The Chicago Civil War Round Table Monthly Meetings

 Bjorn Skaptason on The Battle of Shiloh  For more info : WWW.ChiagoCWRT.ORG  At the outset of the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Confederates had high hopes for an important strategic victory. They aimed to block the Union advance into Mississippi, and early in the battle, it seemed that they might succeed.  As night fell on the first day of battle, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, who took command after General Albert Sidney Johnston was shot and died, believed his army was victorious. In what might have been his fatal error, he called a halt to the attacks as darkness approached.  What he didn't know was that, during the night, thousands of additional Union troops arrived to reinforce Ulysses S. Grant's battered army. By daybreak, Federal forces numbered nearly 54,000 men near Pittsburg Landing, an advantage of 24,000 men over Beauregard's army. The greater numbers, and the tactical advantage they provided, proved to be decisive.  Bjorn Skaptason holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Loyola University Chicago. He worked as a seasonal ranger at the National Park Service's Shiloh National Military Park and Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center for two summers while studying history at Loyola. Bjorn has published essays on Ambrose Bierce at Shiloh for the Ambrose Bierce Project Journal, on the United States Colored Troops in the campaign and battle of Brice's Crossroads for the West Tennessee Historical Society Papers, and 2  in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society on The Chicago Light Artillery. A dealer in antiquarian books, Bjorn produced and guest hosted "A House Divided," a live book discussion program webcast from Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. 

 Jonathan Sebastian on  Loyal to a Man: The Civil War in our Backyards  For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG  In the minds of many, including those who study history, there exists a divide. That is, while history happens everywhere, the real history happens somewhere else. The Civil War is thought of as having been fought in the South and, to an extent this is true. Most of the battles were fought in that region, however all parts of the country were directly impacted by this war. Illinois and even more specifically, the Chicago metropolitan area was no different. Just two hundred years ago, this area would have been unrecognizable to those familiar with all the Chicagoland area has to offer today. What was once an area of prairie with a handful of small towns was transformed dramatically during the 1860s. The people of the Prairie State played a significant role in the war and were themselves directly impacted by that war. So, how did Illinoisans, and more specifically those of Chicago and the DuPage County area, respond to such momentous issues as emancipation and the draft (among other issues) in the context of a national civil war? This presentation will explore this rich local history (some of it is still here in a tangible way!) and its connection to a most significant moment in the development of the United States. A former president of the Chicago CWRT, Jonathan Sebastian earned his B.A. in history from Judson College (now University) and his M.A. in Public History from Loyola University Chicago. He has been an adjunct professor of history at Judson University teaching World History 1500 to the Present and U.S. history. More recently, he was a social studies teacher at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart. He was a tour guide at Jubilee College State Historic site outside of Peoria, Illinois, a project-based researcher at the Pritzker Military Library, and was the curator of the Fischer Farm historic site in Bensenville, Illinois. Currently, he is an experience facilitator at the Arlington Heights Historical Museum and the education and programs assistant at the Elmhurst History Museum. He is also the author of Bensenville, a volume of the Arcadia Press Series, Images of America. 

 Allen Ottens on  "The Grant-Rawlins Relationship"  For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG  Galena lawyer and Ulysses S. Grant neighbor John a. Rawlins rose to assistant adjutant general on Grant's staff and ultimately Grant's secretary of war. From the earliest days of the Civil War to Grant's years in the White House, John A. Rawlins was ever at Grant's side. Yet Rawlins's role in Grant's career is often overlooked, and he barely received mention in Grant's own two-volume Memoirs.  Rawlins teamed with Grant, the two complementing each other in their abilities and ambitions. Rawlins submerged his own needs and ambition in the service of Grant. He played a pivotal role in Grant's relatively small staff, acting as administrator, counselor, and defender of Grant's burgeoning popularity.  Allen J. Ottens is a Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education and Supervision at Northern Illinois University. He worked as a psychologist at several university counseling centers. He is also a past president of the Manuscript Society. With a lifelong interest in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, he is the author of the award-winning biography, General John A. Rawlins: No Ordinary Man (2021). 

October 2024 Meeting of the Chicago Civil War Round Table: Larry Hewitt on "Port Hudson and the Birth of Combat Photography"  For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG  Larry Hewitt will present the who, what, where, when, why, and how the firm of McPherson & Oliver made photographic history. Between June 14 and July 9, 1863, the final 25 days of the 48- day siege of Port Hudson, McPherson & Oliver moved about the battlefield memorializing soldiers in action--and in combat! In the process of making this visual record of opposing armies actively engaged, an image of Union soldiers sharpshooting opposite the Priest Cap was not these two artists only claim to photographic fame. Other images include one taken at midnight (the first ever taken in the dark), one converted into a composite print (created by combining portions of two negatives), the Confederate army at the surrender ceremony, and examples of time-lapse photography. McPherson & Oliver also produced the most widely circulated cartes-de-visite of the Civil War, three different views of "Whipped Peter." But the duo seldom receives credit for these images of an abused slave. Other studios, including Matthew Brady's, published them as their own work. As with the battlefield they immortalized, McPherson and Oliver deserve better. 2  A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Lawrence Lee Hewitt received his B.A. (1974) from the University of Kentucky and his M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1984) from Louisiana State University. He was the manager of the Port Hudson (1978- 1982) and Camp Moore (1982-1986) Historic Sites in Louisiana and taught at Southeastern Louisiana University (1985-1996). He was a tenured full professor when he resigned to marry a native of Chicago, where he currently resides. The 1991 recipient of SLU's President's Award for Excellence in Research, the 1991 Charles L. Dufour Award, the 2011 Dr. Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr. Award, and the 2013 Nevins-Freeman Award, he is a past president of the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table. Hewitt's publications include Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi (1987). Andrew J. Wagenhoffer's blog Civil War Books and Authors named Hewitt's Port Hudson: The Most Significant Battlefield Photographs of the Civil War 2021 Book of the Year. 

