May 2014 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

May 13, 2014

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 13, 2014  at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in LaPlata.

Guest Speaker:  Mr. Robert C. Plumb

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table’s last meeting of the season will author Robert C. Plumb discussing his book “robertplumbYour Brother in Arms:  A Union Soldier’s Odyssey“.

In the summer of 1862, George P. McClelland, not to be confused with Gen. George B. McClellan, begins his Civil War odyssey by journeying to Pittsburgh, PA to enlist in the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry.  Thus began his story as McClelland was sent to Washington, D.C, then on a march to Antietam, to be followed by encounters in the critical battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Petersburg and Five Forks, where he would be gravely injured.

Throughout it all, young McClelland would write to his family, keeping them abreast of his whereabouts and making them aware of the harrowing experiences he endured in battle.  His letters convey his connection to his siblings and his longing fro home, but also reflect the social, cultural and political currents of the war that he was fighting.

Ultimately recovering form his injuries, McClelland would be discharged as a brevet-major in 1865; a common man who performed uncommon service.

Mr. Plumb will read selected letters from “Your Brother in Arms“, which will detail George McClelland’s reaction to the key battles and engagements he was involved in, his opinions of Union commanding generals and some of the trials and tribulations of a front line soldier in the Civil War.  A letter from his sister Anne, describing finding her seriously wounded brother in a field yourbrothersinarmshospital near Petersburg, VA will also be discussed.

Your Brother in Arms: A Union Soldier’s Odyssey, published in July 2011 by the University of Missouri Press, is Mr. Plumb’s first book. He has written other published pieces including book reviews for the Newport News, Virginia Daily Press while serving in the US Navy and articles published recently in the Washington Post’s Style, Editorial and Travel sections.

Born and raised in upstate New York, where he received his education from grade school to graduate school, he would serve in the Navy as an officer in the Atlantic Fleet and would command a patrol boat in Vietnam. Upon departing the military, Mr. Plumb held marketing executive positions with General Electric and Fannie Mae. He is a member of the Civil War Trust, the Montgomery County (MD) Civil War Roundtable, the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Society of Civil War Historians. He resides in Potomac, MD with his wife Louise.

April 2014 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

April 8, 2014

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Room BI-113, 8730 Mitchell Road, LaPlata, MD.

Guest Speaker:  Phillip Greenwalt

In preparation for our field trip on April 26,2014 to the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields, please join the Southern phillipgreenwaltMaryland Civil War Round Table as we welcome our tour guide; Phillip Greenwalt.  Mr. Greenwalt will give us an overview of the sites, sounds and events from the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House Battlefields in May 1864, that we will visit in person on the 26th.   These battles mark the first encounters with the Army of Northern Virginia by the Army of the Potomac under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.  Among the areas to be discussed will be the fighting at Saunders Field, the Widow Tapp Field and the Orange Plank Road in the Wilderness and the “Bloody Angle” at Spotsylvania. These two battles set the stage for what would become known as the Overland Campaign and the desperate struggle between Grant, Lee and their armies.

Phillip Greenwalt is currently a historian with the National Park Service at the George Washington National Monument and the Thomas Stone National Historic Site. He began his National Park Service career as a historical interpreter intern at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.  Mr. Greenwalt holds a bachelor degree in history from Wheeling Jesuit University and a graduate degree in American History from George Mason University.

His first publication, co-authored with Dan Davis, entitled “Bloody Autumn, blody-autumn-coverThe Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864″, part of the Emerging Civil War Series was published by Savas Beatie LLC in November 2013. Mr. Greenwalt’s second book, also co-authored with Dan Davis, entitled “Hurricane From the Heavens,  The Battle of  Cold Harbor”, is due out in June 2014.  He is also a full-time contributor to the blog, Emerging Civil War  (www.emergingcivilwar.com) and has spoken at lecture series and history round tables in numerous states.

Whether you plan on joining us on the bus on April 26th or just want to learn a little more about the first battles of the Overland Campaign as their 150th anniversary approach, plan to come out and hear Phillip Greenwalt.

March 2014 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

March 11, 2014

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Center Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in LaPlata, MD.

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Tom Jarvis

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round table is please to welcome back current member, Dr. Tom Jarvis. Dr. Jarvis spoke to the group last March on “The Causes of the Civil War” and is back this year to talk to us in “Why the North Won and the South Lost The Civil War“.

Dr. Thomas JarvisThe usual reason given as to why the North won the Civil War  was because of its vast superiority in regard to industrial power, population and financial wealth. Yet despite these overwhelming advantages, the war lasted four long bloody years. The Confederacy survived these years with many victories over Union armies and frequently appeared to be close to wining its independence. The issue of why the North won and the South eventually lost is more complicated than just one side having economic and population advantages over the other. Tonight, Dr. Jarvis will examine the various factors that contributed to the war’s final outcome.

