April 2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

April 9, 2024

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Jonathan Beasley

For our next to last meeting of year 12, we welcome Round Table member Jonathan Beasley, as he speaks to us about the Civil War in Maryland.

Jonathan will not introduce us to the some of the notable people involved n the Civil War from Maryland, but will also provide insight into the State of Maryland’s role in the Civil War, from both the Northern and Southern perspective.

It should be an interesting evening listening to stories about the Old Line State and its involvement in the Civil War.  Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, to allow us to continue attracting speakers on the subject we so dearly love. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

March 2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

March 12, 2024

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Ronald Coddington

Civil War Portrait Photography: Reflections of a Generation

The first collectors of Civil War photos were those who lived during the four-year struggle. As the years ticked by and they passed from the scene, their likeness were handed down through the generations. Some remained with families. Others landed in antique shops. Many were lost to the elements or tossed into trash heaps. During the war’s centennial, a new generation rediscovered these intimate artifacts. Today, a vibrant community of collectors are caretakers of these portraits. In this talk, Ron answers key questions: Why do these images exist? What were the popular formats? Why did they pose this way? How did the war impact portrait photography in the North and South?

Ronald S. Coddington is Editor and Publisher of Military Images, a quarterly magazine that showcases, interprets and preserves Civil War portrait photography. He is the author of the five volume series Faces of the Civil War published by Johns Hopkins University Press. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Civil War Monitor, Civil War Times, Civil War News, and elsewhere. His latest book is Gettysburg Faces: Portraits and Personal Accounts (Gettysburg Publishing).

We welcome all to join us for a different look at Civil War Photography.  Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

February 2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

February 2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

February 13, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, February 13, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Bradley Gottfried

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table will present a unique program that visualizes the Battle of Antietam by closely examining the panoramic Antietam paintings of Capt. James Hope.

Hope was a landscape painter who helped organize and then command a company in the 2nd Vermont Infantry. The regiment was positioned on the Antietam battlefield in a reserve role. Although Capt. Hope saw action on many battlefields, Antietam haunted him. After a trip to the battlefield to attend a reunion in the 1880’s, Hope returned to his studio and created five panoramic paintings of the battle.

Bradley and Linda Gottfried have studied these paintings and created a book of them. In this presentation, they will review the action at Antietam using Hope’s paintings. Their approach of zooming in on each painting shows unique aspects of the battle.

As usual, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Spring Field Trip

The Past is Waiting for You!

Join the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table for its Annual Spring Field Trip, departing from the Maryland Veteran’s Museum, 11000 Crain Highway, Newburg, MD on April 27th, 2024.  This year’s destination: Richmond, VA, where we will visit the American Civil War Museum, Brown’s Island and The White House of the Confederacy.

The Details:

Date:  Saturday, April 27th, 2024

Departure:  8AM from the Maryland Veteran’s Museum, 11000 Crain Highway Newburg, MD .  Return time is 5pm.

Pricing:  $85 for members/$95 for non-members.

What’s Included:  Bus Transportation to and from Richmond, Entry fees to the museums and lunch.

Be sure to sign up for all of the fun.  Looking forward to seeing you and enjoying another fun filled of Civil War learning.  For any questions, please call 443-975-9142.

 

January 2024 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

January 9, 2024

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  YOU!!!

That’s right!  Back again for a 3rd year, tonight we engage in a fast growing tradition of Questions and Answers from you, the members of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table.

Come out and ask your questions or find some answers to topics that have always interested you, concerned you or perplexed you.  The floor is yours.

Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, to allow us to continue attracting speakers on the subject we so dearly love. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

 

December 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

December 12, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  James Brewster

Tonight we look at the experiences of a Confederate Civil War Soldier during the Civil War, as James Brewster presents the story of his ancestor, John Henry Cammack in Personal Recollections of Private John Henry Cammack; A Soldier of the Confederacy 1861-1865.

