CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING:

 

SCOTT C. PATCHAN

speaks on

"THE LAST BATTLE OF WINCHESTER: SHERIDAN AND EARLY IN THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN"


 Tuesday, January 10, 2017

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC

ABOUT THE TOPIC:

Mr. Patchan’s presentation will focus on Gen. Grant's unexpected decision to place fellow Ohioan Phil Sheridan in command in the Shenandoah. Sheridan was not an inevitable choice, but Grant wanted to have someone he could rely upon.  Mr. Patchan will examine Sheridan's background and review the events as they unfolded in 1864 culminating in Sheridan's victory at the third and last Battle of Winchester. 

A posting on www.goodreads.com describes Mr. Patchan’s book on this topic as the first serious study to chronicle this battle, which was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. What began about daylight did not end until dusk, when the victorious Union army routed the Confederates. It was the first time Stonewall Jackson's former Corps had ever been driven from a battlefield, and its defeat set the stage for the final climax of the 1864 Valley Campaign.

This Northern victory was a long time coming, however. During the spring and summer of 1864, General Early had aggressively led the veterans of Jackson's Army of the Valley District to one victory after another at Lynchburg, Monocacy, Snickers Gap, and Kernstown.  In response, Grant cobbled together a formidable force under Phil Sheridan, an equally redoubtable commander. Sheridan's task was a tall one: sweep Jubal Early's Confederate army out of the bountiful Shenandoah and reduce the verdant region of its supplies.

Five weeks of complex maneuvering and sporadic combat followed before the opposing armies ended up at Winchester, an important town in the northern end of the Valley that had changed hands dozens of times over the previous three years. Tactical brilliance and ineptitude were on display throughout the day-long affair as Sheridan threw infantry and cavalry against the thinning Confederate ranks and as Early and his generals shifted to meet each assault. A final blow against Early's left flank finally collapsed the Southern army, killing one of the Confederacy's finest combat generals, and planted the seeds of the victory at Cedar Creek the following month.

Scott Patchan's vivid prose, which is based upon more than two decades of meticulous research and an unparalleled understanding of the battlefield, is complemented with numerous original maps and explanatory footnotes that enhance the reader’s understanding of this watershed battle. Rich in analysis and character development, The Last Battle of Winchester is certain to become a classic Civil War battle study.  Source (click to link): GoodReads

Mr. Patchan’s book, Shenandoah Summer, studies Gen. Early’s disastrous battles in the Shenandoah Valley which ultimately resulted in his ignominious dismissal. But Early’s lesser-known summer campaign of 1864, between his raid on Washington and Phil Sheridan’s renowned fall campaign, had a significant impact on the political and military landscape of the time. By focusing on military tactics and battle history in uncovering the facts and events of these little-understood battles, Mr. Patchan’s book offers a new perspective on Early’s contributions to the Confederate war effort—and to Union battle plans and politicking.

Specifically, Mr. Patchan details the previously unexplored battles at Rutherford’s Farm and Kernstown (a pinnacle of Confederate operations in the Shenandoah Valley) and examines the campaign’s influence on President Lincoln’s reelection efforts. He also provides insights into the personalities, careers, and roles in the campaign of Confederate general John C. Breckinridge, Union general George Crook, and Union colonel James A. Mulligan, with his “fighting Irish” brigade from Chicago. Finally, Mr. Patchan reconsiders the ever-colorful and controversial General Early himself, whose importance in the Confederate military pantheon this book at last makes clear. Source (click to link): Amazon

Other resources (click to link):
Civil War Trust
National Park Service
 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

A life-long student of military history, who graduated from James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley, Scott C. Patchan is widely regarded as the leading authority and tour guide of the 1864 Valley Campaign.

He is the author of many articles and books, including The Forgotten Fury: The Battle of Piedmont (1996), Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign (2007), Second Manassas: Longstreet’s Attack and the Struggle for Chinn Ridge (2011), and most recently, The Last Battle of Winchester: Phil Sheridan, Jubal Early, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, August 7 - September 19, 1864. Mr. Patchan also serves as a Director on the board of the Kernstown Battlefield Association in Winchester, Virginia, and is a member of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation’s Resource Protection Committee.

