CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

HARRY BULKELEY

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC (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: Email (preferred) to susankclaffey@cwrtdc.org 
or call (202) 306-4988 by noon, November 6th. 
Or make reservations through our Meetup Page by clicking HERE.

TOPIC:
"GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT"

About The Topic and Speaker: 
(Excerpted from Chicago CWRT website (Feb.10, 2012)

Ulysses S. Grant demonstrated what might be called the Peter Principle in reverse: he couldn’t handle small jobs, but give him a huge task like saving the Union, and he performed marvelously well.

Grant’s story is one of great abilities, hidden and undiscovered until a vast war brought them out. And not merely abilities as a general. His memoirs, completed just prior to his death, are rightly regarded as one of the best memoirs ever written by a historical figure.

Harry Bulkeley is known for his oneman show “I Intend to Fight It Out” about General Ulysses S. Grant.  He narrates episodes in his life, changing uniforms as the story unfolds. Bulkeley says he tries to provide an insight into Grant as a man. “For too many people, General Grant has become a caricature. My presentation tries to explain more about the man himself. He was during his life perhaps the most admired living American of the 19th century. I want the audience to know why.”

Harry Bulkeley and his wife Barbara live in an old Victorian house a block and a half from where he was born in Galesburg, IL. About eight years ago he retired after serving as a Circuit Court judge for 24 years. Since retirement, they have spent time traveling, including visiting their three daughters who live in New York City, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

Judge Bulkeley has always been interested in the Civil War. About fifteen years ago he developed an interest in Grant. “I grew a beard for the first reenactment I ever attended—as a Confederate!” When I got home, I was reading a biography of the general when I noticed the physical resemblance.” After portraying Grant at several national events, Bulkeley appeared as the title character in “Ulysses Grant: Warrior- President” for the PBS series American Experience. A few years later he was in “Sherman’s March” on The History Channel. In 2012, he played Grant in the new film for the visitors’ center at the Shiloh National Battlefield Park.

Judge Bulkeley's website on his General Grant persona is here:  http://meetgeneralgrant-com.webs.com/

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For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, see the Tab above marked "About Us/ Membership Information" or click HERE

CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

ED BEARSS

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC (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: Email (preferred) to susankclaffey@cwrtdc.org or call (202) 306-4988 by noon, Oct. 9th. Or make reservations through our Meetup Page by clicking HERE.

TOPIC:
"Generals North & South—The Best, Worst and Most Interesting"

About The Topic:  A rare treat is in store for us this month as the one and only Ed Bearss will be sharing his picks with us for the best, worst, and most interesting generals who wore the Blue and the Gray. Come join the fun and see if your picks match those of the master of all things Civil War. It is sure to be a most interesting and informative evening!

About Our Speaker:  Edwin Cole (Ed) Bearss needs no introduction to this round table or to most Civil War enthusiasts. He is a world-renowned military historian, author, and tour guide known for his work on the history of the Civil War and World War II.  We are gratified to have him as our lifetime honorary member, yearly speaker, and chosen leader for our field trips and tours.

Ed is the author of numerous books including the definitive three volume series, “The Vicksburg Campaign.” He is a tireless advocate of Civil War preservation, donating his time to many organizations and activities involved with that mission, including serving on the board of the Civil War Trust. Among his many honors, Ed was named by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of its “35 Who Made A Difference.” Since 2005, the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia has recognized Ed’s contributions by making an annual “Ed Bearss Award” to a preservation cause of his choosing. To date, the Ed Bearss Award has provided more than $10,000 to worthy--many times little known--Civil War preservation efforts.

Ed has worked as a historian at Vicksburg National Military Park where he conducted research leading him and two friends to the long-lost Union gunboat the U.S.S. Cairo. He also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi.  Ed rose in the National Park Service (NPS) to the post of regional historian and is recognized as more knowledgeable on the Civil War battlefields than virtually anyone else. During his time with the NPS, Ed led efforts for researching, preserving, and interpreting 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, Ed received the title Chief Historian Emeritus, which he holds to this day. 

