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Previous Meetings: 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 and before
Meeting: December 9, 2014
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Our speaker will be historian and
Executive Director of the National Civil War
Museum in Harrisburg, PA Wayne Motts. Born in Columbus and raised in nearby Groveport, Wayne graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in history in 1989. Moving to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1990, Wayne earned a Masters Degree in American History from the Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania in 1994. He was one of the youngest persons ever to complete the licensing process to be a Licensed Battlefield Guide at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Wayne is the author of several works related to the Civil War, including “Trust in God and Fear Nothing,” a biography of Confederate Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, who was killed during the battle of Gettysburg Wayne, an Ohio native, previously served as the Executive Director of the Adams County Historical Society in Gettysburg and is a licensed battlefield guide at the Gettysburg National Military Park. He and his wife, Tina, are the parents of one grown child. His father, Warren E. Motts, is founder and executive director of Motts Military Museum in Groveport, Ohio. Wayne will discuss selected items from the National Civil war Museum and the stories they tell. |
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Meeting: November 25, 2014
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Our speaker will be historian and author Dr. Richard McMurry. Dr. McMurry is a native of Atlanta. In 1961 he received the B.A. degree in history from the Virginia Military Institute. He then served two years active duty in the United States Army at Fort Campbell, KY. Subsequently, he attended Emory University, receiving the M.A. degree in June 1964 and the Ph.D in June 1967. From 1967 to 1981 McMurry taught history at Valdosta (Georgia) State College. He was an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University from 1981 to 1988. Since that time he has been a freelance writer and speaker and has served as a guide/historian for many tour and cruise groups. Richard McMurry has authored more than 100 articles on various aspects of the Civil War. In 1994 two of his books – John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence and Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay in Confederate Military History – were listed among the one hundred best modern Civil War books as selected by the eminent historian Gary Gallagher for the magazine Civil War. The topic of Dr. McMurry’s talk is John Bell Hood and the battles for Atlanta |
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Meeting: October 28, 2014
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Our speaker will be our own President
Earle Hollenbaugh.
Originally from Northern New York, Earle has been the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable Newsletter editor for nearly twenty years. He has also previously served the Roundtable as Vice-President and as a Member of the Board of Directors. Earle is a retired Analyst for the Federal Government and a long-time Catonsville resident. In addition to his Civil War related activities Earle is also a talented musician/singer and an avid golfer. Earle will be providing a PowerPoint presentation on the Horse in the Civil War. During the War horses were considered as important as soldiers. They were used to carry soldiers, messengers, commanding officers, equipment and artillery during the war. Many horses were lost to disease and exhaustion. Because of the value of these horses they often became a target for the enemy. At one point early in the war, more horses than men were being killed. The average life expectancy for a horse used in the war was about six months. |
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Meeting: September 23, 2014
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Our Speaker will be Bob Crickenberger.
He will do a presentation on Point
Lookout Prisoner-of-War Camp.
Point Lookout POW Camp (Camp Hoffman) was established after the Battle of Gettysburg to incarcerate Confederate prisoners. It was in operation from August 1863 through June 1865. Being only 5' above sea level, it was located on approx. 30 acres of leveled land. It was the largest Union prison camp for Confederates. Point Lookout was one of the most secure POW camps, being surrounded on three sides by water from the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, with Union cannons pointed toward the prisoners from Ft. Lincoln and guns of Union ships anchored in nearby waters. Only an estimated 50 escapes were successful. Bob Crickenberger was raised in Prince George’s County, but has resided in Calvert County for nearly forty (40) years. He has been a volunteer at Point Lookout for over thirty-seven (37) years (1977 to present) and has been instrumental in the restoration and reconstruction projects of Fort Lincoln and Camp Hoffman (prison pen) and their surrounding areas since 1982. Bob is also chairman of the Friends of Point Lookout, Inc. and a volunteer ranger for the Maryland State Park Service. He has been a Civil War living historian and re-enactor for the same thirty-seven years. Bob is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving during the years 1971-1977. Currently, He is co-authoring a book on Point Lookout during the Civil War. |
Point Lookout Confederate Prisoner’s Monument |
Meeting: August 26, 2014
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Our speaker will be Dave Booz. Dave will present a discussion of the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Dave Booz is an adjunct professor in the Civil War Era Studies department at Gettysburg College. He teaches at McDaniel College and Carroll Community College as well. He spent 30 years as an educator in the Carroll County, Maryland system and also works for the American Institute for History Education. He is also active in the North-South Skirmish Association and shoots competitively with Civil War firearms. He currently resides with his wife, Barbara, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. By the late summer of 1864, the Union had experienced the disaster at Kernstown and the Confederate burning of Chambersburg. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant resolved to crush Confederate Gen. Jubal Early’s army and destroy the fertile Shenandoah as a military granary for Lee’s army. He reorganized several military districts under one commander and chose his aggressive cavalryman, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, to lead this new army with the bulk of the Federal cavalry. Sheridan’s instructions were to defeat Early and conduct a campaign of total warfare in the Valley. After an initial period of “mimic war,” Sheridan delivered a series of stinging defeats. |
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Meeting: July 22, 2014
Meeting: June 25, 2014
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Our speaker will be
Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania National Battlefield
Park Supervisory Historian
Greg Mertz. Greg will
discuss the Battle of Spotsylvania.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania (or the 19th century spelling Spottsylvania), was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the bloody but inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, Grant's army disengaged from Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army and moved to the southeast, attempting to lure Lee into battle under more favorable conditions. Elements of Lee's army beat the Union army to the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House and began entrenching. Fighting occurred on and off from May 8 through May 21, 1864, as Grant tried various schemes to break the Confederate line. In the end, the battle was tactically inconclusive, but with almost 32,000 casualties on both sides, it was the costliest battle of the campaign. On May 21, Grant disengaged from the Confederate Army and started southeast on another maneuver to turn Lee's right flank, as the Overland Campaign continued toward the Battle of North Anna. |
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Meeting: May 27, 2014
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Our speaker this month is
Mary Ann Jung.
