In the summer of 1862, General Robert E. Lee, newly in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, found himself defending northern Virginia against the newly formed United Staes Army of Virginia, under the aggressive General John Pope.

 

In Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862, historians Dan Welch and Kevin Pawlak follow Lee and Pope as they converge on ground once-bloodied just thirteen months earlier. Since then, the armies had grown in size and efficiency, and combat between them would dwarf that first battle. For the second summer in a row, forces would clash on the plains of Manassas, and the results would be far more terrible.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as we host the two authors on Tuesday, December 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208). Copies of the book will be on sale.

 

Dan Welch is a Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. Welch also spent nearly 15 years in public education as an instrumental music teacher. He holds a BA in Instrumental Music Education and an MA in Military History with a Civil War Era concentration. Welch is the co-author of The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863, Ohio at Antietam: The Buckeye State’s Sacrifice on America’s Bloodiest Day, and Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28- August 30, 1862. A contributing member at Emerging Civil War, he was co-editor of the first three volumes of ECW’s 10th Anniversary Series. He now serves as the editor of the renowned Gettysburg Magazine.

 

Kevin R. Pawlak is a historic site manager for Prince William County’s Office of Historic Preservation and a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He previously worked as a park ranger at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Kevin is the author of four books about the American Civil War, including To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as Dan Welch and Kevin Pawlak present Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/S4hOWNIaQHiSVM6b_NAS9Q

 

   
                                            Kevin Pawlak                 Dan Welch

Minutes

Our December meeting was our 496th.  The meeting had 7 in person attendees (including one guest) and 5 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speakers were Dan Welch, a Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, and Kevin Pawlak, a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield.  Their presentation was entitled Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862.  Mr. Welch and Mr. Pawlak are co-authors of a book of the same name which is part of the Emerging Civil War book series.  

 

By the summer of 1862, the Confederacy seemed on the verge of collapse.  The Army of the Potomac was within a few miles of Richmond.  However, on June 1 Robert E. Lee took command, and within a month the Army of Northern Virginia emerged largely successful in the Seven Days battles.  Union Major General John Pope was brought from the Western Theater to command the newly created Army of Virginia.  Both Pope and the Army of the Potomac’s commander, George McClellan, were under the authority of General-in-Chief Henry Halleck.  Halleck decided to have the two armies unite to attack Richmond.  Together, they totaled about 130,000 men.  

 

Lee decided that he needed to fight Pope’s army before Pope could join forces with McClellan.  Searching for a way to bring Pope to battle, he divided his army in half.  Stonewall Jackson would go behind Pope while James Longstreet would stay in front to keep Pope’s attention.  Jackson’s men marched 54 miles in 36 hours.  Pope decided to turn his back on Longstreet and face Jackson at Manassas Junction.  With 25,000 men, Jackson had to face 65,000–Pope’s army as well as part of McClellan’s.  However, Pope couldn’t find where Jackson was.  In reality, Jackson had returned to the battlefield of First Manassas (or First Bull Run), and Longstreet was rapidly approaching to reunite with him.  

 

On August 28, Pope decided to concentrate his army at Centerville.  Irvin McDowell’s corps (which included Rufus King’s division) was ordered to take the Warrenton Turnpike, but didn’t know they were marching in front of Jackson.  That night, the Battle of Brawner Farm occurred, with John Gibbon’s Iron Brigade (together with some other regiments) fighting troops under Richard Ewell and William B. Taliaferro.  Because the Confederate attack was piecemeal, the Iron Brigade was able to absorb each blow.  After three hours, Jackson managed to push the Federals off the field, although he lost 1,300 men in the process.  

 

At this point, Pope thought he could crush Jackson the following day.   He thought he could block Jackson’s escape route with 40,000 men, and with another 36,000 he’d attack Jackson’s line.  On the morning of August 29, however, Pope realized he didn’t have 40,000 men in Jackson’s rear.  At this point, he had to prevent Lee and Longstreet from joining Jackson.  He ordered V Corps (under Fitz-John Porter) to go to Gainesville.  Meanwhile, I Corps (under Franz Sigel) assaulted Jackson’s line numerous times without success.  About 10 AM on August 29, Lee and Longstreet got within striking distance of the Federals.  Lee wanted to attack right away, but Longstreet advised a reconnaissance first, to which Lee agreed.  

 

Meanwhile, Pope gathered reinforcements to attack Jackson’s center. Pope didn’t understand that Longstreet had already arrived.  Moreover, Jackson was able to move his men around to hold off the various assaults.  A.P. Hill sent a message to Jackson that his division was having difficulty; Jackson told Hill that “you will hold them.”  Hill was attacked in a new assault but held.  When Jackson heard this, he gave a “rare smile.”  Meanwhile, Lee again proposed an attack, but Longstreet suggested waiting until August 30 and having John Bell Hood conduct a reconnaissance.  After the reconnaissance began, however, a firefight broke out and Hood pulled back.  Lee was talked out of attacking once again.  

 

On August 30, Pope wrongly believed that Jackson was retreating and still refused–despite intelligence warnings–to believe that Longstreet was on the field.  Pope wanted Porter to attack Jackson’s rear, and at 3 PM the attack began.  Longstreet finally got into action, ordering all his artillery to blast Porter.  As Porter’s men fled, Lee and Longstreet saw the opportunity for an assault, and Longstreet launched a massive attack.  He accomplished much–only the onset of darkness let Pope slip off to safety.  Pope’s army retreated to DC to reunite with McClellan and reached the capital on September 2, the day after the battle of Chantilly and only twelve days before South Mountain.

  

During the recently completed campaign season, one could live-stream candidates debates and campaign speeches from various parts of the country. One could also witness same-day news coverage online via broadcast, cable, satellite and printed news outlets. None of these were available to voters or candidates during the presidential elections of 1960 and 1864.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as author, historian and librarian Thomas A. Horrocks presents "Promoting Honest Abe, the Railsplitter: Lincoln's Campaign Biographies and the Shaping of an Image in 1860"

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, November 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Thomas A. Horrocks is an independent scholar. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania and spent 30 years working as a library administrator, including positions as Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Associate Librarian for Collections at Houghton Library, Harvard University; and Director of the John Hay Library at Brown University. In addition to his library management career, Dr. Horrocks has taught at Harvard University Extension School and has authored, edited, and co-edited eight books, primarily on American political history, with an emphasis on Abraham Lincoln and his time, including Lincoln’s Campaign Biographies (Southern Illinois University Press, 2014) and The Annotated Lincoln (Harvard University Press, 2016). In 2024, the Baker Street Irregular Press published A West Wind: How America and Americans Influenced the Sherlockian Canon, which Dr. Horrocks co-edited. The book includes his chapter on “Abraham Lincoln and Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Speculation.” He is currently working on a book on Abraham Lincoln in 50 Objects.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as Thomas A. Horrocks presents "Promoting Honest Abe, the Railsplitter: Lincoln's Campaign Biographies and the Shaping of an Image in 1860" at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qNCX7_kTRr-JZ_npLhPe1Q

 

   

Minutes

 

Our November meeting was our 495th.  The meeting had 4 in-person attendees and 9 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Dr. Thomas A. Horrocks, an independent scholar.  Dr. Horrocks holds a Ph.D in history from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author, editor, or co-editor of eight books, primarily on American political history.  The topic of his presentation was “Promoting Honest Abe, the Railsplitter: Lincoln’s Campaign Biographies and the Shaping of an Image in 1860.”

 

During the nineteenth century, it was considered unseemly for presidential candidates to personally campaign and ask for votes.  While the candidates sometimes worked behind the scenes, they largely relied on surrogates to do the actual campaigning.  Additionally, biographies of candidates were written.  These biographies, which were the greatest source of information available on the candidates, were essentially propaganda pieces written to create a positive image of them.  They had only a limited amount of time to be completed–a matter of weeks to do the research and writing.  The biographies covered the key periods in the candidates’ lives, examples of their leadership, their parents, ancestry, religious beliefs, etc.  There was usually a short biography of a candidate’s vice-presidential running mate as well.  

 

The first biographies–of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson–were published during the presidential campaign of 1824.  During the 1860 campaign, 16 biographies of Lincoln were published.  They ranged in length from a long newspaper article to a 300-page book.  All of them traced Lincoln’s ancestry back to Quakers.  Lincoln’s parents, both of whom were born in Virginia, received relatively little attention.  Little was said of his mother, Nancy Hanks, who died when Lincoln was nine years old.  His father, Thomas, was depicted as having been a wandering homeless boy.  Lincoln’s youth and life in the wild backwoods of Kentucky were emphasized, as was the point that through hard work he overcame seemingly insurmountable odds.  It was also mentioned that he had only one year of formal education and that he compensated for this by reading.  

 

Lincoln was presented as representative of the working man–a man who split rails, harvested, rolled logs, husked corn, etc., and who mingled with honest people.  His prowess with an axe was highlighted, as was his patriotism in volunteering for military service during the Black Hawk War of 1832 (even though he didn’t actually see any combat).  His jobs as a store clerk, flat boatman, surveyor and lawyer were emphasized, although his legal career wasn’t covered in depth.  He was presented as a self-made man.  

 

All of the biographies covered Lincoln’s political career.  He was presented as a Henry Clay Whig–a man of moderate to conservative views on slavery, who was opposed to its extension into the western territories but who was not an abolitionist.  Little about Lincoln’s private life was written, although he was presented as a loving family man.  His house was applauded for its simplicity, and Mary Lincoln was depicted as intelligent and charming.  He was also portrayed as a man of pure morals who never smoked, drank, or used profanity (although in reality Lincoln loved to tell stories that included salty language).  There was little attention paid to Lincoln and

 

religion, although he was said to be familiar with the Bible.  Many of the biographies argued that Lincoln’s virtues were emblematic of the larger American character.  One said that he was the right man for the times; another said that the fact that he had pulled himself up by his bootstraps conferred dignity on him.  

 

In the final portion of his presentation, Dr. Horrocks showed slides of the title pages of various Lincoln biographies as well as other images–particularly images related to Lincoln and rails.  One slide displayed an axe with “Honest Abe” inscribed on the handle and “The Rail Splitter” inscribed on the blade.  Others showed postcards and coins from the early twentieth century, as well as statues of Lincoln rail-splitting.  

  

The name Daniel Adams Butterfield is still obscure among several people with an interest in the Civil War. Still, the Butterfield name is associated with many things that are quite familiar including American Express, the Overland Mail Company and the composition known as Taps.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as historian, educator, reenactor and musician Jari Villanueva presents the Interesting and controversial life of Union Gen. Daniel Butterfield.

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

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.

 

Villanueva is also the Executive Director of The Doughboy Foundation, the Founder of Taps Across America and the Founder of Taps for Veterans. He does all of this with the cooperation of his wife Heather Faust.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Jari Villanueva as he presents the Interesting and controversial life of Union Gen. Daniel Butterfield at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Z0TUeo7JSsa4skrcDKcIXg  

 

 

            Gen. Daniel Butterfield                                                Jari Villenueva

Minutes

Our October meeting was our 494th.  The meeting had 6 in-person attendees and 6 attendees on 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,” which is sounded at military funerals.  The subject of his presentation was: “The life of controversial Union general Daniel Butterfield–the good, the bad and the bugle.”

 

Daniel Butterfield is most famous as the man who composed “Taps” to replace “To Extinguish Lights,” although “Taps” was itself adapted from an earlier bugle call no longer in use.  According to Mr. Villanueva, only two biographies of the general are available–A Biographical Memorial of General Daniel Butterfield: Including Many Addresses And Military Writings (written by Butterfield himself, and published in 1904), and Union General Daniel Butterfield: A Civil War Biography by James S. Pula.  

 

Butterfield was born in Utica, New York on October 31, 1831.  His father, John, was instrumental in starting America’s first overland express–(the company became the American Express Company).  Daniel graduated from Union College in 1849.  He was a member of Sigma Phi, was known as a prankster, and was popular among his peers.  He applied for cadetship at West Point, but never attended.  

 

In 1849, Butterfield was implicated in arson fires in Utica.  At the time, someone convicted of arson could receive the death penalty.  He was indicted in 1851, though the charges were dropped in 1853.  He travelled west with an Indian guide, and saw the effects of slavery on the South.  After returning to Utica, Butterfield joined the Utica Citizens’ Corps, a militia organization. In 1854, he enrolled in the 71st New York State Militia as a captain.  However, he suffered from health problems and left to recuperate. On February 12, 1857, Butterfield married Elizabeth “Lizzie” J.  Brown.  He joined the 12th New York State Militia, and soon became its colonel.  

