The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg is, perhaps, the most written about, the most studied and visited battleground. The combined force of 160,000 soldiers has lead to thousands of stories that are still be revealed to this day. One such story centers around Little Round Top on the second day of the three-day affair.

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) as historian, musician and reenactor Jari Villanueva returns to tell the story of Col. Strong Vincent and Pvt. Oliver Willcox Norton on Little Roundtop. The Relationship Between a Commander and his Bugler. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.)

Jari Villanueva retired from the United States Air Force where he spent 23 years with The United States Air Force Band in Washington DC. While in the band he served as a trumpeter, bugler, assistant drum major, staff arranger and music copyist. He is considered the country’s foremost expert on military bugle calls, particularly the call of Taps which is sounded at military funerals. While in the Air Force he was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of The USAF Band’s State Funeral Plans and was the NCOIC of the command post at Andrews AFB which oversaw the arrival and departure ceremonies for the late Presidents Reagan and Ford. As a ceremonial trumpeter, Villanueva participated in well over 5,000 ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, served as an assistant drum major leading The USAF Ceremonial Brass in funerals at Arlington. He was responsible for all the music performed by the USAF Bands for state funerals. He was responsible for moving the bugle used at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral from the Smithsonian to Arlington where it is currently on display. In 2007 Villanueva was inducted into the Buglers Hall of Fame, the first active-duty military bugler to be so honored.

Villanueva is a graduate of the Baltimore Public School system and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1978 from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. In 1984 he received a Master of Music degree from Kent State University, Ohio. He is also a 2006 graduate of the Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Academy.

From 1998 to 2010, Villanueva was an adjunct professor in the Music Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he served as Director of Bands. A Civil War historian and re-enactor, Villanueva is Artistic Director of the National Association for Civil War Brass Music, Inc., where he directs and leads The Federal City Brass Band and the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, recreated regimental bands of the Civil War era. He also sounds bugle calls at many re-enactments. In addition, he served as music director for the National Civil War Field Music School where students learn to play fife, drum and bugle.

Jari finished a year-long project called TAPS150, created to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the bugle call Taps in 2012. He is married to Heather Faust and resides in Catonsville, Maryland.

If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwocu2srDgrEtdF1iIa4SBks6wyNie-ceaN

 Notes from the President

We are near the end of the 3^rd month of 2024 and a number of you still haven’t renewed your BCWRT membership for 2024. It is only via your dues that we can continue to host the speakers you say you enjoy.

The Baltimore Civil War Roundtable needs to recruit new members and have current members re-enlist. Renew your membership, now. Invite your friends to join. Membership is $25 or $35 for families. Mail your checks to:

Ray Atkins, Treasurer, BCWRT

1204 Fordham Ct.,

Belair, MD 21014

Below is the link to a brief survey about you and the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable. Please complete it by April 5, 2024

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DVHTWBS

Minutes

Our March meeting was our 475th. The meeting had 4 in-person attendees and 10 attendees through Zoom.

Our speaker was Jari Villanueva.  Mr. Villanueva spent 23 years with the U.S. Air Force Band in Washington DC and is considered the nation’s preeminent expert on military bugle calls, particularly “Taps.”  The subject of his presentation was: “Strong Vincent and Oliver W. Norton at Gettysburg: A Commander and His Bugler.”

Mr. Villanueva began by pointing out that a lot of what people know about the Little Round Top portion of the battle of Gettysburg comes from the 1993 movie Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (the novel on which the movie is based), and The Civil War, the 1990 PBS documentary by Ken Burns. While all three of these give Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry, the lion’s share of the credit for successfully defending the hill from Confederate attacks, Mr. Villanueva said that he considers the real hero of Little Round Top to be Strong Vincent.

Born on June 17, 1837, Vincent graduated from Harvard and became a lawyer.  When the war broke out, he was a prominent citizen of Erie, Pennsylvania.  After the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry was created, he was appointed major of the regiment, later becoming lieutenant colonel and colonel.  Oliver Willcox Norton was born on December 17, 1839, the eldest of thirteen children and the son of a preacher.  When the war began, he was teaching in a school district near Springfield, Pennsylvania.  Norton became a bugler in the 83rd.  He later became bugler for the brigade the 83rd was part of and, after Vincent became the brigade’s commander, became headquarters bugler and color bearer.  

