John Coski, President                  Rob Monroe, Editor       
5028 King William Road                 2416 Edenbrook Dr.       
Richmond, VA 23225                     Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
jmcoski@peoplepc.com                   RMonroe500@comcast.net   
 May 2008 PROGRAM

George C. Rable
"God as General:  Religion in the Civil War"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 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.

Is there a religious history of  the  Civil  War?   Our  May
speaker, George C.  Rable, says there is; and in his talk on
"God as  General,"  Dr.   Rable  will  discuss  his  current
research project on this subject.                           

According  to  Dr.  Rable, it mattered not whether they were
Southerners or Northerners; many Americans at  the  time  of
the   Civil   War   interpreted   the  causes,  course,  and
consequences of the war through the lens of their  religious
faith.   His  major  themes  will  be  providence,  sin  and
redemption with examples drawn from First Manassas,  slavery
and  Lincoln's  second inaugural address.  He will emphasize
how the people of the time believed that the war was part of
a mysterious and still unfolding providential design.       

George  Rable  is professor and Charles C.  Summersell Chair
in Southern History at the University of Alabama.  He is the
author  of several books including News from Fredericksburg;
Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics and  But
There  Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of
Reconstruction.  Dr.  Rable penned the  award-winning  Civil
Wars: Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism and, more
recently,  Fredericksburg!   Fredericksburg!   He  also   is
President of the Society of Civil War Historians.           


Last Call for Field Trip Reservations

There are less than ten seats  remaining  for  the  Richmond
Civil War Round Table's Spring Field Trip.  This year we are
traveling to Appomattox Courthouse on Saturday, May 31.   We
are  pleased to have Chris Calkins, from Petersburg National
Battlefield Park, as the tour  leader.   Calkins,  known  to
many  of  you,  has an extensive knowledge of all aspects of
Lee's retreat, including Appomattox.  A stop  will  also  be
made  at  Sailor's (Saylers) Creek Battlefield where we will
have lunch (please bring your own).                         

We will leave at 8 a.m.  sharp  from  the  James  River  Bus
parking  lot,  Allen Ave.  and Leigh St., and return at 5:30
p.m.  The cost will be  $30  per  person.   If  you  haven't
reserved your seat, be sure to act fast before the bus sells
out.                                                        

Reservations  and  checks  may  be given to Davis Wrinkle at
RCWRT meetings or sent to:                                  

Davis Wrinkle     
7741 Rockfalls Dr.
Richmond, VA 23225
(work) 647-7660    
(home) 272-5419    


Museum to Celebrate Davis' 200th Birthday

The Museum of  the  Confederacy  will  celebrate  the  200th
birthday   of   Confederate  President  Jefferson  Davis  on
Tuesday, June 3.  Jim Bazo, Jefferson Davis re-enactor, will
be  on  hand for a speech and a photo-op.  A walking tour of
Jeff Davis' Richmond leaves from the museum  lobby  at  noon
and  will offer participants the opportunity to see the city
from the Confederate president's point of view.             

On Friday and Saturday, June 6-7, the museum will  hold  its
annual  Membership  Weekend.   This  year's  main event will
highlight  two   major   events:   Davis'   200th   birthday
celebration  and the opening of the museum's newest exhibit,
"Between the Battles." The two-day event  will  commence  on
Friday  evening  at  6:00 with a private viewing of this new
exhibit.  The tour will be preceded by a  private  reception
and silent auction featuring valuable items donated by local
businesses.                                                 

Saturday  will  kick  off  with  a  book  talk  and  signing
featuring  author Julia Oliver.  There will be another Davis
Walking Tour as well,  with  all  events  culminating  in  a
Garden   Party   Luncheon   beginning  at  1:30.   For  more
information   about    Member    Weekend    and    volunteer
opportunities,    please    contact    Diane    Willard   at
dwillard@moc.org or (804) 649-1861 ext. 42


Lecture Explores Origins of
Proslavery Christianity

At noon on Tuesday, June 3, Charles  F.   Irons  be  at  the
Library  of  Virginia  to discuss and sign his new book, The
Origins of Proslavery Christianity.  Set  in  Virginia,  the
largest  slaveholding  state  and the hearth of the southern
evangelical  movement,  the  book   uses   church   records,
denominational  newspapers,  slave  narratives,  and private
letters and diaries to show the dynamic relationship between
whites and blacks within the evangelical fold.              

