April 2013 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

April 9, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 7:00pm on the LaPlata campus of the College of Southern Maryland, in the Business and Industry Building, Chaney Enterprises Conference Room Room BI-113.

Guest Speaker:  Peter MacNeill

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table (SMCWR) will host a presentation by licensed Washington, D.C. tour guide Peter MacNeill on Civil War forts in the Washington, D.C. area.  The forts varied from rudimentary structures to magnificent M4034S-4211engineering marvels and all were constructed to help keep the enemy out of Washington. MacNeill will lecture on location and composition of forts and their strategic purpose. While most of these forts are gone, some, like Fort DeRussy, Fort Foote, Fort Marcy, Fort Stevens, Fort Ward and Fort Washington are partially or wholly intact.

Peter MacNeill’s fascination with American military history began while watching John Wayne and Errol Flynn movies with his father on Saturday mornings in the 1950’s. Since moving to the Washington, D.C region in 1971, Mr. MacNeill has passed the National Park Service Gettysburg battlefield tour guide exam and in 1992 began a career as a licensed Washington, D.C.tour guide specializing in veteran’s military reunion tours and Civil War battlefield tours.  Mr. MacNeill estimates that he has visited Antietam and Gettysburg thousands of times.

Information and registration details for an April 27, 2013 tour of an umber of Civil War forts, led by Mr. MacNeill, will be available at the SMCWR meeting on April 9.  The SMCWR hosts monthly meetings the second Tuesday of every month from September thru May. Meetings are free and open to the public, but membership in the round table is highly encouraged.  Annual membership is $30.  For more information contact SMCWR President Brad Gottfried at bgottfried@csmd.edu or 301-934-7625.

 

Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology (Part V)

March 19, 2013

The College of Southern Maryland is pleased to announce that the fifth Civil War bookBook Discussion will be held Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at the College of Southern Maryland, LaPlata campus, Center for Business and Industry, BI-113E, 8730 Mitchell Road, LaPlata, MD.  This is a five part series sponsored in part by the Maryland Humanities Council, in which three books are discussed.  Loaner copies of the book are available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the LaPlata campus library.

Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology Part V

The final conversation focuses on the emancipation of four million people who had been held in slavery for over two centuries. Following the conclusion  of the war at Antietam, President Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, allowing Frederick Douglass  to rally black men to the defense of the United States, because it is now fighting for their freedom.  While the Gettysburg Address, given in November 1863, does not speak of slavery directly, its potent language frames the purpose of the war as freedom understood in its broadest terms. After finally being able to enlist, 200,000 African American men joined the service in just two years. Emancipation was not a single event but a long and uneven series of struggles on plantations and farms, in cities and towns, all across the South. In a final essay on Images of the War, America’s War illuminates drawings from artists who were able to see firsthand, army camps in the midst of battle and enabled the public to picture the war as it progressed and to help us make sense of the American Civil War today.

Admission is free. For more details, please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu.

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Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology (Part IV)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DATE FOR PART 4 OF THE CIVIL WAR BOOK DISCUSSION HAS BEEN MOVED TO THURSDAY MARCH 7, 2013.

Please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu for more details!

March 7, 2013

The College of Southern Maryland is pleased to announce that the fourth Civil War bookBook Discussion will be held Thursday, March 7, 2013 at the College of Southern Maryland, Leonardtown Campus, Building C, Room 216, 22950 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD, from 7-9PM.  This is the fourth of a five part series, sponsored in part by the Maryland Humanities Council, in which three books are discussed. Loaner copies of the book are available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the LaPlata campus Library.

Civil War Book Discussion:  Crossroads of Freedom and America’s War Anthology Part IV

In the fourth segment of the discussion series, opposing views are offered on the study of Antietam. Neither the Union nor the Confederacy could claim a glorious victory, but Civil War historians James McPherson and Gary Gallagher argue sides on a victory.  McPherson sides for a Union victory while Gallagher argues on behalf of the strength  of the Confederate Army.  Drew Gilpin Faust’s excerpt shifts our focus from the the course of battle and politics, to the suffering of families and communities and asks that we broaden our vision of what took place.

Admission is free. For more details, please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu.

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March 2013 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

March 12, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 7:00pm on the LaPlata campus of the College of Southern Maryland, in the Business and Industry Building, Room 113.

Guest Speaker:  Georgia K. Chaney Ladd

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table joins in the celebration of Women’s History Month with a presentation by Georgia Ladd on “gcladdBaltimore Belle, Hetty Cary“.  Hetty Carr Cary was the wife of Confederate General John Pegram, who smuggled supplies into the Confederate states via Southern Maryland. Later in her life, she would marry pioneering physiologist H. Newell Martin.

