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Benjamin Grierson's Union cavalry thrust through Mississippi is one of the most well-known operations of the Civil War. There were other simultaneous operations to distract Confederate attention from the real threat to Vicksburgposed by U. S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee, but Grierson's operation, mainly conducted with two Illinois cavalry regiments, has become the most famous, and for good reason. For 16 days (April 17 to May 2) Grierson led Confederate pursuers on a high-stakes chase through the entire state of Mississippi, entering the northern border with Tennessee and exiting its southern border with Louisiana.
The daily rides were long, the rest stops short, and the tension high. Ironically, the man who led the raid was a former music teacher who some say disliked horses.
Throughout, he displayed outstanding leadership and cunning, destroyed railroad tracks, burned trestles and bridges, freed slaves, and created as much damage and chaos as possible. Grierson's Raid broke a vital Confederate rail line at Newton Station that supplied Vicksburg and, perhaps most importantly, consumed the attentionof the Confederate high command. While Confederate Lt. Gen. John Pemberton at Vicksburg and otherSouthern leaders looked in the wrong directions, Grant moved his entire Army of the Tennessee across the Mississippi River below Vicksburg, spelling the doomof that city, the Confederate chances of holding the river, and perhaps the Confederacy itself.
Novelists have attempted to capture the large-than-life cavalry raid in the popular imagination, and Hollywood reproduced the daring cavalry action in The Horse Soldiers, a 1959 major motion picture starring John Wayne and William Holden. Although the film replicates the raid's drama and high-stakes gamble, cinematic license chipped away at its accuracy. Based upon years of research and presented in gripping, fast-paced prose, Timothy B. Smith's The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Grierson's Epic 1863 Civil War Raid through Mississippi captures the high drama and tension of the 1863 horse soldiers in a modern,comprehensive, academic study. This talk, based on the book, will bring you along for the ride.
Timothy B. Smith (Ph.D. Mississippi State University, 2001) is a veteran of the National Park Service and currently teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin.In addition to numerous articles and essays, he is the author, editor, or co-editor of more than twenty books with several university and commercialpresses. His books have won numerous book awards, his trilogy on the American Civil War's Tennessee River campaign (Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, andCorinth) winning a total of nine book awards. He is currently finishing a five-volume study of the Vicksburg Campaign for the University Press of Kansas and a new study of Albert Sidney Johnston for LSU Press. He lives with his wifeKelly and daughters Mary Kate and Leah Grace in Adamsville, Tennessee.
In 1974, The Civil War Round Table of Chicago established the Nevins-Freeman Award, and bestows it annually on an individual whose advancement of American Civil Warscholarship and support for the Round Table movement warrant special recognition. The award itself is designed as a generous financial donation to a historical preservation project chosen by the recipient. This award isnamed for two men whose legacies have come to be synonymous with the Civil War era: Historians Allan Nevins and Douglas Southall Freeman.A list of the awardees can be viewed on the Chicago CWRT website, at https://chicagocwrt.org/anfa.html.\
The Nevins-FreemanAward -
Lynn and Julianne Herman on"The Allegheny Arsenal Explosion"
For more inf: www.chicagocwrt.org
The Allegheny Arsenal, near Pittsburgh, producedammunition for the Union army. By 1862 the workersturned out some 128,000 cartridges daily by workingsix days a week, twelve hours a day. The arsenalemployed one hundred fifty-six ladies and girls. In thesummer of 1861, the arsenal had dismissed over onehundred young boys when they discovered theircareless behavior with matches and tobacco. Theydiscovered replacing the boys with girls was just asefficient and by 1862 had employed many young girlsand women using their small hands and fingers topack the cartridges at a rapid rate. Although they allare aware of the danger working with black powder,the chief ingredient in making the ammunition, they continue on filling the cartridges asfast as possible depending on the supervisors to keep them safe.On September 17, 1862 (the day of the Battle of Antietam), a spark from a horse's shoeignited that powder. The resulting explosion and fire saw 78 workers lose their lives, 72of whom were women. The Allegheny Arsenal explosion was the worst civilian disasterduring the Civil War.Julianne Herman worked for 45 years as a Registered Nurse in the operating room.She has long been drawn to the study of historical events, both nationally and 2worldwide. Her interest in the Civil War increased during the 125th Anniversarycommemorations, and she began reenacting and studying various aspects of the war.As a civilian reenactor (with her husband Lynn), she became increasingly interested inwomen's roles during that time period, including the seemingly unlikely role of womenworking in a military arsenal. She is secretary of the Central PA CWRT.