Ed’s abundance of awards and honors are too numerous to mention. Some of the more recent include:  the 2014 DAR Medal of Honor; the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for 2014 in honor of his book entitled “The Petersburg Campaign” recognized as the best published book of high merit in the field of Southern history; and the Lincoln Forum’s Richard Nelson Current Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.  In addition, the Civil War Trust has established its annual lifetime achievement award in Ed’s name.

Currently there is a bill pending in Congress (H.R. 2059) sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA), to recognize Ed, and he may soon receive a new accolade to add to an already lengthy resume: Congressional Gold Medal recipient.

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For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, see the Tab above marked "About Us/ Membership Information" or click HERE

CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

 

DAN PATERSON

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

at the Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC (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 (202) 306-4988 by noon, Sept. 4th
Or make reservations through our Meetup Page by clicking HERE

The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia will host Dan Paterson at its monthly meeting on Sept. 8, 2015. 

TOPIC:
"How Longstreet Became Controversial"

About Our Speaker:  

Our speaker, William D. Paterson, Jr., is the great-grandson of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet , and  provided the following  information to post on the website: 

Born: 6/4/1959 Washington, D.C.

Married; wife Sherry and son and Daughter-in-law Shane and Melissa and two grandsons Elijah and Jude and granddaughter Rosalie living in Centreville, VA 

Occupation:  Active Directory (IT) Specialist, Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA

Education:  1981 Graduate University of Maryland, Bachelor of Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1977 Graduate of Bowie (Maryland) Senior High School

Past President and current member of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, Centreville, VA 

Board Member of the Longstreet Society, Gainesville, Georgia (Piedmont Hotel Renovation Project). 

Board Member of the Pickett Society, Richmond, VA

Participant and supporter of the Longstreet Memorial Fund Project-(Gettysburg Monument).

Recipient of the United Daughters of the Confederacy “Jefferson Davis Award” for preservation of Confederate Heritage. 

Civil War Reenactor with the 7th Maryland Volunteers, Co. A (Federal), the Chesapeake Volunteer Guard and the Hardtack Society and Liberty Rifles.

 

Battlefield Preservationist and member of Friends of Gettysburg Battlefield, Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and participated in various monument clean up projects at Gettysburg. 
 

Recipient of the 2001 Helen Dortch Longstreet Award presented by the Longstreet Society to those who work to defend and preserve General Longstreet’s reputation.  The 2002 winner was Dr. William G. Piston author of “Lee’s Tarnished Lieutenant.” 
 

Lineage:

Dan Paterson is the great-grandson of James Longstreet through his youngest son, Fitz Randolph Longstreet, (b. 1869 – d. 1951) whose daughter, Dan's mother, was Jamie Louise Longstreet Paterson and the granddaughter of James Longstreet.  Dan's grandmother, Mrs. F.R. Longstreet (Zelia) was interviewed by Blue and Gray Magazine in 1983 for an article entitled “Daughter-in-Law of a General.”  Dan's uncle William Longstreet (1897-1973) was the last male descendant of the General with the surname of “Longstreet.”
 

 Programs:

“A Longstreet Pictorial History” is a comprehensive visual history in PowerPoint of the Longstreet family starting with the general’s great-grand father, Gen. John Dent, of the American Revolution, and continuing with the inventor, William Longstreet, the scholar, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet including CW wartime photos/prints, various battle anniversaries photos and concludes with photos of the Longstreet Monument project ceremonies from January 1998 through October of 2001.  The presentation also includes family photographs, newspaper clippings and even photographs from the General’s personal photo album spanning two centuries and several wars.

   

The “Origins of the Longstreet Controversy” looks at how James Longstreet became the South’s most controversial soldier that includes a detailed timeline showing how events during the postwar period predated the Gettysburg controversy that was generally based upon the General’s support for black suffrage and membership and support for the Republican Party.

