November 2024 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

November 12, 2024

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker: Matt Borders

A star of our video presentations during the COVID epidemic, it is a great pleasure to welcome Matt Borders in person to our Round Table. Having spoken to us twice on his excellent books, “Faces of Union Soldiers at Antietam” and “Faces of Union Soldiers at South Mountain and Harper’s Ferry”, tonight Matt will speak to us about Chief Justine Roger Brooke Taney: Beyond Dred Scott.

Matt’s presentation, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney: Beyond Dred Scott, looks at that enigmatic figure through his case work and whether it gives a deeper understanding for this much maligned historical figure. Chief Justice Taney will be forever remembered for the infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857, but was this hardline opinion from the bench always the opinion of the man himself, or did it develop over time during the raucous antebellum years of the United States?

A graduate of Michigan State and Eastern Michigan University, Matthew Borders holds a BA in United States History with a focus in the American Civil War and a MS in Historic Preservation. Following graduation he taught at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before accepting a position with the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. He worked as the historian for the ABPP for six years, during which time he became a certified battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historic Site. He is also the President of the Frederick County Civil War Round Table and a founding member of the Antietam Institute.

Currently, Matthew is a Park Ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick, Maryland. He, along with fellow guide, Joe Stahl, have published four books in their Faces of Union Soldiers series

Help us welcome Matt by coming out hearing the fascinating exploration of the court decision that caused much strife and controversy in its aftermath. Attendance is free as always, but membership is recommended. Please contact us at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org or at 443-975-9142 for more details.

March 13, 2018

April 2018 Southern MD Civil War Round Table

April 10, 2018

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 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: Marc Leepson

Journalist, historian, and author Marc Leepson will present a two-part program in April on the Battle of Monocacy based on his acclaimed 2007 book, Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History.

Mr. Leepson—the author of nine books, including his latest, Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler—will give a talk on the book on Tuesday, April 10 in La Plata. Then, on Saturday, April 14, he will lead an extensive tour of the Monocacy National Battlefield outside Frederick, Maryland.

The talk—and the book—covers four short but pivotal weeks in the Civil War. The story begins on June 13, 1864, when Confederate General Jubal Anderson Early followed his commanding general Robert E. Lee’s secret orders to take an entire corps of troops from outside the defenses of Richmond and move into the Shenandoah Valley. Early quickly defeated Union General David Hunter at Lynchburg, then marched his troops north through the undefended Shenandoah Valley.

On July 5 Early’s troops crossed the Potomac, setting in motion the South’s third invasion of the North (after Antietam in 1862 and Gettysburg almost a exactly a year earlier in July 1863). The story ends almost exactly a month later, on July 14, 1864, when Early led his troops back across the Potomac after removing them from the fighting around Washington.

The key event in the entire affair, the July 9 Battle of Monocacy, played a vital and under-appreciated role in the outcome of the war. In what would be Union General Lew Wallace’s finest military hour, he and his men came out on the losing end. But, as the book makes clear, the fight at Monocacy became known as “the battle that saved Washington” because Wallace held Early up for just enough time for Grant to bring much-needed seasoned troops to man the defenses of Washington.

As for changing American history, Early’s move into Maryland and his march on Washington forced Grant to send the U.S. Army’s 6^th Corps from outside Richmond to Monocacy and Washington and to divert the entire 19^th Corps to the nation’s capital. Grant had been working on what he had hoped would be a plan to put a stranglehold around Lee in Richmond and Petersburg, a strategy that he had hoped would end the war, perhaps as early as the summer of 1864. That strategy dissolved when he had to send all the 6^th and 19^th Corps north.

Marc Leepson is the author of nine books, including Desperate Engagement, Saving Monticello, Flag: An American Biography, Lafayette: Idealist General, What So Proudly We Hailed, and Ballad of the Green Beret. A former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., he has written for many magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal and Civil War Times and Military History, been interviewed on many television and radio shows (among them, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, Fox News, MSNBC, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition), has presented papers and chaired panels at academic conferences, and has given many presentations to university and high school students.

He is senior writer, arts editor, and columnist for The VVA Veteran, the magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America. He graduated from George Washington University in 1967. After serving in the U.S. Army, including a year in the Vietnam War, he earned an MA in history from GWU in 1971. He taught U.S. history at Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, Virginia from 2008-2015.

He has served on many non-profit boards, including the Library of Virginia Foundation, the Virginia State Library Board, the Loudoun County (Va.) Library Board of Trustees, and the Mosby Heritage Area Association. He lives in Middleburg, Virginia. His website is www.marcleepson.com.

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.

November 16, 2017

Southern MD Civil War Round Table Spring Field Trip

Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table

Monocacy Battlefield Tour

Saturday, April 14, 2018

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The Tour: Join us for our annual Spring Tour of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table. This tour will begin in La Plata (CSM Campus), where participants will board a chartered bus for The Monocacy Battlefield.

The Battle of Monocacy (also known as Monocacy Junction) was fought on July 9, 1864, approximately 6 miles from Frederick, Maryland, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early defeated Union forces under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace. The battle was part of Early’s raid through the Shenandoah Valley and into Maryland in an attempt to divert Union forces away from Gen. Robert E. Lee‘s army under siege at Petersburg, Virginia. The battle was the northernmost Confederate victory of the war. While the Union troops retreated to Baltimore, Maryland, the Confederates continued toward Washington, D.C., but the battle at Monocacy delayed Early’s march for a day, allowing time for Union reinforcements to arrive in the Union capital. The Confederates launched an attack on Washington on July, 12 at the Battle of Fort Stevens, but were unsuccessful and retreated to Virginia.

The Guide: The tour guide is Marc Leepson, author of the book, “Desperate Engagement”. He will also speak to the round table on Tuesday, April 10th. Contact is Ben Sunderland @ 4439759142 or bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.

^Cost:^{The cost of the trip (bus and lunch) is $55 for members and $65 for nonmembers. Save money through early bird registration (March 13, 2018) $50 for members and $60 for nonmembers.}