 

After the Civil War began, the 12th was assigned to guard and garrison duty in Washington.  During the campaign of First Bull Run, the regiment served in the Shenandoah Valley.  Butterfield was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the Third Brigade of V Corps in the Army of the Potomac.  He was given gold spurs for his performance in the battle of Hanover Court House.  He was seriously wounded at Gaines’ Mill but, seized the colors of the 83rd Pennsylvania to rally the regiment at a critical time in the battle, an action for which he later received the Medal of Honor.  While the army was at Harrison’s Landing, he created “Taps.”   During the spring of 1862, Butterfield wrote Camp and Outpost Duty for Infantry.  

 

Butterfield fought at Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.  He served as the Army of the Potomac’s Chief of Staff under Joseph Hooker and George Meade.  He developed different shapes for corps badges and different colors for divisions.  He also helped improve food, shelter, and medical supplies for the troops.   Despite all this, and despite the fact that he was brave in combat, Butterfield was widely disliked by other officers for not having gone to

West Point and because of his association with Hooker.  At Gettysburg (on July 3), Butterfield was severely wounded and was reassigned to the Western theater after recuperating.  

 

By the end of the war, Butterfield had been breveted major general and become colonel of the 5th Infantry Regiment in the regular army.  While superintendent of recruiting service, he approved a fife and drum music manual.  In 1869, he resigned from the army to become Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.  He was implicated in the “Black Friday Panic” --having given inside information about gold sales–and forced to resign.  His wife died in 1877; in 1886 he married Julia James in London.  The couple moved to Cold Spring, N.Y.  From their house, he could hear “Taps” coming from West Point in the evening.    During the postwar decades, Butterfield was put in charge of a number of large ceremonies, including William T. Sherman’s funeral in 1891.  He also built a railroad in Guatemala.  Butterfield died on July 17, 1901.  He is buried at West Point–in fact, he has the largest and most ornate grave there–despite never having attended the institution.  

 

On the night of October 16, 1859, ultra-abolitionist John Brown led a band of 22 men from the Kennedy farm in Maryland to the town of Harpar’s Ferry, Virginia and into a history that is still talked about and debated. Brown called his band The Provisional Army of the United States.

 

Who were the’ soldiers of the Army? Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as we host historian, author and reenactor Bob O’Connor for his presentation on the Members of John Brown’s Provisional Army of America’

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, September 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

A native of Dixon, Illinois and a graduate of Northern Illinois University, Bob O’Connor’s interest in history goes back to a trip in 1958 to Galesburg, IL where he attended the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg was the featured speaker. He has worked full time and part time as a newspaper reporter, and at various jobs — many that required writing press releases, news articles, or reports. His first published article was when he was in 7th grade – in an Illinois Historical Society for junior high students.

 

While Director of Tourism in Washington County, Maryland, Bob O’Connor worked closely with the Antietam Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historical Parks. He was responsible for starting the annual Independence Day Concert at Antietam Battlefield in July and the Memorial Illumination at Antietam Battlefield in December.

 

Being a resident of Harpers Ferry, WV (and his interest in Abraham Lincoln. John Brown and John Wilkes Booth) inspired him to write his first book “The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859”. The book has been named a Finalist in the 2006 Best Book Awards by USA Book News. In all, O’Connor is the author of over 13 books- 8 fiction and 5 non-fictions.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Bob O’ Connor on the Members of John Brown’s Provisional Army at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/JA4Bt3faSNec3BSPzmNaIg

 

 

Minutes

Our September meeting was our 493rd. The meeting had 5 in-person attendees and 13 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Bob O’Connor. Mr. O’Connor, a full-time author, researcher and historian, has written more than three dozen books on the Civil War. The topic of his presentation was “John Brown’s Provisional Army of the United States.”

 

Mr. O’Connor noted that while Brown typically gets all the credit for the raid on Harper’s Ferry (October 16-18, 1859), in reality there were about two dozen other participants, including two women.

 

Most of Brown’s men and supplies for the raid came through Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A warehouse held shipments from the Valley Railroad until they were picked up by Brown's men. A free African American barber, Henry Watson, housed several of the black raiders--as well as Frederick Douglass. Douglass and Brown met in August 1859. Although Brown tried to persuade him to participate, Douglass refused, saying that Brown was falling into a "perfect steel trap." Brown, two of his sons, and Jeremiah Anderson stayed at a hotel in Hagerstown. Brown rented the Kennedy Farmhouse in Maryland, near Harper's Ferry.

 

Mr. O'Connor provided biographical information on many of the raiders, including Brown himself. The group was a diverse lot. Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut in 1800. He was called "crazy" as a seven-year-old boy. A devout abolitionist, he was wanted due to his activities in Kansas Territory--specifically the killing of five pro-slavery men in 1856. Brown had 20 children. His daughter Annie, aged 15, served as a lookout. Martha Brewster Brown, Brown's daughter-in-law, oversaw the cooking. Both women were sent home prior to the raid itself. Oliver and Watson Brown, two of Brown's sons, accompanied him on the raid, although Watson was reluctant to go. Brown’s son Owen remained behind at the Kennedy Farmhouse guarding weapons.  

 

John Cook, born in Connecticut in 1828, served as a spy in Harper's Ferry months before the raid, although his cover was nearly blown when he impregnated a local girl. John Copeland Jr., born a free African American in North Carolina, lived in Oberlin, Ohio and attended Oberlin College.

The Coppoc brothers, Barclay and Edwin, were Quakers. According to Mr. O’Connor, Barclay was an expert with a pistol. Shields Green was a runaway slave, born in Charleston, South Carolina. John Henry Kagi, born in Ohio in 1835, was a teacher and a correspondent for multiple newspapers, including the New York Tribune. Henrie was one of Brown's most trusted allies.

 

Francis Meriam, born in 1837 in Massachusetts, had donated a lot of money to Brown's causes. Dangerfield Newby, a free African American, had a wife and seven children who were slaves. Of all the raiders, he had the most to personally gain from the raid. Osborne Anderson, born in Pennsylvania in 1830, was the only African American to escape. He later wrote A Voice from Harper's Ferry, the only account of the raid by a participant. Aaron Stevens--aka Charles Whipple--had served in the war with Mexico and provided military training for the raiders.

 

Dauphin Thompson, age 21, was one of Brown's neighbors in North Elba, New York.  Charles Plummer Tidd, born in Maine in 1834, was a lumberjack. He thought the raid was a bad idea.

 

In total, the raiders numbered 22 men, including five African Americans and Brown himself. Seven (including Brown) were captured, put on trial, and executed. Five escaped, and the rest were killed in the raid. John Copeland Jr. and Shields Green, who were among those captured, were found not guilty of treason because as African Americans they were presumed to be slaves (although Copeland was in fact free). During his trial, Brown rejected an insanity defense and spoke three times.

 

Mr. O'Connor also discussed Brown's Provisional Constitution. The Preamble denounced slavery as contrary to the Declaration of Independence. Under the Constitution, it was forbidden for a congressman to lie or use foul language.

 

Railroading played a powerful and important role in the outcome of the Civil War in the United States. CSA Gen. Joseph Johnston’s forces arrival at the 1^st Battle of Bull Run via trains from the Shenandoah Valley.

 

Specifically, the Baltimore based Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was key to the ultimate outcome of the war. Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, as Alex Carle, the Assistant Curator of the B&O Railroad Museum, presents The Role of B&O during the Civil War.  The evening is also our “Bring a Friend to History night”. **

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, August 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Alex Carle is an exhibit curator at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD. He received his MA in Anthropology from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. His areas of interest include the socio-cultural impact of the railroad, industrialization in the Eastern United States, and American history in the 19th and 20th centuries. His latest works focus on resistance to segregation on the railroad, the evolution of railroad technologies, and the global standardization of time. Alex’s upcoming projects explore the future of the 21st century railroad industry.

 

Remember, learn about The Role of B&O during the Civil War as Alex Carle of the B&O Railroad Museum makes his presentation to the BCWRT on Tuesday, August 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church. This meeting will not be online!

 

** See the Notes from the President page

 

i

Minutes

Our August meeting was our 492nd.   The meeting, which was BCWRT’s Bring a Friend to History Night, was held exclusively in person.  There were 6 attendees, including one guest.

 

The attendees voted to confirm a motion, made at a BCWRT board meeting earlier in August, to elect Frank Armiger Jr. Interim Treasurer for a term extending through the December 2025 meeting of the BCWRT. The death of longtime treasurer Ray Atkins in May had necessitated the election of a replacement.

 

Our speaker was Alex Carle, Assistant Curator of the B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad Museum.  Mr. Carle spoke on “Lincoln’s Railroad: The B&O and the Civil War.”

 

The B&O, founded in 1827, was the nation’s first common carrier railroad.  The railroad’s creation was triggered by three events which threatened Baltimore’s trade domination.  These were 1.) the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in Britain, 2.) the chartering of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and 3.) the opening of the Erie Canal.  Over the next 30 years, the B&O redefined how people traded and did business.  

 

The B&O was involved in three famous events that occurred before or early on in the Civil War.  

 

When John Brown conducted his raid on Harper’s Ferry (October 16-18) 1859, a B&O train from Wheeling, West Virginia was passing through the town.  While Brown initially held up the train, he ultimately let it proceed to Monocacy, Maryland.  This was a huge mistake, because it enabled the federal government to become aware of the situation and ultimately crush Brown’s uprising.  

 

In February 1861, after being elected president, Abraham Lincoln was traveling by train to Washington DC.  Kate Warne, the head of the female division of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, uncovered a plot to assassinate the president-elect.  A train pulled by the B&O No. 25 took Lincoln aboard and he safely arrived in DC.

 

The B&O also found itself in the middle of the Pratt Street Riot in Baltimore on April 19, 1861, in which the 6th Massachusetts Infantry was attacked by a pro-Confederate mob.  At the time, Baltimore had a law against the construction of steam rail lines.  The cars had to be disassembled and pulled through the city.  During the riot, mobs sabotaged the tracks.  

 

After the war began, the B&O became a military pipeline for the Union.  Although the president of the railroad, John Work Garrett, was a Confederate sympathizer, he was first and foremost a businessman, and in the wake of Stonewall Jackson’s “Great Train Raid” of May-June 1861, in which B&O locomotives and train cars were dismantled and taken to Confederate territory, the railroad began formally working for the Union.  B&O employees had to sign an oath that they would not support the Confederacy.  

 

During the war, slaves seeking refuge with the Union military were expected to serve the cause in some way.  Many became “liberated trackworkers.”  This made sense because in the South,

 

railroads were largely constructed by slaves.  These workers were among the first African Americans in the war to be paid for their labor.

 

The B&O played an important role in several battles.  They were called to send ammunition to the Army of the Potomac at Antietam, although it didn’t get there until after the battle.  In September 1863, the Army of the Cumberland was besieged in Chattanooga. The federal government had to send its own trains, and Garrett was put in charge of organizing the project.  It was the largest train mobilization in American history up to that point.

 

The B&O also played a crucial role in the battle of Monocacy.  In late June 1864, B&O agents detected a Confederate force under Jubal Early moving through the Shenandoah Valley, coming toward Washington.  Garrett informed Lew Wallace (who was based in Baltimore), and Wallace battled Early’s forces on July 9, buying an extra day for the defense of the capital.  

 

At the end of the war, the B&O brought victorious troops from Washington to their homes.  During the world wars, the U.S. railroad system was nationalized again.  The 714th Railroad Battalion, the last railroad unit, was shut down in 1972.  From then on, the government no longer trained railroad soldiers.  

 

The B&O’s website is BORAIL.org.  Celebrations are planned for the 200th anniversary of the American railroad in 2027.  Information can be found at americanrail200.org/.

July 1-3, 1863, will forever marks a significant day in United States history since the Battle of Gettysburg, the deadliest battle of the Civil War, occurred on those dates. More studies have been made, and more books have been written about Gettysburg than any other battle of that war.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, as we welcome Prof. Dave Booz who will regale us with his aspect on the Battle of Gettysburg. Prof Booz will be returning to us for the first time since being our speaker at the 2016 banquet. 