On May 15, 1861, 16-year-old John Henry Cammack and his 20-year-old brother, Lucius Cammack, enlisted in the 10th Virginia Volunteers and joined the American Civil War as combatants in the Confederate States Army.  For the next four years as a soldier, he marched from Grafton, WV to Richmond, VA and back pursuing and being pursued by the United States Army.  His army life was characterized by a constant struggle to survive, either in battle or to keep himself fed and clothed. He saw great bravery and great cowardice in officers and enlisted alike. When paroled he was 350 miles from his home in Harrison County, WV and had to walk that distance to resume farming life with his father and marry his fiancé, Mary Jane Fox.  After the war he and Mary Jane distinguished themselves as leading citizens of Huntington, WV

John Henry’s great, great, grandson, James Burd Brewster, has republished John Henry’s personal accounts of fighting in the civil  war, Personal Recollections of Private John Henry Cammack – A soldier of the Confederacy 1861-1865, as well as captured John Henrry’s legacy as a leading citizen of Huntington, WV.  His presentation will focus on the life of a typical Confederate Soldier as revealed by John Henty Cammack.

James Burd Brewster was raised in New England, learned to sail on Lake Champlain, navigated a polar icebreaker to Alaska, and served a career in the United States Coast Guard. Currently, he is president of J2B Publishing, and author of the “Glad to do it!” series of children’s picture books (www.gladtodoit.net).

Jim is descended from three significant American families; William Brewster of the Mayflower on his father’s side and Col James Burd of Pennsylvania (French and Indian War) and Private John Henry Cammack of Huntington, WV (Civil War) both on his mother’s side.

His publishing career began in 2013 when he learned how the publishing industry had become accessible to start-ups.  Ten years later, Jim has written and published over 25 books of his own as well as the works of more than 70 other new authors (www.J2BLLC.com).

We look forward to welcoming Mr. Brewster and encourage everyone to join us.  Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

 

November 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

November 14, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Gary Dyson

It is always great to welcome back friends of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table and tonight we bring back another.  Gary Dyson joins us for his latest presentation, “Beyond the Bowie List“.

Having spoken to us previously about his books A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, The ambush of the Issac P. Smith, and Confederate Row, Beyond the Bowie List tells the stories of the named Confederate dead buried in Maryland following the Maryland Campaign of 1862, Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg in 1863, and Early’s Invasion of Maryland in July 1864. Forbidden to be buried at Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, these soldiers were eventually buried at Washington Confederate Cemetery at Rose Hill cemetery in Hagerstown. A description of the Bowie List and the post-war reburials as well as the stories of the soldiers (their genealogy, battle history, and extent of their wounds where possible) in Hagerstown and other sites are described.

Gary L. Dyson is a retired Environmental Specialist from the City of Gaithersburg, MD and a Marine Corps veteran. He is a lifelong history enthusiast and has spent countless hours reading, researching and exploring battlefields – from the French and Indian War to World War II.  Gary is the author of The Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith, A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, Confederate Row, Beyond the Bowie List, and The Rebels of Frederick County, as well as the History of Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick and Mount Airy.  He is a board member for the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable and performs voluntary research for Mount Olivet Cemetery. He has a BS in Natural Resources from Oregon State University. Gary lives in Mount Airy, MD with his wife Emily, and they are finally “empty-nesters,” and just became grandparents.

Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, to allow us to continue attracting speakers on the subject we so dearly love.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

October 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

October 10, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  William Connery

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to welcome back Mr. William Connery to speak to us.  Those who enjoyed his lectures on the Civil War in Northern Virginia and Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, will certainly be enthralled with his topic tonight; Mosby’s Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia.

https://www.loudounprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Mosby_portrait_cu.jpg

The most famous War Between the States/Civil War name in Northern Virginia, other than General Robert E. Lee, is Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the Gray Ghost.  He stands out among nearly 1,000 generals who served in the war, celebrated most for his raids that captured Union General Edwin Stoughton in Fairfax Court House and Colonel Daniel French Dulany in Rose Hill, near Alexandria.  By 1864 Mosby was a feared partisan guerrilla in the North and a hero in the South; a nightmare for Union troops protectng Washington City.  After the war, his support for presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant forced Mosby to leave his native Virginia for Hong Kong as U.S. consul.  A personal mentor to young George S. Patton, Mosby’s military legacy extended to World War II.  Tonight, William Connery will bring alive the many dimensions of this American hero.

