Tag: William Connery

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October 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

October 10, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  William Connery

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to welcome back Mr. William Connery to speak to us.  Those who enjoyed his lectures on the Civil War in Northern Virginia and Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, will certainly be enthralled with his topic tonight; Mosby’s Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia.

https://www.loudounprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Mosby_portrait_cu.jpg

The most famous War Between the States/Civil War name in Northern Virginia, other than General Robert E. Lee, is Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the Gray Ghost.  He stands out among nearly 1,000 generals who served in the war, celebrated most for his raids that captured Union General Edwin Stoughton in Fairfax Court House and Colonel Daniel French Dulany in Rose Hill, near Alexandria.  By 1864 Mosby was a feared partisan guerrilla in the North and a hero in the South; a nightmare for Union troops protectng Washington City.  After the war, his support for presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant forced Mosby to leave his native Virginia for Hong Kong as U.S. consul.  A personal mentor to young George S. Patton, Mosby’s military legacy extended to World War II.  Tonight, William Connery will bring alive the many dimensions of this American hero.

William Connery grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, considered Rebel Territory by some and known as Mob Town, long before it was Charm City. Mr. Connery has a degree in History from the University of Maryland–College Park and have lived in the Bush Hill section of Fairfax County, near Old Town Alexandria, since 1989. William has been contributing to the Civil War Courier and other publications. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for his previous History Press book, Civil War Northern Virginia 1861.

William Connery is a member of the Company of Military Historians and a frequently requested speaker in the Washington, DC, metro area.

He can be reached at william.connery@verizon.net. He presents for us here an interview on my book originally given on ‘Virginia Time Travel’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYyphgO0WKo

Please come out and help us welcome back a great friend of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table.  As always, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org

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May 2019 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

May 14, 2019

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Learning Resource Center Room LR-102, at 8730 Mitchell Road in La Plata, MD.

Guest Speaker:  William Connery

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table closes out its 7th season with a visit from yet another old friend. Those of you who enjoyed hearing William Connery speak to us in January 2017 about the Civil War in Northern Virginia, will be enraptured with his latest presentation, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas.

In the 1850s, Stephen R. Mallory was Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. When his state of Florida left the Union in early 1861, he joined the Confederacy and was appointed Secretary of the Navy. Because no one else cared that much about naval policy, Mallory was able to shape naval doctrine. After viewing the disparity between the shipbuilding and other manufacturing facilities of the Confederacy and those of the Union, he set forth a fourfold naval plan:

  1. Send out commerce raiders to destroy the enemy’s mercantile marine.
  2. Build ironclad vessels in Southern shipyards for defensive purposes.
  3. Obtain by purchase or construction abroad armored ships capable of fighting on the seas.
  4. Employ new weapons and techniques of warfare.

 The talk focuses on Mallory’s three most successful commerce raiders: the CSS Florida, Alabama and Shenandoah.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Mr. Connery has a degree in History from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal, from the Fairfax Chapter of the UDC, for his History Press book Civil War Northern Virginia 1861. His other book, Mosby’s Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia, deals with the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy, and his amazing life before, during, and after the War! He has power-point presentations on his books and other Civil War topics. He is a frequently requested speaker in the Washington DC metro region. Mr. Connery can be reached at william.connery@verizon.net.

Help us bring a successful conclusion to another great season by joining us for this look at the Confederate Navy.  Attendance is free, but membership is recommended. For more details, please call 443-975-9142 or email at www.bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.