October 8, 2024
The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.
Guest Speaker: Alex Rossino
Tonight, we welcome Mr. Alex Rossino, who will discuss his book, “Calamity at Frederick: Robert E. Lee, Special Orders No. 191, and Confederate Misfortune on the Road to Antietam, published by Savas Beatie in October 2023.
Multiple mysteries surround the loss of a copy of Robert E. Lee’s Special Orders No. 191. These include the location near Frederick, Maryland, where a corporal with the 27th Indiana Volunteers found the so-called “Lost Orders,” and the identity of the man who lost them. Previous investigations of the subject have blamed General Daniel Harvey Hill, a member of Hill’s staff, or a courier carrying the orders from Lee’s headquarters on the Best Farm to Hill’s headquarters. In this presentation, Dr. Alex Rossino will present new research providing an informed estimate of the place where the orders were found and revealing the identity of the culprit who lost the orders based on what the available evidence suggests. He will also describe the devastating effect on Confederate operations that the discovery of the orders by Federal troops had.
A resident of Boonsboro, Maryland, Alex Rossino earned his PhD in History at Syracuse University. In addition to being a frequent public speaker about Civil War history, Dr. Rossino is also the author of several books and articles, including Their Maryland: The Army of Northern Virginia from the Potomac Crossing to Sharpsburg in September 1862 and The Tale Untwisted: General George B. McClellan, the Maryland Campaign, and the Discovery of Lee’s Lost Orders, which he co-wrote with Gene Thorp. His newest book, Calamity at Frederick: Robert E. Lee, Special Orders No. 191, and Confederate Misfortune on the Road to Antietam, came out with Savas Beatie in October 2023. Dr. Rossino is also a novelist. His book, Six Days in September: A Novel of Lee’s Army in Maryland, has been praised for its historical accuracy by Civil War enthusiasts. His next novel, The Guns of September: A Novel of McClellan’s Army in Maryland, is due out in 2024.