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Wilson Greene on
âOpening the Cracker Line and Keeping it Open: The Decisive Battles of the Chattanooga Campaignâ
For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org
Following the battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, General William S. Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland retreated into Chattanooga. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee surrounded the city on three sides and laid a quasi-siege for more than a month. Supplies for the Union forces gradually dwindled, reaching crisis level by the third week of October. Rosecrans, who seemed incapable of lifting the siege, gave way to Ulysses S. Grant, who approved a daring plan to open a new line of supply. That plan succeeded on October 27, opening what the Federal soldiers called the "Cracker Line." The Confederates' effort to redeem the situation resulted in one of the Civil War's rare night battles near a railroad junction called Wauhatchie. Will Greene will argue that these two relatively minor actions decided the outcome of the campaign for Chattanooga and that the famous battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge should have never occurred. A. Wilson "Will" Greene is a native Chicagoan who grew up in Western Springs and Wheaton. Following a sixteen-year career with the National Park Service, Greene became the first executive director of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, now the American Battlefield Trust. He then became the founding director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. Greene is the author of six books and a dozen published articles and essays dealing with the Civil War. His current project with the University of North Carolina Press is a three-volume history of the Petersburg Campaign. The first volume, A Campaign of Giants, was published in 2018 and Volume 2 is due out early in 2025. Greene was the recipient of the Nevins-Freeman Award in 2012. Greene now lives in Walden, Tennessee, hard by the Anderson Pike, about which he will speak at our meeting.
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CWRT Feb 2024
For more info : WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org
Often small individual encounters in history, experienced by common people like us, caught in the maelstrom of events, hold larger truths. Sometimes these experiences have meaningânot only for those who experience them, but for us in todayâs world. This program follows twelve members of the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the three-day Battle of Gettysburg and beyond in July 1863. It focuses on the stories of the wounded, the caregivers, and the honored dead. These men fought for their lives, lost friends, and suffered themselves at Gettysburg. Their sacrifices are still with us today and from them we inherited great social and medical advances. Because of their sacrifices we began to understand the hidden costs of war, and that not all wounds are visible. The stories of these twelve citizen soldiers highlight the meaning that their lives and experiences have for our generation today: socially, medically, and psychologically. These are their stories.
Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator and independent historian. She writes and speaks frequently on American history at local, state, and national venues. In 2003, Carolyn was named Civil War Trustâs Teacher of the Year. We Fought at 2
Gettysburg is her first book. It follows the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July of 1863.
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For more Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org
The Union XII Corps was formed in June 1862. The corps, which joined the Army of the Potomac only a week before Antietam was small, numbering just over 7,600 men. Easily overlooked, Army of the Potomac leadership and historians since have largely glossed over this corpsâ contribution at Antietam. Nevertheless, this small corps ended Confederate attacks into the Miller Cornfield and East Woods, successfully defended the Dunker Church Plateau from Confederate assaults, and captured the West Woods, which had been the goal on the Federal right all morning. Chris Bryan will provide a brief overview of the period from the Battle of Cedar Mountain until the corpsâ entry into Maryland, including its condition resulting from this period. The talk will then examine the XII Corpsâ participation in the Maryland Campaign and its fighting at Antietam, including some new findings discovered through recent archival research.
M. Chris Bryanâs Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July âSeptember 1862 begins with the formation of this often-luckless command as the II Corps in Maj. Gen. John Popeâs Army of Virginia on June 26, 1862. Bryan explains in meticulous detail how the corps endured a bloody and demoralizing loss after coming within a whisker of defeating Maj. Gen. âStonewallâ Jackson at Cedar Mountain on August 9; suffered through the hardships of Popeâs campaign before and after the Battle of Second Manassas; and triumphed after entering Maryland and joining the reorganized Army of the Potomac. The men of this small corps earned a solid reputation in the Army of the Potomac at Antietam that would only grow during the battles of 1863.
Chris Bryan is a native of Greencastle, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in History from the United States Naval Academy, an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. Johnâs College, Annapolis, and a Masters in Historic Preservation from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a focus on architectural investigations of Chesapeake region antebellum domestic and agricultural outbuildings. The former Naval Aviator works as a project manager in Southern Maryland. Cedar Mountain to Antietam is his first book.