 

Related websites:

www.longstreet.org/ - The Longstreet Society

www.bullruncwrt.org/ - The Bull Run Civil War Round Table

www.johnbellhood.org/ 
- The John Bell Hood Historical Society

www.pickettsociety.com  - The Pickett Society

www.generalsandbrevets.com/
- A collection of photos of various CW personnel

www.7thmaryland.com/ - Reenactment group

www.libertyrifles.org/ - Reenactment group

 

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TheLongstreetSociety?fref=photo

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

CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

CALVIN GODDARD ZON

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

at the Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC (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 by noon, June 5

The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia will host Calvin Goddard Zon at its monthly meeting on June 9, 2015. 

TOPIC:
"Divided We Fall: The Confederacy Collapse"

About Our Topic:  Many have the impression that the North and South had solid support from within their respective states but nothing is further from the truth. The North was full of Copperheads, Radical Republicans, pro-war Democrats, abolitionists, and newspapers that were all divided on the issues of secession and emancipation.  And the Confederacy had its own problems and that is what we will explore in this meeting.

Our speaker, Calvin Goddard Zon, will explore each Confederate state’s opposition and its source. Opposition came from different factors including dissatisfaction with the strong central government, the draft, and even loyalty to the Union. How this opposition was expressed also varied from state to state. The Carolinas were plagued by opposition to conscription with many seeing it as a violation of states’ rights.  By 1863, there were bands of deserters and draft dodgers in the Appalachians that were raiding Confederate holdings in the Carolinas and attacking conscription officials.  Mississippi saw the creation of the Free State of Jones in protest to the draft and seizure of private property by the Confederacy. Jackson County Alabama went so far as to secede from the Confederacy and proclaim loyalty to the Union. Georgia’s governor help back thousands of men from the fighting because he deemed them critical to keeping Georgia’s government functioning.  Unionists in Georgia actually met in February 1865 to demand the Confederacy’s surrender.  Texas’ own Sam Houston opposed secession and refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. As a result, he was summarily deposed as its governor in early 1861.

Most of this opposition was met with force--hanging, imprisonment and banishment were common punishments for those opposing the Confederacy.  But the opposition forced the Confederates to fight two wars--a war with the Union and another war against many of its own citizens. As Zon will show us, these many ripples of discontent would unite to contribute to the Confederacy’s collapse.  He will discusses opposition state by state and demonstrate how this active obstruction and resistance among Southerners played a major role in the Confederacy's downfall.

About Our Speaker:  Calvin Goddard Zon is a third generation Washingtonian. He holds a BA in history from Davidson College and an M.A. from American University.  He was a staff writer for the Washington Star daily newspaper during the 1970s, and in subsequent years a staff writer for Press Associates, Inc. and the United Mine Workers Journal. He retired as a copy editor for Bloomberg BNA's Daily Labor Report in 2012. Zon also served for six years in the U.S. Army Reserve.

His interest in the Civil War includes membership in the Lincoln-Cushing Camp No. 2 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and past service as their commander. He is also a member and treasurer of the D.C. Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He has written articles on the Civil War that have appeared in such varied publications as the Civil War News, the Progressive, the National Catholic Reporter, and People magazine.

Besides his new book, Divided We Fall: The Confederacy's Collapse From Within, A State-by-State Account, which is the subject of his June 9 presentation, Zon is the author of “The Good Fight That Didn't End: Henry P. Goddard's Accounts of Civil War and Peace.”  He presented on that work to our Round Table in 2009 and it is based on the writings of Zon's great-grandfather, a captain in the 14th Connecticut Infantry.  The 14^th Connecticut fought in every major battle from Antietam to Appomattox.

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

CWRT-DC's Previous Meeting:

DR. CRAIG L. SYMONDS

 

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

at the Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC (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 by noon, May 8

The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia will host Historian Craig Symonds at its monthly meeting on May 12, 2015. 

TOPIC:
"The Naval View of the War"

About the Topic: 

Just as the Civil War was fought on the land, the North and South fought another war on the water. A war consisting of rapid and spectacular battles and an ongoing vigilance of the coasts, rivers, and seas. Join us May 12 as the “Ed Bearss” of naval history, Craig Symonds, takes us through the Civil War on the water.

