September 9, 2010. Andrew Ward will talk about his latest book, The Slaves' War, based on 1200 slave accounts full of eloquence and urgency, found in interviews, obituaries, memoirs, letters, and military records, and ranging from Fort Sumter to Lincoln's assassination. His other works include River Run Red: The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War, Dark Midnight when I Rise, and Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacre in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
October 14, 2010. Clarke Harrison will compare the American Civil War to the English Civil War and the American Revolution, the Cousins' Wars, a 225-year war, three wars but one revolution. All three started with disputes that should have been subject to compromise, but spiraled out of control, and each represented a step in the development of democracy and equality. A Past President of our Round Table, Clarke read a lot of history while on the road in motels as a traveling salesman.
November 11, 2010. Patrick Schroeder will discuss Myths about Lee's Surrender, the subject of two of his books. An Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, his many other works include We Came to Fight: A History of the 5th NY Veteran Vol Infantry, Duryee's Zouaves.
December 9, 2010. Dick Miller will talk about the 1862 New Mexico campaign. Notions of Confederate Manifest Destiny led to the campaign by Henry Hopkins Sibley and his 3,000-strong Army of New Mexico, where they won tactical victories at Valverde and Glorieta, but the Federals eventually achieved strategic victory. The campaign featured colorful characters like William Dirty Shirt Scurry and his east Texas troops, and John Chivington and his Colorado Pikes Peakers. Dick is President of our Round Table.
January 13, 2011. Rick Solomon will talk about Jefferson Davis's three visits to the Army of Tennessee, the first in December 1862, shortly before the Battle of Stones River; the second in October 1863, weeks after Chickamauga; and the third in September 1864, weeks after the fall of Atlanta. Were there common trends in these visits? Rick is a Past President of the Round Table.
February 10, 2011. Ethan S Rafuse will discuss Lee, Gettysburg, and the Elements of Confederate Defeat. A Professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Dr. Rafuse is the author of Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy, George Gordon Meade and the war in the East, McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the War for the Union, A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas, Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide, and other works.
March 10, 2011. Members will tell about Civil War ANCESTORS: 1) Dr. William Trier on his grandfather, who deserted from a Georgia regiment, and on his granduncle, who fought with the 4th Georgia at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg (5-10 min.); 2) Janet Oakley on her great-grandfather, Dr. W.F. Osborn, a surgeon with the 11th PA Inf and 13th PA Cav, who was captured briefly at Gettysburg (10 min.); 3) Ken Graybeal on his grandfather John Graybeal, 45th Ohio, captured by N.B. Forrest, later released and served in Atlanta campaign, and on great-grandfather Frank W. Edgbert, 91st and 28th Illinois, who served in Honor Guard at Lincoln's Springfield funeral (15-20 min.); 4) Don Logan on Dyer Pettyjohn, who made the suicidal stand with the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg (15-20 min.).
April 14, 2011. Michael B. Ballard will describe Grant's time of trial, after Shiloh to the end of 1862. Accused of negligence at Shiloh, shelved by Halleck during the Corinth campaign, performing poorly at Iuka, and calling off pursuit after second Corinth, Grant seemed to be in a slump after Shiloh. By the end of 1862, his first thrust toward Vicksburg ended with the loss of his supply base and the defeat of Sherman's force. This low point in Grant's career is often overlooked. Coordinator of the Congressional and Political Research Center, University Archivist, and Associate Editor of the U.S. Grant Papers Projects at the Mississippi State University Library, Professor Ballard is author of Vicksburg: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi; U.S. Grant: The Making of a General, 1861-1863; Pemberton: A Biography; A Long Shadow: Jefferson Davis and the Final Days of the Confederacy; Maroon and White: Mississippi State University, 1873-2003, and other books and articles.
May 12, 2011. Donald Stoker will consider five strategic mistakes of the Civil War, from the Southern decisions to start the war and invade Kentucky in 1861, to Lincoln's removal of McClellan and Halleck's march on Corinth in 1862, to Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863. Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College, Professor Stoker is the author of The Grand Design: Strategy and the US Civil War (a selection of the History Book Club, Military History Book Club, and Book of the Month Club), and many other works on strategy, the arms trade, insurgency, and naval history.
