: Erected A.D. 1926 By The Ladies Battlefield Memorial Association Aided By Contributions From Patriotic Citizens The State Of Tennessee And The County Of Davidson 

South Face: The Spirit Of Youth Holds In Check Contending Forces That Struggled Here At The Fierce Battle Of Nashville, Dec. 16th, 1864, Sealing Forever The Bond Of Union By The Blood Of Our Heroic Dead Of The World War 1917 - 1918. A Monument Like This, Standing On Such Memories, Having No Reference To Utilities, Becomes A Sentiment, A Poet, A Prophet, An Orator To Every Passerby.

North Face: "Oh, Valorous Gray, In The Grave Of Your Fate, Oh, Glorious Blue, In The Long Dead Years, You Were Sown In Sorrow And Harrowed In Hate, But Your Harvest Today Is A Nations Tears. For The Message You Left Through The Land Has Sped From The Lips Of God To The Heart Of Man: Let The Past Be Past : Let The Dead Be Dead. Now And Forever American!"

Announcing Our 535th Meeting
Saturday, February 9,2019

The Kimberlins Go to War: A Union Family in Copperhead Country 

Presented by Michael B. Murphy 

Michael B. Murphy is an American historian based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He served in the Indiana General Assembly for 16 years. His book, The Kimberlins Go to War: A Union Family in Copperhead Country, was published by the Indiana Historical Society. Murphy earned his B.A. in American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and his M.A. in American History from Indiana University. He participated in the Commandant’s National Security Program at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA. Murphy is currently researching a biography of William English, a 19th century Congressman who was the Democratic nominee for Vice-President in 1880. 

 The Kimberlins Go to War: A Union Family in Copperhead Country 

 The Kimberlins Go to War tells the story of the Kimberlin family from Scott County, Indiana, that sent 33 fathers and sons, brothers and cousins, to fight for the Union during the Civil War. Ten family members were killed, wounded or died of battlefield disease, a 30-percent casualty rate that is unmatched in recorded Scott County history. Their feelings about the war come from 40 letters to and from the battlefield that have survived. We will have copies of Michael B. Murphy’s book “The Kimberlins Go to War: A Union Family in Copperhead Country” available at the meeting for sale.

American Civil War Battlefields
McPherson Farm 
Chambersburg Pike 
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 

Edward McPherson’s farm was located a half mile west of Gettysburg on the ridge that now bears his name. On the first day of the battle, July 1, 1863, it was the scene of intense fighting as Brigadier General Henry Heth’s division of Confederate soldiers attacked along the Chambersburg Pike. This position was first held by Brigadier General John Buford’s Union cavalry division who were able to hold until Major John Reynolds arrived with troops from his First Corps to relieve Buford’s men. The day ended later in a complete Confederate victory.

                                        Photo and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

The barn and farmhouse were used during and after the fighting as a field hospital for troops of both sides. After the war McPherson applied to the Federal Government for compensation for his ruined crops, damaged buildings, and supplies taken during the battle. He received nothing. He sold the farm in 1868. The farm house burned in 1895 but in 1904 the property was bought by the Federal Government. An extensive renovation of the barn was completed in 1978. The barn is currently used by a local farmer who leases the McPherson fields.

Announcing Our 534th Meeting
Saturday, January 19, 2019

Inglorious Passages 

 Presented by Brian Steel Wills 

We are pleased to welcome back to our Round Table Brian Steel Wills. He is the director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. He is the author of numerous works relating to the American Civil War, including a new volume – The River Was Dyed with Blood: Nathan Bedford Forrest and Fort Pillow. His other titles include: A Battle From the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest (reprinted as: The Confederacy’s Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forrest). This work was chosen as both a History Book Club selection and a Book of the Month Club selection. He also authored The War in Southeastern Virginia and No Ordinary College: A History of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, both by the University Press of Virginia. Gone with the Glory: The Civil War in Cinema appeared in 2006. And in 2012 and 2013, Brian authored George Henry Thomas: As True as Steel and Confederate General William Dorsey Pender: The Hope of Glory. In 2000, Dr. Wills received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the state of Virginia, one of eleven recipients from all faculty members at public and private institutions across the state. He was named Kenneth Asbury Professor of History and won both the Teaching award and the Research and Publication award from UVA-Wise.  

Inglorious Passages 

"Inglorious Passages received the Harwell Award at the Atlanta Civil War Roundtable for the best book of 2017, and it was a finalist for the 2017 Emerging Civil War Book Award. In my talk, I will try to shine a light on those stories of individuals that went to war and didn’t come home and try to understand the full element of what those stories involved. I think back on a Georgia recruit who’s spelling was challenged, but he would talk about the “vakants” in the ranks, and he said that those folks would not be able to rejoin the circle of friends—and he couldn’t spell “circle” either—or be around the fireside. Those places would never be filled. That made me think that those individuals need not be forgotten."

American Civil War Battlefields 

Lookout Mountain  and Brown's Ferry 

Hamilton County, TN 

View of Lookout Mountain from Browns Ferry, courtesy LCWRT Member John Davis, text by LCWRT Member Holly Jenkins-Evans

This photo neatly encapsulates two historic battlefields: Lookout Mountain, and Brown's Ferry. 

Brown's Ferry was a small action, but crucial to ending the siege of Chattanooga. On Oct 27, 1863, portions of the Union Army of the Cumberland made the move. While Brig. Gen. John B. Turchin's brigade marched to and occupied the east bank of the Tennessee river at Brown's Ferry, Union troops under the command of Brig. Gen. William B. Hazen ferried down the river, passing beneath the Confederate guns on Lookout Mountain before landing on the west side, pushing the CSA pickets back and, after engaging Col. William Oats' men , establishing a bridgehead for the Union supply line. Despite Longstreet's attack on the Union troops two days later at Wauhatchie, the supply line was established, effectively ending the siege of Chattanooga. 

One month later, resupplied and reinforced,  Gen. Ulysses Grant starts the process of breaking out of Chattanooga.  After the taking of Orchard Knob on November 23, 1863 by the Army of the Cumberland under Gen. George H. Thomas, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg took troops from the base of Lookout Mountain to shore up his center line on Missionary Ridge, thus weakening his line at the base of the Lookout. Under Grant's command, Gen. Joseph Hooker made a demonstration against the Confederate left on the 24th. On the morning of Nov. 24, with the Twelfth Corps in the lead, Hooker’s men crossed the creek and formed a line of battle up the slope of Lookout Mountain. Hidden by a heavy fog, Union troops swept in, captured a Confederate picket post, pushed past the Confederates at the Cravens House and resisted a Confederate counterattack around 1:00PM. By 2:00 PM, the Union flag was flying over Lookout Mountain.

View from Point Park at Lookout Mountain, courtesy LCWRT Member John Davis