When Norton first met Vincent, he didn’t think much of him.  In fact, under Vincent he actually received a “reverse promotion,” losing his position as headquarters bugler, although he later regained it.  As the brigade neared the Mason-Dixon line during the Gettysburg campaign, Vincent ordered the band to play “Yankee Doodle,” and said that dying on Pennsylvania soil would be glorious.  

On July 2, the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, it was discovered that Little Round Top was undefended, with only a few signalmen on it.  Without being ordered to do so, Vincent directed his four regiments to occupy the hill, with the 20th Maine occupying the extreme left.  The regiments held off numerous Confederate attacks.  Vincent and Norton came under fire.  Norton was the guidon bearer, and Vincent ordered him to get down.  Vincent himself was critically wounded and was carried to a farmhouse about two miles from Little Round Top. Norton went to visit him as soon as possible.  

Vincent’s condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died on July 7.  According to Norton, Vincent’s brigadier general’s commission was read to him on his deathbed.  When he died, his wife Elizabeth was pregnant with their only child (the child was born in September, but only lived a year).  During their time together, Norton and Vincent had become very close (not surprising, given that a bugler had to be always near his commander).  Norton later named his

youngest son after Vincent.   He also stayed in touch with Elizabeth in the decades after the war.  She died on April 9, 1914, and left Norton with $250, with the instruction they be spent on cigars.  Norton, however, had the money donated to an African American church.  When he died, his widow gave money to build a concert hall at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state.  

After Gettysburg, Norton went on to become an officer in the 8th USCT.  After the war, he became a successful businessman, and in 1889 returned to Gettysburg, where he sounded the old brigade call.  He eventually went blind, but this did not stop him from living a vigorous life.  He wrote a book, entitled The Attack and Defense of Little Round Top, that is remarkable both for its eyewitness observations and its candor.  Norton died on October 1, 1920, at the age of 80.  

The armies of both the USA and the CSA included people of many different worldwide nationalities. One such soldier will be the subject of the February Baltimore Civil War Roundtable meeting as retired National Park Service ‘Mr. Everything’, Bill Gwaltney, presents The True Glory: The Life and Times of 1st Sergeant Robert John Simmons, 1st Sergeant of Company "B" 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

This intriguing story of an adventurous Bermudian will occur on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. There is a $5.00 charge for non-members to attend the meeting.

William Woodrow “Bill” Gwaltney is a seventh generation native of Washington, D.C. Descended from African American soldiers, sailors, farmers and teachers, Gwaltney, his brother and cousins were all educated in parochial schools from Kindergarten through High School. Gwaltney later attended Marietta College in Ohio and the University of Maryland at College Park.

Gwaltney began working in his teen-aged years and only retired recently, having worked for nearly four decades in turn for the National Park Service across the nation, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Nation’s Capital, and for the American Battle Monuments Commission serving overseas American Military Cemeteries with offices in Paris, France.

Long engaged in African American history, Bill Gwaltney has served as: Park Interpreter, Park Ranger, Gallery Guide, Museum Technician, Museum Curator, Chief Ranger, Law Enforcement Officer, Wild Land Fire Fighter, Emergency Medical Technician, Diversity Educator, Recruiter, Park Superintendent, Interpretive Designer and Trainer, Chief Naturalist and an Assistant Regional Director.

Gwaltney is one of the founders of Company “B” of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (1988) who came together to act as extras and technical assistants for the Civil War motion picture, “Glory.”

Now officially retired, Gwaltney has served on a number of national Boards of Directors and is a Faculty/Mentor with the University of Missouri at St. Louis, where he is engaged teaching online in an Ed.D. Program, called Heritage Leadership, which focuses on the intersection of Education, Social Justice, Community Leadership, and Heritage Commemoration. Gwaltney recently became the President of the newly formed African American Civil War Era Roundtable (AACWERT).

If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvdOqpqjMtGdBnMUtS9EchctIesQMt8GkC

Bill Gwaltney

Minutes

Our February meeting was our 474th.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees and 21 attendees through Zoom.  

Our speaker was Bill Gwaltney.  Mr. Gwaltney has worked for the National Park Service, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the American Battle Monuments Commission, and was one of the founders of Company “B” of the 54th Massachusetts, a re-enacting unit that portrays its Civil War predecessor of the same name.  Mr. Gwaltney’s presentation was entitled: “The True Glory: The Life and Times of 1st Sergeant Robert John Simmons, 1st Sergeant of Company ‘B’ 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.”

