CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

ANNE SARAH RUBIN

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington D.C. (see map here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)
7 pm: Dinner ($30 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required: Call (703) 578-1942


TOPIC:
"Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and America"

Dr. Rubin will discuss her forthcoming book and web project: Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and America. Rather than retell the story of the march, this project explores the myriad ways in which Americans have remembered, retold, and re-imagined Sherman's march. It looks at the march from a kaleidoscope of perspectives (African-Americans, Union soldiers, Confederates, women, environmental) and a mosaic of sources (travel accounts, memoirs, music, literature, films and newspapers). Through the Heart of Dixie unpacks the many myths and legends that have grown up around the march, not in the service of proving them true or false, but rather to use them as a lens into the ways that Americans' thoughts about the Civil War have changed over time.  

Biography:
Dr. Anne Sarah Rubin is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Digital History and Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).  She received her AB from Princeton University and her MA and PhD at the University of Virginia.  Professor Rubin joined the UMBC History Department in the Fall of 2000.  Her teaching and research focus on the American Civil War, the U.S. South, nineteenth century America, and digital history.

Dr. Rubin is currently finishing a book entitled Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and America, which is scheduled to be published in early 2014.  Her first book, A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868, focuses on Confederate nationalism and identity.  It won the 2006 Avery O. Craven book prize for the best book in Civil War history.

Dr. Rubin has also worked extensively with electronic media and is co-author of a CD-ROM, The Valley of the Shadow: The Eve of War.  That project won the first eLincoln Prize for the best digital project in American Civil War History as well as the James Harvey Robinson Prize, which is awarded biennially for the teaching aid that has made the most outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history in any field for public or educational purposes.

Dr. Rubin is currently President of the Society of Civil War Historians.  She is a member of the Maryland State Archives Legacy of Slavery Project Advisory Board and the Editorial Board of Civil War History.  She is also an OAH Distinguished Lecturer (2011-2014).

Dr. Rubin's website can be found at http://history.umbc.edu/facultystaff/full-time/anne-sarah-rubin/

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For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, visit http://cwrtdc-resources.blogspot.com/  

CANCELLED.  ALL OFFICERS' CLUB ACTIVITIES CANCELLED TODAY DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER.

CWRT-DC's Next Meeting:

Ed Bearss

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington D.C. (see map here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)
7 pm: Dinner ($30 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required: Call (703) 578-1942

TOPIC:
"The Battle of Chattanooga"

After being defeated by the Confederates at Chickamauga, General Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland withdrew to Chattanooga surrounded by Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee. The Confederates held the high ground of Lookout Mountain to the southwest and Missionary Ridge to the east.

When Grant was placed in command of the armies in the west, Rosecrans was relieved of command.  Major General George Thomas was placed in command of the Army of the Cumberland and plans were put into place to break out of Chattanooga.

Ed Bearss will take us through the events of 150 years ago at Chattanooga, including the dramatic assault on Missionary Ridge, that led to Bragg’s forces retreating and opened up the way to Georgia. Grant’s success would also get him noticed in Washington and lead to his promotion to lieutenant general and command of the Armies of the United States.

Biography:
Ed Bearss, an honorary lifetime member of the CWRTDC, is universally regarded as the unsurpassed tour guide of Civil War battlefields, no doubt in part because he has visited almost every battlefield in the country . . . and many multiple times.

Ed is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, including the definitive three volume series, The Vicksburg Campaign, and has been featured in many documentaries and television programs. He is a tireless advocate of Civil War preservation, donating his time to many organizations and activities involved with that mission including his service on the board of the Civil War Trust. Among his countless accolades and honors are the Bruce Catton Award, the Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Interior, and a Commendation from the Secretary of the Army. Since 2005, our Round Table has recognized Ed’s contributions by making an annual "Ed Bearss Award" to a preservation cause of his choosing.

Ed has worked as a historian at Vicksburg National Military Park where he co-conducted research that found the long-lost Union gunboat, U.S.S. Cairo. He also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. Ed rose within the National Park Service (NPS) to the post of regional historian and was recognized as more knowledgeable on the Civil War battlefields than virtually anyone else. During his time with the NPS, Ed led efforts to research, preserve, and interpret Pea Ridge, Wilson’s Creek, Fort Smith, Stones River, Fort Donelson, the battlefields around Richmond, Fort Moultrie and Fort Point among many others.

Ed was named Chief Historian of the National Park Service in 1981, a position he held until 1994. He also served as special assistant to the NPS director from 1994 to 1995. After his retirement in 1995, he received the title Chief Historian Emeritus, which he holds to this day.

Ed, who turns 90 next year, continues to lead tours traveling around the United States, the Pacific, and Europe. I can personally attest to the report that " he routinely outpaces his much younger guests in charging over rough terrain, recreating the color of famous infantry and cavalry attacks." Ed indeed demonstrates his conviction that "You can't describe a battlefield unless you walk it!"
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For additional information about his presentation, download CWRTDC's October 2012 newsletter available by clicking here: cwrtdc-newsletters.  For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, visit http://www.cwrtdc.org/ 

 

CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

 

Burrus Carnahan

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington D.C. (see map here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)
7 pm: Dinner ($30 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required: Call (703) 578-1942

TOPIC:
"Lincoln and the Law of War"

I don’t know anything about the law of nations,” Lincoln confessed to Thaddeus Stevens in 1861.  International law, then called the law of nations, was one set of ideas Lincoln set out to master while President. By 1863 he had thoroughly mastered the principles of international law and, in particular, the law of war as it then existed. Dr. Carnahan's presentation will focus on Lincoln's ability to explain important legal concepts in plain language that was accessible to military officers as well as the American public, most notably in defense of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Burrus M. ("Buzz") Carnahan is a Foreign Affairs Officer at the US Department of State and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University in Washington DC.  His JD degree is from Northwestern University (1969) and he holds an LLM from the University of Michigan (1974). From 1969 to 1989, Dr. Carnahan served as a Judge Advocate in the US Air Force, specializing in international legal issues.  From 1974 to 1978, he was an Associate Professor of Law at the US Air Force Academy. 

 

The author of two books and numerous articles on Abraham Lincoln, international law, and the law of war, Dr. Carnahan has spoken on Lincoln and his era at the Abraham Lincoln Institute at the National Archives, the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute, Robert Lincoln’s Hildene in Vermont, the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, and many other venues.  He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Lincoln Forum and in 2012 was appointed to the Scholarly Advisory Group for President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home for a two year term.

Schedule of Meeting Speakers

for 2013-2014

DATE                  SPEAKER                    TENTATIVE TOPIC

Sept. 10, 2013    Charles Ross              Civil War Acoustic Shadows

Oct. 8, 2013        Gregory Elder             Intelligence in the Civil War

Nov. 12, 2013     Burrus Carnahan         Lincoln and the Law of War

Dec. 10, 2013     Ed Bearss                    The Battle of Chattanooga

Jan. 14, 2014     Anne Sarah Rubin       Sherman's March

 

Feb. 11, 2014     Jack Hurst                    Grant and Forrest

Mar. 11, 2014     Stuart Towns                Enduring Legacy:
                                                                 The Lost Cause Myth

Apr. 8, 2014       Ken Heineman             The Ewing Family of Ohio

May 13, 2014     Robert Lee Hodge        Confederates in the Attic

June 10, 2014    Gail Stephens              The Battle of Monocacy