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For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org
Patrick Brennan, a long-time student of the Civil War and published author, has teamed up with his technology-astute daughter Dylan Brennan to bring the largest Civil War battle to life in the remarkable 2-volume study: Gettysburg in Color. Volume 1 covers Brandy Station to the Peach Orchard, and Volume 2 covers The Wheatfield to Falling Waters. Rather than guess or dabble with the colors, the Brennans used an artificial intelligence-based computerized color identifier to determine the precise color of uniforms, flesh, hair, equipment, terrain, houses, and much more. The result is a monumental full-color study of the important three-day battle that brings the men, the landscape, and the action into the 21st Century. The deep colorization of battle-related woodcuts, for example, reveals a plethora of details that have passed generations of eyes unseen. The photos of the soldiers and their officers look as if they were taken yesterday. 2
The use of this modern technology shines a light on one Gettysburg photographic mystery in particular. Colorizing some of the battle's "death" images revealed the presence of Union and Confederate dead that may help determine the previously unknown location of the photographs. That may also be a "first" when it comes to Civil War photography. Pat Brennan is the author of Secessionville: Assault on Charleston (1996), To Die Game: General J. E. B. Stuart, CSA (1998), and more than twenty articles for a variety of Civil War magazines and journals. Pat is on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Civil War Monitor and his work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune. He has lectured around the country on the Civil War and Bob Dylan. Dylan Brennan works on the broadcast video production team at Tasty Trade, a real time, online financial network based in Chicago.
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Scott Mingus on âTexans at Chickamaugaâ
For More Info visit WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
Although the Civil Warâs second-largest battle in terms of casualties, Chickamauga has had far fewer books written about it than the thousands of books penned about the warâs bloodiest battle, Gettysburg. What has been remarkable has been the dearth of books about specific brigades, regiments, or state troops at Chickamauga, unlike Gettysburg which has a plethora of specialty books. Scott Mingusâs and Joe Owenâs Unceasing Fury: Texans at the Battle of Chickamauga, September 18-20, 1863, is the first full-length book to examine in detail the role of troops from the Lone Star State.
Chickamauga was deemed as âthe soldiersâ battleâ because of the perception in the ranks of a lack of direct involvement of senior-level leadership. More than 4,400 of these soldiers were from the state of Texas. One out of every four of the Lone Star boys who fought at Chickamauga fell there. The surviving Texans gave us vivid descriptions of battle action, the anguish of losing friends, the pain and loneliness of being so far away from home, and their often-colorful opinions of their generals.
Texans fought in almost every major sector of the sprawling Chickamauga battlefield, from the first attacks on September 18 on the bridges spanning the creek to the final attack on Snodgrass Hill on the third day of fighting. Ultimately, Union mistakes led to a tactical Confederate victory, one that was marred by the strategic mistake of not aggressively pursuing the retreating Federals and seizing the vital transportation hub at Chattanooga.
York County, PA resident Scott Mingus is a retired scientist and executive in the global specialty paper industry. The Ohio native graduated from Miami University. He has written more than 30 Civil War and Underground Railroad books and numerous articles for Gettysburg Magazine and other historical journals. The Gettysburg Civil War Round Table recently presented Scott and co-author Eric Wittenberg with the 2023 Bachelder-Coddington Award for the best
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Ernest Dollar on âHearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in theCivil WarâFor More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORGIn the popular memory of the Civil War, its end came withhandshakes between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S.Grant in Virginia. But the war was not over. There was alarger, and arguably, more important surrender yet totake place in North Carolina. Yet this story occupies littlespace in the vast annals of Civil War literature.Reexamining the war's final days through the lens ofmodern science reveals why.This final campaign of the Civil War began on April 10,1865, a day after the surrender at Appomattox CourtHouse. Over 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers cutacross North Carolina's heartland bringing war with them.It was the final march of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman'seffort to destroy Southern ability and moral stamina to make war. His unstoppable Union army faced the demoralized, but still dangerous, Confederate Army of Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Adding to the chaos of the campaign were thousands ofdistraught and desperate paroled Rebels streaming south from Virginia. The collision of these groups formed a perfect storm for grief-stricken civilians caught in the middle, struggling to survive amidst their collapsing worlds.Ernest Dollar will explore the psychological experience of these soldiers and civilians caught this chaotic time that's captured in his new book, Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War's Final Campaign in North Carolina. Using an extensive collection of letters, diaries, and accounts, Dollar demonstrates the depths to which war hurt people by the spring of 1865. Hearts Torn Asunder recounts their experience through a modernunderstanding of trauma injuries.Durham, North Carolina native Ernest A. Dollar Jr. graduated from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro with B.A. in History and B.F.A. in Design in 1993 and M.A. in Public History from North Carolina State in 2006. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve/North Carolina National Guard from 1993-1999. Ernest has worked in several historic parks in both North and South Carolina, including as executive director of the Orange County Historical Museum, Preservation Chapel Hill. He currently serves as thedirector of the City of Raleigh Museum and Dr. M. T. Pope House Museum.