On September 13th John Horn talked to the Round TAlbe about "The Wilson-Kautz Raid, June-July 1864"  For for Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG Grant wasted no time after his Petersburg assaults of June 15-18, 1864, failed to capture the city. He launched his second offensive against Petersburg hours later. Among other things, he sent his cavalry on a raid to cut the Confederate railroads south of Petersburg. This would slow any reinforcements sent from the south and west to the enemy at Petersburg and Richmond. Grant also hoped that in case his infantry failed in its mission a lack of provisions would force the foe to abandon those cities. But at Petersburg Grant faced Lee and not Floyd as at Fort Donelson in 1862 or Pemberton as at Vicksburg in 1863. Lee, his cavalry commander Hampton, and Mahone smashed Grant's cavalry raiders at the battles of Sappony Church and First Reams Station. Born and reared in Chicago, John Horn has practiced law there since 1976. He has written three books and co-edited another about Petersburg, Virginia's soldiers, and the siege of that city. His most recent book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859- 2  1861 (Savas Beatie), won the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History. He has published articles in Civil War Times Illustrated, America's Civil War, Gettysburg Magazine, and North and South Magazine. He blogs at johnhorncivilwarauthor.blogspot.com.

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 Vicksburg posed 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 attention of the Confederate high command. While Confederate Lt. Gen. John Pemberton at Vicksburg and other Southern leaders looked in the wrong directions, Grant moved his entire Army of the Tennessee across the Mississippi River below Vicksburg, spelling the doom of 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 commercial presses. His books have won numerous book awards, his trilogy on the American Civil War's Tennessee River campaign (Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth) 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 wife Kelly 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 War scholarship 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 is named 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-Freeman Award

Lynn and Julianne Herman on "The Allegheny Arsenal Explosion" For more inf: www.chicagocwrt.org The Allegheny Arsenal, near Pittsburgh, produced ammunition for the Union army. By 1862 the workers turned out some 128,000 cartridges daily by working six days a week, twelve hours a day. The arsenal employed one hundred fifty-six ladies and girls. In the summer of 1861, the arsenal had dismissed over one hundred young boys when they discovered their careless behavior with matches and tobacco. They discovered replacing the boys with girls was just as efficient and by 1862 had employed many young girls and women using their small hands and fingers to pack the cartridges at a rapid rate. Although they all are aware of the danger working with black powder, the chief ingredient in making the ammunition, they continue on filling the cartridges as fast 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 shoe ignited that powder. The resulting explosion and fire saw 78 workers lose their lives, 72 of whom were women. The Allegheny Arsenal explosion was the worst civilian disaster during 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 2 worldwide. Her interest in the Civil War increased during the 125th Anniversary commemorations, and she began reenacting and studying various aspects of the war. As a civilian reenactor (with her husband Lynn), she became increasingly interested in women's roles during that time period, including the seemingly unlikely role of women working in a military arsenal. She is secretary of the Central PA CWRT.

Wilson Greene on  “Opening the Cracker Line and Keeping it Open: The Decisive Battles of the Chattanooga Campaign”  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. 

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 meaning—not only for those who experience them, but for us in today's 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 Trust's 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. 

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 corps' 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 corps' entry into Maryland, including its condition resulting from this period. The talk will then examine the XII Corps' participation in the Maryland Campaign and its fighting at Antietam, including some new findings discovered through recent archival research.  M. Chris Bryan's Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July –September 1862 begins with the formation of this often-luckless command as the II Corps in Maj. Gen. John Pope's 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. “Stonewall” Jackson at Cedar Mountain on August 9; suffered through the hardships of Pope's 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. John's 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. 

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. 

 Scott Mingus on “Texans at Chickamauga”  For More Info visit WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG  Although the Civil War's second-largest battle in terms of casualties, Chickamauga has had far fewer books written about it than the thousands of books penned about the war's 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 Mingus's and Joe Owen's 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 “the soldiers' battle” 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 

Ernest Dollar on “Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War” For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG In the popular memory of the Civil War, its end came with handshakes between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. But the war was not over. There was a larger, and arguably, more important surrender yet to take place in North Carolina. Yet this story occupies little space in the vast annals of Civil War literature. Reexamining the war's final days through the lens of modern science reveals why. This final campaign of the Civil War began on April 10, 1865, a day after the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Over 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers cut across North Carolina's heartland bringing war with them. It was the final march of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's effort 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 of distraught 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 modern understanding 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 the director of the City of Raleigh Museum and Dr. M. T. Pope House Museum.

 Mark Zimmerman on “The Brutal Retreat from Nashville 1864”  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. 

Sean Michael Chick on “General P. G. T. Beauregard” For more information: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.Org In 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.

Dwight Hughes on “Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor and the Battle of Hampton Roads” 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.

Charles Knight on “Robert E. Lee” 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.

Robert Girardi on “Union Prisoners of War at Camp Douglas” 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.

Chicago Civil War Round Table Meeting for December 2022: Garry Adelman on “Midwest Civil War Photo Extravaganza” 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.

Civil War Round table of Chicago November 2022 Meeting. The Nevins-Freeman Address: Mary Abroe on “Historic Preservation and Civil War Battlefields: An American Story” 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.

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.

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

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 “Flying Dutchmen” 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.

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 Lee's Rappahannock defenses and bring on a decisive battle. The dramatic fighting included a stunning Federal triumph at Rappahannock Station—which destroyed two entire Confederate brigades—that 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. Hunt's 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.

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.

