Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable

August meeting: Brian Jordan

Our August meeting is next Tuesday, August 13–we’ll start at 630 pm at our usual spot, the Balch Library. Our speaker this month is Dr Brian Jordan!

He will speak about his most recent book, A Thousand May Fall: An Immigrant Regiment's Civil War. Brian will also have books available for purchase!

A Thousand May Fall is a pathbreaking history of the Civil War centered on the 107th Ohio Volunteer Infantry—a regiment that weathered the war's extremes. ​The unit, one of just thirty "ethnic" regiments in the Union army, found the thick of the killing at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, before ending the war marking time with numbing fatigue duties. Brian Jordan will recount the unit's experiences from enlistment through veteranhood, revealing new insights about many of the war's most pressing questions.
Dr. Brian Matthew Jordan is associate professor and chair of the Department of History at Sam Houston State University. He received his MA and Ph.D. in History from Yale University. Dr. Jordan is the author of Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War. The book was a finalist (one of three runners-up) for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History and, in its dissertation form, won the George Washington Egleston Prize (for best U.S. history dissertation at Yale) and Yale’s John Addison Porter Prize. In 2020, he co-edited The War Went On: Reconsidering the Lives of Civil War Veterans. In 2021, he authored A Thousand May Fall: An Immigrant Regiment’s Civil War, which earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was one of the bestselling Civil War titles of 2021. He also co-edited, with Jonathan W. White, Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves. A native of Akron, Ohio, Dr. Jordan has served for the last ten years as Book Review Editor for The Civil War Monitor. He is a member of the Society of Civil War Historians and founding co-editor of the Veterans Book Series (University of Massachusetts Press). His more than 150 articles, reviews, or essays have appeared in a bevy of scholarly journals. In 2020, he appeared in two episodes of the HISTORY Channel's three-part mini series on the life of U.S. Grant.

July meeting! This Tuesday, 9 July at the Balch library. We start at 6:30 pm, we are looking forward to seeing you there! Our speaker this month is William Connery.

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.

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

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!

June meeting! We will convene at 630 pm next Tuesday (June 11) at the Balch Library. Our speaker is Nathan McDonald!

Topic/Title: Cavalry in the Hills: The 1863 Battle of Droop Mountain

Biography: Nathan McDonald is a Historic Interpreter for the Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation. He is from the Shenandoah Valley, where he grew up surrounded by Civil War history large and small. Graduating from Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, WV with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2013, he worked for West Virginia State Parks and the National Park Service from 2011 to 2016. In 2017 he came to Prince William County as a historic interpreter, at Rippon Lodge and later Brentsville Courthouse.

Hi all, here are some upcoming, local events!

May 26: Mt. Zion Church in Aldie is open 1PM-5PM. Historical interpreters will be on site.

May 30 - Car tour of the Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville hosted by the Friends of Balls Bluff. Details of when and where to meet are TBD. Contact the FoBB for more details.

The following information is from the Virginia Preservation and Heritage Association. If you are a member of the VA Preservation and Heritage Association both events cost $65, nonmembers its $85.

May 19: Tour of Ovoka Farm in Paris VA, 4PM. Surveyed by George Washington, Ovoka was originally part of the 3,000 acres Robert "King Carter land grant in 1731. This 1830's estate sits on the western boundary of the fertile Piedmont and extends into the Shenandoah Valley. Learn how this storied farm survived the tumultuous events of the Civil War to become a pivotal part of the regional equestrian, hiking and farming communities. Today, an award-winning Wagyu beef farm, its products are featured on menus such as The Inn at Little Washington and Field and Main. Includes an open house and reception.

June 27: 6PM Chasing Jeb Stuart and John Mosby with Bob O'Neill. Event will be held a Buchanan Hall in Upperville. Join author and historian Bob O'Neil as he discusses his book "Chasing Jeb Stuart and John Mosby." O'Neil explores the first six months of Col. John Mosby command in 1862 while Gen. Jeb Stuart threatened the US Capitol. Hear about the dramatic clashes such as Stuart's Christmas Raid and others that took place in the fall of 1862 to the summer of 1863.

May meeting--Tuesday, 14 May at 630pm!

Meeting is at the Balch Library and our speaker this month is Brian McEnany.