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Mark Zimmerman on âThe Brutal Retreat from Nashville 1864â
For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org
Mark Zimmerman, a member of the Nashville Civil War Round Table, will present an hour-long slideshow, The Brutal Retreat from Nashville 1864, based on his self-published book, Mud, Blood and Cold Steel. The presentation details the 10-day, 100-mile retreat by John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee from Compton's Hill in Nashville to the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. The Confederates were pursued by the infantry and cavalry of George Henry Thomas, including the cavalry of James Harrison Wilson, which was armed with repeating rifles. The harrowing retreat was conducted in the dead of winter through rugged and inhospitable terrain. Mark is a retired newspaperman who belongs to numerous Civil War and historic preservation organizations. He has self-published eight non-fiction books, including four on "the late unpleasantness." His latest book, Fortress Nashville, was named a Top Ten Book of 2022 by Civil War Books & Authors. He is also a Tennessee Squire with modest landholdings in Lynchburg. He was born and raised in Rockford, the gritty city at the top of Illinois, and spent seven years as a Packers fan in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He is also an avid fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. He has led tours of historic sites in Nashville and has presented at Shiloh National Military Park, Johnsonville State Historic Park, Fort Defiance Interpretive Center, and Fort Negley Interpretive Center.
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Sean Michael Chick on âGeneral P. G. T. BeauregardâFor more information: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.OrgIn April, 1861, Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard shot into fame as the Confederate commander who commanded the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Often given high-level commands thereafter, a combination of ill-health, and disagreements with President Davis, limited his service thereafter, though he played a key role in the defense of both Charleston and Petersburg. This month, we will enjoy a presentation on this enigmatic and colorful general, a man whom his many admirers thought was a potential Napoleon. Few Civil War generals attracted as much debate and controversy as Beauregard. P. G. T. combined brilliance and charisma with arrogance and histrionics, the latter often alienating those he had to deal with. Sean Michael Chick graduated from the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Communications, and from Southeastern Louisiana University with a Master of Arts in History. He currently works in New Orleans, leading historic tours of his hometown and helping residents and visitors appreciate the city's past. He is also a board game designer, concentrating on the period of Western warfare from 1685-1866. His publications include The Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864 (Potomac Books, 2015) and Grant's Left Hook: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, May 5-June 7, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2021). His Dreams of Victory: General P.G.T. Beauregard in the Civil War (Savas Beatie, 2022) is the basis for this talk.
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Dwight Hughes on âUnlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor and the Battle of Hampton Roadsâ
For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
The USS Monitor was an ingenious but hurried response to both the imminent threat of the Confederate ironclad, CSS Virginia (ex USS Merrimack), and to the growing prospect of international intervention backed by powerful British or French seagoing ironclads. The United States had no defenses against either menace. This presentation takes Monitor from her inception in the mind of her brilliant inventor through the dramatic first clash of ironclads at Hampton Roads. Dwight Hughes is a public historian, author, and speaker in Civil War naval history. Dwight graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 with a major in History and Government. He served twenty years as a Navy surface warfare officer on most of the world's oceans in ships ranging from destroyer to aircraft carrier and with river forces in Vietnam (Bronze Star for Meritorious Service, Purple Heart). Dwight is a contributing author at the Emerging Civil War blog and author of: A Confederate Biography: The Cruise of the CSS Shenandoah (Naval Institute Press, 2015), and Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862 (Savas Beatie, 2021) for the award-winning Emerging Civil War series. His new book as editor and contributor, The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War (Savas Beatie), is due out in April 2023.
