First Vice President:                   Rob Monroe, Editor       
Richard Forrester                     2416 Edenbrook Dr.     
Second Vice President:                  Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
Shep Parsons                          rmonroe@richmond.com   
April 2004 PROGRAM

Mark G. Malvasi,

"My Brother's Keeper: Proslavery Thought
and the Southern Critique of Modernity"


8:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 13, 2004, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.) Enter
the basement door on the right side under the front steps.

Mark G.  Malvasi received a  B.A.   in  history  from  Hiram
College  in  Ohio, a master's in history from the University
of Chicago and a Ph.D.  from  the  University  of  Rochester
where he studied under renowned historian of slavery and the
South, Eugene D.  Genovese.  Malvasi has published  over  40
essays,  editorials  and reviews in newspapers, journals and
anthologies.  He is author of The  Unregenerate  South:  The
Agrarian  Thought  of  John  Crowe  Ranson,  Allen Tate, and
Donald Davidson and Slavery in the  Western  Hemisphere,  c.
1500-1888.                                                  

At  present,  Malvasi  is completing a study of the southern
novelist Andrew Lytle and editing  a  collection  of  essays
written  by  historian  John  Lukacs.   Malvasi  has  taught
history and literature at the University of  Rochester,  the
University of Puget Sound and the University of Alabama.  In
1992, he joined the department of history at  Randolph-Macon
College in Ashland.                                         

Malvasi  will  address  the  Round  Table  on  the  topic of
slavery.  During the  20th  century,  southern  conservative
thinkers  argued  that slavery had come to the South without
decision.  Their efforts to distance  themselves  and  their
tradition  from the legacy of slavery have obscured the most
critical  and  imposing   insights   of   their   antebellum
forebears.   The generation of southern thinkers who came of
age between 1815 and  1850  recognized  the  plight  of  the
modern  world arising directly from the brutal nature of the
so-called  free  labor  system  and  from   the   exploitive
character  of  free society itself.  They posited slavery as
an alternative.  What, then, did southerners think they were
defending  when  they  defended  slavery  and  why were they
willing to risk everything in a great war to do so?         

Review of the March Program


The Professor Gary W.  Gallagher spoke at the March  meeting
of  the  RCWRT.   His  lively  and often humorous talk, "Has
Enough Been Written  About  Gettysburg?"  and  the  spirited
question   and  answer  session  that  followed,  were  well
received.                                                   

In response to his question, Gallagher stated that we really
do   not  need  to  know  more  about  the  generalship  and
battlefield tactics at Gettysburg.  What we do need to  know
more about is how the battle resonates with time.           

According   to   Gallagher,  more  has  been  written  about
Gettysburg than any other event in American history.   There
are reasons to say perhaps we have had enough.  "Lost Cause"
writers  have  over-emphasized  the  battle  by   constantly
seeking answers as to why Lee lost (i.e.  "What if Stonewall
had been there?").                                          

Contrary to what is often stated,  Gettysburg  was  not  the
turning  point  of the war, Gallagher insisted.  This is one
of the myths resulting from the many writings on the battle.
Gallagher  backed  up  this assertion by explaining that Lee
returned to Virginia after the battle and was soon as strong
as  ever.   The Seven Days Battles were a true turning point
because Lee  assumed  command  and  the  war  continued  for
another three years.                                        

Grant's victory at Vicksburg was a much more important event
in the war, Gallagher asserted.  Even Lincoln did  not  view
Gettysburg  as  a  victory  and  was  furious with Meade for
allowing Lee  to  slip  away  as  McClelland  had  done  the
previous year.                                              

Gallagher  offered  these  suggestions  about what should be
written about Gettysburg: How  did  it  affect  the  people,
North  and  South,  at  the time of the event.  This is more
important than later reflections on the battle.  Why  is  it
still  so  popular  with people today?  Gallagher believes a
great opportunity exists for an in-depth study of  the  many
monuments  on  the  battlefield  and how Americans choose to
tell about the battle through them.                         

Museum of the Confederacy
Publishes Cased Images Catalog

Few objects are more moving to the contemporary  student  of
history  than  old, slightly battered photographic portraits
of citizens of a bygone era.  For  mid-19th-century  wartime
Southerners,   pride,   wariness,  hope,  and  sadness  were
rendered eloquently by photographers whose studios  welcomed
a  steady  stream of soldiers, married couples, mothers with
children, and war widows.  Most of these images that survive
today  are photographs placed on glass or other material and
sheltered in decorative cases, thus known as  cased  images.
The  Museum  of  the  Confederacy,  which  houses one of the
nation's largest institutional collections of cased  images,
has  issued  the  third  in  its  series  of museum holdings
catalogs, Cased Image Photographs from the Collection of the
Museum  of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  wealth of portraits
captures a world in transition.                             

Featuring more than 300 photographs, the paperbound book was
researched   and   written   by   the   Museum's  staff  and
photographed by  the  Museum's  Special  Projects  Director,
Tucker Hill, and by Katherine Wetzel.  The catalog showcases
not  only  the  variety  of  subjects  who  sat  before  the
photographer's lens - Confederate soldiers and civilian men,
women,  children,  both  white  and   black   -   but   also
representative  examples of evolving photographic processes,
particularly daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes.      