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

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.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Dave Booz on the Battle of Gettysburg. at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/t-EjuySWRqqUOLnHJtnGFg

 

 

Minutes

Our July meeting was our 491st.  The meeting had 5 in-person attendees and 17 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Dave Booz.  Mr. Booz has served as an adjunct professor in the Civil War Era Studies department at Gettysburg College, in addition to teaching elsewhere.  The topic of his presentation was the contest for Culp’s Hill during the Battle of Gettysburg.  Mr. Booz argued that while Culp’s Hill is not what most people think of when they think of Gettysburg, the struggle for the hill was nevertheless the key to the battle as a whole.  

 

Gettysburg, according to Mr. Booz, was Robert E. Lee’s worst battle.  Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was made up of I Corps under James Longstreet, II Corps under Richard Ewell, and III Corps under A.P. Hill.  Hill and Ewell were not Stonewall Jackson.  However, it’s also probably not true that Ewell wasn’t “good enough” as a commander.  During the ANV’s march from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg, the three corps commanders did not meet together even once.  

 

When the battle began on July 1, Major Generals Winfield Scott Hancock and O.O. Howard, of the Army of the Potomac, both recognized the importance of Culp’s and Cemetery Hills and ordered them defended.  However, although Ewell’s corps did a good job in the fighting on July 1, Ewell was subsequently faced with a tough decision.  While he wanted to take the hills if possible, he also realized his men were very tired and didn’t think they could be pushed much further.  Culp’s Hill was heavily wooded.  As the first Confederates started up the hill, they faced opposition and Ewell concluded it wasn’t practicable to take it.  

 

The Army of the Potomac’s XII Corps subsequently arrived and occupied the hill.  The commander of XII Corps was George Sears Greene. Greene was a very good engineer, and he constructed an excellent defensive line.  Greene’s men dug in, cutting down trees and moving rocks to build strong breastworks.  During the ensuing battle, Mr. Booz said, almost all the Union casualties were in the head and face, caused by gaps in the breastworks.  

 

On July 2,  Ewell began bombarding Cemetery Ridge with artillery to create a diversion.  However, the artillerists were outmatched by Union artillery on the ridge.  It wasn’t until 7 PM that Confederate infantry started to move up the hill.  Union pickets–designed to be an early warning sign–saw the Confederates coming.  They started shooting and the Confederates pushed them back.  The Confederates crossed Rock Creek and marched to the base of Culp’s Hill.  

 

By this point, most of XII Corps had been ordered to the center of the Union line.  The 1,350 to 1,450 men of Greene’s brigade remained to face over 4,000 Confederate attackers.  Greene’s men were at least a foot apart in a single line, not shoulder to shoulder in two lines as was typical.  The Confederates started up the steep hill.  The defenders let them advance at first.  As they struggled upward, they sought cover behind the rocks and trees that were everywhere.  Finally, the Union forces fired and the effect was deadly.  The Confederate 1st Maryland

 

 

Battalion (subsequently designated the 2nd Maryland) fought well and had high morale, but suffered heavy casualties.  

 

Greene and his men fought a tremendous defense.  He was able to rotate men in and out of the lines, entire regiments at a time.  When out of the lines, the men would clean their muskets and get more ammunition.  It’s been said that the Confederates attacked three times, with some actually jumping over the Union lines before they were killed or captured.  

 

By 4 AM on July 3, the Union artillery was ready for a renewal of the fighting.  They had all the ammunition they needed, and opened fire with solid shot, explosive shot, and canister.  The Confederates kept their heads down and were largely protected.  Later, they attacked Union forces along Spangler’s Spring.  The Confederates made three charges, but were ultimately driven off the hill.  By 11 AM,  the battle for Culp’s Hill was effectively over.  Greene’s outstanding defense had saved the hill.  

 

Mr. Booz argued that If the Confederates had taken Culp’s Hill, their next objective would have been Cemetery Hill,  and they would have had a great opportunity to destroy the Army of the Potomac.  

 

On December 18, 1863, just north of Elizabeth City in rural northeastern North Carolina, a large group of white Union officers and black enlisted troops under the command of Brigadier General Edward Augustus Wild executed a local citizen for his involvement in an irregular resistance to Union army incursions along the coast. Daniel Bright, by conflicting accounts, either a Confederate soldier home on leave or a deserter and guerrilla fighter guilty of plundering farms and harassing local Unionists, was hanged inside an unfinished postal building. The initial fall was not mortal, and according to one Union soldier's account, Bright suffered a slow death by "strangulation, his heart not ceasing to beat for twenty minutes."

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, as historian and author Dr. Barton A. Myers delves into the Bright case via his book Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community, 1861-1865.

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Dr. Barton A. Myers is Professor of History at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, an award-winning teacher and author, and a recognized authority on American Civil War, military history and Presidential history. Dr. Myers holds a B.A. from the College of Wooster, a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, and the Miller Postdoctoral Fellow in Military History from Cornell University.

 

Professor Myers is the author or editor of three books and scores of journal articles, book chapters, magazine pieces, historical essays and reviews on the Civil War era, military history, and the American experience.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Barton A. Myers presenting Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community, 1861-1865. at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Jp4dHaqoRtizgHNzpPRAyw

 

  

Minutes

 

Our June meeting was our 490th.  The meeting had 5 in-person attendees and 12 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Dr. Barton Myers, Professor of History at Washington and Lee University.  Dr. Myers, the author of Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community, 1861-1865, spoke on an expedition by Union forces under the command of Edward Augustus Wild into northeastern North Carolina in December 1863.  Dr. Myers said that he came to the subject out of an interest in the legal status of Confederate guerrillas.  

 

In the northeastern corner of North Carolina, the Dismal Swamp was the most prominent geographic feature.  The area encompassed six NC counties and during the war period contained large numbers of enslaved and free African Americans as well as whites. The enslaved worked mostly on corn and wheat plantations and were often hired out.  Free African Americans often worked in the turpentine and shingle-making industries.  

 

Edward Augustus Wild was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1825.  He attended Harvard and went to Medical College in Philadelphia.  By the time the Civil War began, Wild had become a committed abolitionist.  He lost his left arm at South Mountain, and in April 1863 he was promoted to brigadier general.  Wild recruited what became known as “Wild’s African Brigade.”  The 1,800 men of the brigade included escaped slaves as well as African Americans who had been born free.  Some were from North Carolina, others from Ohio and Massachusetts.  Wild’s devotion to abolitionism won him a place under the command of Major General Benjamin Butler.  

 

Wild’s raid in December 1863 was designed in part as a recruiting endeavor among northeastern North Carolina’s African American population.  In addition, Confederate irregulars had been harassing the substantial number of pro-Union citizens in the region, which had been heavily Whig in the years before the war.  Pasquotank, Camden, and Currituck counties had become home to intense guerilla warfare.  

 

On December 5, Wild’s brigade left Virginia.  He divided the brigade into two columns–the first composed of the 5th United States Colored Troops, the 55th Massachusetts, and 100 men from the 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry.  The second consisted of the 1st USCT and the 2nd North Carolina Colored Infantry.  On December 10, the African Brigade arrived in Elizabeth City, NC.  Wild established headquarters at the residence of Unionist Dr. William G. Pool.  Soldiers who were freedmen asked for permission to rescue their family members.  The brigade systematically freed the enslaved and placed them in positions of authority over their former masters.

 

After Samuel Jordan, a soldier from the 5th USCT, was captured by a Pasquotank guerilla band led by Captain John T. Elliott, Wild took the wives of two of the men in the band as hostages. On December 17, Wild wrote Elliott, informing him of the hostages and telling him that they would share the fate of Jordan.  In addition, 20 prisoners had been captured, including Daniel Bright.  Wild thought Bright was a deserter from the 62nd Georgia Cavalry/Partisan Rangers who had joined the Pasquotank guerillas.  The other prisoners were released, but Bright was charged

with robbery and desertion.  He was executed on December 18, and his body was left to hang in the Dismal Swamp.  A note was attached to Bright’s body condemning his guerilla activities.  Jordan was later executed by the guerillas, but there was no further violence as a result.  

 

During the second phase of the raid, Wild was much harsher than he had been before, burning homes and confiscating the property of both Confederate and Unionist citizens.  He became less concerned with discerning loyalty than he had been during the first part of the raid.  However, Wild and his men did not practice “total war” --no systematic killing of civilians or depopulation occurred.  On December 24, the brigade headed back to Virginia. According to Wild, 2,500 African Americans had been freed from slavery.  

 

On December 19, Unionist and Confederate citizens met and signed a petition requesting the removal of the Confederate guerillas.  North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance agreed to put the guerillas into state units.  By January 1864, most of them had been organized into the 68th North Carolina State Troops.  They were sent to hunt down deserters in western NC.  

Additionally, Butler said that he would not send any more raids into the region if Confederate guerrilla activity ceased.  However, there were incursions by both sides later in the war.

 

Access to a reliable water supply has been the key to establishing, growing and maintaining municipalities since the dawn of mankind. Crisis, conflicts and wars can develop due to water supplies (just look at California, Nevada and Colorado problems today).

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday, May 27 as historian and photography expert Paul Bolcik returns to discuss Washington D.C. Bad Water & The Road to Civil War.

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Paul Bolcik is a founding member of the Montgomery Co. MD. Civil War round table from Oct. 1980. His writings photographs and investigations have appeared in LIFE magazine, Civil War Times, Civil War News, Military Images Magazine, The Daguerreian Society's annual yearbook and quarterlies, The Jonestown annual report and Spokes (a Frederick, MD. based cycling newspaper for the mid-Atlantic states). Paul Bolcik, a BCWRT member, last spoke to us about Mathew Brady & Co. picture of the three captured rebel soldiers at the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Paul Bolcik talking about Washington D.C. Bad Water & The Road to Civil War at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/rC27MizFTKGlUer6mbgryw

 

 

Washington Aqueduct Gatehouse

NPS/Stephanie Spence

 

Minutes

Our May meeting was our 489th.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees (including two guests) and 12 attendees on Zoom.  

 

Our speaker was Civil War historian and photography expert Paul Bolcik.  Mr. Bolcik, who had spoken to the BCWRT on previous occasions, discussed Washington DC: Bad Water and the Road to ‘Civil War’.”

 

     

Click picture to enlarge Click "back" to return here.

 

Mr. Bolcik began his presentation with some background on the growing tension between the North and the South during the decades before the war.  With the South ever more committed to slavery, the North having abolished (at least gradually) the institution, and new states being admitted to the Union, the balance of power depended on the number of free vs. slave states.  The northern states were growing faster than the southern.  The two sections attempted to reach a compromise with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the (far more problematic and controversial) Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

 

During the 1840s, Yucatan was its own nation, independent of Mexico.  During the war between the U.S. and Mexico in 1846-8, Yucatan offered to join the U.S. but President James K. Polk and Secretary of State (and future president) James Buchanan were not receptive to the idea.  Polk and a successor of his, Franklin Pierce, tried to purchase Cuba from Spain but were unsuccessful.  During Pierce’s presidency, there was an attempt by some to organize a “filibuster” (armed invasion) of Cuba.

 

Mr. Bolcik argued that a number of prominent people in the DC area (including several presidents) became seriously ill or died because of unhealthy water.  William Henry Harrison, he said, developed pneumonia soon after his inauguration in 1841, but what finally caused his death a month after becoming president was vomiting and diarrhea due to bad White House water. SImilarly, Polk’s death in 1849 (only three months after leaving office) was likely due to bad water, as was that of Polk’s successor, Zachary Taylor, in 1850.  

 

Mr. Bolcik spoke about the “National Hotel Disease.” Between January and March 1857, 300 hotel guests became sick, with a substantial number of them dying.  It was believed that a “Republican party assassin” or “operator” had poisoned the water (most of the guests were there for James Buchanan’s presidential inauguration).

 

Mr. Bolcik discussed in detail the building of the Washington Aqueduct.  Work on the Aqueduct began in 1853, and Army Lt. Montgomery C. Meigs was given the job of designing and building it.  During the Pierce administration, Meigs and then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis were good friends, but he didn’t get along with the subsequent Buchanan cabinet, particularly the Secretary of War, John Buchanan Floyd.  However, Meigs became very good friends with Abraham Lincoln.