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Charles Knight on âRobert E. Leeâ
For More info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
Douglas S. Freeman's Pulitzer Prize-winning three-volume biography of Robert E. Lee is a masterful reconstruction of the man's life. So exhaustive was Freeman's research that he often boasted he could account for every hour of Lee's life from West Point until his death. Freeman's Lee is thorough, but it isn't THAT thorough. Often neglected in Freeman's Lee and other studies of the general or of his various battles and campaigns is what Lee was doing when he wasn't in the spotlight. Charles Knight's new From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee's Civil War Day by Day, 1861-1865 recreates those four years of Lee's life--at least as much as is possible at 150+ years distance. It is often forgotten that in addition to his duties as a general, Lee was still a husband, father, and friend. He lost a daughter, sister, two grandchildren, daughter-in-law, and his home during the war. In2 this presentation Knight shares some of the results of years of research into Lee's actions during the war years; previously unknown sources, inconsistencies that confused Freeman and dozens of other historians over the years, memorable anecdotes of Lee's daily life, and other historical "nuggets" that came to light in his research. Charles Knight is native of Richmond, VA, where he developed a love of history at an early age. He has worked at museums and historic sites for more than 20 years in Virginia, Arizona, and North Carolina, and has given historical presentations to audiences across the country. He is the author of Valley Thunder: The Battle of New Market (Savas Beatie, 2010), From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee's Civil War Day by Day (Savas Beatie, 2021), as well as numerous magazine and journal articles, and was a historical advisor on the 2014 film Field of Lost Shoes, about the Battle of New Market. Knight is currently working on a biography of Confederate general and railroad magnate William Mahone; a history of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Honor Guard company; and editing the memoirs and papers of Gen. R.E. Lee's aide Charles Venable. Knight is the curator of military history at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh and resides in Holly Springs, NC, with his wife and children.
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Robert Girardi on
âUnion Prisoners of War at Camp Douglasâ
For More info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
Douglas, located on the south side of Chicago, was Illinois' largest Civil War training camp. More than 40,000 volunteers mustered here. In February 1862, the camp was converted to accommodate Confederate Prisoners of war. About 24,000 Confederates were held there during the war, of which 6,000 died. Their story is well-told. Yet lesser known is the story of the thousands of Union POWs who were held in the camp while awaiting exchange. After the surrender of Harpers Ferry in September 1862, the captured Union soldiers were interred in parole camps. More than 8,000 of these were sent to Camp Douglas. These soldiers occupied barracks recently vacated by Confederate prisoners and were subjected to the same poor sanitary conditions and privations. Their uncertain future and lack of understanding 2
of their status led to a breakdown in discipline. This is an account of their troublesome experiences in Chicago. Robert I. Girardi has a Masters Degree in Public History from Loyola University. He is a lifelong student of the American Civil War and has studied all aspects of the conflict. He is a past president of the Chicago CWRT and is the author or editor of nine books, and numerous articles and book reviews. He was a board member of the Illinois State Historical Society and was guest editor for the 2011-2014 Sesquicentennial of the Civil War issues of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. His most recent article, "Reconsidering Major General Gouverneur K. Warren," appeared in the July 2020 issue of North and South Magazine. He is currently working on a military biography of Warren.
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Chicago Civil War Round Table Meeting for December 2022: Garry Adelman on âMidwest Civil War Photo Extravaganzaâ
For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
Join American Battlefield Trust Chief Historian Garry Adelman for a lively photography presentation covering all manner of Midwestern events, people, and places. While the Midwest proper hosted a limited number of battles and campaigns, the Midwest states hosted hospitals, supply deports, manufacturing hubs, prisons, camps, railroads, and more! Midwesterners themselves played an outsized role in the conflict ... and where they went, so went photographers capturing images on glass and metal for a public hungry for this relatively new technology! Combining then-and-now photographs, details, maps, and other media, Mr. Adelman will tell the story of the Civil War Midwest mainly through the revolutionary wet-plate photography process, the truly unique individuals involved in the birth of photojournalism and more. From Wilson's Creek to Johnson's Island, from Wood Lake to Cairo, Mine Creek, Milwaukee, Crown Point, Keokuk, Ann Arbor, and the Wigwam, come to understand the 1860s Midwest in a manner available nowhere else!
A graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Garry Adelman is the award-winning author, co-author, or editor of 20 books and 50 Civil War articles. He is the vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg for 27 years. He has conceived and drafted the text for wayside exhibits at ten battlefields, has given thousands of battlefield tours at more than 70 American Revolution and Civil War sites, and has lectured at hundreds of locations across the country including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. He has appeared as a speaker on the BBC, C-Span, Pennsylvania Cable Network, American Heroes Channel, and on HISTORY where he was a chief consultant and talking head on the Emmy Award-winning show Gettysburg (2011), Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color (2015), and Grant (2020). He works full time as Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust.