Georgia Chaney Ladd is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County who has presented at the Chesapeake Civil War Roundtable and has written for the Maryland Historical Society’s magazine MDHS News.  She is a thirteen year veteran to the field of education and is currently employed as a United States History Teacher for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Ms. Ladd’s current research reflects her interest in local history.  Recently, she has completed research on Calvert County’s lost cemeteries, namely Shiloh Cemetery in Dunkirk, MD.  Other topics include Confederate memory in Maryland shortly after the Civil War and the influence of Johns Hopkins on John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, during the Civil war years.  She is a member of the Chesapeake Civil War Round Table, the Maryland Historical Society’s Teacher Advisory Council and serves as a teacher representative for the Civil War Preservation Trust. Ms. Ladd is very active in the Maryland Council for Social Studies and the Middle States Conference for Social Studies and has presented at Social Studies conferences throughout the eastern region of the United States.

Ms. Ladd was named Gilger-Lehrman’s Maryland History Teacher of the Year in 2009 and continues to be recognized by her colleagues as a master teacher in history.  She has been called to serve the Maryland State Department of Education to create curriculum for students in Maryland, kindergarten through twelfth grade. She also serves as a district level coordinator for National History Day programs.

Ms. Ladd’s passion for researching local history began with a family genealogy project, where she discovered that her entire research could be accomplished by visiting four counties in Maryland; Howard, Anne Arundel, Calvert and St. Mary’s. She continues to support these historical societies by offering her assistance as a researcher. She is drawn to topics of social history, particularly those that focus on women.

Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology (Part III)

February 19, 2013

The College of Southern Maryland is pleased to announce that the bookthird Civil War Book Discussion will be held Tuesday, February 19th, 2013 at the Calvert County Library, Prince Frederick branch, Meeting Room 1, 850 Costley Way, Prince Frederick, MD, from 7-9PM.  This is the third of a five part series, sponsored in part by the Maryland Humanities Council, in which three books are discussed.  Loaner copies of the books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the LaPlata campus library.

Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology Part III

Part III of three discussion series approaches the Battle of Shiloh, which occurred in April 1862, almost exactly a year after Fort Sumter and the secession of Virginia.  The battle redefined the boundaries of the military conflict and thousand’s of men with little training and no experience in war were thrown against one another in days of inexpressible suffering and waste.  The war was seen as a desperate, defiant effort by the Confederacy to stop the progress of the Union Army and Navy and shattered any fantasies people had that the war would be won easily by either side.

Admission is free. For more details, please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu.

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Civil War Book Discussion: America’s War Anthology (Part II)

February 5, 2013

The College of Southern Maryland is please to announce the second Civil War Book Discussion will be held at the College of Southern Maryland, LaPlata Campus on February 5, 2013, from 7-9PM in the Center for Business and Industry, Room BI-113E.   This will be the second of a five part series sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, in which three books will be discussed.  Loaner copies of the books to be discussed are available on a first come, first serve basis in the LaPlata campus library.

Civil War Discussion: America’s War Anthology Part Two

Discussions continue with the conflict that is presented when the Confederacy and the Union are formed and Americans experience a split in beliefs and loyalties.  Abolitionists, including the March family from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, encourage Frederick Douglass to make a speech on their behalf, but Douglass gives gives them more than they asked for by stripping away any illusions white Americans may have had about their innocence, confronting them directly with the hypocrisy of a nation dedicated to freedom and built on slavery.  Abraham Lincoln attempts to restore division as he is elected into presidency; Robert E. Lee embodies the agony of disunion and Mark Twain tells of his own wayward path in the confusing early days of the war.

Admission is free. For more details, please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu

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Civil War Book Discussion: March and America’s War (Part I)

January 29, 2013

The College of Southern Maryland is pleased to announce it will be hosting Civil War Book Discussions, Tuesdays through March.  The first of Civil War Book Discussions-combo bookCivil War Book Discussions this five part series, sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, will take place at The College of Southern Maryland, La Plata Campus on January 29, 2013, from 7-9PM in the Center for Business and Industry Building, Room BI-113.  Loaner copies of the books to discussed are available on a first come first serve basis in the La Plata campus library.