 

The DC aqueduct was a huge undertaking, ultimately requiring ten years to complete.  Meigs believed in photography, so there are many photos of the project in progress, a number of

which were shown by Mr. Bolcik as part of his presentation.   A total of six bridges needed to be constructed to cross streams and ponds.  The most spectacular was bridge #4, the “Union Arch Bridge” (also known as “Cabin John Bridge”).  Designed by Alfred Landon Rives, it required nine mini-arches.  At 67 meters in length, it was the largest single span arch in the world at that time (and would remain so until the completion of the Adolphe Bridge in Luxembourg in 1903).  On March 18, 1861, Rives became Chief Engineer for the Confederacy.   One of his daughters, Amelie, later became a celebrated novelist.  

 

On December 5, 1863, the aqueduct was completed.  However, the press put the story in the can, choosing not to discuss it until Grant’s and Sherman’s campaigns were underway in 1864 in order to provide happy news during that period.  

 

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt had Jefferson Davis’s name restored to the Washington Aqueduct plaque (Davis was Secretary of War when the project started).  Davis’s name had been removed by Secretary of the Interior Caleb Smith in 1861.

 

Mr. Bolcik concluded his presentation by recommending a YouTube video entitled “Washington Aqueduct (Paths # 12),” which features Patricia Gamby giving a tour of the Aqueduct.  

 

On May 20, the BCWRT lost its longtime Treasurer, Ray Atkins.  Ray passed away at the age of 94.  He will be deeply missed.  

 “Old Pete” and “My Old Warhorse” were among the positive nicknames given to Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet. After the Civil War, he was called ‘traitor’ by the Last Cause advocates because he became a Republican and dared to publicly criticize Gen. Robert E. Lee’s strategy at the Battle of Gettysburg. Many blame Longstreet for the loss at Gettysburg.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, as author and historian Cory M. Pfarr explores his new work Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion. This is the second of Cory Pfarr’s examination of Longstreet’s Gettysburg’s action, the first being Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment.

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Cory M. Pfarr works for the Department of Defense and is an American History author whose main interests span America's Revolutionary to Civil War years. His work on John Quincy Adams, "John Quincy Adams's Republicanism: 'A Thousand Obstacles Apparently Stand Before Us'" was published by the Massachusetts Historical Society in 2014. His book-length study on Lieutenant General James Longstreet's performance at the Battle of Gettysburg, titled, Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment, was published by McFarland in 2019. He has also written articles for “North & South” and “Gettysburg Magazine”, and has appeared on the Pennsylvania Cable Network and C-SPAN American History TV. He lives in Pikesville, Maryland with his wife and three kids.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Cory M. Pfarr talking about his book; Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion.at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/61B1GvS3SiOaCjhjeeOwmg

 

 

Minutes

Our April meeting was our 488th.  The meeting had 6 in-person attendees (including one guest) and 15 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Cory Pfarr, a historian and author.  Mr. Pfarr spoke on a series of issues related to Confederate General James Longstreet’s performance at the battle of Gettysburg. He had previously spoken to the BCWRT about his book Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment.  This time, his presentation was based on a follow-up work entitled Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion.  

 

Mr. Pfarr presented a series of seven maps taken from Righting the Longstreet Record, each of which dealt with a particular topic he was discussing.  He outlined the principal charges that were levied at Longstreet beginning in 1872.  They included the following: that he was slow to reach the battlefield on July 1, that he was slow in launching the principal Confederate attack on July 2, and that he did not enter into the spirit of the attack on the Union center on July 3.  

 

Map 1 dealt with the roads to Gettysburg at dawn on July 1.  Historians have claimed that Lee rebuked Longstreet for being slow to arrive on the battlefield.  In reality, however, during the first day. Edward Johnson’s division and A.P. Hill’s wagon train collided with Longstreet on the Chambersburg Pike.  Lee instructed Longstreet to let them have the right of way and go before his (Longstreet’s) own I Corps.

 

Map 2 dealt with Confederate plans for July 2.  According to Mr. Pfarr, there’s no evidence Lee ordered Longstreet to seize Little Round Top.  Moreover, contrary to later claims, Longstreet was looking to get the attack underway quickly.  But when he and Lee realized that the Army of the Potomac had a strong presence in their front, they changed the location of John Bell Hood’s division.  The attack changed from being two divisions deep to being two divisions wide.  Also, Lee and Longstreet intended for all three Confederate corps to act in concert.  However, the other two corps commanders–A.P. Hill and Richard Ewell–failed to carry out their part of the plan.

 

Map 3 dealt with Hood’s digression at 4:15 P.M. on July 2.  Longstreet told Hood to attack obliquely northward up the Emmitsburg Road, not to seize the Round Tops.  However, the actions of Hood, Brigadier General Evander Law, and Colonel William C. Oates of the 15th Alabama led to an assault on Little Round Top, pushing Longstreet’s attack to the right in ways not intended.  In large measure, this was due to Oates engaging the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, a unit from Daniel Sickles’ III Corps, at Big Round Top.

 

Map 4 dealt with the attack of Richard Anderson’s III Corps division on July 2.  Anderson’s division remained under A.P. Hill’s command–Longstreet was never given control of it.  Only three of Anderson’s five brigades fully attacked, and despite initial success, they were forced back one by one.  Moreover, there was little support.  A.J.L. Fremantle–the British observer with Lee’s army–said that Lee only sent one message and received one report during the attack.  

 

Map 5 dealt with the situation at the end of Lafayette McLaws’ attack at 7:30 P.M. on the evening of July 2.  By 7:30, seven of Longstreet’s eight brigades were along or south of the Wheatfield Road–nowhere near Cemetery Hill.  Mr. Pfarr said that one can see how the execution of the attack was not well thought out–it was executed on the fly, requiring last minute changes due to the presence of Sickles.  The Confederates didn’t have much rear support.  Also, the Army of the Potomac was able to juggle reserves around to meet the Confederate threat.  

 

Map 6 dealt with Lee’s initial plan for July 3.  There is no evidence that Lee ordered Longstreet to be ready to attack at dawn that day.  Lee’s initial plan was to resume the offensive on the Union left center.  Longstreet pushed back on this, and Lee proposed a new plan–an attack on the center.  The men who would participate were to be from both Longstreet’s and Hill’s corps.  This required further delay.  Longstreet had an alternate plan to attack around the Round Tops on July 3.  He proposed this to Lee during their 4:30 A.M. meeting.  This plan was interpreted by some as insubordination on Longstreet’s part, but according to Mr. Pfarr, that was not the case.  

 

Map 7 dealt with what is commonly known as “Pickett’s Charge” on July 3.  Mr. Pfarr pointed out problems that the attack faced.  Some of the units participating were not fresh, having been engaged in earlier parts of the battle.  At the same time, some of A.P. Hill’s units that were in good shape were left out.  Additionally, prior to the charge William Pendleton, the chief of artillery, sent the artillery reserve too far to the rear to be useful and moved a group of 12-pounder howitzers that were supposed to advance with the infantry.

 

John Wilkes Booth is widely known as the noted actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. What is not as widely known is Booth’s connection to the Secret Service of the Confederate States of America.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, as Jim Garrett of the Junius B Booth Society explores the topic John W. Booth and the Confederate Secret Service. 

 

The meeting will be on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Jim Garrett spent most of his career in the financial services industry, but for the last 10 years, he's been fortunate to be able to do what he has always wanted to do . . . share history. Since 2015, he has been a US Army contractor, plus a staff historian and tour trainer for Arlington National Cemetery. He retired in 2021 and has filled his time as a part-time tour guide and your guide trainer for Unscripted Tours, rated the best tour company in Washington by Viator, the parent company of TripAdvisor. Garrett was a volunteer at Ford's Theatre, giving talks on topics regarding the Lincoln Assassination and other topics related to the Civil War. He recently began teaching a variety of American History classes at Frederick Community College.  He lives in Rohrersville, MD., a short 12-minute drive to the Antietam battlefield.

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Jim Garrett in his talk about John W. Booth and the Confederate Secret Service at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at:

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nJh1h1wxSTOAgooj51Ll1g

 

             Jim Garrett                             John Wilkes Booth Library of Congress

Minutes

Our March meeting was our 487th.  The meeting had 5 in-person attendees and 18 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Jim Garrett, a historian, teacher, tour guide, and member of the Junius B. Booth Society.   Mr. Garrett spoke on John Wilkes Booth and the Confederate Secret Service.  He argued that the Confederate Secret Service appears to have been involved in the initial plot by Booth and his fellow conspirators to kidnap Abraham Lincoln, and possibly in the subsequent assassination as well.  According to Mr. Garrett, the secret service gave Booth letters of introduction and also helped him escape after he assassinated Lincoln.

 

In August 1864, Booth stayed at Barnum’s City Hotel in Baltimore.  He called on two childhood friends–Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen.  Both men had served in the Confederate army.  Over beer and oysters, Booth proposed kidnapping Lincoln.  By doing so, he argued, they could force an exchange of Confederate prisoners (prisoner exchanges had broken down earlier that year). In October, Booth went to St. Lawrence Hall, a hotel in Montreal.  St. Lawrence served as a base of operations for the Confederate Secret Service.  It was there, Mr. Garrett said, that Booth received gold and letters of introduction to Confederate agents.

 

After he returned to the U.S., Booth met Dr. Samuel Mudd.  Mudd took Booth to church and introduced him to his friends.  During the winter of 1865, Booth made connections with John Surratt and other agents (according to Mr. Garrett, at one point Surratt was seen talking with Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin).  Surratt introduced him to David Herold.  Meanwhile, John Lloyd rented a tavern from Surratt’s mother, Mary.  Lewis Powell of Florida–who had been wounded on the second day of Gettysburg and later served under John Singleton Mosby–was brought into the plot and taken to the Surratt boarding house.  George Atzerodt was as well (he had been running contraband across the Potomac for years without being caught).  

 

On March 17, 1865, Booth and his co-conspirators attempted to kidnap Lincoln (Lincoln usually traveled with no security), waiting for the carriage carrying the president to appear.  However, the man in the carriage was not Lincoln–Lincoln’s plans had changed that night.  Moreover, in February exchanges of prisoners had resumed, meaning that the original rationale for the kidnapping had disappeared.  Booth decided to change the plot to assassination.  

 

Mr. Garrett said that after the assassination, every place Booth went to on his escape route was a Confederate safe house.  He was hidden in a swamp for days.  Booth and Herold met with a couple of Mosby’s Rangers, and Herold foolishly called himself and Booth “assassinators.”   A Confederate Secret Service agent, Thomas Jones, helped Booth and Herold cross the Potomac into Virginia.  Other agents transported them to the home of Dr. Richard Stuart.  However, they were kicked out and slept in the cabin of a former slave.  They eventually arrived at Port Royal, at which point the secret service washed its hands of them.  

 

Mr. Garrett closed his presentation by naming the books available on the subject of Booth’s connections to the Confederate Secret Service–all of which he brought to the meeting.

They include: American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael W. Kauffman, Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln by William A. Tidwell, James O. Hall, and David Winfred Gaddy, J. Wilkes Booth: An Account of His Sojourn in Southern Maryland After the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, His Passage Across the Potomac and His Death in Virginia by Thomas Jones, John Wilkes Booth: Day by Day by Arthur F. Loux, Booth’s Confederate Connections by Sandy Prindle,  Montreal, City of

Secrets: Confederate Operations in Montreal During the American Civil War by Barry Sheehy (photographs by Cindy Wallace), and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia by Edward Steers.

 

After Mr. Garrett’s presentation concluded, the roundtable voted to elect Frank Armiger to the post of Assistant Treasurer.  Five votes were cast in person and five on Zoom.

According to the 1860 Census, the population of the United States was 31,429,891. By the summer of 1865, over 2.8 million fought in the Civil War (over 2 million for the US and around 750,000 for the CSA.) Therefore, there is a strong chance that many of us whose families pre-dated the mid-19^th century US population may have Civil War soldier ancestors.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday February 25, as we present lawyer, reenactor and Civil War descendant Calvin Osbourne discussing the national publicity he received when he discovered that his ancestor was part of the first Black regiment to fight in the Civil War and how to find your own CW ancestor.

 

As noted, the meeting will be on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn left then right into the library (rm #208).