Tom Jarvis taught history as a Professional Instructor as American University in Washington, D.C. and is a member of the adjunct faculty at the College of Southern Maryland. He has developed two specialty courses offered at the college; “The History of American Warfare” and “The United States and Twentieth Century World Affairs”.  Tom has a Bachelor of Arts in history form Stony Brook University, a master’s degree from the School of International Service, American University, and a Ph.D. in United States History from American University.  He served three years in the U.S. Army, working in the intelligence field with the Army Security Agency. He retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as a Senior Executive.

We look forward to welcoming Tom Jarvis back to the podium for this presentation and to seeing you for an enlightening evening of discussion.

February 2014 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

February 11, 2014

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in LaPlata.

Guest Speaker:  Steward Henderson

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table will host a presentation Steward Henderson, historian with the Fredericksburg and stewardhendersonSpotsylvania National Military Park, where he has served in this capacity since May 2007.  Mr. Henderson has a life-long interest in the Civil War and is a co-founder of the 23rd Regiment United States Colored Troops, which is affiliated with the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center Museum in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  Mr. Henderson retired from Sun Trust Bank as a Senior Vice President in the Retail Group of the Greater Washington Region in 2005, after a 35 year career in the financial services field. He attended Howard University, the Institute of Financial Education, the American Bankers Institute and the Consumer Bankers Association Graduate School of Retail Bank Management.

December 2013 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

December 10, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in La Plata.

Guest Speaker: Dr. James I. Robertson

The Southern Maryland Civil War Roundtable will host a presentation by Civil War author Dr. James I. Robertson, Alumni Distinguished drjamesirobertsonProfessor Emeritus from Virginia Tech and author of over 20 books, whose works includeStonewall Jackson, The Man, The Myth, and The Legend”, “Civil War!”, “America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”.

Prior to the meeting beginning at 7:00 PM, there will be a book signing beginning at 6:15 PM.

Dr. Robertson will lecture on one of his recent books: “The Untold Stories of the Civil War, Exploring the Human Side of the War” published by the National Geographic Society.

The event is co-sponsored by the Annapolis Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association.

Dr. James I.”Bud” Robertson is one of the most distinguished names in Civil War history. The Danville, VA native is a nationally acclaimed teacher and lecturer and has written or edited two dozen books on the Civil War era. His award-winning biography of Stonewall Jackson was hailed as “a book every student of the war should read and every chronicle should emulate.”  The massive biography won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”.   Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.

Early in his career, Robertson was appointed executive of the US Civil War Centennial Commission by President Kennedy.  He is an Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus DrRobertson12102013 flyerat Virginia Tech where he taught for 40 years.  His Civil War Era courses at Virginia Tech, attracted 300 students per semester, and were the largest of its kind in the nation.

The recipient of every major award given in the Civil War field, and a lecturer of national acclaim, Dr. Robertson is probably more in demand as a speaker before Civil War groups than anyone else in the field.

For information, contact the roundtable’s president, Brad Gottfried, at bgottfried@csmd.edu or 301-934-7625.

May 2013 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

May 14, 2013

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 7:00PM on the LaPlata campus Dan's_photoof the College of Southern Maryland.  The Meeting will be held in the Business and Industries building, Chaney Enterprises Conference Room; Room BI-113.

Guest Speaker:  Daniel Carroll Toomey

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table will host a presentation by noted author Daniel Carroll Toomey, a University of Maryland graduate.  Mr. Toomey has authored several books on the Civil War including, “The Civil War in Maryland“, “Marylanders at Gettysburg” and “The Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers’ Home“.  He is also co-author of “Baltimore During the Civil War” and “Marylanders in Blue“, all of which were published by Toomey Press.

Mr. Toomey has lectured for a number of historical organizations, as well as for the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution.  His course, “The Civil War in Maryland” has been offered at a number of local colleges.  He has also contributed to radio and television programs and on two Civil War battle videos.  Mr. Toomey is a member of the Surratt Society, the Maryland Arms Collectors Association and the thewarcamebytrainCompany of Military Historians.  He serves on the Maryland Military Monuments Commission and was project historian for the Maryland Memorial erected at Gettysburg in 1994.

Among his many achievements, Mr. Toomey has received numerous awards for his  historical research and exhibits, including the Gettysburg National Battlefield Award in 1985 and was the recipient of the 2001 Peterkin Award, given by the National Park Service at Fort McHenry, for his many contributions in the field of research and preservation.

His two fondest accomplishments are writing the inscription for the Maryland Monument at Gettysburg and playing on the first ever Howard County, MD lacrosse team in 1964.  Currently, Mr. Toomey is the Guest Curator at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum for their five year project, “The War Came by Train“, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

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.