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Civil War Round table of Chicago November 2022 Meeting. The Nevins-Freeman Address: Mary Abroe on âHistoric Preservation and Civil War Battlefields: An American Storyâ
For More info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
Founded by Congress in August 1890, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is our first federal battlefield park. Later that same month, passage of legislation that set aside funding for preserving battle lines and buying land to mark troop positions provided the basis for what became Antietam National Battlefield Site. Rounding out the five "granddaddies" that constitute the nucleus of our national battlefield park network are Shiloh (1894), Gettysburg (1895), and Vicksburg (1899). At a time when there was no National Park Service as we know it and only a few other "national parks"--like Yellowstone and Yosemite, both of which were western wilderness parks--the Civil War preserves of the 1890s set the precedent for all national historical parks (of whatever designation) going forward. As a result, those turn-of-the-century military establishments are among the premier historical properties of the entire National Park System. Additional Civil War sites joined their predecessors over the next 120-plus years, but whether we consider Chickamauga or Mill Springs (KY)--in 2020 the most recent addition to the System--the immediate thought for many, if not most, is "killing fields." And so they were. But, over time, as men and women lived, worked, and remembered on those grounds, layers of human motives and actions also shaped them. In that way, preserved battlefields have plenty to reveal about Americans' understanding of the Civil War and their resulting urge to preserve its sites as memorials, patriotic symbols, tourist destinations, documentary evidence, and outdoor classrooms. The battlefields also are full of stories about local communities, whose people, through no choice of their own, became witnesses to history and neighbors of the places where it happened. This presentation focuses on what modern Civil War parks tell us about their meaning and preservation at the hands of successive generations of Americans, ourselves included--those who, over the decades between the 1890s and the early twenty-first century, have continued to shape those landscapes.
Mary Abroe holds a BA in history from St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana and a PhD from Loyola University Chicago. She is retired from teaching at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Dr. Abroe is vice chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Battlefield Trust and a director of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. She also is past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago.
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Bruce Allardice on "Myths and Mysteries of the CSS Hunley"
For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
The Confederate submarine Hunley, the first submarine to ever sink an enemy warship, has fascinated us ever since its mysterious disappearance in 1864. Movies have been made dramatizing its almost suicidal nature and its tragic end. Myths and legends have grown up about it. The Hunley was re-discovered in 1995 off Charleston Harbor, and rescued from the bottom of the sea, to sit today in a museum in Charleston. Yet over a decade after its rescue, questions still linger about the submarine, how it operated, why it was lost, what happened to the crew. In this presentation, Professor Allardice will relate the latest discoveries, discoveries that answer at least some of the mysteries surrounding the vessel. Bruce S. Allardice is a longtime (35 years) (has it really been that long?) member and past president of the Chicago CWRT. Professor Allardice teaches European and American History, as well as Political Science, at South Suburban College. He has authored, or co-authored, 7 books, and numerous articles, on the Civil War and on Baseball history. He is past president of the Northern Illinois Civil War Round Table, and a current member of five Chicago-area CWRTs.