 

Calvin Osborne is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was born on Greenwood Street, better known as Black Wall Street.  In 1991, Calvin joined Company B of the 54th  Massachusetts  Civil  War Reenactors (the 54th). The 54th was specifically formed by the National Park Service for the filming of the award-winning Tri-Star motion picture “Glory.” The 54th has been instrumental in the filming of civil war movies, documentaries, and historical films, including “Gettysburg,” “Gods and Generals,” “Somersby,” “Andersonville,” “Lincoln,” and others.  As a reenactor with the 54th, Calvin has participated in hundreds of civil war reenactments and living history events across the nation. Calvin, along with the 54th marched in Barack Obama’s inaugural parades, lectured at churches, private businesses, government agencies, colleges, high schools, and even primary schools about the civil war and the involvement of United States Colored Troops. The 54th receives hundreds of requests for appearances each year and is most in demand during Black History Month.

 

Calvin Osborne is a past President of the 54th. He is a direct descendant of William Lacy, a former slave who became a civil war soldier with the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry (79th USCT). William Lacy married Lucinda Thomas Postoak Lacy, a woman who was also a former slave in the Creek Nation in the Oklahoma territory. He has been the subject of a short CNN video and a special CBS segment related to the  military  history  of  his  ancestors,  as  well  as  working  with  Ancestry conducting voiceovers.

 

Osborne earned a B.S. in Management from William Jewell College and a Juris Doctorate from University of Missouri-Kansas City. Calvin is currently working toward a Masters in Real Estate from Harvard University. He is an attorney currently practicing law in Washington DC where he lives with his wife and two daughters. (additional 54th information available at www.54thmass.org).

 

Remember, join the BCWRT as we present Calvin Osborne talking about Civil War ancestry at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at Hiss United Methodist Church. It you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YhIZVHCFTuqLn8pknKcO4g.

 

 

Minutes

Our February meeting was our 486th.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees and 13 attendees through Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Calvin L. Osborne. Esq.  Mr. Osborne, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma. who grew up on Greenwood Avenue (known as “Black Wall Street”), is a member of Company B of the 54th Massachusetts, a Civil War reenacting unit.  He has participated in hundreds of reenactments and living history events.  Mr. Osborne spoke about how he came to learn that William Lacy–an ancestor of his–served in the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry (later redesignated the 79th USCT) during the Civil War.

 

The story began when Mr. Osborne saw a CNN news article about Drew Brees.  Brees said that no one would “take a knee” for the National Anthem.  Ms. Osborne thought that was short-sighted and posted in the comments section.  CNN contacted Osborne about his comment which led to a connection with Ancestry.com.

 

Through Ancestry.com, Mr. Osborne found that his father, Jake Osborne Sr., had been in the Navy, serving on the USS Leon during WWII as a 2nd class cook.  He was known as “Lucky Leon” --participating in four battles but never being hit.  Mr. Osborne learned that he had a great uncle–Roy McIntosh, who served in the Army (the 365th Infantry Regiment) during WWI, fighting in the battle of Meuse-Argonne.  He also learned that he had an ancestor named William Lacy, who served in Company K of the 1st Kansas, joining in early 1865.  Lacy was originally a slave from Morgan County, Alabama–the same county as Mr. Osborne’s wife–and was later brought to Kansas.  He escaped at age 17, and prior to joining the 1st Kansas served in the 6th Kansas Militia.  The 6th participated in the Battle of Westport, Missouri, in which Union forces defeated Confederates under Major General Sterling Price.  

 

The 1st Kansas was the first African American regiment to see combat in the Civil War.  The regiment served in the Trans-Mississippi theater, fighting at Island Mound, Missouri, Sherwood, Missouri, First and Second Cabin Creek, Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), and Honey Springs, Indian Territory, and serving in the Camden Campaign in Arkansas, which included the battles of Poison Spring and Jenkins Ferry.   Unlike the 54th Massachusetts, which was composed mostly of free African Americans, 99% of the members of the 1st Kansas were fugitive slaves.  

 

Mr. Osborne pointed out that successfully tracing one’s ancestors involves a substantial amount of luck.  In researching William Lacy, he went to Alabama and visited the Morgan County archives.  There he found estate records, wills, land records, property lists, and articles about the Lacy family.  Mr. Osborne also went to the archives of Linn County, Kansas.

 

Other resources included Newspapers.com (which contains over one million pages of newspapers) and obituaries.  Mr. Osborne was able to find a great deal of information about Lacy through his obituary, which told of his time in Kansas and mentioned that he lived a religious life.  Lacy was accused of vote fixing but was found not guilty.

 

Fold3.com contains millions of military records, providing information about anyone who served during the war–Union or Confederate.  Mr. Osborne also used the Find a Grave website.  Lacy’s

grave is located in Thomas Smith Cemetery in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.  He was born in 1843 and died in 1914 at the age of 70.  When Mr. Osborne found the grave, the tombstone was broken and damaged.  A ceremony was later held to rededicate the tombstone and site.  Civil War reenactors–including members of the Sons of Union Veterans–participated in the ceremony.  

 

Mr. Osborne is currently at work on a book about William Lacy and his wife, Lucinda. Titled Contraband Hearts, it is set to be published in April 2025 and will be about 300 pages in length.  

 

Among the many denizens of the famous Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia is William “Extra Billy” Smith. This lawyer, businessman, congressman and governor is considered by some to be a political general who cost the Army of Northern Virginia its chance of victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, as we host author and historian Scott L, Mingus, Sr. in a presentation of his book, Confederate General, William “Extra Billy” Smith: From Virginia’s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat.

 

As noted, the meeting will be on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in the library of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. (From the beltway (I-695) the church will be on your right. Pull into the upper parking lot-the lot just before the church building- and walk to the semi-circle at the front. Enter the first door on the right, go up the stairs to the second floor and turn right to the library (rm #208).

 

Scott Mingus, a retired scientist and executive in the global pulp & paper industry, holds patents in self-adhesive postage stamps and bar code labels. He was part of the research team that developed the first commercially successful self-adhesive U.S. postage stamps. He has written 28 Civil War and Underground Railroad books. His biography of Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith was nominated for or won multiple awards, including the Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. Literary Prize. He also wrote several articles for Gettysburg Magazine and other journals. Scott maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County PA (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball) and received the Heritage Profile Award from the York County History Center for his many contributions to local Civil War history. He also has written six scenario books on miniature wargaming and was elected to the hobby’s prestigious Legion of Honor. His great-great-grandfather was a 15-year-old drummer boy in the 51st Ohio Infantry, and other family members fought in the Army of the Potomac at Antietam and Gettysburg.

 

Remember, the BCWRT host Scott L, Mingus, Sr. in a presentation of his book, Confederate General, William “Extra Billy” Smith: From Virginia’s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at Hiss United Methodist Church. It you cab’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtf--gqTktG9d20EPpDfMctbhg5KVDxVOs

 

 

Minutes

Our January meeting was our 485th.  The meeting had 11 in-person attendees and 9 attendees through Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Scott Mingus, Sr.  Mr. Mingus, a Civil War tour guide and the author of numerous books and articles on the war, spoke on the life and career of Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith.  Mr. Mingus referred to Smith as the “Dan Sickles of the Confederacy.”  Both men were colorful characters, and both played controversial roles at the battle of Gettysburg.  At 65, Smith was the oldest general on either side at the battle.  

 

William Smith was born on September 6, 1797, likely at “Marengo” in King George County, Virginia.  His father, Colonel Caleb Smith, was a wealthy planter and legislator.  When the War of 1812 broke out, young William wanted to join the navy.  Although only 13 at the time, Smith asked the recruiter how he could become an admiral!   However, his father did not want another war with Great Britain and brought him home from the elite academy where he had been studying in Connecticut.

 

In 1814, Caleb Smith died, and William was put in charge of the family estate.  He studied law (completing his studies in Baltimore) and passed the bar in 1818, when he was 20.  Now a Democrat, in 1821 he married Elizabeth Bell, daughter of the wealthiest man in Culpeper County, Virginia.  At this point Smith controlled his wife’s family’s plantation as well as his own.

 

Smith was highly ambitious and audacious.  In 1827, he obtained a postal contract to carry mail from Washington DC to Culpeper; this route was later expanded all the way to Georgia.  Smith developed several other enterprises as well.  However, he became a target of serious criticism for the many “extra” fees he charged in delivering mail (fees that doubled his income), earning him the nickname “Extra Billy.”  While it was meant as an insult, Smith proudly accepted it, stating that there were many William Smiths but only one “Extra Billy.”

 

In 1836, Smith was elected to the Virginia State Senate.  During his second term, he promised his wife not to seek reelection–only to run for Congress in 1841!  Smith was vehemently opposed by ex-President John Quincy Adams–Adams even gave a speech in Latin mocking him.  Because the Whigs gerrymandered his district, Smith lost his bid for reelection.  However, he served as governor of Virginia from 1846 to 1849, and reentered the U.S. House in 1853, serving until 1861.  

 

Smith was an excellent orator and had great personal charisma.  He was also highly racist, even by the standards of the time.  In addition to becoming (in Mr. Mingus’s words) the “leading voice” of slavery in Virginia, Smith argued that free African Americans should either be enslaved or expelled from Virginia.  Wagon loads of former Virginia slaves were unloaded in York County, Pennsylvania.  In 1861, Smith ran for both the U.S. and the Confederate Congresses simultaneously.  When Virginia seceded, he withdrew from the U.S. race, but didn’t initially resign, smuggling guns to the Confederacy and even fighting Union troops while still a U.S. congressman.  He won election to the Confederate Congress and served briefly there.  

 

 

As colonel of the 49th Virginia, Smith fought at First Bull Run, Seven Pines, the Seven Days Battles, Second Bull Run, Antietam (where he was wounded three times), Second Fredericksburg, and Second Winchester.  At Second Bull Run, the 49th was placed under the control of Jubal Early, with whom Smith had an antagonistic relationship dating back to his (Smith’s) governorship during the war with Mexico.  In February 1863, Smith was promoted to brigadier general and took command of Early’s old brigade.  He ran for governor again and was elected due to overwhelming support from the Army of Northern Virginia–that is, the men wanted to get rid of him!

 

At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Smith claimed there were many Union troops moving on York Road.  Early dispatched John B. Gordon’s brigade to investigate, and as a result only had half of his division available to attack Cemetery Hill.  Because of this, Smith’s critics have blamed him for the Confederate failure to take the hill.  However, his defenders argue that he saved Early’s division from a devastating flank attack on July 1, since, while there were no Union troops on the York Road, there were 12,000 just behind the road, marching north towards it (Alpheus Williams’ division of XII Corps).  Early had Smith transferred to Alleghany Johnson’s division on Culp’s Hill.  In January 1864, Smith became governor of Virginia where, according to Mr. Mingus, his number one priority was to persuade Robert E. Lee to fire Early.  

 

After the war, Smith was indicted for stealing gold but was acquitted by an all African American jury. In 1875, he became the oldest man ever elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.  Smith died on May 18, 1887, at the age of 89.  

 

The American Civil War produced a number of unique and memorable characters. One such individual was a man whose name isn’t well known; however many are familiar with his accomplishments; which include being the hero of the ‘battle that saved Washington’ and writing a novel that became an 11 time Academy Award winning film. That man was General Lew Wallace.

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as NPS Ranger, author and historian Matt Borders speaks on The Life of Major General Lewis “Lew” Wallace. Specifically, Matt will be looking at Wallace’s career following his removal from command after the Battle of Shiloh, his eventual return to the good graces of the Lincoln Administration and his remarkable life. Join us as we look at one of the most famous authors of the 19th century through the lens of his military career.

The meeting will be on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. in the library (#208) of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234.

A graduate of Michigan State and Eastern Michigan University, Matthew Borders holds a BA in United States History with a focus in the American Civil War and a MS in Historic Preservation. Following graduation, he taught at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before accepting a position with the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program. He worked as the historian for the ABPP for six years, during which time he became a certified battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historic Site. He is also the President of the Frederick County Civil War Round Table and a founding member of the Antietam Institute.

Currently, Matthew is a Park Ranger with the National Park Service. He, along with fellow guide, Joe Stahl, has published four books in their Faces of Union Soldiers series. These works look at Federal soldiers at a variety of battles, their stories and their regiments.

