Sam Craghead, President         Art & Carol Bergeron, Editors
4361F Lakefield Mews            3901 Paces Ferry Road      
Richmond, VA 23231              Chester, VA 23831-1239   

January 2001 PROGRAM

Dr. Charles F. Bryan, Jr.

"The Robert Knox Sneden Memoir and Sketches"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 9, 2001, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.)
Enter basement door from Boulevard side.

Dr.  Charles F.  Bryan, Jr., is the  Executive  Director  of
the  Virginia  Historical  Society.  His presentation to the
Round Table will focus on his recent publication, Eye of the
Storm:  A  Civil  War  Odyssey.  Bryan received his doctoral
degree in American history from the University of  Tennessee
in  Knoxville.  He has written on the Civil War in Tennessee
and about the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.  Bryan  is  currently
working   on   a   book   on  historical  organizations  and
fund-raising.                                               

Eye of the Storm, edited by Bryan and Nelson  D.   Langford,
is   the   five   thousand  page  illustrated  memoir  of  a
long-forgotten  Union  private  and  mapmaker,  Robert  Knox
Sneden.    This  book  has  been  cited  by  Professor  Gary
Gallagher as  a  "rich  store  in  pictorial  and  narrative
material  to  students  of  the  Civil  War.  His (Sneden's)
drawings and paintings depict many places for which we  have
no  other  pictorial  representations.   This highly unusual
account which is enhanced by the  editor's  excellent  work,
quickly should take its place among the invaluable published
primary source on the conflict."                            

Sneden enlisted  in  the  40th  New  York  Infantry  (Mozart
Regiment)  at  age  29  after the fall of Fort Sumter.  As a
soldier and a  mapmaker,  he  was  present  at  many  famous
battles  of  the  war.   Sneden  was captured by Confederate
partisan John S.  Mosby in 1863 and spent much of  the  rest
of  the  war as a prisoner in Richmond and the Andersonville
prison  camp.   Sneden  was  exchanged  in  December   1864.
Throughout  the conflict, Sneden kept a journal and sketched
many  sites  of  his  wartime  experiences.   Together,  his
narrative  and  art  constitute  one  of  the most important
recently discovered Civil War documents.                    

Bryan will not only discuss the saga of Robert Knox  Sneden,
but  he also will detail the Historical Society's search and
acquisition   of   Sneden's   manuscripts,   sketches,   and
watercolors.                                                




Review of the December Program

Edwin C. Bearss  presented an  outstanding  program  on  the
U.S.S.  Cairo.  Using a large number of slides, he explained
not only the history of the ironclad but  its  recovery  and
restoration.   Bearss  began  by  saying  he was telling the
group how "not" to raise an  ironclad.   Cairo  was  one  of
seven  ironclad  gunboats  named in honor of towns along the
upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  These powerful ironclads
were  formidable  vessels,  each mounting thirteen big guns.
The "city class" gunboats were designed by Samuel  M.   Pook
and  built  by  river  engineer  James  B.  Eads.  Cairo was
constructed at Mound City,  Illinois,  and  commissioned  in
January  1862.   The  Cairo was destined to see only limited
action in the engagement at Plum Point in  May  and  in  the
battle of Memphis in June.  Her most significant action came
six months later when she kept a rendezvous with destiny. On
the  cold  morning  of  December 12, 1862, Cairo led a small
flotilla up the Yazoo River, north of Vicksburg, to  destroy
Confederate batteries and clear the channel of torpedoes. As
the Cairo reached a point seven miles north of Vicksburg the
flotilla came under fire, and her commander ordered the guns
to ready.  As the  gunboat  turned  towards  shore  disaster
struck.   Cairo  was  rocked  by  two  explosions  in  quick
succession, which tore gaping  holes  in  the  ship's  hull.
Within  twelve  minutes  the  ironclad  sank into 36 feet of
water without any loss of life.  Cairo became the first ship
in  history to be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo.
Over the years the  gunboat  was  soon  forgotten,  and  her
watery  grave  was  slowly  covered  by a shroud of silt and
sand.  Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which
her priceless artifacts were preserved.                     