Mr. Patchan is a Director of Administration (Accounting, IT,
and HR) for Fairfax County. He is responsible for managing financial, budgetary, personnel and IT functions.  Mr. Patchan has specialized in redesigning internal controls and strengthening budgetary and purchasing processes and has been involved in strategic planning and development of the County’s fiscal direction.  Source(click to link): LinkedIn 

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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 

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING:

DWIGHT HUGHES

speaks on

"A CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: THE CRUISE OF THE CSS SHENANDOAH"


 Tuesday, December 13, 2016

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC

(see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)

7 pm: Dinner ($36 for dinner and lecture)

8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)
(please arrive at 7:30pm for the lecture)

Reservations required by 5:00 pm, Wednesday, December 7th 

SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST

TO MAKE RESERVATIONS AND REMIT PAYMENT
If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email reservations@cwrtdc.org

ABOUT THE TOPIC: "The cruise of a ship is a biography,” wrote the Confederacy’s foremost sailor, Raphael Semmes. A ship can be, therefore, a central character in a life story through which we view the momentous past more clearly.

From October 1864 to November 1865, the CSS Shenandoah carried the Civil War around the globe to the ends of the earth through every extreme of sea and storm. Her officers represented a cross section of the Confederacy from Old Dominion first families through the Deep South aristocracy to a middle-class Missourian: a nephew of Robert E. Lee; a grandnephew of founder George Mason; a son-in-law to Raphael Semmes; grandsons of men who fought at George Washington’s side; and an uncle of Theodore Roosevelt.


They considered themselves Americans, Southerners, rebels, and warriors embarking on the voyage of their lives, defending their country as they understood it and pursuing a difficult, dangerous mission in which they succeeded spectacularly after it no longer mattered.

Shenandoah was a magnificent ship. Her commerce-raiding mission was a central component of U.S. Navy heritage and a watery form of asymmetric warfare in the spirit of John Mosby, Bedford Forrest, and W. T. Sherman. She contributed to the diplomatic maelstrom of the Civil War, as evidenced by a contentious visit to Melbourne, Australia.

Later, at the Pacific island of Pohnpei, Southern gentlemen enjoyed a tropical holiday while their country lay dying, mingling with an exotic warrior society that was more like them than they knew. Their observations looking back from the most remote and alien surroundings imaginable, along with the viewpoints of those they encountered, provide unique perspectives of the conflict.

Finally, Shenandoah invaded the north, the deep cold of the Bering Sea. She fired the last gun of the conflict and set crystal waters aglow with flaming Yankee whalers.
Seven months after Lee’s surrender, Shenandoah limped into Liverpool. Captain Waddell lowered the last Confederate banner without defeat or surrender. This is, as Admiral Semmes describes, a biography of a cruise and a microcosm of the Confederate-American experience.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Dwight Sturtevant Hughes graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 and 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).

Lieutenant Commander Hughes taught Naval ROTC at the University of Rochester, earning an MA in Political Science; he later earned an MS in Information Systems Management from USC. In his final sea tour, he planned and conducted convoy exercises with over twenty ships of the Maritime Prepositioned Force.

Dwight's second career was software engineering, primarily in geographic feature naming data and electronic mapping under contract for the U.S. Geological Survey. A ridge in Antarctica is named for him in recognition of contributions to Antarctic databases and information services.

Dwight's current calling builds on a lifetime of study in naval history with the desire to translate a love of the sea and ships into an understanding of our naval heritage and to communicate that heritage in an educational and entertaining manner.

Dwight is a guest author at the Emerging Civil War blog. He is a life member of the U.S. Naval Institute, the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, and the Historic Naval Ships Association. He is a member of the Naval Historical Foundation and the National Maritime Historical Society.

Dwight Hughes lives near Manassas in Virginia with his wife, Judi, a former Air Force officer and Electronics/Communications Engineer.


For more information about the speaker's book, visit http://aconfederatebiography.com/

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CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING:

DAVID GOETZ

speaks on

"THE POSTWAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOSBY AND GRANT"

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

(Note: this is on Wednesday night rather than our usual Tuesday meetings)

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC

(see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)

7 pm: Dinner ($36 for dinner and lecture)

8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required by 5:00 pm, Thursday, November 3rd 

SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST

TO MAKE RESERVATIONS AND REMIT PAYMENT

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email reservations@cwrtdc.org  <reservations@cwrtdc.org> 

About the Topic:  “Hell is Being a Republican in Virginia”: The Postwar Relationship Between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses S. Grant is essentially the story of Mosby and Grant and their search for peace and reconciliation between North and South in the years following the War Between the States.