Topic: Federal Early Warning in Northern Virginia – A Tour of Ghost Forts

Brian McEnany will discuss how early warning of any Confederate advances toward the Washington defenses were conducted. MGEN Heintzelman, commander of the Department of Washington and the 22nd Army Corps in 1863, simplified the term early warning in a directive to one of his commanders, “…push his (Col. Price’s) patrols as far out on all the roads as (you) can with safety to give us timely notice of any movement of the enemy.” Those words encompassed the task given to Union cavalry units assigned that mission in Northern Virginia.

But cavalry, in the sense of independent units flung out in front of a force, did not initially exist. The Federal leadership believed the war would only last a short period of time, and the cost of manning, supplying and training cavalry was not a high priority in the growing Union army. Dedicated cavalry brigades tasked with early warning in Northern Virginia did not exist until late 1862.This evening, Brian will describe how these Federal early warning lines were established during the war with particular emphasis on the early warning line constructed in its later phases, a series of camps that history has forgotten - a line of ghost forts.

The Author Brian McEnany graduated from West Point in 1962. After retirement from the military and civilian endeavors, he joined the Bull Run Civil War Round Table in 2005 and served as its Education Committee Chair for several years. Civil War history has always fascinated him and he used his skills as an analyst of military operations to write and publish books and articles. He is the author of a full-length book, For Brotherhood and Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862, and several magazine articles. He co-authored Sunstroke and Ankle-Deep Mud, a tour guide about the Army of the Potomac as it crossed Northern Virginia in June 1863. Over the past years, he conducted several tours associated with his books, taught classes about Civil War West Point for the Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) program, and established BRCWRT’s academic outreach program to local universities and elementary schools. He has been heavily involved with the preservation of a civil war fortification on George Mason University’s campus. More recently, he published two tour booklets - History Happened Here, about the Warrenton Turnpike and the First Battle of Manassas, followed by publication of Early Warning in Northern Virginia, the subject of tonight’s lecture.

Interested in the 160th Anniversary of the Overland Campaign? Here’s the list of NPS activities for Wilderness and Spotsylvania!

Wilderness & Spotsylvania Anniversaries (U.S. National Park Service) 9 am-5 pm, Ellwood Open House Drop-in throughout the day to tour Ellwood. Visit any time from 9 am to 5 pm to learn some of the stories that make up Ellwood's varied past. 10 am-4 pm, Conversation Stations Ongoing pop-up exhibits and tables staffed throughout the day. Join us in an informal setting....

Hi all!

Our April meeting is just ahead--next Tuesday, April 9th. We'll be back at the Balch Library and our start time is 630pm.

Dan Hakenson will be speaking to us on: The Forgotten Land. A Civil War tour Book Outside the City of Alexandria VA

Take a break from doing your taxes and come join the LCCWRT next Tuesday!

Hi everyone, just a quick reminder about our first meeting of 2024! It’s tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12 at the Rescue Squad (143 Catoctin Circle). We’ll begin at 7! Hope to see you there!

To help you find the building it is located between the Flagship Car Wash (next to the W&OD bike trail) and the Town of Leesburg Skate Park. Across the street is the Exxon Gas Station. For those using GPS the address is 143 Catoctin SW Leesburg VA 20175. If the parking lot is full park across the street at the bank and use the bike path crosswalk stop light to cross the street. Handicap parking is beside the skatepark.

March meeting!

We hope that you'll join us for the first meeting of 2024 for the LCCWRT --next Tuesday, 12 March at 7pm. Instead of meeting at our usual location, we'll be meeting at the Rescue Squad at 143 Catoctin Circle Leesburg VA. Light refreshments will be served.

Our speaker this month is Ross Heller!

Ross Heller is the editor and author of "By Abraham Lincoln: His 1858 Time Capsule". Mr. Heller's talk on March 12th will provide further insight into the newspaper articles that President Lincoln's collected in 1858. President Lincoln eventually gave this collection to another candidate to use as a campaign aid.

Ross's book debuted at the Lincoln Forum in 2022 and has been featured on C-SPAN and well as reviewed in Civil War related magazines and publications.

Ross has a B/A. in History from Clark University and a M.A. in Journalism from the University of Oregon. He has been a journalist, U.S. Senate press secretary, lobbyist, association executive, entrepreneur and newspaper publisher.