Ann Durkin Keating talked to the Chicago Civil War Round Table on February 11th on Juliette Kinzie, the Civil War, and the Making of Chicago For more information: WWW. ChicagoCWRT.Org After spending the 1832 Black Hawk War at Portage, Wisconsin, Juliette settled with her husband, John H. Kinzie at Chicago, where they were central figures in the city's early political, social and religious life. The family witnessed the arrival of the first railroad and the opening of the canal. John was an enthusiastic Whig and then an early supporter of the Republican Party alongside Abraham Lincoln. But the Kinzie family was split by the Civil War. Juliette's husband and three sons served in the Union Army, while her son-in-law was an officer in the Confederacy. Juliette kept in contact with her daughter who lived in Savannah Georgia through letters. This presentation will explore her experiences with a war that fundamentally split her family. Ann Durkin Keating is Toenniges Professor of History at North Central College in Naperville where she has taught for more than 30 years. She is the co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004) and is the author of several books on Chicago history, including most recently The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire (2019).

CWRT Meeting Jan 2022: Rob Girardi on "General John E. Smith, Galena's Forgotten General" For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org Galena Illinois boasts that it sent nine generals to the Civil War, the most famous of whom is Ulysses S. Grant. Many cannot name the other eight generals, but in addition to Ely S. Parker, Jasper Maltby and John Duer, there were two John Smith's. John Corson Smith fought in most of the major battles of the Army of the Cumberland, but this talk focuses on John Eugene Smith. Our Smith operated a silver shop on Main Street in Galena near the Rawlins law office and the Grant Tannery. John E. Smith befriended U.S. Grant and was instrumental in restoring Grant to the army. He is the player behind the scenes in many well-known events of the war and is perhaps the most important unknown general of the war. Robert I. Girardi has a master's degree in Public History from Loyola University of Chicago. He is a past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago, a fellow of the Company of Military Historians, and is on the Board of Directors of the Illinois State Historical Society. He is a popular speaker and consultant on all aspects of the American Civil War. He has written or edited many books on the American Civil War, including The Military Memoirs of General John Pope, Campaigning with Uncle Billy, The Civil War Memoirs of Sgt. Lyman

Dennis Doyle on "Illinois Regiments at Gettysburg" December 12th, 2021 During the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), there were three Illinois Regiments that served in the Army of Potomac. Those regiments were the 8th and 12th Illinois Cavalry and the 82nd Infantry Regiment, and a total of 1,027 men served during the Battle of Gettysburg. The three Illinois regiments suffered nine men killed during the battle, thirty-four men were wounded and ninety-six men were either missing or captured during the battle. The total strength of the Army of Potomac was estimated at 90,000 men and although Illinois contributed a small number to the Army of Potomac, they served with distinction and devotion during the three-day battle. Both the 8th and 12th Illinois Cavalry would serve well on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, as Lt. Marcellus Jones would fire the first shot of the battle on the morning of July 1. The two regiments would later retreat through Gettysburg and protected the Army of Potomac's left flank on Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 1 and the morning of July 2. Also present was the 82nd Illinois Regiment, which was comprised of mostly German-born soldiers and many who were recruited from Chicago. Under the overall command of Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, the 82nd Illinois Regiment would serve in the 11th Corp. On Dec. 12th Professor Dennis Doyle will present his thoughts on the Illinois Regiments at Gettysburg. Dennis Doyle earned his BA from Colorado State University and his MA in American History from American Public University. Since 1999 he has taught History and Sociology at Joliet Jr. College, in Joliet Illinois. Professor Doyle is President of the South Suburban Civil War Round Table, and Treasurer of the Chicago CWRT. A former college football player, he is a long time college and high school football referee.

Nevins-Freeman Address: Tom Clemens on General Joseph K. F. Mansfield For More Info: www.ChicagoCWRT.org The Chicago Civil War Round Table's Nevins-Freeman Award is intended to honor those who advance Civil War scholarship and the Round Table movement. Past winners have included Bruce Catton, Gary Gallagher, Bud Robertson and James McPherson. This year we honor Tom Clemens, a man who through his writings and battlefield tours has done so much to illuminate the Antietam Campaign, On October 12th Tom Clemens' Nevins-Freeman address will explore General Joseph K. F. Mansfield's life, including his all-too-brief (2 days) tenure as commander of the XII Corps. What most Civil War enthusiasts know about Joseph K. F. Mansfield, if they know anything at all, is that he was a Union corps commander who was killed at Antietam. While that is true, it was only the end of his 40 plus years of service in the U.S. Army. Often dismissed as a non-combatant through most of his career, he actually was involved in several vital aspects in the early part of the Civil War. The facts are that he was he was anything but a "staff puke," as Ed Bearss once dismissed him on a tour not many years ago. Dr. Thomas G. Clemens received his Doctorate in History Education from George Mason University, where he studied under noted Civil War historian Dr. Joseph L. Harsh. After a 34 year career at Hagerstown Community College, he retired as Professor Emeritus in 2012. He edited and annotated General Ezra A. Carman's manuscript, the Maryland Campaign of September 1862, in addition to numerous articles and several monographs, including one on Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. Tom is a founding member and current president of Save Historic Antietam Foundation Inc., a non-profit historic preservation organization and an NPS-certified Antietam Battlefield Guide.