William Connery grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, considered Rebel Territory by some and known as Mob Town, long before it was Charm City. Mr. Connery has a degree in History from the University of Maryland–College Park and have lived in the Bush Hill section of Fairfax County, near Old Town Alexandria, since 1989. William has been contributing to the Civil War Courier and other publications. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for his previous History Press book, Civil War Northern Virginia 1861.

William Connery is a member of the Company of Military Historians and a frequently requested speaker in the Washington, DC, metro area.

He can be reached at william.connery@verizon.net. He presents for us here an interview on my book originally given on ‘Virginia Time Travel’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYyphgO0WKo

Please come out and help us welcome back a great friend of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table.  As always, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org

September 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

September 12, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Robert Dunkerly

Year 12 begins Tuesday, 9/12/2023 with a lecture from Robert (Bert) Dunkerly about the circumstances surrounding the explosion at Brown’s Island in Richmond, VA on March 13, 1863.

https://www.civilwarmed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ammunition-in-richmond-loc.jpg

The 1863 Brown’s Island explosion was the worst industrial accident in the Confederacy, killing 50, mostly teenage girls. Historian Bert Dunkerly will discuss the causes of the accident, and share his research into the identities of the victims and where they are buried. It is an ongoing mystery!

Robert M. (Bert) Dunkerly is a historian, award-winning author, and speaker who is actively involved in historic preservation and research.  He holds a degree in History from St. Vincent College and a Masters in Historic Preservation from Middle Tennessee State University.  He has worked at fourteen historic sites, written over a dozen books, and numerous scholarly articles.  His research includes archaeology, colonial life, military history, and historic commemoration.  He is a past President of the Richmond Civil War Round Table, and serves on the Preservation Commission for the American Revolution Round Table-Richmond.  He has taught courses at Central Virginia Community College, the University of Richmond, and the Virginia Historical Society.  Dunkerly is currently a Park Ranger at Richmond National Battlefield Park.  He has visited over 500 battlefields and over 1000 historic sites worldwide.  He enjoys exploring local bookstores, battlefields, and breweries, not necessarily in that order.

As always, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

 

Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table 2023-24 Speaker Schedule

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce its 2023-24 speaker schedule!  All meetings will be held at the Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 North Crain Highway, Newburg, MD.  Start time is 7:00pm.

Tuesday September 12, 2023:  Bob Dunkerly – Brown’s Island Explosion

Tuesday October 10, 2023:  William Connery – Mosby’s Rangers

Tuesday November 14, 2023:  Gary Dyson – Beyond the Bowie List

Tuesday December 12, 2023:  Jim Brewster – The Personal Recollections of Private John Henry Cammach

Tuesday January 9, 2024:  Steven Cowie- “When Hell came to Sharpsburg

Tuesday February 13, 2024:  Dr. Bradley Gottfried – Seeing Antietam:  The Paintings of Captain James Hope

March 12, 2024:  Ron Coddington: Face of Civil War Nurses

April 9, 2024:  Jonathan Beasley:  Maryland in the Civil War

May 14, 2024 Chris Mackowski:  Strike them a Blow:  Battle along the North Anna River

We look forward to welcoming all of these fine people to speak to us and to welcoming all of you to hear their presentations.  Detailed descriptions about each speaker and their topics to be posted in the coming months.  Attendance is free to all, but membership is encouraged  For more information about the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table or to learn how to join, please reach out at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org!