Directions to the Rescue Squad: From Market Street, turn south onto Catoctin Circle. The Rescue Squad will be on your left just past the Flagship Carwash. There is parking in the side lot and behind the building.

We'll resume meeting at Balch Library next month at our usual start time of 6:30pm.

Hi everyone! Below is our schedule for the 2024 LCCWRT year!

March 12: Ross Heller: Abraham Lincoln

April 9: Dan Hakenson: The Forgotten Land. A Civil War tour Book Outside the City of Alexandria VA

May 14: Brian McEnany: Early Warning in Northern VA - A Tale about Ghost Forts

June 11: John McDonald: Battle of Dropp Mountain

July 9: William Connery: Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

August 13: Brian Jordan: Topic TBD

September 10: Chuck Mauro: A Civil War Album of Laura Ratcliffe: A Southern Spy in Northern VA

October 8: Ryan Quint: The Battle of Dranesville

November 12: Jim Anderson: The Great Locomotive Chase--the Andrews Raiders of 1862

December 10: TBD

December Meeting!

Tuesday, 12 December, 630 pm at the Balch Library.

Our speaker this month is our own Curl Piggot!

Topic: Regimental Sutlers: The Good and the Bad.

Curl has been a reenactor for over 25 years and a avid collector of Civil War artifacts since the age of 13. He is a founding member of the Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable. Curl has 2 relatives that served in Col. Elijah White's 35 Battalion of Virginia Cavalry.

Come and join us for the last meeting of the year—see you there!

We hope to see you all at tonight's meeting!

November 2023 Meeting–Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, and Order No. 11: The Long Civil War in Bleeding Missouri

Our November 2023 meeting is at Balch Library.
Speaker: Pamela Grainger Tilson
Location: Thomas Balch Library, 208 West Market Street, Leesburg, Virginia
Meeting time: 6:30 p.m., November 14, 2023

Bonus: We will hold a silent auction for a framed Yardley-Taylor map of Loudoun County, courtesy of our guest speaker!

Topic: Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, and Order No. 11: The Long Civil War in Bleeding Missouri

Missouri, a border state, has been called “the very seedbed of the Civil War” for good reason. Guerrilla warfare in Missouri had a five-year head start by the time word was received that Sumter was under fire. Once the ink was dry on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, civilians in Missouri and the Kansas Territory began playing a game of upping-the-atrocity ante. Missouri ranks third behind Virginia and Tennessee for number of battles, engagements, and skirmishes, but this number does not count the guerrilla action committed in Missouri before 1861.This program will explore the factors that helped produce the animosity that drove such players as William Clarke Quantrill, “Bloody Bill” Anderson, Charles Jennison, and Jim Lane. Appomattox came and went but the unrest went on in the heartland.

Pamela Grainger Tilson, a current North Carolinian, is a former president of the Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable. A Missouri native, she grew up a few miles from a village where Bill Stewart, a protégé of “Bloody Bill” Anderson, practically burned a community to the ground in vengeance early in the war. She has spoken to various groups on such wide-ranging historical topics as the legacy of Lafayette and the Berlin Airlift. Civil War topics explored include drummer boys, the battle of Franklin, and the sorrow that was Missouri’s Order No. 11. Tilson holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master’s degree in history from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. During her almost forty years in northern Virginia, she worked a majority of that time as an editor at a math teachers association. Current interests include World War One history, her local DAR chapter in North Carolina, and cemetery preservation.

At our meeting tonight, several of our members asked that we pass along this memorial service information:

The Clinton Hatcher Camp SCV is holding a graveside service to honor Clinton Hatcher, colorbearer of the 8th Virginia Infantry, who was killed at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, 21 October 1861. All are welcome to attend.

The service will be at 9am on Saturday, 21 October 2023 at the Ketoctin Baptist Church (16595 Ketoctin Church Road, Purcellville, VA 20132).

The service will be followed by breakfast at Tammy’s Diner (2 E Loudoun Street, Round Hill, VA 20141)

October meeting! Our topic this month is ‘The Human and Personal Side of the Civil War.’

Our meeting starts at 630pm at the Balch Library in Leesburg. Parking is available at the church across the street. We hope to see you there!