Bitter enemies during the war – in 1864, Grant had declared, “Where any of Mosby’s men are caught, hang them without trial” – they met in 1872 as Grant was in a fierce contest with Horace Greeley for his second term.  Mosby gave Grant a strategy that helped him win and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.

Mosby and his family were spurned by Southerners who felt betrayed by Mosby’s active support of Grant and, after nearly being assassinated in Warrenton, Va. in the fall of 1877, Mosby contacted Grant who used his influence with President Rutherford Hayes to appoint Mosby as U.S. Consul to Hong Kong, where he served for seven years.

Even with the hand of death on him in the summer of 1885, Grant asked his friend Leland Stanford, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, to find a job for Mosby upon his return from Hong Kong; he did, and Mosby worked as an attorney for the railroad for the next 16 years, until 1901.

That these two giants of their time first reconciled between themselves before  working toward healing the nation’s post-war wounds is instructive for us in the 21st Century, as the need for peace and reconciliation among citizens is greater than perhaps ever before.

About the Speaker: David Goetz owns Mosby's Confederacy Tours, and leads tours in “Mosby's Confederacy,” including Virginia counties of Fauquier, Loudoun, Warren and Clarke. 

Mr. Goetz is descended from the family of Chaplain Father James M. Graves, S.J., who served with Generals Joe Johnston and Stonewall Jackson in the Army of Virginia in 1861-62.  He is a past commander of the Black Horse Camp #780, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Fauquier County, Virginia, serving from 2009-13.

Mr. Goetz has a professional background in public relations, sales and marketing, primarily with non-profit organizations.  He holds an undergraduate degree in English from Bellarmin University, Louisville, Kentucky, and a Master of Science degree in Community Development from the University of Louisville.  He is a U.S. Army veteran, received an Honorable Discharge, and lives in Culpeper County, Virginia.

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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

speaks on

"CUSTER AT LITTLE BIGHORN"

Tuesday, October 11, 2016
at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC

(see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)

7 pm: Dinner ($36 for dinner and lecture)
8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required by 5:00 pm, Thursday, October 6th

SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST
TO MAKE RESERVATIONS AND REMIT PAYMENT

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email Mary Jane at reservations@cwrtdc.org <reservations@cwrtdc.org>

About the Topic: At age 23, George Armstrong Custer became one of the youngest generals in the Union Army, and he was victorious in many cavalry battles of the Civil War. He stood out for flamboyant uniforms and aggressive tactics. At the conclusion of the Appomattox Campaign, in which he and his troops played a decisive role, Custer was present at General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865.

After the War, Custer remained a major general in the United States Volunteers until they were mustered out in February 1866. He reverted to his permanent rank of captain and was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment in July 1866. He was dispatched to the west in 1867 to fight in the American Indian Wars.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between the 7th Cavalry Regiment and the combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes.  The battle, which occurred June 25–26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most prominent action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.

The fight was an overwhelming victory for the members of the tribes who fought against the U.S. troops and who were led by several major leaders, including Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull. The 7th Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by Custer, suffered a major defeat.  Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated; they lost 16 officers, 242 troopers, and 10 scouts. Among the dead were Custer, all of the personnel in the companies under his immediate command, including two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law, and 18 men who fought in the southern part of the battlefield (i.e., the valley and hilltop engagements in the Reno-Benteen Battlefield).

Our speaker, Ed Bearss, grew up on a ranch adjacent to the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana and like very few others knows of the battle, the landscape, the personalities, and the controversies that have been passed down over the years.  Why didn’t Custer wait for the other U.S. Army columns under Terry and Gibbon before attacking?  How large was the tribal village that Custer attacked?  Did Crook's defeat at the Battle of Rosebud the week before seal Custer’s fate? Why did Custer divide his regiment into three battalions that were too distant to support each other?  Could the Reno and Benteen battalions have rode to the rescue?  Why were Custer’s tactics effective against the Confederates in the Civil War but not members of the tribes on the high plains?  Join us to hear Ed’s opinion on these questions and more!