David Dixon on "The American Civil War: A Radical, International Revolution" For more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org On October 8th historian David Dixon will talk about an aspect of the Civil War not often discussed--”the role of foreign, German transplants”--based on the life of one of those immigrants, August Willich. Dixon's latest book, Radical Warrior: August Willich's Journey from German Revolutionary to Union General (on which this talk is based) is the biography of a Prussian army officer who renounced his nobility and joined in the failed European revolutions of 1848. He emigrated to America, edited a daily labor newspaper in Cincinnati, and became one of the most accomplished generals in the Union Army. This story sheds new light on the contributions of 200,000 German-Americans who fought for the Union in the Civil War. In an age of global social, economic, and political upheaval, transatlantic radicals helped affect America's second great revolution. For many recent immigrants, the nature and implications of that revolution turned not on Lincoln's relatively conservative goal of maintaining the national Union, but on issues of social justice, including slavery, free labor, and popular self-government. The Civil War was not simply a war to end sectional divides, but to restore the soul of the nation, revive the hopes of democrats worldwide, and defend human rights. David Dixon earned his M.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts in 2003. His first book, The Lost Gettysburg Address, told the unusual life story of Texas slaveholder Charles Anderson, whose speech followed Lincoln's at Gettysburg, but was never published. It turned up 140 years later in a cardboard box in Wyoming. David has presented to more than sixty Civil War Round Tables from coast to coast. He hosts B-List History, a website that features obscure characters and their compelling stories at www.davidtdixon.com. David's latest book, published by the University of Tennessee Press, is the biography of German revolutionary and Union General August Willich. His current project is a biography that highlights the role of emotions in Southern allegiance in the Civil War.

Eric Wittenberg on "Seceding from Secession: The Creation of West Virginia" for more info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org “West Virginia was the child of the storm," concluded early Mountaineer historian and Civil War veteran, Maj. Theodore F. Lang. The northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union's 35th state. In his new book, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia, author Eric J. Wittenberg chronicles those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of West Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln, an astute lawyer in his own right, played a critical role in birthing the new state. The book is an indispensable source for everyone interested in understanding the convergence of military, political, social, and legal events that brought about the birth of the state of West Virginia Eric J. Wittenberg is an award-winning historian, blogger, speaker, and tour guide. His specialty is Civil War cavalry operations, and much of his work has focused on the Gettysburg Campaign. He is the author of 18 published books on the Civil War and more than three dozen articles that have appeared in various national magazines. He is also deeply involved in battlefield preservation work and often assists the Civil War Trust with its efforts, and is also a member of the Governor of Ohio's Advisory Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. He is a native of southeastern Pennsylvania and was educated at Dickinson College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an attorney in private practice. He and his wife Susan and their three golden retrievers reside in Columbus, Ohio.

A Wilson Green on"We Have Done all that is Possible and Must be Resigned: The First Petersburg Offensive" For more information: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org The epic contest between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee wound its way from the Rapidan River to Cold Harbor in May and early June 1864. Stymied in his effort to either destroy Lee's army or capture Richmond, Grant decided on a bold move. He would shift George Meade's Army of the Potomac and elements of Benjamin Butler's Army of the James across the James River to target Petersburg, the Confederate capital's logistical and transportation hub. Grant executed these challenging logistics brilliantly, in effect freezing most of Lee's forces north of the James while negotiating an uncontested crossing of the mighty James. By dawn of June 15, the Federals were poised to overrun the vastly outnumbered Confederates around Petersburg commanded by P.G.T. Beauregard. Four days later, after fighting that claimed some 15,000 casualties, Beauregard still held Petersburg and the Army of Northern Virginia dug in to defend the city for the next nine months. The story of Grant's almost flawless movement to and across the James and the Confederates' shockingly successful defense of Petersburg will be the subject of Will Greene's talk. It is based on chapters from his most recent book, A Campaign of Giant:s: The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1. A. Wilson "Will" Greene was born in Chicago and grew up in Wheaton. He holds degrees in history from Florida State University and Louisiana State University, where he studied under the renowned T. Harry Williams. Greene served sixteen years in the National Park Service, was the first executive director of what is now the American Battlefield Trust, and was the founding director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. Greene is the author of seven books and more than twenty published articles on Civil War history. His latest book, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) is the first of a projected three volumes on the Petersburg Campaign and won numerous awards including best book on American Military History from the Society of Military History. Greene retired in 2017 and lives in Walden, Tennessee.

Michael Hardy on "General Lee's Immortals: The Lane-Branch Brigade" For more information: WWW.CWRTChicago.com Over the course of four years of exemplary service, the North Carolina brigade commanded first by Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, and then by James H. Lane, fought on the most storied fields of the war. Some of the most well-known Civil War engagements, like Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, saw the Branch-Lane Brigade in the forefront of battle. The brigade's career includes spectacular battle honors and dazzling successes, such as saving the entire Army of Northern Virginia twice at Spotsylvania Court House. Yet, there were also devastating losses and costly mistakes, most notably, the mortal wounding of the legendary Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville. The story of this brigade is one marked by glory and tragedy, from the first days of the war to the lingering effects long after Appomattox. General Lee's Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane brigade tells this remarkable story. Michael C. Hardy has a passion for history. Over the past three decades, he has written about people, places, and events that are frequently overlooked in the grand, sweeping narratives. He is the author of twenty-four books. His articles have appeared in numerous national magazines, and Michael has been featured on Civil War Talk Radio and in the recent "Blood and Fury: America's Civil War" on the American Heroes Channel. In 2010, Michael was named the North Carolina Historian of the Year by the North Carolina Society of Historians, and in 2018, General Lee's Immortals, his history of the Branch-Lane brigade, was honored with the James I. Robertson, Jr., Literary Prize. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama, and, since 1995, has called western North Carolina home.

