December 8, 2015

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 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:  Anthony J. Ziebol

Richard Rowland Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry is arguably the most famous “common” soldier of the Civil War. Although his act of risking his life to give water and medical aid to enemy soldiers at the battle of Fredericksburg is well known, the rest of his story, along with that of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry is not.
Without even mentioning Fredericksburg, this Angel of Marye’s Heights was present at some of most fierce fighting of the war and most iconic locations: Henry House Hill at 1st Bull Run, the Dunker Church at Antietam, the Peach Orchard and Wheatfield at Gettysburg and Snodgrass Hill at Chickamauga. After 15 years of walking in Kirkland’s footsteps from his father’s plantation to the battlefields northward, author Anthony J. Ziebol’s presentation will include stories/photos of the men who stood with him and the fields that were soaked with their blood.
Among them:

The magnet for bullets – Captain (and eventual general) John Doby Kennedy, who survived six wounds and being struck by 15 spent bullets.

The gold digger – Captain Franklin Gaillard, failed at striking it rich mining for gold in California but became a brave soldier

Anthony J Ziebol is an accomplished journalist and writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After receiving a degree in print journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Mr. Ziebol moved back to the Twin Cities and began writing as a staff reporter for newspapers and as a freelancer for Midwest magazines. He also did promotional writing for the legendary rock club of Prince’s Purple Rain fame, First Avenue.  But more than anything, Ziebol loved history and the outdoors and so he went searching for the one story that would leap from the pages and unite his passions. He took solo road trips, some for as many as two weeks at a time, camping near Civil War battlefields, encountering more wild animals than people. In one of these trips, he stumbled into Fredericksburg, VA, where he saw a statue of a common soldier with an incredible story. And he knew the epic of Richard Kirkland had to be told to the world. Since that day, Ziebol has become so knowledgeable about Kirkland’s regiment that he helped edit well-known National Park Service (retired) historian Mac Wyckoff’s latest book, A History of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry, which is now in print. He has also been invited to speak at the prestigious South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia, SC and will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Richard Kirkland Memorial Service, an annual event in Camden, SC. He also gave a talk on the battlefield at the 150th anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga, where he organized a joint ceremony with the Camden chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a contingent of the Minnesota Civil War Commemoration Task Force.

Ziebol’s first historical novel, “Angel of Marye’s Heights: The Story of Richard Kirkland” has a tentative publishing date of November 2015. After more than a decade of research, this extremely realistic novel (in the same vein as Jeff Shaara) is as close as it gets to a true history of one of the few individuals that is a hero to both sides of the Civil War.  With a powerpoint show featuring both period photographs and his own pictures taken while following in Kirkland’s footsteps from South Carolina to Fredericksburg to Gettysburg to Chickamauga, and everything in between, Ziebol will captivate any audience with Kirkland’s incredible story.

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table invites all to attend this lecture about the incredible act of kindness, mercy and bravery by a so called “common man”.  Attendance is free for all, but membership is recommended.  For information, contact the Round Table’s president, Brad Gottfried, at bgottfried@csmd.edu or 301-934-7625.