Tag: Charleston SC

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October 2017 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

October 10, 2017

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprises Conference Center, Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in La Plata, MD.

Guest Speaker:  Gary Dyson

 

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table welcomes author Mr. Gary Dyson, as he discusses his book, “The Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith, Family Ties and the Battle on the Stono, January 30, 1863.”  Mr. Dyson will present the story of the USS Isaac P. Smith, which was ambushed by Confederate shore batteries and captured on the Stono River near Charleston, South Carolina on January 30, 1863.  John Wyer Dicks (Executive Officer) and Frederic Calvin Hills (Paymaster) were officers on the Smith, meeting each other as shipmates, spending time as prisoners of war together, and immediately after the Civil War becoming related when Frederic married John’s daughter Marianne.  This book also tells the history of the Smith leading up to its capture as well as provides an account of the crew’s captivity, the lives of Dicks and Hills after the war, and some brief biographies of other combatants, North and South.  Battle reports and eyewitness accounts were used to describe the battle.  Published through Lulu.com, Mr. Dyson’s book is available there as well as Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

The Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith, Family Ties and the Battle on the Stono, January 30, 1863

Gary L. Dyson is a retired Environmental Specialist from the city of Gaithersburg, MD and a former Marine.  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 owns Dyson Genealogy and Historical Research and is the author of “Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith” and “A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, the Journals and Reports of Albert Gaius Hills of the Boston Journal.”  He has a BS in Natural Resources Management from Oregon State University.  Gary lives in Mount Airy, MD with his wife Emily and has two children away at college.  He is also a board member for the Frederick County Civil War Round Table.  We invite everyone to join us and Mr. Dyson,  as we learn about one of the lesser known stories of the American Civil War.

Attendance is free for all, but membership is recommended.  For information, contact the Round Table’s president, Ben Sunderland, at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org or 443-975-9142.

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September 2015 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

September 8, 2015

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprises Conference Center, Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in La Plata, MD.

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Robert Neyland

... Robert Neyland, who directed the Hunley's recovery. (Courtesy of

Join us as Dr, Robert Neyland discusses his work on the recovery, restoration and conservation of the Confederate submarine, the H.L. Hunley.  The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic on Feb. 17, 1864.  It is historically significant as the first submarine to successfully sink a warship in combat. Hunley also was lost with all hands after the battle. The location of the missing submarine was a mystery until it was rediscovered by bestselling author Clive Cussler in 1995. In 2000, it was raised by a team of archaeologists headed by Dr. Robert Neyland and returned to the port if left 136 years previously. Over the last 15 years the submarine has been opened, excavated and the eight crewmen identified and reburied. Analysis and conservation of the artifacts and hull is ongoing, but the sub is on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston. This presentation discusses the processes of recovery, archaeology, identification of the crew, conservation of the artifacts and hull, and  what mysteries have been solved as well as what remains to be discovered.

Dr. Robert Neyland was project director in charge of the recovery of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which sunk in the Charleston, S.C., harbor in February 1864. Neyland is the Head of the Underwater Archaeology Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, located in the Washington Navy Yard. The Navy still retains title to its sunken military craft–approximately 3,000 shipwrecks and 14,000 aircraft. Due to its expertise in underwater archaeology and management of sunken military craft the NHHC frequently is assigned management of Confederate and other military shipwrecks. Dr. Neyland has worked on Bronze Age shipwrecks off the coast of Turkey, dove in the sunken pirate city of Port Royal, Jamaica, recovered and documented numerous wrecks in the Netherlands and throughout the United States. He was the principal archaeologist on numerous Navy shipwreck investigations and excavations including the search for the 1820s antislavery and piracy schooner USS Alligator, excavation of a Revolutionary War shipwreck in the Penobscot River in Maine, a survey of the D-Day invasion shipwrecks in Normandy, France,  Civil War shipwrecks CSS Florida and USS Cumberland, War of 1812 flagship of Commodore Joshua Barney–USS Scorpion, and the search for John Paul Jones ship Bonhomme Richard.

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table invites all to attend this lecture on one of the more fascinating moments in Civil War history.  Attendance is free for all, but membership is recommended.  For information, contact the roundtable’s president, Brad Gottfried, at bgottfried@csmd.edu or 301-934-7625.