Date: April 9, 2021 Speaker: Ron Kirkwood Topic: Too Much for Human Endurance:" The Spangler Farm Hospitals at Gettysburg - Chicago Civil War Round Table Monthly Meeting For More Info: WWW.CWRTChicago.com The bloodstains are gone, but the worn floorboards remain. The doctors, nurses, and patients who toiled and suffered and ached for home at the Army of the Potomac's XI Corps hospital at the George Spangler Farm in Gettysburg have long since departed. Happily, though, their stories remain, and noted journalist and George Spangler Farm expert Ronald D. Kirkwood brings these people and their experiences to life in "Too Much for Human Endurance": The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg. Using a wealth of firsthand accounts, Kirkwood reveals the untold stories of the George Spangler family; its 166-acre farm; the ambulance workers, surgeons and nurses who labored to save lives; and the injured who suffered and died at the farm. Kirkwood contends that logistically the George Spangler farm was the most important farm in the Battle of Gettysburg. His book presents newly-found information about Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead's time at Spangler, the Granite Schoolhouse hospital, the Spanglers, the Artillery Reserve and stories emerging from the two hospitals on-site. Now retired, Ron Kirkwood had a 40-year journalism career as an editor and writer, including work for several local newspapers. He has served as a Gettysburg Foundation guide at The George Spangler Farm Field Hospital Site since it opened in 2013.

Date: March 12, 2021 Speaker: Greg Biggs Topic: The Logistics of William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign - Chicago Civil War Round Table Monthly Meeting The Nevins Freeman Address Greg Biggs on The Question Was One of Supplies: The Logistics of William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. For More Info: WWW.CWRTChicago.com The French military master Napoleon is said to have observed, "An Army Travels on Its Stomach." More modern military experts observe: "Amateurs talk strategy and Tactics. Professionals Talk Logistics." On March 12th Greg Biggs will be discussing the difficulties that General William T. Sherman encountered in supplying his troops during the Atlanta campaign. No army in history moved without a secure line of supplies especially if it moved into enemy territory. If an army got cut off from its supplies then calamity usually followed often ending in defeat and/or destruction. When William T. Sherman set his sights on Atlanta he prepared for the supplying of his army in a manner that surpassed every other Civil War general. Rebuilding railroads and confiscating locomotives and cars to haul supplies, Sherman set a daily goal for shipments to his forward base in Chattanooga. Ruthless in making sure that only supplies got on the cars, Sherman also had to worry about protecting the line of rails that ran back to Louisville, Kentucky from Confederate raiders. Building on a system begun by William S. Rosecrans, Sherman's engineers built forts and blockhouses and prepared pre-fabricated trestles for replacing those brought down by Confederate raiders. While his preparations were masterful and thorough, they were not without some flaws. This program will examine the nuts and bolts of these logistics and cover the errors that were also made. In the end, his supply line performed as expected and Atlanta was captured. This set the stage for two more campaigns that Sherman would undertake before the war ended in April 1865. Greg has been a student of military history from the Spartans through modern times for over 45 years. His Civil War articles have been published in Blue & Gray magazine, Civil War Regiments journal, North-South Trader, Citizen's Companion and local publications. Greg is also a Civil War flags historian and has consulted with many museums and authors and has presented flags programs to the Museum of the Confederacy and the National Civil War Museum. Greg has lectured across the country on Civil War topics primarily on flags and the Western Theater as well as the Revolutionary War. Greg leads tours of the Fort Donelson Campaign, the Tullahoma Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign and Where The River Campaigns Began: Cairo, IL to Columbus/Belmont, KY for Civil War groups, individuals and U.S. Army Staff Rides. He is the president of the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable and an officer of the Nashville CWRT. A good friend of our CWRT, Greg last spoke here in 2016.

Date: February 12, 2021 Speaker: Leslie Goddard Topic: Leslie Goddard Portrays Clara Barton - Chicago Civil War Round Table Monthly Meeting History will come alive in the talented hands of historian Leslie Goddard, who will introduce Barton, the first woman to serve as a nurse on the front lines of a battlefield, as a tireless worker who faced remarkable challenges in her quest to care for wounded soldiers. Learn about the medical conditions during the American Civil War and about the courage required for a woman who dared to brave the war's front lines. Leslie Goddard, Ph.D., is an award-winning actress and scholar who has been portraying famous women and presenting history lectures for nearly 20 years. Her portrayals, including Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth II, and Louisa May Alcott, have been seen by audiences in 18 states. She holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University specializing in U.S. history and American Studies, as well as master's degrees in both theater and museum studies. A former museum director, she is the author of two books on Chicago history and currently works full-time as a historical interpreter, author, and public speaker. Leslie is past Secretary of the Chicago CWRT.

Date: April 12, 2005 Speaker: Terry Winschel Topic: Union Victory at Vicksburg: Crucial to the outcome of the war - Chicago Civil War Round Table Monthly Meeting

Dr. Jennifer M. Murray is a military historian, with a specialization in the American Civil War, in the Department of History at Oklahoma State University. Murray's most recent book publication is "On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013," published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2014. Murray is also the author of "The Civil War Begins," published by the U.S. Army's Center of Military History in 2012. She is currently working on a full-length biography of George Gordon Meade, tentatively titled "Meade at War: George Gordon Meade and the Army of the Potomac." Murray's essay on Meade in "Upon the Fields of Battle: Essays on the Military History of America's Civil War," explores the leadership decisions of Army of the Potomac in the final days of the Gettysburg Campaign. Specifically, Prof. Murray places President Abraham Lincoln's expectations of a decisive victory by Meade over Robert E. Lee's Confederate army within the broader context of military history and argues that battles of annihilation are incredibly rare and thus Lincoln and northern citizens' expectations misplaced. Consequently, General Meade's leadership during the pursuit from Gettysburg, culminating in the actions at Falling Waters, must be understood within the broader contours of the feasibility of annihilating a citizen-soldier army and the rarity of coupling a battlefield victory with an aggressive pursuit of the enemy forces. Prof. Murray's previous experiences include working as a historian for the Department of Defense in the Pentagon for a year before she took a job teaching history at UVa-Wise. Murray worked as a seasonal interpretive park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park for nine summers (2002-2010). She received her Ph.D. from Auburn University in 2010.