Robert John Simmons was born around 1837 in St. George’s, Bermuda, a port, and largely military town.  He served under British command in the Bermuda militia.  During the Civil War, many Bermudans ran the Union blockade to help the Confederacy, creating tension with others–Black and white–who supported the Union.  Simmons went to New York City where he met William Wells Brown, a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts.  He appears to have been introduced to Brown by Francis George Shaw, a businessman and abolitionist who was also the father of Robert Gould Shaw, who went on to become the 54th’s commander.  Simmons joined the 54th on March 12, 1863, and on March 30 became 1st Sergeant.  The 54th attracted blacks from all over the U.S. and even from other nations.  The regiment was issued Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled muskets with .577 caliber.

On May 28, 1863, the 54th departed on the steamer De Molay for the Sea Islands of South Carolina, an area seen as critical to shipping.  On June 11, the regiment participated in the burning of Darien, Georgia.  After the war, Francis Shaw used his own funds to rebuild the town.  On July 16, the 54th participated in the battle of Grimball’s Landing on James Island.  After the battle, Simmons wrote a letter that was published in a Northern newspaper.  On July 18, the regiment was chosen to lead the second assault on Battery Wagner.  The assault was unsuccessful, with the 54th suffering more than 40% casualties, including the death of Shaw.  Soldiers were mowed down by .58 to .65 caliber projectiles which converted a piece of artillery into a huge shotgun.  While the assault on Wagner failed, the battery was eventually taken by siege.  In the aftermath of Shaw’s death, Captain Luis Emilio assumed command of the regiment.  Simmons was one of those whom Emilio singled out for praise.  

During the attack, Simmons was wounded and captured.  He was taken to the old Charleston jail, and had an arm amputated.  Sometimes during August 18-23, he died at the age of 26.  At the time of his death, the 54th was refusing wages to protest the fact that African American soldiers were being paid less than whites.  Simmons therefore never received any payment for his service.  During the draft riots in New York City, Simmons’ seven-year-old nephew was killed, along with an estimated hundreds of others.  Many African Americans had their homes, churches and businesses burnt down during the riots.  In 1866, Simmons’ mother applied for his pension.  His sister went on to have a child who was named after him.

Mr. Gwaltney closed his presentation on a personal note.  He grew up five minutes from Fort Bunker Hill.  He worked at Frederick Douglass’ home and recreated an abolitionist rally.  He was recruited for Company B of the modern 54th, and the unit spent a few months filming the 1989 movie Glory.  Gwaltney was 1st Sergeant for Company B–the same rank that Simmons held in the original 54th.

 Notes from the President

This month’s notes are short and to the point.

According to our treasurer Ray atkins, only 9 previous members of the BCWRT had renewed their membership as of February 8, 2024. Our organization cannot and will not be able to sustain itself with membership participation that low.

Speakers, the use of Zoom, building rental, etc. is paid via your dues. If you have not renewed you membership, please consider doing so ASAP.

Additionally, The Baltimore Civil War Roundtable needs to recruit new members.  Invite your friends to join. Membership is $25 or $35 for families.


Mail your checks to:

Ray Atkins, Treasurer, BCWRT

1204 Fordham Ct.,

Belair, MD 21014

please join! Invite others to join. If you have any ideas on how to increase membership, let me or any other board member hear your idea. Email me at rfordjazz@yahoo.com.

The bottom line is, without your membership, we cannot afford speakers, much less sponsor activities and support Civil War organizations,

General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in invasions of the North during the fall of 1862 and during the spring/summer of 1863. Those actions resulted in the failed Antietam and Gettysburg battles, respectively. These campaigns are probably the most studied and written about areas of the Civil War.

Historian and author Dr. Bradley M. Gottfried returns to the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on January 23, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.to discuss his recent work Lee Invades the North-- A Comparison of the Antietam and Gettysburg Campaigns (2022). The meeting takes place at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. There is a $5.00 charge for non-members to attend the meeting.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Bradley Gottfried earned his Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University and spent four decades as an educator in higher education. He has served as a full-time faculty member, department head, campus dean, chief academic officer and president. Before retiring in 2017, he served as President of Sussex County Community College (NJ) and College of Southern Maryland for the 17 years.