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 recognized for his work on the history of the Civil War and World War II.  We are gratified to have Ed as one of our Round Table's lifetime honorary member, yearly speaker, and frequent 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 the 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 acclaimed as more knowledgeable on the Civil War battlefields than virtually anyone else.


During his time with the National Park Service, Ed led efforts for researching, preserving, and interpreting among others: Pea Ridge; Wilson’s Creek; Fort Smith; Stones River, Fort Donelson; the battlefields around Richmond, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Point. Ed was named Chief Historian of the NPS 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. For more information about that effort, click HERE or visit http://www.cwrtdc.org/p/ed-bearss.html

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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

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING:

GEORGE F. FRANKS, III

speaks on

"THE BATTLE OF
FALLING WATERS"

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

at Ft. McNair Officers' Club, Washington, DC

(see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

6 pm: Social Hour (cash bar)

7 pm: Dinner ($36 for dinner and lecture)

8 pm: Lecture ($5 for lecture only)

Reservations required by 5:00 pm, Thursday, September 8th 

SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST
TO MAKE RESERVATIONS AND REMIT PAYMENT

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email admin@cwrtdc.org <admin@cwrtdc.org> 

About the Topic:

The Gettysburg Campaign has recently received increased attention from historians. The study of the battle on July 1-3, 1863 in and around the small crossroads town in Pennsylvania is not complete, however, without also looking into the movement of the Army of Northern Virginia to and from Gettysburg, and the pursuit by the Army of the Potomac after the battle. Many historians agree the Gettysburg Campaign concluded with the July 14, 1863 Battle of Falling Waters, which occurred on the banks of the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The battle is also called the Battle of Williamsport or the Battle of Hagerstown.

Lee's bloodied army began to retreat from Gettysburg in torrential rain beginning the night of July 4. It moved southwest across South Mountain on the Fairfield Road toward Hagerstown and Williamsport. The Union army cautiously followed. On July 7, Confederate cavalry successfully prevented Union cavalry from occupying Williamsport and destroying the Confederate trains there. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia reached the Potomac River on July 11 to find its pontoon bridge destroyed. Unable to cross the rain-swollen river, Lee entrenched to protect the river crossings at Williamsport and waited for Meade’s army to attack. Meade arrived on July 12 and immediately probed the Confederate line. Heavy skirmishing took place on July 13 as Meade prepared for a full-on attack. Luckily for Lee and his men, the river fell enough to allow them to construct a new bridge and Lee began crossing after dark on the 13th. On the morning of  July14, Union cavalry launched a blistering attack on Lee’s rearguard, which was on the Maryland bank waiting to cross. More than 500 Confederates were taken prisoner and Confederate Brig. Gen. James Pettigrew was mortally wounded in the fight.

Although not the climactic battle of the war desired by President Lincoln, the Gettysburg Campaign remains a story of miscalculation, bravery, larger-than-life personalities, tragedy and a cover-up. The story does not end with the battle, either. The events include an intriguing tale about veterans of the Battle of Falling Waters decades after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s rearguard clashed with Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s cavalry. Our speaker, George Franks, will discuss this critical battle.

About Our Speaker:
George F. Franks, III is the author of Battle of Falling Waters 1863: Custer, Pettigrew and the End of the Gettysburg Campaign, which makes extensive use of first-hand accounts, detailed maps, period drawings and photographs to breathe life into the crucial yet little remembered end of the Gettysburg Campaign. The book includes as well a detailed description of the battlefield today and efforts to preserve portions of the land for future generations.

Passionate about the study of the American Civil War since visiting the Gettysburg battlefield with his parents in July 1963, Mr. Franks studied history at the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Pittsburgh. A former telecommunications executive with extensive international experience, he is currently the President of Franks Consulting Group and the owner of CockedHats.com, a historical hat business. Mr. Franks also is the founder and President of the Battle of Falling Waters 1863 Foundation, Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. 

Mr. Franks is the former President of the Capitol Hill Civil War Round Table, a member of Hagerstown Civil War Round Table, Save Historic Antietam Foundation and the Civil War Trust. He is also a Governor and a former Vice President of the Company of Military Historians.

Mr. Franks has researched the July 14, 1863 battle of Falling Waters, Maryland for a decade and owns and lives in the 1830 Daniel Donnelly House on the battlefield. Franks can be reached via email at fallingwatersmd1863@gmail.com or his web site at www.fallingwatersmd1863.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