As the Southern states seceded, Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott proposed a plan to subdue the South that emphasized blockading Southern ports followed by an advance down the Mississippi River to cut the South in two. This became known as the "Anaconda Plan" or "Scott's Great Snake" and was meant to bring the seceding states back into line without a lot of bloodshed. Because of the passive nature of the plan, it was widely disdained by a very vocal faction, including Union commander George McClellan. This bloc clamored for a more vigorous prosecution of the war and hung its hopes on the capture of the Confederate capital city.

President Abraham Lincoln responded by sending Union armies to capture Richmond as McClellan proposed, but he also implemented Scott’s general strategy, and the Anaconda Plan made a huge contribution to eventual Northern victory. Lincoln set the Union’s naval war in motion by ordering a blockade of the Southern coasts.  The intent of the blockage was to cut off Southern trade with the outside world and prevent its sale of cotton. It was a daunting assignment requiring the Union to cover over 2,500 miles of coast and, at the time, the Union navy numbered fewer than 40 seaworthy ships. Lincoln’s naval secretary, Gideon Welles, pitched in to fill the void and acquire enough boats to assure that every Southern inlet, port, and bay was made perilous for trade. The North began construction of dozens of new warships and bought hundreds of merchant ships to retrofit with a few guns for service as blockaders. Welles’ critics christened it his “soapbox navy.”

Ships alone would not be enough, however.  The Union’s blockade effort needed bases on the Southern coast from which to operate. To acquire those beach heads, the Union began a series of attacks on port cities along the southeastern seaboard in 1861. Poorly defended, they quickly succumbed to Union gunnery and fell under Union control. While never completely airtight, by late 1862 the blockade was a huge obstacle to Confederate trade. In addition to the coastal and high seas navy, the Union also had need of a “brown water navy” to support its army campaigns in northern Virginia and the Mississippi River valley.

The Confederacy had fewer resources than the North at the start of the war. The South had only a handful of shipyards, a small merchant marine, and no navy whatsoever. The Confederates would have to scramble to thwart the Union blockade and defend its ports. Yet Stephen Mallory, Confederate Secretary of the Navy, rose to the challenge, found ships, and even managed an offensive operation to attack Union merchant shipping on the high seas.

With a smaller fleet and fewer shipyards than the North, the Confederate’s naval strategy relied on making the fleet they did have as formidable as possible. They decided to challenge the Union navy with the latest in naval engineering technology: ironclads. Ironclads had appeared in Europe in the 1850s, but Union warships were still built of wood. The first Confederate ironclad was constructed from a Union cruiser, the Merrimack, that had been captured when the Rebels seized the navy yard in Norfolk Virginia. The Confederates renamed it Virginia—and replaced everything above the waterline with a skeleton of heavy timbers covered by four inches of iron plating. Though underpowered and crude, Lincoln had nothing to match her.

The Union quickly responded with inventor John Ericsson and his ironclad—the Monitor. Most of the Monitor was underwater. All that appeared above board looked like a “tin can on a raft” with a flat deck and a circular housing with two guns. Tin can it might have been, but it had the world’s first rotating gun turret, and it was amply protected with eight inches of iron. 

The Monitor and the Virginia met in March 1862 at Hampton Roads, Virginia. After a three-hour engagement—often at point-blank range—the result was a draw but it was the world's first battle between ironclad vessels. The presence of the Virginia was able to postpone Union army operations in the area for several months. The advent of ironclads made wooden naval vessels—and thus most of the Union fleet—out-of-date. Shipyards on both sides began to manufacture ironclads as quickly as they could.