David Powell on Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah Valley David Powell's latest book, Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah, provides a fresh perspective on the May 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign. By shifting attention away from the VMI cadets to the Union military's strategic goals and command structure, Powell adds nuance and depth to a well-studied campaign. (h/t CivilWarMonitor) The battle of New Market enjoys a status in that belies its small scale. This is largely due to the drama surrounding the participation of the Virginia Military Institute cadets. While the cadets are celebrated for their actions, historians often cast Union General Franz Sigel as an incompetent buffoon who missed a golden opportunity to sweep Confederate forces from the Shenandoah Valley in the days leading up to the battle. As a 1983 graduate of VMI, David A. Powell knows the story of the cadet's actions at New Market very well. Rather than focusing on this well-covered subject, however, Powell's study brings Franz Sigel's role in the campaign to the forefront, placing his actions and decisions in the broader context of Union grand strategy and command structure. Powell's analysis allows for a greater appreciation of the challenges Sigel faced during the campaign, including Grant's unrealistic timetable for the invasion and the failure of other Union forces to cooperate with Sigel, but he does not exonerate the general. Sigel's reliance on Col. Augustus Moor and Maj. Gen. Julius Stahel, who ignored Sigel's orders to pull back from New Market on the morning of May 15, suggests his questionable judgment. His hodgepodge assigning of units--ignoring the established chain of command--led to confusion on the battlefield. Powell observes that by ordering a counter-charge with shaky, inexperienced troops at a key point during the battle of New Market, Sigel had lost sight of the broader strategic goal of avoiding a catastrophic loss to keep Confederate troops occupied on the field and away from Gen. George Crook's planned advance on Staunton. Chicago-area resident Dave Powell has published 8 works on the Civil War, including volumes on the Chickamauga and Tullahoma Campaigns, and his latest, Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah.

Stuart Sanders on Perryville Under Fire. For more info go to WWW.CWRTChicago.org The 1862 Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, laid waste to more than just soldiers and their supplies. The commonwealth's largest combat engagement also took an immense toll on the community of Perryville, and citizens in surrounding towns. After Confederates achieved a tactical victory, they were nonetheless forced to leave the area. With more than 7,500 casualties, the remaining Union soldiers were unprepared for the enormous tasks of burying the dead, caring for the wounded, and rebuilding infrastructure. Instead, this arduous duty fell to the brave and battered locals. Former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, author Stuart Sanders presents the first in-depth look into how the resilient residents dealt with the chaos of this bloody battle and how they rebuilt their town from the rubble leftover. The talk is based on his book "Perryville Under Fire: The Aftermath of Kentucky's Largest Civil War Battle." Stuart Sanders worked for nearly 10 years to preserve and interpret Perryville, Kentucky's largest Civil War battleground, before coming to the Kentucky Historical Society, first to oversee community field services, then as our History Advocate and now as the Director of Research and Collections. Stuart brings his experiences as a preservationist, interpreter, outreach specialist, author of three books and speaker to his current duties, communicating the relevance, value and significance of Kentucky's history. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and completed Developing History Leaders.

Fergus Bordewich on Congress at War For more information go to: WWW.CWRTChiago.org "Congress at War" tells the story of how the oft-maligned U.S. Congress helped win the Civil War a new perspective that puts the House and Senate, rather than President Lincoln, at the center of the conflict. This perspective on the Civil War overturns the popular conception that Abraham Lincoln single-handedly led the Union to victory and gives us a vivid account of the essential role Congress played in winning the war. Building a riveting narrative around four influential members of Congress Thaddeus Stevens, Pitt Fessenden, Ben Wade, and the pro-slavery Clement Vallandigham Fergus Bordewich shows us how a newly empowered Republican party shaped one of the most dynamic and consequential periods in American history. From reinventing the nation s financial system to pushing President Lincoln to emancipate the slaves to the planning for Reconstruction, Congress undertook drastic measures to defeat the Confederacy, in the process laying the foundation for a strong central government that came fully into being in the twentieth century. FERGUS M. BORDEWICH is the author of eight non-fiction books, including CONGRESS AT WAR: How Republican Reformers Fought The Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, And Remade America, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020); AMERICA'S GREAT DEBATE: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union (Simon & Schuster, 2012. Winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Times History Prize); and BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2005). He lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife, Jean Parvin Bordewich.

David Sutherland on VMI's Civil War Legacy for more information visit WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org In June 1920 just after World War I then US Army Colonel George C. Marshall, a VMI graduate, persuaded his mentor, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, a West Point graduate, to visit the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. VMI's superintendent hosted General Pershing, toured him around the Institute and the VMI cadet corps held a full dress, review parade in Pershing's honor. After the parade General Pershing addressed VMI's cadets and spoke of the role Institute alumni had played in the Civil War and the Great War and he remarked on sharp the cadets had appeared earlier that day at parade. Pershing then added that while he had often heard VMI called the "West Point of the South," having just witnessed the VMI cadets parade that perhaps West Point should be called the "VMI of the North." The Civil War greatly impacted VMI and the Institute's alumni profoundly influenced Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Evidence of VMI's Civil War legacy is still visible around the post and VMI's Civil War heritage has shaped VMI alumni for generations. West Point came of age during the Mexican-American War. VMI came of age in the American Civil War. During the American Civil War ninety-three percent of VMI's then living alumni served in the war. This presentation will discuss VMI's Civil War legacy and how this legacy affected the Institute and today continues to shape VMI alumni. Dave Sutherland was born in Chicago, Illinois, grew up in Northwest Indiana and is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. A three time, past president of the Indianapolis Civil War Round Table, Dave is a life-long student of the Civil War and has traveled to and walked scores of Civil War battlefields. He is also a US Army veteran who served in Korea. He lives in Brownsburg, Indiana, just outside Indianapolis, and has practiced law for 35 years.