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CWRT June 2022 Meeting: Lauren Szady on "Politicians in Petticoats: The Women of the Abolitionist Movement"
For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
While not originally admitted to the earliest abolitionist societies, women were always an important part of the movement. Some names, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Sojourner Truth have been remembered by history as influential ladies in the anti-slavery movement, both with their words and actions. However, women from all walks of life--rich and poor, black and white, northern and southern--spoke up about this issue that started out as a male political opinion but turned into a hotly contested social matter for all. Their opinions were not without contest though. Many were seen as "stirring up trouble on the slavery issue" while others divided groups by breaking with convention. Throughout women's history, only the most vocal or "politically correct" women are remembered as having an influence but during the abolitionist movement, many women took a stand and raised their voices to help bring light to those with even less rights than they had. On June 10th, Lauren Szady will explore some of these women and how their voices changed the course of the anti-slavery movement. Lauren Szady is a museum professional with over 10-years of experience in education at several small to mid-size organizations over the course of her career. She earned a bachelor's degree with honors in Public History from DePaul University and a master's degree in Museum Studies through Johns Hopkins University. In true historian style, the earliest written evidence that Lauren has about her chosen career is from when she was in 3rd grade, announcing that she wanted to be a reenactor when she grew up. Her passion for museum education is a step forward in this childhood dream--while also proving her mother wrong that historical
https://youtu.be/8XPN3ENJvTU
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James Pula on "The Eleventh Corps at Gettysburg: a Reappraisal"
For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org
The twin disasters that befell the XI Corps at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg have cast a long shadow over the memory of the brave men who served and suffered in that unit. James Pula focuses on commanders' decisions and on the experience of common soldiers in telling a more balanced tale. Pula will maintain that, far from being the âFlying Dutchmenâ of popular belief, the men of the XI Corps were good soldiers unworthy of the stigma that has haunted them to this day. James S. Pula is a professor of history at Purdue University North Central. He was twice awarded the Polish American Historical Association's prestigious Oskar Halecki Prize for outstanding books on Polonia as well as the Mieczyslaw Haiman Award for contributions to the study of Polonia. His Civil War books include For Liberty and Justice: A Biography of Brigadier General Wlodzimierz B. Krzyzanowski, 1824-1887; The Sigel Regiment: A History of the Twenty-Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers; and Under the Crescent Moon: With the XI Corps in the Civil War. He is the past editor of Gettysburg Magazine.
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CWRT April 2022 Meeting: Jeffrey Hunt on Meade and Lee at Rappahannock Station and Mine Run"
For more info visit: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG
The Civil War in the Eastern Theater during the late summer and fall of 1863 was anything but inconsequential. Generals Meade and Lee continued where they had left off, executing daring marches while boldly maneuvering the chess pieces of war in an effort to gain decisive strategic and tactical advantage. Cavalry actions crisscrossed the rolling landscape; bloody battle revealed to both sides the command deficiencies left in the wake of Gettysburg. It was the first and only time in the war Meade exercised control of the Army of the Potomac on his own terms. That fall, Meade launched a risky offensive to carry Leeâs Rappahannock defenses and bring on a decisive battle. The dramatic fighting included a stunning Federal triumph at Rappahannock Stationâwhich destroyed two entire Confederate brigadesâthat gave Meade the upper hand and the initiative in his deadly duel with Lee, who retreated south to a new position behind the Rapidan River. The inconclusive Mine Run Campaign followed. Jeffrey William Hunt is Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, the official museum of the Texas National Guard, located at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, and is an Adjunct Professor of History at Austin Community College, where he has taught since 1988. Prior to taking the post at the Texas Military Forces Museum, he was the Curator of Collections and Director of the Living History Program at the Admiral Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas for 11 years. He holds a Master's Degree in History from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Huntâs writing credits include his book, The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch, and his three volumes on the aftermath of the Gettysburg Campaign, Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: From Falling Waters to Culpeper Court House, Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station, and his latest book, Meade and Lee at Rappahannock Station.
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Mark Laubacher on "The U.S.S. Red Rover: Hospital of Firsts"
For More information visit WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org
To adequately treat illness and trauma afflicted upon military personnel during the US Civil War, a true military hospital ship for use on internal waterways was built. Originally, USS Red Rover was a hospital ship for the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla operating on the Mississippi River. Red Rover would go on to become the first US Naval hospital ship in late December 1862. This was a hospital of many firsts, commencing with females who served as nurses aboard Red Rover. They were paid crew members, working in various capacities comprised of African Americans and a group Sisters of the Holy Cross of St. Mary from Notre Dame in Indiana. Ultimately, 8 African American women were on the Navy payroll by the end of the war, including Ann Stokes, who would eventually earn the title of "nurse," and go on to draw a pension from the Federal government following the war. The success of the Red Rover was a direct result of the contribution of civilian women working as nurses aboard the vessel. From June 11, 1862, to March 31, 1865, Red Rover admitted 1697 patients and touted a survival rate of over 90%. The injuries and illnesses of the sailors of the gunboats ran a broad spectrum. Such women pioneers would ultimately lead to the creation of the US Navy Nurse Corps in 1908.
Mark Laubacher is an RN and paramedic working as a Certified Specialist in Poison Information since 1992 at the Central Ohio Poison Center located at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. Prior to this, he was a full-time staff nurse at Children's Emergency Department for 4 years. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Capital University in 1989. He is also currently a faculty member for Grant Medical Center Paramedic Program in Columbus, Ohio. Having delivered over 500 presentations, he routinely presents at the state and national levels on various topics of toxicological emergencies.
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