She will present an exciting living history
interpretation as Clara Barton. Mary Ann Jung is an award-winning actress and Smithsonian scholar. She has appeared on CNN, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and in newspapers around the world as she plays famous women from history. In 2002, Ms. Jung's Clara Barton show won top honors for Solo Theatrical Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council. Since 2005, the Smithsonian Institution has presented Ms. Jung's historical women for several conferences. Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse and the founder of the American Red Cross, was a woman ahead of her time. According to Ms. Jung, she “overcame both personal obstacles and society’s narrow view of women’s roles to pursue her heart’s work.” Ms. Jung’s interactive one-woman show encourages audience participation and is both engrossing and entertaining. In addition, Ms. Jung has performed at the National Theatre of Washington, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Port Discovery Children’s Museum, and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Ms. Jung researches and writes her own scripts, and performs in the authentic costumes, accents, and attitudes for her characters’ eras. Her shows are very energetic, interactive, and fun. |
Mary Ann Jung |
Meeting: April 22, 2014
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This month is the rescheduled Baltimore Civil War Roundtable Annual Dinner. Our speaker will be Dave Booz. Dave will discuss the Battle of the Wilderness. Dave Booz is an adjunct professor in the Civil War Era Studies department at Gettysburg College. He teaches at McDaniel College and Carroll Community College as well. He spent 30 years as an educator in the Carroll County, Maryland system and also works for the American Institute for History Education. He is also active in the North-South Skirmish Association and shoots competitively with Civil War firearms. He currently resides with his wife, Barbara, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive at Spotsylvania Court House. |
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Meeting: March 25, 2014
Due to the expected inclement weather, the BCWRT Annual
Dinner meeting scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled for
April 22, 2014. Please contact Don Macreadie at 410-870-3072 if you will
be unable to attend the April meeting or have any questions.
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This month is the Baltimore Civil War
Roundtable Annual Dinner.
Our speaker will be Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania
National Battlefield Park Supervisory Historian
Greg Mertz. Greg will discuss the Battle
of the Wilderness. The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive. Grant attempted to move quickly through the dense underbrush of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, but Lee launched two of his corps on parallel roads to intercept him. On the morning of May 5, the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren attacked the Confederate Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, on the Orange Turnpike. That afternoon the Third Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, encountered Brig. Gen. George W. Getty's division (VI Corps) and Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps on the Orange Plank Road. Fighting until dark was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods. At dawn on May 6, Hancock attacked along the Plank Road, driving Hill's Corps back in confusion, but the First Corps of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet arrived in time to prevent the collapse of the Confederate right flank.. On May 7, Grant disengaged and moved to the southeast, intending to leave the Wilderness to interpose his army between Lee and Richmond, leading to the bloody Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. |
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Meeting: February 25, 2014
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Our speaker will be Former BCWRT President
Bob Mullauer. Bob will have a
presentation on the October and November 1863
Battles for Chattanooga.
From the last days of September through October 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army laid siege to the Union army under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans at Chattanooga, cutting off its supplies. On October 17, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant received command of the Western armies; he moved to reinforce Chattanooga and replaced Rosecrans with Maj. Gen. George Thomas. On November 23-24, Union forces struck out and captured Orchard Knob and Lookout Mountain. On November 25, Union soldiers assaulted and carried the seemingly impregnable Confederate position on Missionary Ridge. One of the Confederacy’s two major armies was routed. The Federals held Chattanooga, the “Gateway to the Lower South,” which became the supply and logistics base for Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta Campaign. Bob Mullauer was a high school history teacher for over a decade. He currently teaches night-time courses at Anne Arundel Community College as well as speaks to a variety of groups on topics such as the American Civil War in the Western Theater, World War II in the Pacific, and the Napoleonic Wars. He has led United States Army officers on staff rides over the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields. Besides Civil War battlefields, his travels include tours of World War II battlefields in the Pacific as well as Normandy, the Bulge, Verdun, and various Napoleonic sites in Europe. |
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Meeting: January 28, 2014
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Our speaker will be
Daniel Carroll
Toomey;
Monacacy: The B&O’s battle.
From the very beginning of the war, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had suffered huge losses at the hands of the Rebel forces. At the battle of Monocacy the B&O would have a chance to fight back. The introduction of the railroad and the telegraph changed warfare forever and gave the B&O the opportunity to manage one of the greatest logistical feats of the war. This was accomplished in part through the excellent working relationship developed between John Work Garrett, president of the B&O Railroad, with Secretary of War Stanton and President Lincoln. Dan Toomey will show us how the B&O Railroad, through the dynamic relationship of Garrett and Stanton, affected the battle of Monocacy and the siege of Washington. Daniel Carroll Toomey is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the author of ten books including The Civil War in Maryland, Marylanders at Gettysburg, and The Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers Home. He is also the co-author of Baltimore During the Civil War and Marylanders in Blue, all of which were published by Toomey Press. Dan Toomey has won numerous awards for his historical research and exhibits including the Gettysburg National Battlefield Award in 1985. He is currently the Guest Curator at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum for their five-year project The War Came by Train. His two fondest accomplishments are writing the inscription for the Maryland Monument at Gettysburg and playing on the first ever Howard County Lacrosse team in 1964. |
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