Our Speaker: Carl Sell has been interviewing, researching. writing and talking about events and history all his life. He started a newspaper career in the 1950s and has been involved with news and events ever since. He was an award-winning sports reporter and later news editor for the old Washington Star. Then then spent 15 years as the Director of Sports Information at George Mason University, retiring in 1996. He turned his attention to the Civil War, wring several books and numerous articles for the Civil War News. He concentrates on the human and personal side of the war and promises some about Loudoun County tonight.

September meeting: Tuesday, 12 September at Balch Library, 6:30 pm.

Our speaker is Eric Buckland!

Our topic is Mosby’s Rangers vs. Cole’s Cavalry

This presentation will discuss the three fights: Five Points, Loudoun Heights and Blakely’s Grove Schoolhouse, that occurred between Mosby’s Rangers and Cole’s Cavalry in January and February of 1864. The Rangers won two of the three fights, but the one loss was painful and heartbreaking for them. Mosby stated in his report that they had suffered heavy losses, "more so in worth than the number of slain." Many years later, Cole's Cavalry would strive to hold their annual reunions on, or as near to as possible, the date of their victory.

Hope to see you there!

Head over to our park website for a full list of programming to commemorate the 161st Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.
https://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm

August meeting! Please join us on Tuesday, August 8 at 630 pm at the Balch Library for our monthly presentation. Our speaker is our very own Craig Swain.

"We should attempt the boldest moves" : Opening the Carolinas Campaign, January-February 1865

A common description of the Carolinas Campaign of 1865 holds that General William T. Sherman continued his march through the southland, blazing a path of destruction the Confederacy lacked the will or ability to resist. Such interpretation overlooks many issues Sherman’s force overcame in January and February. And thus we lack an appreciation of the opportunities Confederate leaders failed to exploit. Far from being an easy uncontested advance, Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign began with weeks of bold and risky maneuvers overcoming logistical constraints, foul weather, and difficult terrain deep in enemy held territory. Our speaker, Craig Swain, will highlight the operations in South Carolina during January and February 1865, as Sherman’s columns blazed a path (quite literally) to the state capital of Columbia.

Craig Swain is a graduate of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, with a BA in history. Commissioned in the Army after college, he served as both a combat arms and communications officer. After leaving the Army, he continued his studies at Missouri State University. He is the author of numerous articles appearing in Civil War Times, America's Civil War, Artilleryman, and other magazines. His award winning blog, recently relaunched, "To the Sound of the Guns," covers various aspects of the war, but with focus on artillery and the Charleston Theater of war. Craig is presently an information technology manager for a US Government Agency.

Finally reopened!

Our July meeting will be on Tuesday, July 11th at 6:30 pm at Balch Library.

July topic: A Busy Little Town in the Midst of a War: Bloomfield, Missouri in the Civil War

Bloomfield, Missouri sits atop Crowley's Ridge and astride the natural routes from Missouri into Northeast Arkansas. This geographic position ensured the town's prosperity from its founding in 1835. And with the outbreak of hostilities starting the Civil War in Missouri, Bloomfield became an important strategic objective for both sides. During the war, Bloomfield changed hands sixteen times. Regulars and raiders frequently passed through. Its men served on both sides of the conflict. Its civilians suffered through hardship and deprivations. Its buildings and homes became military headquarters and hospitals, with most ultimately being destroyed by war. The first issues of what later became "The Stars and Stripes" newspaper were published in Bloomfield during the war. Despite not seeing a major pitched battle, the town of Bloomfield, Missouri saw considerable activity during the Civil War and offers many stories of a town caught between the warring factions.

Our lecturer this month is our very own, Craig Swain! We hope that you’ll join us on Tuesday evening!

For all those heading to Gettysburg this weekend for the 160th!

160th Battle Anniversary reminder: Weather safety. In the event of thunderstorm/tornado warnings, or a heat index of more than 105 degrees, all programs will be canceled. In the event of a heat index of more than 91 degrees, programs will be shortened and modified. See the entire list at: https://go.nps.gov/BattleAnniversary160.

Little Round Top, coming along nicely!

