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Rob Monroe, President Gary Cowardin, Editor 9733 Fireside Drive 1404 Lorraine Ave. Glen Allen, VA 23060 Richmond, VA 23227-3735 rmonroe500@comcast.net cowardin@juno.com4602 Cary Street Road, 23226. A parking lot is available behind the church with an entrance off the parking lot to the right and up a few steps into the DINING HALL on the left.
"Photo Forensics in the Confederate Capital" by Michael D. Gorman 7:30pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at the First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA.,
Mike is a Richmond-based historian, currently working for the National
Park Service. He is the creator and webmaster of Civil War Richmond
(www.mdgorman.com), a web-based "file cabinet" of primary sources
regarding the life and times of the Confederate Capital. He is widely
recognized as an expert on Civil War Photography, and has published
numerous articles about the Civil War. In 2011, he served as an
historical advisor on the set of Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and in
2016 on the film "Free State of Jones"
Meeting Attendance for February: 67 (very heavy cold rain storm)
NOTE: Please put on your NAME BADGE on when you arrive for the meeting.
(They will be on a table near the back or side of the room.)
Message from Our President What were the first Civil War images you recall seeing? I'm sure I must've been taught something about the war in elementary school but I don't really recall anything specific. When I was in the 5th grade, I was wondering through the aisles of the modest library of my school back in Clifton Forge when I came across "A Pictorial History of the Civil War." I took the book to a desk and began thumbing through the pages. Suddenly I was transported back to the 1860s! The pictures I saw made the war come alive in a way my teachers never could. And the photos weren't always pretty. There was the slave with the hideous scars on his back from a whipping he'd received. There was the "living skeleton" of a malnourished prisoner of war at Andersonville. There were the dead bodies strewn between the cannons by the Dunkard Church at Antietam. I'm sure many of you can mentally picture these exact images by their brief descriptions. As humans, we are a visual people. We rely on no other sense as much as our sight. We can hear or read of abused slaves, the horrors of POW camps and the dead of the battlefield. But there is something about seeing them that affects us so much more profoundly,that stirs our emotions and touches our souls. About 15 years ago, with little fanfare, the Library of Congress did something wonderful that relatively few people noticed at the time. They began scanning the images in their archives--prints, tintypes, ambrotypes, glass negatives--and they made these high resolution scans available to the public. Many of the images we've seen before in books like "A Pictorial History of the Civil War." But those images, even if they took up a whole page, where a mere 8.5 by 11 inches. With the LoC's high resolutions scans, we were finally able to see details that had not been visible before. Mike Gorman gave a presentation at the RCWRT's holiday dinner a number of years ago that highlighted a number of discoveries made from the hi-rez scans. There was a drawing of Lee and Grant boxing, drawn by the doorway of a burned out building in Richmond in April 1865. There was the dead horse floating in Richmond's canal basin. In the famous picture of Lee standing in uniform on his back porch we could now read "Devil" scrawled on a brick, likely by one of the Union soldiers guarding the general and his family. We'd seen these images before but never with this much detail. It was as if we'd suddenly discovered new rooms in a house in which we'd lived for years. I'm anxious to hear Mike's presentation at our March 12 meeting and see what new discoveries may have been made. I hope to see you there. And bring a friend! Rob
Save the Date - Saturday, June 29 Hi All, First of all, we had an exceptional evening as far as book sales go. We sold $105 worth of books! All I needed to mention was that I would be willing to raffle them off since "nobody ever bought them." Second, I am very pleased to confirm that the one and only Bobby Krick has agreed to lead our field trip this year - free of charge. I asked him on Tuesday evening, we spoke on Wednesday morning, and I secured the bus for Saturday, June 29. I got quotes from James River Transportation and Andras Limo, the company that was used last year. They were quite a bit cheaper, by about $300, than James River. Bobby and I first selected June 22, based on his availability. However, Andras Limo does not have any buses available then. So, June 29 it is. Ulli 2019 Annual Field Trip - Saturday, June 29 I am very pleased to announce that the one and only Bobby Krick has agreed to lead this year's field trip which will occur on Saturday, June 29, 2019. We will be visiting a series of sites affiliated with the 1864 Overland Campaign north of Richmond - that week-long period that bridged the end of Spotsylvania and the start of Cold Harbor. Specifically we will see the well preserved North Anna battlefield (May 23-26) from a variety of locations, including one short stop at the Jericho Mill portion of the battlefield. In the afternoon we will ride east in the footsteps of the Union army toward the Pamunkey River. Our trip will conclude with stops at the Haw's Shop cavalry battlefield (May 28, 1864) and the Totopotomy Creek battlefield (May 29 - June 1, 1864). The North Anna portion of the trip will include a fair amount of walking - close to three miles, in two separate segments - all of which will occur on dirt roads or on maintained trails. There will be no cross-country hiking on this particular tour. The second half of the tour will feature almost no walking at all. We will leave from the Lowes parking lot on Brook Road (at Parham) at 9:00 a.m. and will be back around 4:30 p.m. We plan on having lunch at the picnic area at Ox Ford so please bring a bag lunch, water will be provided. The cost is just $35 per person. Make your check payable to RCWRT, bring it to a meeting, or mail it to: Ulli Baumann 9347 Berry Farm Court Mechanicsville, VA 23116
A Message from our Secretary Andy Keller This year's membership renewal season is now over, and our membership stands at 124. This includes four new members who joined at our January meeting: Frank Ford, Scott Williams and John and Lauren Trotta. Andy
Upcoming Events/Links
EXPERIENCE THE END: The Appomattox Campaign. A number of historical organizations have put together a cooperative retelling of the last days of the Appomattox Campaign that will offer special programs from Petersburg to Appomattox, March 30 - April 14. Learn more about this very compelling and timely project at www.appomattoxcampaign.org
National Park Service Richmond
Richmond Battlefields Association News & Events www.saverichmondbattlefields.org/events.htm
Visit the American Civil War Museum at Tredegar and the White House of the Confederacy www.acwm.org
Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier www.pamplinpark.org
Chambersburg Civil War Seminars & Tours civilwarseminars.org
RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2019
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