Union efforts to split the Confederacy in two along the Mississippi River also began in early 1862. General Ulysses S. Grant’s army, with the support of a squadron of gunboats, moved down the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois into the heart of the Confederacy. Most of the boats were flat-bottomed barges with steam engines and heavy timbered sides. A few were iron plated. Grant’s army and this brown water navy captured Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. Simultaneously, David Farragut, commanding a similar fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, engaged the defenses of New Orleans. His objective was to move past the city and northward via the Mississippi River. In April 1862, Farragut fought his way past two formidable forts and forced the surrender of New Orleans. In July, 1863, after hard-fought campaigns against both Rebel forts and fleets, these two Union naval forces—one moving south and one moving north—would converge at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The result was everything west of the Mississippi was cut-off from the rest of the Confederacy.

In April 1863, the Union navy took on the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina. With two years to anticipate such an attack, the Confederates had positioned guns, floating obstructions, and mines to meet it. Their defenses successfully fended off the Union, and Charleston remained in Rebel hands until the war was nearly over. After its decisive loss at Charleston, the Union targeted Mobile, Alabama—the last major Confederate port on the Gulf—and Wilmington, North Carolina—the last and most important Atlantic gateway to the Confederacy. 

Mobile was defended by two large forts but these fell under Farragut’s assault in August 1864. After a failed first try, the largest Union fleet ever assembled attacked Fort Fisher in January 1865. Fisher was the linchpin of Wilmington’s defense and the stronghold fell. Wilmington’s loss robbed Robert E. Lee’s army, under siege in Virginia, of a major supply source and helped bring on the end of the war.

As the war dragged on, Mallory equipped a series of commerce raiders to attack Union merchant ships globally. These ships were obtained from Europe and most never saw a Southern port.  The Alabama, under the command of Raphael Semmes, is the best known. It destroyed more than 60 ships in a 21-month cruise and sent Union shipping interests into a panic.  The Alabama was finally confronted by the Union boat Kearsarge off the coast of France in 1864 and was sunk by Union gunfire in one of the last classic one-on-one duels at sea. 

Interestingly, the last official action of the Confederate States of America was a naval one. The Confederate raider Shenandoah was in the Pacific and its command and crew got the news of the Civil War’s end four months after all of the Confederate armies surrendered. The Shenandoah lowered her flag in England on November 6, 1865.

About Our Speaker:  

Craig L. Symonds, Ph.D. is Professor of History Emeritus at the United States Naval Academy and a pre-eminent naval historian. Symonds was the first person to win both the Naval Academy’s “Excellence in Teaching” award (1988) and its “Excellence in Research” award (1998), and received the Department of the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service medal three times.  Symonds was also awarded the Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Naval Historical Foundation in 2014.

Symonds is a native of Anaheim, CA. He served as a U.S. Navy officer and became the first ensign ever to lecture at the prestigious Naval War College in Newport, R.I. After his naval service, Symonds remained at the War College as a civilian professor of strategy from 1974-1975. In 1976, he came to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. During his tenure there, Symonds became a popular professor whose Civil War classes always had waiting lists. From 1988 to 1992, he served as chair of the Academy’s history department. From 1994 to 1995 he was professor of strategy and policy at the Britannia Naval College in Dartmouth, England. After his retirement in 2005, he returned to the Naval Academy for one year in 2011-12 to serve as “The Class of 1957 Distinguished Professor of American Naval History.” 

Symonds is the author or editor of twenty-eight books, including prize-winning biographies of Civil War figures Joseph E. Johnston (1992), Patrick Cleburne (1997), and Franklin Buchanan (1999), as well as The American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg (2001).  Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History, (2005) won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize for Naval History.  His 2008 book, Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War, won the Barondess Prize, the Laney Prize, the Lyman Prize, the Lincoln Prize, and the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award.  He also won the Nevins-Freeman Prize in 2009.  His book on the Battle of Midway was published in 2011. His newest book is NEPTUNE: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings, released in May 2014.

Symonds remains much in demand around the country as a speaker on Civil War subjects and all things naval history. He has spoken at Civil War Round Tables in 27 states and two foreign countries, given tours of battlefields and other historical sites and helped conduct leadership workshops based on the life of Abraham Lincoln. He and his wife Marylou live in Annapolis, Maryland; they have one son and two grandchildren.

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