Richard Forrester, President           Rob Monroe, Editor       
8008 Spottswood Road                   2416 Edenbrook Dr.       
Richmond, VA 23229                     Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
dforrester@verizon.net                 RMonroe500@comcast.net   
August 2005 PROGRAM

Lt. Gen. Josiah Bunting, III
"Gen. Ulysses S. Grant"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, Sugust 9, 2005, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.)
Please note: This month's meeting will be held in the sanctuary.

General Josiah  Bunting  is  a  1963  graduate  of  Virginia
Military  Institute where he became Regimental Commander and
First Captain of the Corps, was a member of the Honor  Court
and  captain  of  the  swimming  team.  An English major, he
graduated third in  his  class  and  was  awarded  a  Rhodes
Scholarship.  After receiving a B.A.  and M.A.  from Oxford,
where he was President of the American Students Association,
he entered the United States Army in 1966.  During six years
of service, he reached the rank of Major, with duty stations
at  Fort  Bragg,  NC; Vietnam (Ninth Infantry Division); and
West Point, NY  where  he  was  an  assistant  professor  of
history  and  social  sciences at the United States Military
Academy.  His military citations  include  the  Bronze  Star
with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam
Honor  Medal  -  2nd  class,  Presidential  Unit   Citation,
Parachute Badge, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab.     

Bunting  spent  a  year  at  the  U.S.  Naval War College in
Newport, RI  before  being  named  President  at  Briarcliff
College  (NY).   He later became President of Hampden-Sydney
College, then headmaster of the Lawrenceville  School  (NJ).
He  has been president of Phi Beta Kappa at William and Mary
and was appointed Superintendent of VMI in 1995.   Early  in
his tenure he was charged by the Institute's governing board
to implement the ruling of the United States Supreme  Court,
to oversee preparations for the enrollment of female cadets.
He  was  promoted  to  Lieutenant  General,  in   2002.    A
sought-after   lecturer  who  holds  honorary  degrees  from
several colleges, Gen.  Bunting  is  a  member  of  numerous
honor  societies  and fraternities and has been a trustee of
many educational institutions and entities.                 


Summary of July Meeting


At the July meeting of the Richmond Civil War  Round  Table,
Richard  McMurry  spoke  to  members  on  the oft-overlooked
importance of the  war's  Western  Theater.   It's  easy  --
particularly  for those of us living in Virginia -- to focus
almost exclusively on the war in  the  East.   "Expand  your
horizons,"  urged  McMurry.   He challenged RCWRT members to
"undergo a paradigm shift" and "see things  in  a  different
light."  Looking  at  the war in Virginia can be misleading,
McMurry said.  He countered with what he referred to as  the
"Western paradigm."                                         

McMurry  confessed  to  being  a  voracious  reader.   After
decades of pouring over the works of  countless  historians,
McMurry  said  he  has  "collected"  83  reasons for why the
Confederacy lost the war.  Each is singularly true in and of
itself, McMurry noted, but none gives a full account for why
the South fell.  The real reason the  Confederacy  lost  the
war,  McMurry  asserted,  was  because it did not win enough
battles.  The simplicity  of  the  statement  drew  laughter
throughout  the  room  and  no one grinned more broadly than
McMurry himself.                                            

While factors such as the Union blockade and the failure  to
be  officially  recognized  by England and France were great
impediments to the Confederacy, McMurry  explained,  it  was
defeat  on  the  battlefield  alone that doomed the Southern
nation.  You'd never know this by studying only the Virginia
paradigm, he said.                                          

The  Union won battle after battle in the West despite often
being outnumbered, noted McMurry, a  direct  result  of  the
decisions   of   poor  Confederate  commanders.   With  A.S.
Johnston's untimely death at Shiloh,  Jefferson  Davis  lost
the only general in the Western Theater he would ever trust.
McMurry contended that the war's most  decisive  battle  was
not  fought  on  the  fields  of  Gettysburg,  but rather at
Champion Hill, Mississippi.  This was the  best  chance  the
rebels  had  at  stopping  Grant, McMurry explained.  A more
competent Confederate general could have trapped  the  Union
commander and forced his surrender.                         