Connie Langum: The Battle of and for Wilson's Creek For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.org On February 14, Connie Langum will speak on "Wilson's Creek." This first major battle in Missouri, in 1861, was one of the bloodiest battles of the early war: A Confederate victory, which saw the death of the Union army commander. She will discuss why six hours on August 10, 1861 were important and then cover the battlefield's journey to become part of the National Park Service. She will also cover recent developments and our current renovation of our Visitor Center. Ms. Connie Langum is a 28-year veteran of the National Park Service and is currently duty stationed at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Missouri, where she is the Park Historian. She has a BA from Missouri Southern State College and an MA in American History from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. She is the Historic Weapons Supervisor at Wilson's Creek and enjoys giving small arms and artillery programs to the public. Connie is a lifetime member of the Newtonia Battlefields Association, and actually grew up a mere 15 miles from the battlefield. She is involved with the American Battlefield Trust and serves as Program Chair for the Civil War Round Table of the Ozarks. Connie and her husband Rick live in Springfield MO and are kept busy by their 16-year old daughter Madeline.

January 10, Pam Toler spoke on "Heroines of Mercy Street: Nurses of the Civil War." In this talk, Pamela Toler tells the story of how thousands of women with little or no experience with nursing volunteered to serve their country during the Civil War, taught themselves how to do the job under adverse circumstances (including hostility from the surgeons with whom they worked), and created a profession that did not exist before the war. Her research was the basis for the tv series of the same name. Pamela Toler grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where she participated in living history programs at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, learned to shoot a muzzle-loading rifle, and read and reread the biographies of women like Clara Barton, Julia Ward Howe, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Today armed with a Ph.D. in history, a well-thumbed deck of library cards, and a huge bump of curiosity, author, speaker, and historian, Pamela D. Toler translates history for a popular audience, going beyond the familiar boundaries of American history to tell stories from other parts of the world as well as history from the other side of the battlefield, the gender line, or the color bar. She is the author of eight books of popular history for children and adults. In "Heroines of Mercy Street," Toler has returned to her first historical love: Civil War in general and its impact on women in particular. more information: www.ChicagoCWRT.org

Daniel R. Weinberg has been president and sole owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc. since 1984, having previously been co-owner from 1971. Since 1933, the firm has had an international reputation as experts in the buying, selling, appraising, and authentication of historical, artistic, and museum artifacts. The shop has conducted appraisals for libraries, museums, banks, insurance companies, and private collectors. He is a co-author of Lincoln's Assassins; Their Trial and Execution (2001) and has lectured extensively on the subject. He has appeared on both CSPAN and the History Channel. Mr. Weinberg pursued his undergraduate work, in history, at Temple University, Philadelphia, and his graduate work, in the same field, at New York University at Washington Square.

Ethan Rafuse: 'Back to the Chivalric Days of Yore': The Valley Campaign of 1862. In 1862, Union armies took the offensive throughout Virginia in an effort to win battlefield victories that, it was hoped, in conjunction with a policy of conciliation toward the people of the South, would bring the rebellion to an end by the end of the year. In the Shenandoah Valley, Federal forces initially seized the upper hand, driving Confederate forces from Winchester to Harrisonburg. In May, however, Confederate forces commanded by Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson took the offensive, taking advantage of Federal errors to win battlefield victories that turned the tide in the valley. In the process, Jackson's efforts helped dash Federal hopes for a quick end to the rebellion, which led to a fundamental recasting of Union strategy. This talk will provide an account of Union and Confederate efforts in the Shenandoah Valley during the first half of 1862 and the strategic and operational context that shaped and was shaped by these operations. Ethan S. Rafuse is a professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS. His publications include Stonewall Jackson: A Biography and McClellan's War. In 2018-19 he was the Charles Boal Ewing Distinguished Visiting Professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

James Lighthizer: The Nevins Freeman Address: Battlefield Preservation On October 11th Jim Lighthizer, President of the American Battlefield Trust, will discuss the history of Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefield preservation in America, and how place-based education on this land can teach present and future generations of Americans about their country's history, values and culture. Many of our nation's most important principles and ideals were made real on battlefields through the sacrifices of citizen soldiers, and place-based teaching effectively tells this story of the creation and defining of the United States, warts and all: one of the greatest ever told. James Lighthizer is president of the American Battlefield Trust. Prior to his tenure at the Trust, he served as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation and two terms as County Executive of Anne Arundel County, Md. Jim's years of public service began in 1979 when he was elected to the Maryland State Legislature. In 1982, he was elected to the first of two terms as Anne Arundel County Executive, where he successfully managed a full-service budget in excess of $800 million. In 1991, Jim was appointed as Maryland's Secretary of Transportation. Jim created an unprecedented program that to date has saved more than 4,500 acres of Civil War battlefield land in Maryland and is the national model for the use of Transportation Enhancement funds for battlefield preservation. In December 1999, Jim accepted the presidency of the organization now known as the American Battlefield Trust, and more than 50,000 acres of battlefield land have been saved throughout his tenure.

Janet Croon: The War Outside My Window Our September speaker, author Janet Croon, will present the edited diaries of a young teenage boy who wrote thoughtful and wistful observances of the changing world in Macon, Georgia, from 1860-1865, as he battled his own deteriorating health. LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born in 1847 to an affluent slave-holding family. After a horrific leg injury at age 12 he began keeping a diary in 1860 just as secession and the Civil War began tearing the country apart. LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born in 1847 to an affluent slave-holding family. After a horrific leg injury at age 12 he began keeping a diary in 1860 just as secession and the Civil War began tearing the country apart. He wrote even as his health deteriorated past the end of the war. He died in 1865. The diary is published for the first time and editor Janet Croon captures the spirit and the character of a young privileged white teenager witnessing the demise of the South and a crumbling way of life even as his own as his body fails him. Janet E. Croon holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, Modern European History, and Russian Language and Area Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1983), and a Master's Degree in International Studies from the University of Dayton (1985). She taught International Baccalaureate History for nearly two decades and developed a deep interest in the Civil War by living in northern Virginia.