By  studying  contemporary  documents and maps, Bearss, then
the Historian at Vicksburg National Military Park, was  able
to plot the approximate site of the wreck.  With the help of
a pocket  compass  and  iron  bar  probes,  Bearss  and  two
companions, Don Jacks and Warren Grabau, set out to discover
the grave of the Cairo in 1956.  The  three  searchers  were
reasonably  convinced  they  had  found the Cairo, but three
years lapsed before divers brought up armored port covers to
positively  confirm the find.  A heavy accumulation of silt,
swift current, and the ever-muddy river deterred the  divers
as they explored the gunboat.  Local enthusiasm and interest
began to grow in 1960 with the recovery of  the  pilothouse,
an  8-inch  smoothbore  cannon,  its  white oak carriage and
other artifacts well  preserved  by  the  Yazoo  mud.   With
financial  support from the State of Mississippi, the Warren
County  Board  of  Supervisors  and  funds  raised  locally,
efforts to salvage the gunboat began in earnest.            

Hopes  of  lifting  the  ironclad and her cargo of artifacts
intact were crushed in October of 1964 when  the  three-inch
cables  being  used  to  lift  the Cairo cut deeply into its
wooden hull.  It then became a question of saving as much of
the  vessel  as  possible.   A  decision was made to cut the
Cairo into three sections.   By  the  end  of  December  the
battered  remains were put on barges and towed to Vicksburg.
In the summer of 1965 the barges  carrying  the  Cairo  were
towed  to  Ingalls Shipyard on the Gulf Coast in Pascagoula,
Mississippi, for treatment.                                 

In  1972,  Congress  enacted  legislation  authorizing   the
National  Park  Service  to  accept  title  to the Cairo and
restore  the  gunboat  for  display  in  Vicksburg  National
Military   Park.   Delays  in  funding  the  project  halted
progress until June 1977, when the vessel was transported to
the   park   and   partially  reconstructed  on  a  concrete
foundation  near  the  Vicksburg  National  Cemetery.    The
recovery  of  artifacts  from  the Cairo revealed a treasure
trove of weapons, munitions, naval stores and personal  gear
of  the  sailors  who  served on board.  The gunboat and its
artifacts can now be seen along the tour road at the U.   S.
S.  Cairo Museum.                                           



Richmond Civil War Round Table
Membership Dues are Due


Dues must be postmarked no later than 1/30/01

Dues received after  this  date  will  be  returned  to  the
sender.   Ex-members  may reapply for membership and will be
placed on the waiting list for  reacceptance  a  year  later
into the 2002 membership.                                   

Dues are to be sent in check form only to:
Gus Faeder, RCWRT Treasurer
10207 Salem Oaks Place
Richmond, VA 23237

Please include the bottom portion of  this  form  with  your
check for membership dues.  This information will be used on
the roster and newsletter mailing list.

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            this membership category.                           

 ___	$15.00	Senior Couple Members (husband & wife) - defined
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	RCWRT membership.                                        
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Announcements


Spring Field Trip

This year's Spring Field Trip will be held on April  21  and
will  be a visit to First Manassas.  The Round Table has not
toured First Manassas in more than 15 years.  The tour guide
will  be  John  Hennessy.   Cost  will  be  $15  per person.
Everyone should bring his own lunch.  The group  will  leave
from  the  parking  lot near the Lowes and Walmart Stores at
the corner of Brook Road and Parham at 6:30 a. m.  and  will
be back at around 6 p. m.                                   

Hennessy   plans   to  escort  the  group  along  the  Union
"invasion" route to the battlefield and will spend much time
at  Blackburn's  Ford, Henry House Hill, and other important
Confederate victory sites.  The Union  side  of  the  battle
will  not  be neglected.  If time permits, Hennessy may also
include a few Second Manassas sites.                        

Round Table members will have first option at  reservations,
which  will  be  on a "first come first serve" basis.  There
are only 45  seats  on  the  bus,  so  please  act  quickly.
Reservations  can  be  sent  by mail to Brag Bowling at 3019
Kensington Avenue, Richmond, VA 23221.  All checks should be
made  payable  to  the  Roundtable.   Brag  will also accept
checks at the meetings prior to the tour.  Any questions can
be directed to Brag at (804) 359-0382.                      



From the Editors

We welcome submissions to the monthly  newsletter,  although
we  cannot  always  include  them due to space restrictions.
Please send potential items to us  no  later  than  eighteen
(18) days prior to the meeting date.                        


NEW URL!

Richmond Civil War Round Table  in  Cyberspace.   The  Round
Table's  Web site has been available for several months.  It
includes  the   monthly   newsletter,   CW   book   reports,
photographs   of  previous  meetings,  and  a  list  of  all
forthcoming speakers.  The NEW URL or Web address is:       

www.rcwrt.org
or just
rcwrt.org


Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
Art & Carol Bergeron, Editors
3901 Paces Ferry Road
Chester, VA 23831-1239