Again, join BCWRT as we present Ranger Matt Borders talk on the Life of General Lew Wallace on Tuesday, December 10, at 7:30p.m. Come early to browse the contents of our book raffle. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpcuygrTgrE9LN4KqH1bplmkQRu9AE95Ie

 

 

 

Gen. Lew Wallace

 

   Matt Borders

Minutes

Our December meeting was our 484th.  The meeting had 8 in-person attendees (including 2 guests) and 15 attendees on Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Matt Borders.  Mr. Borders- a National Park Service ranger, author and historian–spoke on the life and career of Union Major General Lewis “Lew” Wallace.  

 

Lew Wallace was born on April 10, 1827, in Brookville, Indiana.  In 1840, he was sent to study in Centerville.  Although a poor student, Wallace was extremely intelligent and a voracious reader.  At 16, he went on his own to Indianapolis, where he became very interested in the military and joined the Marion Rifles, a militia unit.  By 1846, he was studying law.  On May 13 of that year, the U.S. declared war on Mexico.  Wallace became a recruiter for the Marion Volunteers, which became part of the First Indiana Infantry.  During the war, Wallace (who began his service as a second lieutenant and was promoted to first) saw no combat, but did see many men die of disease.  

 

In 1849, Wallace was admitted to the bar.  On May 6, 1852, he married Susan Elston, an author; their son Henry Lane Wallace was born the following year.  In 1856, Wallace was elected to the Indiana Senate.  He organized the “Montgomery Guards,” giving them Zouave uniforms and training them in the Zouave style.  

 

Following the outbreak of war in April 1861, Wallace served as Indiana’s adjutant general.  In one week, he raised six regiments (the 6th through 11th Indiana Infantry).  He wanted a field command, and was made colonel of the 11th, a three-month regiment.  The 11th saw service in western Virginia and participated in the capture of Romney on June 12, 1861.  In August, the regiment re-enlisted for three years, and the following month Wallace was promoted to brigadier general and became a brigade commander.

 

Wallace was present at the Battle of Fort Donelson–in which he was given command of a division–on February 14-15, 1862.  His division participated in a massive counterattack that stopped a Confederate breakout.  In March he was promoted to major general and took part in the battle of Shiloh on April 6-7.  Wallace’s performance at Shiloh was controversial.  He was unable to bring his division to the field until about 6 pm on April 6.  On April 7, he was heavily involved in the counterattack which caused the Confederates to retreat.  After the battle, Wallace became a scapegoat for the heavy Union casualties. According to Mr. Borders, Wallace made a convenient target because he was not a West Pointer.

 

Wallace was involved in defending various places in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana during 1862-3.  During September 1-13, 1862, he organized the civilian population of Cincinnati to defend their city.  On March 22, 1864, Wallace took command of the Middle Department and VIII Corps.  

 

In 1864, Lincoln wanted slavery in Maryland to be abolished.  A new constitution was approved that did so, and submitted to the voters.  It narrowly passed, and went into effect on November 1, 1864.  Wallace worked with the governor to make sure that the elections were safe.

 

During the summer of 1864, Wallace played an important role in defending Washington DC from the Confederates.  Confederates hoped that by threatening DC, they could break Grant’s

stranglehold on Petersburg and affect the 1864 election. Wallace commanded a force partially composed of 100 days men.  On July 9, 1864, Wallace’s troops fought a Confederate force under Jubal Early in the Battle of Monocacy, Maryland.  Although Wallace had to retreat, he bought 24 hours time, making it impossible for Early to take the capital when he approached it.  However, shortly afterward Wallace was removed from command, although on July 28 he was reinstated as commander of the Middle Department and VIII Corps.

 

Wallace was a member of the Lincoln commission, the tribunal which tried those accused of conspiring to kill the president.  He was the only lawyer on the tribunal.   He was also head of the commission that investigated Henry Wirz, the camp commandant of Andersonville who was hanged.  After the war, Wallace served as military governor of New Mexico Territory (1878-81) and as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881-5).  In addition, he was the author of several books, most famously Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880).  Wallace died on February 15, 1905, in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  

 

Every summer, around the first weekend in July, thousands of reenactors from all over the country gather in Adam County, Pennsylvania to commemorate the 3-day Battle of Gettysburg.  The genesis of these contemporary battle scenarios are based in the 1913 gathering of some 54,000 Civil War veterans known as the Grand Reunion.

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday, November 26, as historian and author James Rada, Jr. explores the July 1913 Grand Reunion at the 50^th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the library (#298) of Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234.

James Rada, Jr.is an Amazon.com bestselling author of history and historical fiction. His Civil War titles include Battlefield Angels: The Daughters of Charity Work as Civil War Nurses, Echoes of War Drums: The Civil War in Mountain Maryland, and No North, No South: The Grand Reunion at the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Rada lives in Gettysburg, Pa., where he works as a freelance writer. James has received numerous awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, Associated Press, Maryland State Teachers Association, Society of Professional Journalists, and Community Newspapers Holdings, Inc. for his newspaper writing.

Again, join BCWRT as we present James Rada’s talk on Grand Reunion at the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg on November 26, at 7:30p.m. Come early to browse the contents of our book raffle. If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItcOGgqD0iGtBlOfryXreRndOBnmJvo2ij

 

 

Minutes

Our November meeting was our 483rd.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees (including one guest) and 13 attendees through Zoom.

 

Our speaker was James Rada Jr., a historian and author.  Mr. Rada spoke about the Grand Reunion held in July 1913, on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.  

 

The origins of the reunion began with Henry S. Huidekoper.  As lieutenant colonel of the 150th Pennsylvania, Huidekoper had fought at Gettysburg and lost an arm.  As the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil War approached, he thought that Pennsylvania should commemorate its role in the war.  He recommended to Governor Edwin Stuart that both Union and Confederate veterans be invited to attend a reunion at Gettysburg.  A nine-member commission was created to plan the event.  When the U.S. Congress saw that there was public interest, it created its own commission to participate in the planning.  

 

In January and February 1912, it was decided to create a temporary military encampment on 280 acres of the battlefield.  The camp would be open from June 29 to July 6, 1913.  Two months were spent setting it up.  In order to provide the water the veterans would need, artesian wells were built which pumped water into the camp, where it was passed to fountains.  The water that came out was ice cold.  

 

There was a controversy concerning the Confederate flag.  Originally it was believed that the flying of the flag would not be permitted at the reunion, but then it was clarified that while the U.S. flag would fly the highest, the Confederate flag would still be allowed.  

 

The camp was only for the veterans themselves, and people involved in running the camp.  Family members of the veterans were not permitted to stay in the camp.  The oldest veteran was said to be 112-year-old Micyah Weiss.  While his granddaughter was not allowed in the camp, Weiss used two canes and had a good time.  The youngest veteran was 61-year-old John Lincoln Clem, who had joined the Union army as a drummer boy and was still on active duty at the time of the reunion.  

 

The first two veterans to arrive were Confederates who had fought on Culp’s Hill.  They were given a warm welcome.  In general, relations between the Union and Confederate veterans were friendly.  A member of the 28th Virginia, for example, ran into the camp of the 1st Minnesota.  He was invited in and had a good time with them.  

 

The amount of food required was immense (and included what is known as “Spam” today).  In general, the veterans were remarkably tough and resilient.  They could easily walk ten miles a day.  Boy Scouts attended to their needs.  Only nine veterans died at the reunion.

Among the attendees was Union general Daniel Sickles.  One afternoon, Sickles shook about 3,000 hands.  Helen Dortch Longstreet, the widow of Confederate general James Longstreet, was there as a correspondent and was the only civilian allowed to stay in the camp.  

 

President Woodrow Wilson spoke at the reunion.  According to Mr. Rada, he was trying to take a “centrist” approach to the war.  Wilson gave a speech that lasted about half an hour, although the speech was not particularly well received in the press.  In addition to the president, Vice President Thomas Marshall attended, as did the Speaker of the House, Supreme Court Justices, nine governors, and other prominent figures.  

 

On the third day, there was a reenactment of the famous Confederate charge on July 3 generally known as “Pickett’s Charge,” with actual veterans of the original charge participating.  On July 4, there was a fireworks display.  Unfortunately, the loud noise of the display provoked PTSD in many veterans.  In addition, during the reunion the Gettysburg Cyclorama was opened to the public, and a black and white film (now lost) about the battle was shown.  

 On May 17, 2014, as part of the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness, the State of Virginia and Spotsylvania County dedicated a marker commemorating the 23^rd United States Colored Troops and its actions during the tail end of the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. This action marked the first time a USCT unit faced Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as National Park Ranger and historian Steward T. Henderson presents the story of the 23^rd USCT. This meeting will occur on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at our new meeting location- Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, Parkville Md., 21234. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.

 

Steward Henderson is a park ranger/historian with the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.  He has been in this capacity since May 2007, after spending 2 years as a volunteer.  Steward retired from Sun Trust Bank as a Senior Vice President in the Retail Group of the Greater Washington Region in 2005, after a 35-year career in the financial services field.  He attended Howard University, the Institute of Financial Education, the American Bankers Institute, and the Consumer Bankers Association Graduate School of Retail Bank Management.  He has had a life-long interest in the Civil War and is a co-founder of the 23rd Regiment United States Colored Troops, which is affiliated with Friends of the Fredericksburg Area Battlefields and the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center Museum in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Steward is also a member of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers Co. B, the Civil War Trust, and the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust.

 

Be certain to join the BCWRT for the inaugural meeting at a new location (Hiss UM Church) for this informative meeting on the 23^rd USCT. If you can’t attend in person on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., register for the Zoom:

 

 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcOGspzktEtAGMipE9n4JHlss-g6LTPyO

 

 

 

Minutes

Our November meeting was our 482nd.  The meeting had seven in-person attendees and three guests–one of whom, Ed Gantt–became a member.  Additionally, there were 15 attendees through Zoom.  

 

Our speaker was Steward Henderson, a park ranger and historian with the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.  Mr. Henderson’s presentation was entitled “The 23rd U.S. Colored Troops: Importance in the Civil War and Today.”  Mr. Henderson is a co-founder and past president of a modern day, living history version of the 23rd.  

 

Mr. Henderson began with a brief discussion of the military participation of African Americans in the Civil War, followed by a history of the 23rd.  Although initially excluded from fighting for the Union, General Order No. 143 authorized the creation of the United States Colored Troops (USCT).  The USCT fought in about 450 engagements.  Ultimately, about ten percent of the Union army and twenty-five percent of the navy was African American, and about 201,000 African Americans served in the U.S. military during the war, together with about 17,000 white officers in black units.  Additionally, according to Mr. Henderson, more than 1,000 Hispanics served on the Union side as well.  

 

Prior to the Army of the Potomac’s Overland Campaign (May-June 1864), Major General Ambrose Burnside was asked to reconstitute IX Corps.  His condition of adding a division of African American troops to the corps (which became the 4th Division) was granted.  Burnside outranked Major General George Gordon Meade–as a result, IX Corps was independent of the Army of the Potomac.  But this created an awkward situation.  On May 25, the corps was placed back under the army’s control.  

 

The 23rd USCT was organized at Camp Casey, Virginia (near the site of the present-day Pentagon).  On May 6, it arrived at the Wilderness, guarding wagon trains on the right flank.  On May 15, the regiment skirmished with the Army of Northern Virginia.  This was the first time an African American unit engaged in direct combat with the ANV.  The 23rd was called to help the 2nd Ohio Cavalry and succeeded in driving away Rosser’s Confederate Cavalry.  Marching double quick, the regiment occupied Piney Branch Church.  The 23rd lost between eight and ten men wounded in this engagement.  On May 19, the entire 4th division skirmished with the ANV.

 

On July 30, the 23rd participated in the Battle of the Crater.  According to Mr. Henderson, the regiment suffered heavier casualties than any other Union regiment during the battle.  In December 1864, the regiment was transferred to XXV Corps, Army of the James, under Major General Benjamin Butler.  This corps was composed almost entirely of African American troops and their white officers.  The 23rd was later sent to Texas under Major General Philip Sheridan because of the French military presence in Mexico.  On November 30, 1865, the regiment was mustered out.  