Still, the turning point of the war wasn't military, McMurry
asserted.  At the outbreak of war, the state of Kentucky had
strong  ties  to  both  the  North and South.  The Bluegrass
State was the birthplace of  both  Lincoln  and  Davis.   In
1861,  Leonidas  Polk  was  sent  by  Davis  to  oversee the
Confederate troops at Memphis until A.S.  Johnston  returned
from California.  But before Johnston arrived, Gideon Pillow
convinced Polk to march on Columbus, Kentucky.  The move was
a  direct  violation  of  the state's neutrality.  Meanwhile
Lincoln used great political skill to keep Kentucky. McMurry
asserted  that  the Confederacy simply could not win the war
without Kentucky.                                           

Across  the  state  line  in  Cairo  (pronounced  "Kay-ro"),
Illinois,   Sherman   correctly   predicted   that   whoever
controlled that junction of the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi
rivers  would  win the war.  While the Shenandoah Valley has
long been known as the  "Breadbasket  of  the  Confederacy,"
Western  farms  provided  a  vast  food supply to the South.
Responding   to   a   RCWRT   member's   question,   McMurry
acknowledged  that  part of the reason the importance of the
West has been  overlooked  is  that  so  few  soldiers  kept
diaries.   One  explanation  for  this  is the fact that the
illiteracy rate was higher in the newer western states  that
did not have the benefit of well-established school systems.

University of Richmond to
Offer Course on Civil War Cavalry

The University of Richmond's School  of  Continuing  Studies
will  offer  a  course  titled  "Crossed  Sabers - Civil War
Cavalry in  Virginia."  Classes  meet  from  7-9pm  on  four
consecutive Monday nights, beginning on October 3, 2005. The
course will discuss the extensive use of mounted soldiers by
both sides in many different types of units.                

The  Civil War in Virginia would see large cavalry divisions
made up of thousands of cavalrymen and  light  artillery  to
small  units of irregular forces mounted on swift horses who
served to gather information on the enemy or to  attack  his
weak  points.   This  course  explores the use of cavalry by
both the Union and the  Confederacy,  highlights  the  major
cavalry  battles  fought  in Virginia between 1861 and 1865,
and brings to life some of the fascinating men who  led  the
forces  in  blue  and  gray.   The instructor will publish a
suggested reading list prior to this course  and  will  also
provide  additional  information  as take-home material.  On
Saturday, October 29, a bus field trip led by the instructor
will visit selected cavalry battlefields in Virginia.       

This  course  is  led  by  retired  Brigadier  General  Jack
Mountcastle, the  U.S.   Army's  former  Chief  of  Military
History.  Discussions will focus on those soldiers who truly
believed the lyrics of the popular Civil War song:  "If  you
want to have fun --- J'ine the Cavalry!"                    

Cost of the non-credit course is $159.  For details call the
University of Richmond's School  of  Continuing  Studies  at
289-8133 or visit their website, www.richmond.edu.  Click on
"Continuing Studies"  and  then  select  the  "Think  Again"
noncredit  course  catalog's  section on Personal Enrichment
History Courses.                                            


Fall Field Trip Reminder

Response has been good so far for  the  Round  Table's  fall
field  trip  to  Hampton  Roads,  but there's still room for
more.  On Saturday, October 1, we will begin our tour at Lee
Hall  in  Newport  News  and visit several land sites in the
morning.  After lunch at Fort  Monroe,  we  board  the  Miss
Hampton  II  and  explore  the  scene  of the historic clash
between the CSS Virginia and the  USS  Monitor.   Our  guide
will  be  John  V.   Quarstein, Director of the Virginia War
Museum and author of "The Battle of the Ironclads." He is an
expert  on  the  Civil  War  on the Virginia Peninsula and a
dynamic tour guide.

The bus departs at 8am from the James River Bus Terminal  at
915  North  Allen  Avenue  (located  between Broad and Leigh
streets) and will return  by  5pm.   The  cost  is  $35  per
person.   Guests  are  welcome.  Please bring your own lunch
and drink.  Note  that  security  measures  at  Fort  Monroe
require  that  all visitors present a photo ID.  If you have
questions, please contact Bernie Fisher at (804) 730-1785 or
via  email,  bernard.fisher@comcast.net.  Please make checks
payable to RCWRT and send along with the form below to:     

Bernie Fisher           
7300 Ann Cabell Lane    
Mechanicsville, VA 23111


2005 RCWRT Fall Field Trip

Date: ______________  Name:  _________________________________________________

Address:  ____________________________________________________________________

Phone Number:  (_____) ______-________                                        

Number of reserved seats:  _____ x $35 = $ _______ total                      

(Make check payable to RCWRT)                                                  

New "Perpetual" Guidebook
Lists Richmond's Civil War Sites

A new  guide  to  Civil  War  sites  in  Richmond  has  been
published.   The  32-page  large-format book lists dozens of
sites in the former Confederate Capital and locates them  on
easy-to-use   maps.    "The  Civil  War  Traveler  Guide  to
Richmond's Civil War Sites" is illustrated with  period  and
modern  images.   The  book  will be updated continuously on
www.civilwartraveler.com and thus will never go out of date.
Generous margins are provided for notes.  Cost is $7.95; and
it   is   available   at   local   bookstores    and    from
www.civilwartraveler.com/books.   There  is  no  charge  for
media mail delivery if ordered from the website.            

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2005

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Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
Rob Monroe, Editor     
2416 Edenbrook Dr.     
Richmond, VA 23228-3040