Mosby’s Rangers will be the topic of this month’s Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table program. Commanded by Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry was one fo the most famous units of the Civil War. The unit was formed on June 10, 1863, at Rector’s Cross Roads, Virginia and became noted for its lighting strikes on Union targets and its ability to consistently elude pursuit. It played a large role in disrupting Federal communications and supply lines. The troopers melted into the civilian population until called to arms for a mission. Speed, surprise and shock were the secrets of the success of Mosby’s command, allowing them to successfully strike much larger bodies of enemy troops. Capturing a Union general was perhaps its most celebrated feat.
The speaker for December will be Eric Buckland, author of several books on Mosby’s command. His talk is entitled, “A Few Mosby Men.” After graduating from the University of Kansas, Mr. Buckland entered the U.S. Army, serving with distinction for twenty two years in the Special Forces and several airborne divisions. He was deployed in Panama, Honduras and El Salvador. He retired from the military in 1999 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Mr. Buckland’s interest in Mosby’s Rangers began as a young boy and increased with his military service. He is especially interested in the individual stories of Mosby’s men. You can learn more at Mr. Buckland’s website, http://www.mosbymen.com/
Our program is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11, 2012 in BI 113 (Business and Industry Building) at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome to attend, but membership in the Round Table is encouraged.
Annapolis, MD in the Civil War, as Rebecca Morris, author of the book “A Low, Dirty Place – The Parole Camps of Annapolis, MD 1862-1865“, will be our speaker.
Rebecca Morris, a resident of Annapolis, has a life long interest in local history, particularly that of the Civil War era. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Anne Arundel County Historical Society (AACHS) for the past 5 years and is currently the Treasurer of that organization.
of Fitz John Porter.” As in sports, the Civil War had its share of heroes and its shares of men to whom blame for defeat or disaster was attached. A Union defeat at Manassas in the summer of 1862 led to criticism and a court-martial for one of the rising stars of the Army of the Potomac’s high command.
speaker for its inaugural meeting. Mr. Knapp is a retired Army Officer, professional balloon pilot serving on the Balloon Federation of America Board, and Civil War Balloon Corps enthusiast. He has owned and operated the modern “ARMY” Balloon since 1993 and shares oral and living history as Thaddeus S. C Lowe, Chief Aeronaut, of the Army of the Potomac’s Balloon Corps. In 2006 Kevin was the co-pilot for the winning team of the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race flying from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Citra, Florida – 1,478 miles in 60 hours and 45 minutes.
Kevin Knapp’s portrayal of Thaddeus Lowe has been featured at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, by the US National Park Service Civil War Defense of Washington, Fort Ward, and Gaines Mill Battlefield, as well as the cities of Fairfax, Falls Church, Gloucester, Manassas, and Yorktown Virginia’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Committees. He was also a contributor to the History Channel’s “Man, Moment, and Machine’s” segment on Civil War Ballooning called “Lincoln’s Flying Spy Machine.”