R.Danny Witt, President John M.Coski, editor
5500 Ashton Park Way 1201 E.Clay St.
Glen Allen, VA 23059 Richmond, VA 23219
APRIL 2000 PROGRAM
DON ALLISON
"HELL ON BELLE ISLE: THE DIARY OF A CIVIL WAR POW"
8:00 p.m., Tuesdav, April 11, 2000
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard
(corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.)
Enter basement door from Boulevard side.
The April program holds special interest for the Richmond
Civil War Round Table, as it presents the experiences of a
soldier held in the local prisoner of war camp that wasn't
Libby Prison. Jacob Osborn Coburn, of the 6th Michigan
Cavalry, was a prisoner at Belle Isle during the winter of
1863-1864 when overcrowding and extreme cold transformed the
beautiful island in the James into a living hell.
In editing and narrating his 1997 book, Hell on Belle Isle:
Diary of a Civil War POW, Don Allison drew on his experience
as a journalist as well as on a lifetime of studying the
Civil War. Allison received a degree in journalism from the
University of Toledo in 1980 and began working as county
editor of the Daily Bryan Times in 1982. He is now editor
of that newspaper. He has ancestors on both sides of the
conflict, and first became interested in the war while
visiting relatives in Alabama. It was while researching a
history of the 38th Ohio Infantry that he found a clipping
announcing the publication of the diary of Jacob Osborn
Coburn in a local small town newspaper in 1935. He found
and reprinted the transcript of the diary in his own paper
in 1989, then began preparing an annotated version of the
diary.
Allison resides in Bryan with his wife, Diane, and youngest
son, Joe. His oldest son, Stuart, is a graphic designer who
designed the cover for his father's book.
Dr. Steven H. Newton -
Defending Richmond: Joseph E. Johnston and the Last Ditch
Review of March Program
by Sam Craghead
How would history remember Joseph Johnston had he been
killed at the battle of Seven Pines and not merely wounded?
Perhaps history would remember a professional soldier who
was wounded eleven times in his career, or a man who was as
given to self-deprecating humor as to his well-known pride
and "inordinate ambition." Our March speaker, Dr. Steven
Newton, considered several such provocative rhetorical
questions in an effort to understand a man whom students of
the Civil War often reduce to caricature. Already known for
his acclaimed Joseph E. Johnston and the Defense of
Richmond, Newton is finishing a study on the Confederate
army in 1864 that challenges conventional wisdom and
explores another controversial phase of Johnston's career.
What would Joseph Johnston have done in June 1862 had his
wounds at Seven Pines been minor enough to merely put him
out of action for a few days? Would Johnston have acted -
as Robert E. Lee acted - to drive George B. McClellan's
Federal army away from Richmond? Dr. Newton believes that
Johnston would not have acted as Lee did because of a
fundamental difference in style between the two Virginia
generals. Newton observed that whereas Lee endeavored to
frustrate his enemies' plans by making them work and fight
for what they expected to achieve easily, Johnston sought to
select favorable terrain and compel the enemy to attack him
at disadvantage. Lee's victory at Fredericksburg was, for
Johnston, the ideal battle. It was jealousy and a sense of
injustice that prompted Johnston's oft-quoted quip that "no
one will ever attack me in such a place."
Dr. Newton came not to vindicate Joe Johnston, but to
explain him. He did not refute the criticism that Johnston
was willing to abandon the Confederate capital city in 1862
or Atlanta in 1864, but he did deny that Johnston was
consequently "spineless" and "characterless." Similarly,
Newton noted that, Johnston's quip about Lee and
Fredericksburg notwithstanding, someone did come and attack
him in such a place - at Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864 -
and that Johnston failed to take full advantage of the
opportunity. Johnston's command decisions were based on
reasoned analysis that arose from his military training. But
Johnston used reasoned analysis to reach the wrong
conclusions, Newton argued, and Johnston compounded his
failure by continuing to reach the wrong conclusions even
when experience taught him that he was wrong and that his
commander-in-chief disagreed with him. This was the tragedy
of Joseph Johnston.
The Richmond Civil War Round Table Web Site
The RCWRT board on March 28 approved the creation of an
official RCWRT website and appointed a committee to create
and maintain the site. The committee will consist of
members Gary Cowardin, Marc Vallario, and Joe Childress;
RCWRT president Danny Witt will be a board liaison to the
committee. They will begin constructing the official site
soon. In the meantime, members can inspect the unofficial
test home page at:
https://members.tripod.com/~g_cowardin/rcwrt
Spring Field Trip registration
Spotsylvania battlefield is so near, yet so far - and the
Richmond Round Table has not visited there in at least than
fifteen years. Join in for a full-day tour of the
battlefield. Our guide will be one of the historians at the
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park -
either Frank O'Reilly or Mac Wyckoff.
The bus departs at 7:45 a.m. from the James River Bus
Terminal, 915 North Allen Ave. (located between Broad and
Leigh streets) and will return by 5:30 p.m. Guests are
welcome. Please bring your own lunch and drink.
Please make checks payable to RCWRT and send along with the
form below to Clark Lewis c/o Mays & Valentine / P. O. Box
1122 / Richmond, VA 23218-1122. Please register by April
20. If you have questions, please contact Clark Lewis at
697-1474 or via e-mail (clewis@maysval.com).
Date: ___________________
Name: ______________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________
_________________________ Phone Number: __________________
Number of reserved seats: _______ x $18.00 = $______
(Make check payable to RCWRT)
Please note that the reservation deadline occurs before the
next newsletter; thus, this is the only newsletter that will
carry a registration form for the Spotsylvania trip.
Announcements
_____________
Ukrop's Golden Gift program. It's that time of the year
again - when your Ukrop's Golden Gift certificates will
benefit battlefield preservation, specifically the
newly-merged Civil War Preservation Trust. Ukrop's card
holders will receive in their May newsletter a certificate
for the amount you "earned" based on purchases made between
January 31 and April 1, 2000. Please give or mail your
certificate to David West at 88 West Square Dr. / Richmond,
VA 23233.
_____________________________
Book by RCWRT member. The Henrico County Historical Society
still has copies available of High Meadow: Robert E. Lee
Drew His Sword by Dr. Hugh Douglas Pitts. This is a
history of the Dabbs House, where Lee maintained his
headquarters during the summer of 1862, and includes the
diary of Rev. Cornelius Walker. The book is available for
$10 (tax included) and $3 postage. Send check (payable to
Henrico County Historical Society) to Mr. Dudley Lanthrip,
Treasurer (2020 New Market Rd. / Richmond, VA 23231). For
more information, call the Society at (804) 501-5682.
_____________________________
Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
John M. Coski, editor
1201 E. Clay St.
Richmond, Virginia 23219