Civil War Book Discussion:  March and America’s War Anthology Part I

Discussions center around Geraldine Brooks book, March, which tells its story through the characters of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, by representing the point of view of the father of the girls in Little Women, Reverend March.  The reader travels with the chaplain into places where he is not wanted, where his values elicit ridicule and contempt.  The harsh world of slavery, men and war challenges everything the March family believes in, including one another.  Another voice in the first conversation is Louisa May Alcott’s, drawn from her experiences as a nurse for the union in 1862.  Alcott tells of her determination to find a purpose for her life by helping the hospitals in Washington, D.C.  She experiences the horror, satisfaction and deep personal trials during her time with the wounded, ill and dying men.  Attendance is free.  For more information, please call 301-934-7606 or visit smsc@csmd.edu.

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February Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

February 12, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at the College of 750px-Abraham_Lincoln_half_length_seated,_April_10,_1865Southern Maryland (La Plata Campus) at 7:00pm in the Business and Industry Building, Room 113.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Bradley Gottfried

In honor of our 16th President’s 203rd birthday, our own Dr. Brad Gottfried, President of the College of Southern Maryland will give a presentation on “Lincoln as Commander in Chief“. More than most President’s, Lincoln took an active role in directing the war effort.  In this presentation, Dr. Gottfried, author of nine books on the Civil War, will cover a variety of topics, including Lincoln’s approach to directing the war effort, his successes and failures, and how his personality helped to win the war.

 

 

Southern MD Civil War Round Table 2013 Spring Trip

A Tour of the Civil War Forts of Washington D.C.

Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table

Saturday, April 27, 2013

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is hosting its first tour.  All of us have heard about the large number of forts built around Fort StevensWashington during the Civil War, but few have visited them.  This tour will visit the following forts:

  • De Russy
  • Foote
  • Marcy
  • Stevens
  • Ward
  • Washington

We will also drive by a number of other forts, which may include (depending on time): Willard, Farnsworth, Lyons, Barnard, Albany, Myer, Craig, C.F. Smith and Ethan Allen, Bayard, Reno, Slocum. We may also swing by Battery Martin Scott and Battery Bailey. Finally, we will drive by Walter Reed Hospital to view Confederate battle lines.

Our guide will be Peter MacNeill, who has always had a fascination for American military history since he began watching John Wayne and Errol Flynn movies with his father on Saturday mornings in the 50s. He still remembers being 5 years old in 1956 and seeing the cannon at Vicksburg. Moving to the Washington region in 1971 he has visited regional Civil War battlefields such as Antietam and Gettysburg thousands of times. In 1990 he passed the NPS Gettysburg battlefield guide written exam. In 1992 he began his career as a licensed Washington DC tour guide and specializes in veteran’s military reunion tours and Civil War battlefield tours

twoThe cost of the tour includes a Keller bus, guided tour, and lunch at the Great American Steakhouse (buffet) in Falls Church.

The cost is $55 for members of the Round Table (and their guests). Those paying by or at the February 12, 2013 Round Table meeting will only pay $50.

The cost for nonmembers is $60.

January Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

January 8, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at the College of Southern Maryland (LaPlata campus) at 7:00pm in the Business & Industry Building, Room 113.

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Thomas Jarvis

A new year brings a new format for the first meeting of the Southern Maryland Civil Dr. Thomas JarvisWar Round Table in 2013, as Dr. Thomas Jarvis will speak on the causes of the Civil War.  Historians still debate this issue, with strong feelings regarding what on the surface may appear to be a simple question.  Great events in history, such as the outbreak of a war,  may seem to have been caused by a single event, but there are usually a complex series of issues, events and causes which lead to the actual outbreak of hostilities.  The attack on Fort Sumter started the bloodiest war in U. S history, but there a great number of issues between the North and South that had festered over the years, which finally came to a head and triggered warfare.  Dr. Jarvis will discuss various historical interpretations regarding the outbreak of the Civil War, review issues that caused sectional tensions and categorize general causes of the war. Those attending  the meeting will have the opportunity question Dr. Jarvis and bring forth their own interpretation of the causes of the Civil War.  (Kindly and gently, of course 🙂 ).

Dr. Thomas Jarvis has taught history as a Professorial Instructor at American University in Washington, D.C. and as a member of the adjunct faculty at the College of Southern Maryland.  While at CSM, Dr. Jarvis developed and taught two specialty courses; “The History of American Warfare” and “The U.S. and Twentieth Century World Affairs.”  He has a B.A. in history from Stony Brook University, NY, a master’s degree from the School of International Service, American University and a Ph.D in U.S. History from American University.  Dr. Jarvis served three years in the Unites States Army, where he worked in the intelligence field with the Army Security Agency and retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as a Senior Executive.