🎇 We look forward to seeing you, family, and friends at the park on the 4th of July. FoBB will also have a float in the Leesburg Parade again this year🇺🇸

LCCWRT Meeting Notice: June 13, Battle of Cedar Mountain by Chris Bryan

Meeting will start at 6:30 at the Balch Library. Dues were due in March, $25. Check can be made out to “LCCWRT”.

Topic

The II Corps, Army of Virginia suffered a bloody and demoralizing defeat at the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9th, 1862, after initial success where it nearly defeated Stonewall Jackson’s command. This talk will describe the fighting at Cedar Mountain in detail and will also describe the aftermath for the II Corps that summer during the Second Manassas Campaign.

Our Speaker

Chris Bryan earned a B.S. in History from the United States Naval Academy, an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and a Masters in Historic Preservation from the University of Maryland, College Park. The former Naval Aviator works as a project manager and lives in southern Maryland with his wife and two children. This is his first book.

May meeting! Tuesday 9 May!

Please come to our meeting at Balch Library. Guests are welcome. Meeting Starts at 6:30. Dues ($25) were due in March.

Our Speaker

Carleton Young has been invited to share his story with more than 250 Civil War Roundtables, historical societies, and other organizations around the country.

Lecture

Imagine clearing out your family attic and discovering an enormous collection of letters written by two soldiers during the Civil War, but not knowing why the letters were there. Faced with that situation, Carleton Young spent more than a decade visiting battlefields and researching the two soldiers as well as other people who appear in the letters. The two brothers were members of the celebrated Vermont Brigade in the 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac.

In Voices From the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War, he tells the story of these two brothers who witnessed and made history by fighting in the Peninsula Campaign, then at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Bristoe Campaign, the Wilderness, Petersburg, and Cedar Creek. They then preserved that history through their surprisingly detailed and insightful letters.

The publication of the book was followed by many favorable reviews. Civil War News called it “a substantial contribution to the genre of first-person Civil War accounts becoming so popular today.”

We hope to see you on Tuesday!

Should be a great day for a hike!

Join us this Sunday for a ranger led battlefield hike. We will meet at the New York State Monument, 1pm. This program will focus on the action in and around the Sunken Road. The hike will run approximately 2 hours and will cover about 2 miles. For a list of all our hikes presented this spring, please head over to our website. https://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/2023-spring-battlefield-hikes.htm

April Meeting! Take a break from doing your taxes and join us on Tuesday, April 11 at 630 pm at the Balch Library for our monthly get together!

Dues are $25. Please make your checks out to LCCWRT. We are looking for someone to manage the book/raffle sales.

The Lecture by Greg Clemmer
Robert E. Lee: The History You Were Never Taught

With Confederate statues and indeed Southern history grabbing headlines across our country, it might be interesting if we took a look at pages of our history rarely read. Robert E. Lee’s memory is especially under review – if not attacked. But the former Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia’s most enduring legacy is one few recognize, and one we should all be grateful for.

Gregg is a native of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and a graduate of Virginia Tech, with a Master's degree in military history from Norwich University. A former president of the Montgomery County (MD) Civil War Round Table, He numbers two Union generals and 14 "in-the-trenches" Confederates in his ancestry, including members of Armistead's and the Stonewall brigades.

Gregg has been a study leader for the Smithsonian Associates since 1988, specializing in cave as well as Civil War and Revolutionary War tours. A former professor of history at Carroll Community Collège in Westminster, MD, Gregg has also been an onboard lecturer for American Cruise Lines, specializing in the histories of the Columbia and Mississippi Rivers.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing about the proposed Wilderness Crossing development project on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 6:00 pm in the Public Safety Building (11282 Government Center Drive, Orange, VA 22960).

The CVBT and the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition encourage the public to attend the meeting and express their opposition to the proposed rezoning for this massive development project that would have a negative impact on the Wilderness battlefield. For more information visit: https://www.pecva.org/wilderness-crossing/

Spring Antietam hikes! Come out and get some exercise and learn about the battle!

This Sunday we will have our first hike of the spring. Join us at 1p.m. for the Irish Brigade Hike. Check out all the details on our website as well as a list of all spring programs coming down the road. https://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/2023-spring-battlefield-hikes.htm

Hi all, just a reminder that tonight (March 14) is our first lecture of 2023! We start at 630pm at Balch Library!