Gottfried and his wife Linda have four children and five grandchildren. Brad is a Certified Antietam Battlefield Guide and a Gettysburg Licensed Town Guide. He is also the author of over eighteen books, including The Brigades of Gettysburg (2002), The Roads to Gettysburg (2002), The Artillery of Gettysburg (2008), and many previous Savas Beatie Military Atlas titles on Gettysburg, First Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg Cavalry, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and Bristoe Station/Mine Run. Brad is currently finalizing (with Theodore P. Savas) The Gettysburg Campaign Encyclopedia and is working on his next map atlas (the Shiloh Campaign).

If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvcemorz8qHdb-Nf5Lv4d4LkCCopmAh01y

Minutes

Our January meeting was our 473rd.  The meeting had 6 in-person attendees and 24 registrants through Zoom, of whom 22 attended.

Our speaker was Dr. Bradley Gottfried.  Dr. Gottfried is the author of many books on the Civil War.  His presentation consisted of a systematic comparison of the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns.  The presentation was based on his most recent book, entitled Lee Invades the North: A Comparison of the Antietam and Gettysburg Campaigns.

Dr. Gottfried began by examining the context in which both campaigns took place.  Prior to both Antietam and Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee had been victorious (at Second Manassas/Bull Run and Chancellorsville respectively).  However, Dr. Gottfried said, during the Antietam campaign foreign recognition of the Confederacy was on the table, while by the time the Gettysburg campaign began the possibility of this occurring had dimmed.  A desire to gather supplies, as well as to strike while the Army of the Potomac was weakened and remove it from the soil of Virginia, motivated both of Lee’s offensives.  

The leaders of both armies in the campaigns–Lee vs. George McClellan in the Antietam, and Lee vs. first Joseph Hooker and then George Meade in the Gettysburg–were all experienced army commanders except for Meade, and all were healthy except for Lee.  During the Antietam campaign, the soldiers on both sides were exhausted, whereas they were much more rested when the Gettysburg campaign began.  While the men of both armies were veterans during the Gettysburg campaign, in the Antietam there was a big disparity in this regard–whereas 60 percent of Lee’s men had previously fought in three or more battles, over 20 percent of McClellan’s men had never even fired a rifle before.  

Dr. Gottfried compared the organizational makeup and weapons of the two armies in both battles. The Army of the Potomac had significantly more artillery pieces than the Army of Northern Virginia in both (323 vs. 246 at Antietam, 331 vs. 250 at Gettysburg).  At Gettysburg, the number of modern guns was greater.  At Antietam the Confederate cavalry, led by Jeb Stuart, was superior to its Union counterpart, while at Gettysburg the opposing cavalry corps were more evenly matched.  In both battles, 70 percent of the Confederate; but, only 43 percent of Union brigade commanders had battlefield experience.

Supplies for both sides were deficient at Antietam, while they were more adequate at Gettysburg.  Straggling was high in the Antietam campaign, particularly on the Confederate side.  General orders were issued against it in both armies.  For both armies, the march to Gettysburg was much longer than to Antietam.  However, there were fewer rest periods during the march to Antietam.  

When the battle of Antietam began, the vast majority of both armies were present on the field–67 percent of the Confederates and 83 percent of the Union forces.  In contrast, very few on either side were present on the field when the battle of Gettysburg started.  At Antietam, the Confederates were on the defensive, at Gettysburg on the offensive.  

Dr. Gottfried concluded by comparing the aftermath of the two battles.  He concluded that Antietam, rather than Gettysburg, should be considered the turning point of the Civil War. After Gettysburg, Union morale was boosted and there were no further invasions of the North.

Antietam, however, was followed by the Emancipation Proclamation and, he said, the end of Britain and France giving serious consideration to recognizing the Confederacy.  

 Notes from the President

Normally, I begin these notes comparing some Civil War era event with today’s world.  In a similar, but different way, I want to address recruitment and expansion. During the Civil War, the armies were able to stay on the field by attracting new recruits and by reenlisting their current forces.

The Baltimore Civil War Roundtable needs to recruit new members and have current members re-enlist. Renew your membership, now. Invite your friends to join. Membership is $25 or $35 for families. Mail your checks to:

Ray Atkins, Treasurer, BCWRT

1204 Fordham Ct.,

Belair, MD 21014

If you are not a member, please join! Invite others to join. If you have any ideas on how to increase membership, let me or any other board member hear your idea. Email me at

 rfordjazz@yahoo.com.

The bottom line is, without your membership, we cannot afford speakers, much less sponsor activities and support Civil War organizations,