 

Mr. Henderson discussed the activities of the “new” 23rd in recent years.  On May 17, 2014, a Virginia state marker dedicated to the 23rd was unveiled.  The entire day was devoted to

 

a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the 23rd’s skirmish with the ANV.  In 2012 through 2017, the new 23rd led Memorial Day processions to Fredericksburg National Cemetery.  The

USCT, white Unionists, and Confederate reenactors had a joint honor guard.  The 23rd has been color guard for the Fredericksburg Cemetery Memorial Day Program since 2012.  The unit is also active on Decoration Day, on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.  

                      

Maryland Civil War Photo Extravaganza

Situated adjacent to the Confederacy, the Chesapeake Bay, the Keystone State, a new state, and the U.S. Capital, Maryland was bound to play a critical role in the Civil War. Major military and political events shaped its role in the Civil War and its future. These same factors resulted in substantial wartime and postwar photographic treasures. Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable as Garry Adelman weaves a visual story of Maryland’s critical role—and the areas adjacent thereto--in a manner available nowhere else! This meeting will occur on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., at the Parkville Senior Center.

A very animated speaker, Garry Adelman is 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 a founder and  vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg since 1995. 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), Grant (2020), and Battles for America (2022).  He works full time as Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust.

The meeting begins at 7:30p.m. at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.) All are urged to attend in person. The fee is $5.00 for non-members. If you can't attend in person, register for the Zoom at

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYodOqspzosEtQUWtBpjWw4KvVNM_97Z9-y

 

Minutes

 

Our September meeting was our 481st.  Seven members attended in person, as did two guests.  There were twelve attendees on Zoom.  

 

Our speaker was Garry Adelman, Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust and Vice President of the Center for Civil War Photography.  Mr. Adelman presented a “Maryland Civil War Photo Extravaganza.”

 

The presentation consisted largely of displays of Civil War photos–most of them related to the battle of Antietam (also known as Sharpsburg) --with detailed explanations of their content and context, interwoven with discussions of general issues concerning Civil War photography.  

 

Mr. Adelman began with a brief discussion of events leading up to the war, including the Dred Scott decision and the 1860 presidential election.  After the latter, Union general Winfield Scott said that anyone who interfered with the counting of the electoral votes would be fired out of a cannon.  

 

During the war, Mr. Adelman said, photographers wanted the “real deal.”  They wanted photos that showed what the war was really like–such as pictures of graves and wounded soldiers being treated.  In total, 103 or 104 photos of dead on various battlefields were taken, including 20 at Antietam and four at Corinth (after the battle that occurred there on October 3-4, 1862).  Most of the dead seen in the photos are Confederates, because most Union soldiers had already been buried by the time they were taken.  Some of these give some of the best views available of what Confederate uniforms looked like.  The photos made a big impact when they were published.  Many of the dead Confederates at Antietam ended up being buried in Washington Cemetery.   

 

When photographers went into the field, they had a limited number of plates, and they generally had to bring all the other supplies they needed–including chemicals–with them.  They had to put the plates (4 by 10 inches) in a twin lens camera.  A plate was put in the sun for a few minutes before it burned its image onto the paper.  Often, a message was written on the back of the photo.  Photos were taken in 3D.  

 

Mr. Adelman encouraged people to go to the Library of Congress and download plates of things that interest them, and discussed techniques that can be used to enhance the value of Civil War photography.  Today, we can insert photos taken on battlefields onto images of the battlefields as they exist now.  Additionally, zooming in on photos often allows interesting and surprising details to be noticed–in one photo Mr. Adelman showed, for example, people can be seen smiling.   Using this technique on a photo of Knapp’s Battery (Independent Battery “E”, Pennsylvania Light Artillery), an American flag and a burial crew can be seen.

 

In September and October 1862, following the battle of Antietam, 60 photos were taken.  Mr. Adelman displayed some of them, including photos of the Dunker Church, the Roulette Farm, and Bloody Lane.  In one photo of Bloody Lane, a burial crew can be seen standing over dead

 

Confederates lying in the trench.  Soldiers may have been dragged into the trench before the photo was taken (it was common to move them before taking photos during the war).  He

also showed photos taken in the decades after the battle.  These included the remains of the Dunker Church after its destruction by a storm in 1921, a restaurant that was subsequently built on the site, Dunkers worshiping, the church being rebuilt (the rebuilding was completed in 1962), and a photo of Elmer Boyer (the man who had purchased the land and church ruins) standing next to the rebuilt church.  Mr. Adelman showed postwar photos of Bloody Lane that included veterans of the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry, markers, and Lohman’s Souvenir Stand.  

 

Mr. Adelman also showed photos of Matthew Brady’s attic and the Monocacy Aqueduct (for the latter, a lithograph as well as a modern picture).  He discussed the Elliott burial map, which has marks for burial locations of Union and Confederate soldiers.  He also said that the widespread claim that many important Civil War photos ended up being destroyed by being placed in greenhouses is a myth.

 

Thanks to Michael Shaara’s book, “The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War”, the name Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is very familiar to most devotees of the American Civil War. One who perpetuates the legacy of this hero of the actions at Little Round Top (Gettysburg) is Chamberlain’s cousin Theadore J. Chamberlain, PhD. 

Join the Baltimore Civil War Round as we present An Evening with Union Hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain featuring Ted Chamberlain. This meeting will occur on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.

Ted Chamberlain and his wife Faye (who reenacts Fanny Chamberlain) are natives of opposite coasts of the United States, Faye from Eastern Pennsylvania and Ted from Western Oregon.  However, only one year into their marriage, in 1967, they fell in love with the Midwest and have made Michigan their home for most of their 58 years of life together.  They received their bachelor’s degrees in Maryland (while Ted was serving in the military at Walter Reed Army Medical Center), their master’s degrees in Michigan and California, and Ted completed his doctoral studies at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California.  Both have been university professors and, more recently, business people.  

Faye is a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, while Ted is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. He is a founder of the World Chamberlain Genealogical Society.  

For over 30 years, Ted has indulged his lifetime love of American history by portraying his cousin, Civil War hero General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (His career has closely followed that of his illustrious cousin: soldier, clergyman, professor, and businessman.).  Faye has recently joined him with her portrayal of the general's wife, Francis (Fannie) Caroline Adams.  When not traveling to Civil War venues they spend their time in Berrien County, Michigan, where Faye serves on the board of the Twin Cities Organ Concert Series and Ted has, for many years, been a member and officer of the board of the Berrien County Historical Association.  They also are officers of the Southwest Michigan Civil War Roundtable which they helped found.  They live in Saint Joseph, Michigan.

The meeting begins at 7:30p.m. at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.) All are urged to attend in person. The fee is $5.00 for non-members. If you can't attend in person, register for the Zoom at SEE NEW LINK ABOVE FOR RESCHEDULED MEETING.

                                                                                      

Minutes

 

Our meeting, scheduled for August, was rescheduled (due to the Parkville Senior Center being closed on the meeting day) and conducted on September 3, exclusively through Zoom.  The meeting had 19 attendees.

Our speaker was Ted Chamberlain.  Mr. Chamberlain, who holds a doctorate from the Claremont School of Theology and is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans, spoke about Union general Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain–a cousin of his and the man whom he has impersonated for more than thirty years.

Mr. Chamberlain discussed how he first became interested in his famous cousin.  Watching the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War when it premiered in 1990, he was awestruck by Joshua Lawrence.  His interest intensified with the 1992 publication of the book In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War.  He went on to discover that he and Joshua had a common ancestor.  

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was born on September 8, 1828, the eldest of five children.  He attended Bowdoin College and learned ten languages, including Arabic and Hebrew.  It was here that he met his wife, Fanny Adams, whom he married on December 7, 1855.  The couple had five children, only two of whom lived to adulthood.  Chamberlain became an instructor and, subsequently, a professor at Bowdoin.

In the summer of 1862, President Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 volunteers.  Chamberlain became lieutenant colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry.  At Antietam, the regiment was held in reserve but saw the horrors of the battle.  At Fredericksburg, the 20th advanced against the Stone Wall.  During 1862-63, the regiment contracted smallpox from contaminated vaccine serum.  As a result, the 20th missed Chancellorsville.  Chamberlain said: “If we couldn’t do anything else we would give the Rebels the smallpox!”  

The 20th Maine is most famous for its contribution to the defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg.  Although other regiments also defended the hill, the 20th occupied the extreme left end of the Union line and was told to hold the ground at all costs.  The regiment withstood fierce attacks from the 15th Alabama, with Chamberlain (now colonel of the regiment) ordering the left side of the regiment to drop back, creating a “V” formation.

On June 18, 1864, Chamberlain was shot through the right hip at (according to Ted) Rives’ Salient, near Petersburg.  He collapsed, was given up for dead by everyone except his hometown doctor and was actually printed on the list of dead.  However, he recovered.

As commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps, Chamberlain participated in the Appomattox Campaign.  On March 29, 1865, he was again wounded (at Quaker Road).  At Appomattox, the day after the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, he was told that Grant had chosen him to receive the formal surrender on April 12,  Chamberlain decided to  give the Confederates the “Carry Arms” salute. Confederate General John B. Gordon had his troops reciprocate.  

In all, Ted said, Chamberlain was in 24 battles, had five horses shot from under him, and was wounded six times.

After the war, Chamberlain returned to Bowdoin.  Soon afterward, he was elected governor of Maine by the largest margin ever.  He served as governor from 1867 to 1871 and president of Bowdoin from 1871 to 1883.  As president, Chamberlain unsuccessfully argued for the admission of women (something that did not take place until 1969).  He became a speaker (which he was very good at) and a businessman (which he was not).  He was also heavily involved with veterans’ affairs for decades.  Chamberlain died on February 24, 1914.  Although it’s not certain whether he died from the wound he received near Petersburg, that wound was at least a contributing factor.  

According to Ted, Chamberlain was not a rabid abolitionist before and during the war.  After the war, he advocated leniency for the Confederates and spoke about reunification and the honor of his Southern counterparts.   

Dear BCWRT Community,

If you read the Notes from the President in the Old Liner for August (see attached) you know about the concern regarding future meetings at the Parkville Senior Center. There is an update our situation.

We are guaranteed to be located at the Parkville Senior Center through September 2024. Negotiations are underway to keep us there beyond that date (and for the foreseeable future). 

Our last contract, which expired at the beginning of 2024, was for $450.00. We have not been charged while waiting for the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks to establish their new policy on meetings at their facilities. We are waiting to hear what the new cost would be and if we can afford it.

In the meantime, if you have and location suggestion, please email me at rfordjazz@yahoo.com.  Any location must have free parking, room to accommodate our membership, Wi-Fi and be reasonably priced. (Hopefully around $450.00 per year).

See you at our meeting at the Parkville Senior Center on Tuesday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m.

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.   as Professor Frank P. Varney examines Grant’s relationship with three noted Civil War generals: the brash and uncompromising “Fighting Joe” Hooker; George H. Thomas, the stellar commander who earned the sobriquet “Rock of Chickamauga”; and Gouverneur Kemble Warren, who served honorably and well in every major action of the Army of the Potomac before being relieved less than two weeks before Appomattox, and only after he had played a prominent part in the major Union victory at Five Forks.

The meeting begins at 7:30p.m. at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.) All are urged to attend in person. The fee is $5.00 for non-members.

Frank Varney earned his undergraduate degree at William Paterson University and his MA and Ph.D. at Cornell University. He is a recently retired Distinguished Professor of US and Classical History and has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards. He is available to take student groups to historic sites, especially Civil War battlefields, and makes frequent speaking appearances before Civil War roundtables, historical societies, and other interested groups. Dr. Varney has also been the keynote speaker at several veterans’ memorial dedications and has made numerous radio and TV appearances. He resides in upstate New York with his wife, Nancy.

Remember, come join us Tuesday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t be there, register at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtf-qgrjguGd0LgGF_5ffry4ODPcStlyCe

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

    

Minutes

Our July meeting was our 479th.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees and 10 attendees through Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Frank P. Varney, a recently retired Distinguished Professor of U.S. and Classical History.  Professor Garney spoke on the relationship between Ulysses S. Grant and other Union generals.  He is the author of General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War.

 

Professor Varney primarily said that Grant wrote the history of the war through his memoirs.  However, he argued Grant’s memoirs have been given far too much credibility, for on multiple occasions he did not tell the truth.  

