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 “
Your 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 
hospital 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.
Maryland 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.
The 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.
The 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.
Spotsylvania 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.
Professor Emeritus from Virginia Tech and author of over 20 books, whose works include “Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Myth, and The Legend”, “Civil War!”, “America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”.