Although more  than  a  quarter  of  the  cased  images  are
unidentified,  all  photographs in the catalog are captioned
with the type of image and  provenance  and  occasionally  a
brief  paragraph  about  the  subject.   For  example,  this
caption  accompanies  the  photograph  of  an   unidentified
sweet-faced  toddler wearing a white dress and standing in a
chair: "According  to  a  story  told  by  the  donor,  Pvt.
Heartwell  Kincaid  Adams  of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry, this
ambrotype was in a haversack that he took from the body of a
dead  Federal  soldier  at  High  Bridge  a  few days before
Appomattox.  A Federal prisoner in Pvt.  Adams' care offered
$2  to  share  the  food  in  the  haversack.   The prisoner
recognized the photograph as his dead brother's  child,  but
he declined to identify or take the picture."               

In  addition to the rich array of 19th-century citizens from
all walks of life, the catalog features some familiar names,
including  Gen.   Robert E.  Lee, Maj.  Gen.  J.E.B.  Stuart
(as a youthful, clean-shaven graduate of the U.S.   Military
Academy),  President and Mrs.  Jefferson Davis, and Irishman
Maj.  Gen.  Patrick Cleburne.  The 64-page book retails  for
$12.95.  It is available for purchase from The Museum of the
Confederacy's Haversack Store via telephone, (804) 649-1861,
ext.  26, or the Museum's website, www.moc.org.             

RCWRT Members
Invited to Attend Meeting on Freeman Markers

RCWRT members are invited to  attend  a  public  meeting  to
discuss  the  preservation  and  restoration of the "Freeman
Markers." These Civil War roadside markers were  erected  in
the  1920s  and  named  for  the famous historian Douglas S.
Freeman, who wrote the text for most, if not  all  of  them.
The  meeting will be held on Monday evening, April 12 (a day
prior to the next RCWRT meeting) from 7:30 to  8:30  at  the
Atlee Branch Library, 9161 Atlee Road in Mechanicsville.    

Expected  to  attend  are  representatives from the Virginia
Department of Historic  Resources,  National  Park  Service,
Virginia  Department  of Transportation, Henrico and Hanover
counties and several citizens groups.  For more information,
contact   RCWRT's   Bernie   Fisher  at  730-1785  or  visit
freemanmarkers.home.comcast.net.                            

Upcoming Events

April 17-18

"Civil War Days" at Pamplin Historical Park and the National
Museum  of  the  Civil War Soldier.  Learn about life on the
front and  at  home  during  the  war.   Infantry,  cavalry,
artillery     and     civilian     demonstrations.     Info:
www.pamplinpark.org or 1-877-PAMPLIN.                       

April 24

"Richmond Civil War Day" at Tredegar Iron Works,  hosted  by
the  Richmond  National  Battlefield  Park.   Special events
highlighting the war's impact on the Confederate capital  in
1864.    Period  music,  civilian  re-enactors,  Belle  Isle
walking tours, artillery and  rifle  firing  demonstrations,
living  history encampments and drills, children's games and
activities.  Info: www.nps.gov/rich or 804-771-2145.        

RBA Seeks Ukrop's Certificates

Please save your 2004 Ukrop's Golden  Gift  Certificates  to
benefit the Richmond Battlefields Association (RBA). Ukrop's
will send the certificates to its customers during the month
of  May.   While  we  know many organizations participate in
this program, please try to direct your, and your  friends',
certificates   to  help  our  local  efforts  to  save  area
battlefields.                                               

Please bring your certificates to a RCWRT  meeting  or  mail
them to:                                                    

David West                                                  
88 West Square Drive                                        
Richmond, VA 23233                                          

Thank you for your continuing support of the RBA!

Chancellorsville and Glendale
on List of Endangered Battlefields

Two  Virginia  sites  are  among  the  ten  most  endangered
battlefields  according to the Civil War Preservation Trust.
The Chancellorsville battlefield is on the CWPT  list  again
this  year.   The Trust points to the recent failed attempts
to build a housing development and a bypass on part  of  the
battlefield as proof of its vulnerability.                  

Also  appearing  on  the  endangered  list  is  the Glendale
battlefield in  Henrico  County.   The  CWPT  notes  that  a
housing development now being constructed is taking over 100
acres of land near the Glendale National Cemetery and only a
fraction of the battlefield is preserved or protected.      

Other  battlefields  appearing on the CWPT's most endangered
list are Franklin, TN; New Bern,  NC;  Wilson's  Creek,  MO;
South  Mountain,  MD; Mansfield, LA; Morris Island, SC; Fort
Donelson, TN and the "Hell Hole" in Georgia.                

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2004

Newsletter Deadlines

To facilitate the printing and timely  distribution  of  the
monthly  newsletter,  information for it should be submitted
to the editors no later than the following dates:           

May newsletter				April 30   
June newsletter				May 28     
July newsletter				July 2     
August newsletter			July 30    
September newsletter			September 3
October newsletter			October 1  
November newsletter			October 29 
December newsletter			December 3 

Information may be emailed to rmonroe@richmond.com

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