Doug Dammann: Elmer Ellsworth and His Zouaves In the summer of 1860, young lawyer Elmer Ellsworth and a civilian militia company of 50 men from Chicago set out on a twenty-city tour. In those days, volunteer militia companies held drill competitions, and Ellsworth hoped that his unit's new "Zouave" training (based on semi-gymnastic maneuvers modelled after those of French Algerian soldiers) would dominate the competition. The tour was a success beyond their wildest dreams. When war started and their training was needed on the battlefield rather than on the parade ground, the men who had accompanied Ellsworth found themselves in positions of leadership within the Union Army. Our June speaker, Doug Dammann, will explore Elmer Ellsworth's widespread influence on the northern army. Despite all of his drills and military training, Ellsworth's death, ironically, did not come in battle but rather early in the war, inside the Marshall House hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. Ellsworth succeeded in removing the Confederate flag raised by the building owner only to be shot and killed by the owner, James W. Jackson, as he descended the stairs from the building roof. Ellsworth's body would lie in state at the White House before being taken to his home state of New York for burial. Abraham Lincoln would call his close friend (almost a second son) Ellsworth "the greatest little man I ever met." Ellsworth's memory lived on throughout the war as "Remember Ellsworth" became a rallying cry for supporters of the Union. His death would spur even more volunteers to don the flashy Zouave attire Doug Dammann is the curator and site coordinator of the Kenosha Civil War Museum. A native of Lena, Illinois, and son of this Round Table's close friend Gordon Dammann, he received a BA in history from Kalamazoo College in 1996 and earned his Master's Degree in historical administration from Eastern Illinois University in 1999. Prior to coming to Kenosha, he worked at The National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland, and The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Every Civil War buff knows there are never enough maps (enough GOOD maps) to illustrate a battle or campaign. Our April speaker, Dr. Brad Gottfried, has addressed this concern by embarking on a journey to map every campaign in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. His most recent effort, The Maps of the Fredericksburg Campaign, will be the subject his talk to our group. While most know of the futile attempts to capture Marye's Heights, fewer know about the other major action at Prospect Hill that almost cost Lee his decisive victory. He will also illustrate the challenges Robert E. Lee and Ambrose Burnside experienced in getting their armies to Fredericksburg and the dreadful January Mud March. Gottfried will have books on hand that he will sell and sign at a discount. Brad Gottfried retired after a 40 year career in higher education. After receiving his Ph.D. in Zoology, he taught for eleven years at three colleges and then became an administrator. He ultimately served as president of two colleges for seventeen years. Gottfried has received a number of national and regional awards and recognitions for his leadership including: the National Council of Marketing Professionals' National Pacesetter of the Year and Leadership Maryland's Gold Leadership Award. As a historian, Brad has authored thirteen books and two additional works are moving through the editorial process. After writing five Gettysburg books, Brad has devoted his time to researching and writing a series of map studies of the Eastern Theater Campaigns, including the: Maps of First Bull Run, Maps of Antietam, Maps of Gettysburg, Maps of Bristoe Station & Mine Run, Maps of the Wilderness, and his newest volume, the Maps of Fredericksburg. He has completed two other books in the series, which should be published in the next few years: The Maps of the Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign and the Maps of the Spotsylvania/Overland Campaign. His Maps of the Petersburg Campaign is well under way. He has also completed a small book on the Point Lookout Prisoner of War Camp for Confederates, which he wrote with his wife and is self-published.

Micheal Larson and John David Smith's Dear Delia chronicles life in the famed Iron Brigade as told through 155 letters home. Young's insights, often poignant and powerful, enable readers seemingly to witness the Civil War as he did. Few topics avoided Henry's careful eye. Bluntly honest with his emotions and opinions, he left little doubt as to where he stood on the questions of the day. His correspondence--candid, contemplative, thorough, and occasionally humorous--provides a clear window into everyday events, as well as into war, society, and politics. Young's letters reveal the perspective of a young officer from America's western heartland, giving a regional perspective generally omitted from Civil War-era documentary editing projects. Young's correspondence is uncommonly interesting, readable, and revealing, replete with astute insights. It covers many topics during the first three years of the Civil War, including innumerable details of military service: the brutality of internecine "hard war," camp life, camaraderie, pettiness, and thievery among the troops, equipage, and food shortages. Henry also addresses military leadership, maneuvers and tactics, rumored troop movements, and what he considered the strengths and weaknesses of African American soldiers. The letters provide invaluable glimpses into the fine points of building earthworks, ducking incoming artillery barrages, maintaining camp sanitation, and obtaining medical care. Henry's correspondence additionally documents his business affairs on the home front and wartime inflation. From newspapers he retained a firm grasp of Wisconsin and national politics, often noting incidents of graft and corruption and his pointed opinions regarding the 1864 presidential election. Dear Delia further contains gossip and information about other enlistees from Young's rural Wisconsin community who served in his unit, Company F. Above all, Henry's communication highlights his unflagging patriotism and his fierce determination to preserve the Union no matter the cost. Micheal J. Larson first unearthed Young's correspondence at the Wisconsin Historical Society as an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1985. Today he teaches history at an Eau Claire high school. John David Smith is the Charles H. Stone Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He has published twenty-nine books, many on the topic of the Civil War, and has edited collections of letters, diaries, and other primary works on the war, race relations, and southern history.