 

Grant claimed, for example, that at Shiloh he was not surprised by the Confederate attack.  This was untrue.  Prior to the battle, Grant had not entrenched his army.  When the Confederates attacked on April 6, 1862, he was eight miles from the army and not even in telegraphic communication with it.  As late as April 5, he had sent a telegram to his superior, Major General Henry Halleck, saying that he didn’t anticipate any Confederate attack.

 

Grant and General William S. Rosecrans had attended West Point together and had originally been friendly.  However, that changed drastically during the war.  

 

The first trouble between the two men came with Rosecrans’ victory at the battle of Iuka on September 19, 1862.  In Grant’s initial report about Iuka, he praised Rosecrans.  However, in a subsequent report he was quite critical of him.  Between the battles of Iuka and Corinth (also a victory for Rosecrans), a letter arrived at Grant’s headquarters written by Colonel Mortimer Leggett.  Leggett said that Rosecrans was responsible for some newspaper articles claiming that Grant had been drunk in command at Iuka.  The day after the letter was sent, Grant submitted his second report about the battle.  This time, he was highly critical of Rosecrans, and some of his accusations appear to have come from things said in Leggett’s letter.  

 

On December 31, 1862, and January 2, 1863, Rosecrans defeated Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee in the battle of Stone’s River (also known as Murfreesboro).  This was considered an important victory at the time, yet at a meeting with Lincoln, Grant denied it was a victory, a viewpoint Lincoln himself disagreed with.  Grant subsequently criticized Rosecrans for taking too long to begin the Tullahoma Campaign (June 24-July 3, 1863), even though during the campaign Rosecrans successfully maneuvered Bragg out of middle Tennessee with few casualties.  After the battle of Chickamauga (which, Professor Varney said, was not nearly the Union rout it has been portrayed as), Grant relieved Rosecrans (replacing him with George Thomas) for “no valid reason.”  

 

Grant’s relationship with Thomas was also rocky.  At Chattanooga, Grant had not intended for Thomas’ men to charge up Missionary Ridge, and was in fact furious when they did.  Yet in his memoirs, he took credit for it and said it had been part of his plan.  On December 15-16, 1864, at the battle of Nashville, Thomas defeated John Bell Hood after Hood launched a surprise invasion of Tennessee.  Grant attacked Thomas for supposedly being too slow, a charge that appears to have been unfounded.

 

Professor Varney concluded with a discussion of Grant and Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac’s V Corps from the Wilderness Campaign through Appomattox.  Warren, he said, got into trouble with Grant because in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of the Crater,  a congressional inquiry was held and Warren said under oath that someone should have been present who could have given orders to all of the units involved.  Warren apparently meant Grant.  

 

Professor Varney said that Grant never forgot this, with dire consequences for Warren.  At the battle of Five Forks (April 1, 1865),  Warren was sent to support Philip Sheridan. They attacked the Confederates and won.  However, Sheridan–at the behest of Grant–relieved Warren of command.  While Warren should have, according to army regulations, had his day in court within 30 days, it took fourteen years because of the power and influence of Grant and Sherman.  There were multiple charges against Warren, all of which were found by the court to be groundless.  The court acquitted Warren of all charges after hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, including Grant and Sheridan themselves.  However, Warren’s exoneration was not made public until after his death.  He never knew his reputation had been restored and was buried without military honors. 

Thomas Francis Meagher (August 3, 1823 – July 1, 1867) was much more than the man who organized the famous Irish Brigade during the Civil War. If anyone was ever a born revolutionary and born to fight it was Thomas Meagher.

Learn more about this Union General as Baltimore Civil War Roundtable member and writer Frank A. Armiger presents Thomas Meagher and the Irish at the BCWRT meeting om Tuesday, May 28, 2024’ The meeting begins at 7:30p.m. at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.)

Frank Armiger is a native of the Baltimore area. He was born in South Baltimore and grew up in north Anne Arundel County. He currently resides in Timonium with his wife Susan. Frank is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University where he earned a BA in Business and Industrial Engineering. He is currently self-employed as a health care antifraud consultant specializing in Medicare and Medicaid detection and prevention. Frank is a long time Civil War buff dating back to the Centennial celebration. He is particularly interested in the Battle of Gettysburg and has visited the battlefield many times over the past 50+ years. Frank is the Editor of the Maryland Line, the newsletter of the Maryland Military Historical Society (MDMHS) and the organizations Vice President.  He is also the President of the Curtis B Vickery Round Table of Military History where he has been a regular speaker.

Remember, come join us on as Frank A. Armiger presents Thomas Meagher and the Irish at the BCWRT meeting om Tuesday, May 28, 2024’ If you can’t attend in person, register for the Zoom at:

 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwudu2orz0iHNXGxrvsMSOktxpeJMBsbi5v

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

                                

                     

          Frank A. Armiger                                             Thomas F.Meagher  

MINUTES

Our May meeting was our 465th.  The meeting had 18 registrants and 14 participants–4 in person attendees and 10 who attended through Zoom.

 

Our speaker was Dr. Holly A. Pinheiro Jr., an assistant professor of African American history at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. Pinheiro spoke on the challenges and hardships that African American soldiers and their families faced during the war.

 

Dr. Pinheiro is the author of The Families’ Civil War: Black Soldiers and the Fight for Racial Justice, which examines the histories of 185 free-born soldiers from Philadelphia who served in the 3rd, 6th, and 8th USCT.  The book analyzes the experiences not only of the soldiers themselves, but of their families as well, and covers the postwar decades as well as the war itself.  All told, Dr. Pinheiro said, The Families’ Civil War touches on the lives of nearly 1,000 people.  

 

Dr. Pinheiro chose Philadelphia as the focus of the book because he believed it to be the ideal city in which to examine northern, free-born African Americans who lived in a city with volatile racial politics. In 1860, Philadelphia had one of the most important free northern African American communities.  During the decades before the war, there had been a great deal of racial hostility, including large scale race riots in which Black homes, schools, businesses, and churches were burned.  At the same time, Philadelphia also had some of the North’s most prominent abolitionist networks.  Camp William Penn, bordering the city, was the largest training camp for African American recruits.  

 

Dr. Pinheiro argued that the military service of African Americans in the war has rightfully received a good deal of scholarly attention.  However, he said, the effects of this service on the families at home have been far less studied.  These families often suffered severely.  Before the war, they had already been struggling economically due to racial discrimination.  During the war, the entry of able-bodied men into military service often greatly intensified their economic hardship.  In some cases, this situation did not end with the war itself–it spanned multiple generations. If their loved ones were killed or mortally wounded in battle, or died of disease, the families were left to fend for themselves permanently.  In other cases, veterans who returned with severe physical, emotional, and/or psychological problems largely relied on their families to care for them.  In addition, invalid veterans–or the surviving relatives of soldiers who had died–often had great difficulty obtaining government pensions.  

 

Dr. Pinheiro said that there is a wealth of primary sources concerning the fate of African American soldiers and their families, including Civil War pension records, military service records, regimental histories, published memoirs by USCT soldiers, city directories, the federal census, public speeches by prominent individuals, Union League organizational records, and newspapers (white as well as African American).  

 

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Dr. Pinheiro said, African American service in the war was downplayed.  In response, some black veterans made it their mission to publicize their service and published their own accounts and histories of African American participation in the war.  Among them were William W. Brown, William J. Simmons, Alexander H. Newton, Joseph T. Wilson, and George W. Williams.  Dr. Pinheiro said that The Families’ Civil War builds on the work of these men.

The border state of Maryland was not the scene of large number of Civil War battles, however, some of those battles (like Monocracy) had a major impact on the status of the war in general and the ideology of the entire nation. One such battle was Fox’s Gap.

Join the Baltimore Civil War Roundtable (BCWRT) on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. as we feature author Curtis L. Older in a presentation of his book, Hood's Defeat Near Fox's Gap: Prelude to Emancipation. The meeting will take place at the Parkville Senior Center, 8601 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD 21234. (Enter parking lot from Hiss Ave. Use rear entrance to Center.)

Curtis Older details this action, part of the September 14, 1862 Battle of South Mountain, rebuffing a significant amount of incorrect material published about this battle, this new account of the battle of South Mountain gives the reader the opportunity to re-examine and re-interpret the Maryland campaign. As a prelude to the Battle of Antietam, The United States ultimately received Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

One can order autographed hardbound copies of the Hood's Defeat Near Fox's Gap: Prelude to Emancipation for $20 and delivered to your home via Curt Older, 2417 Kinmere Drive, Gastonia, NC 28056.

Remember, come join us on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. as we feature author Curtis L. Older in a presentation of his book, Hood's Defeat Near Fox's Gap: Prelude to Emancipation.

If you can't attend in person, register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvcu2qrD0jGNFAFUUs1kwE6jlfY-JbtDIC

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

 

 

Minutes

Our April meeting was our 476th.  The meeting had 7 in-person attendees and 13 participants through Zoom.  There were also 3 nonmembers–Cliff Dawson and Dave and Luke Rodgers–who attended and expressed interest in becoming members.

 

Our speaker was Curtis Older.  Mr. Older discussed issues related to the Battle of South Mountain–particularly Fox’s Gap–covered in his book entitled: Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap: Prelude to Emancipation.  Mr. Older has spent the past 35 years researching Fox’s Gap (including its history outside of the Civil War), and has written several books on the subject.  

 

Mr. Older discussed his research methods, particularly the use of evidence.  He cited rules laid down by Elizabeth Shown Mills in her book entitled Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian.  These included: 1.) documentation (statements of fact which are not common knowledge must be supported by a reference) and 2.) analyzing evidence (the most reliable accounts of an event are from those with firsthand knowledge of the event).  

 

Mr. Older said he found no evidence to support the contention of Ezra Carman, Joseph Harsh, and others that Confederate General John Bell Hood and his two brigades attacked near the Wise Cabin or Miller’s Field.  However, he found three primary sources that provided evidence that a soldier in the 23rd North Carolina was responsible for the death of Union General Jesse Reno–not a soldier from a unit under Hood’s command, as has been claimed.  Mr. Older said that a quote from Union General Jacob Cox supports the notion that the battle ended at “Cox’s Intersection”--an area half a mile west of Fox’s Gap, at the intersection of Moser Road and Park Hall Road.  

 

Mr. Older said that many authors don’t emphasize the role of artillery in the battle, arguing that Hood couldn’t have “taken” any land in the area of the Wise Field and Wood Road, given the presence of Durrell’s six-gun Union battery as well as an additional six Union cannon in the area.  He emphasized the importance of the mountainous terrain on which the battle was fought, stating that the “Crest of the Heights,” the highest point on Moser Road (and west of the Mountain House on Turner’s Gap), is critical in identifying where Hood and his men were on the battlefield.  

 

Mr. Older argued that other authors have not adequately identified the Union objective in the battle, saying that that objective was NOT to go north along Wood Road and attack at Turner’s Gap.  He cited a quote from Union General Alfred Pleasonton in which Pleasonton said there were two roads–one on the right and one on the left of Turner’s Gap–that would “...assist us materially in turning the enemy’s position on both flanks.”  Mr. Older identified these as Zittlestown Road and Moser Road–not the Old Hagerstown Road nor the Old Sharpsburg Road.  These two roads connect with the Old National Pike west of Turner’s Gap.  With Union troops taking either of these intersections, combined with their control of Cox’s Intersection, the Confederates would be forced to retreat through Boonsboro.  

 

In his analysis of Hood’s advance, Mr. Older noted that Hood said he wanted to get as far as possible toward the Union left flank.  Mr. Older said that previous authors misunderstood Hood’s

 

statement that “The night closed in…with the mountain, on the right, within our lines.”  ALL other authors, he said, interpreted this to mean “with the mountain on the (Confederate) right flank within our lines.” But, he argued, what Hood actually meant was “with the mountain on ‘my’ right within our lines.”  The mountain on Hood’s right, Mr. Older said, was actually the West Ridge.  

 

Mr. Older argued that a “solid case” can be made that the battle of South Mountain, rather than Antietam, was what prompted Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.  On September 13, the day before South Mountain was fought, the president had said he would issue the preliminary proclamation if the Union won the next battle.  According to Mr. Older, South Mountain was an “overwhelming” Union victory while Antietam was merely a draw.  He also noted that four presidents were at Fox’s Gap “on business”–George Washington, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, and Abraham Lincoln.