Irons  reveals  that when whites theorized about their moral
responsibilities toward slaves, they thought first of  their
relationships  with  bondmen  in  their own churches.  Thus,
asserts Irons, African American  evangelicals  inadvertently
shaped the nature of the proslavery argument.               


NPS News and Events

This spring, the National Park Service (NPS) began work on a
new visitor contact station at the Five Forks Battlefield in
Dinwiddie County.  The new contact station will be  a  2,400
square-foot building with a large exhibit space.  Over seven
miles of new trails will allow visitors  to  experience  the
battlefield on foot, bicycle, or horseback.  The new contact
station and surrounding  grounds  will  allow  visitors  the
opportunity  to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation
of the significance of the Five Forks  Battlefield  and  its
role in our nation's history.                               

The  NPS  has a number of events scheduled around Petersburg
and Richmond in the coming weeks.  Civil War telegraphy will
be  the  topic  of a program at the Petersburg Battlefield's
Eastern Front on Saturday, May 24.  This program  will  show
how  messages  were  passed  during the war by observing and
communicating  using  the  telegraph.   Also  on  the  24th,
civilians   will   be   pressed   into   service   during  a
demonstration on local militia in the Civil War.  Come ready
to  drill  as  "muskets"  will  be provided.  Demonstrations
begin at 10 a.m., 1:30 and 3 p.m.  at Modern Central Park on
South Sycamore Street in Petersburg.                        

On  Memorial  Day,  May  26,  there  will be a wreath laying
ceremony at Fort Harrison National  Cemetery.   The  program
begins  at  noon  and  will  feature  a  guest speaker to be
announced.  On the weekend of May 31-June1,  there  will  be
several  events  in  connection  with the anniversary of the
Battle of Cold Harbor.  There will be ranger guided  walking
tours,  living  history encampments, and artillery and rifle
firing demonstrations  at  the  battlefield.   That  evening
there  will  be  live period music and a candlelight tour of
the battlefield featuring volunteers portraying  Confederate
and Union soldiers and private citizens.                    

On  Saturday,  June 7, living historians will play the roles
of Petersburg civilians as  they  react  to  the  threat  of
invasion  by Union forces on June 9, 1864.  Citizens took up
arms and defended their  city  with  successful  yet  tragic
results.  Programs begin at 10 a.m., 1:30 and 3 p.m.  at the
South Side Railroad Depot in Petersburg.                    


Lecture Examines When
Lee Became a Hero to Southerners

Robert K.  Krick is the author of  many  books  and  for  30
years   was   chief  historian  of  the  Fredericksburg  and
Spotsylvania National Military Park.  At noon  on  Thursday,
May  22, he will speak at the Virginia Historical Society on
"Lee and the Historians in the Age of the Anti-Hero."       

According to some recent historians, Gen.   Robert  E.   Lee
was  not a hero to southerners during the Civil War but only
afterward.   Krick  argues  to  the  contrary  that  he  was
idolized as a great leader in the midst of the conflict, not
just later when the defeated South groped to interpret  what
had happened.                                               


Kaine Allocates $5 Million
to Preserve Battlefields

The Civil War Historic Site Preservation Fund  will  receive
$5 million in incentive funding over the next two years. The
money will be used for grants  to  non-profit  organizations
that  preserve  Virginia's  historic sites.  Under the plan,
Virginia will pay $1 for every $2 raised by private  groups.
The  funding  was one of 41 amendments to the state's budget
announced last month by Gov.  Tim Kaine.  The money will  go
toward preserving the Glendale, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg,
New Market, Brandy Station, Appomattox, Chancellorsville and
Petersburg battlefields.                                    


RBA Announces Annual Meeting and Tour

The Richmond Battlefields Association (RBA)  will  hold  its
annual meeting and tour on Saturday, June 14 from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m.  This year's events will take place  at  White  House
Landing,  an  almost  forgotten  place of supreme historical
importance.  Used by Native Americans  for  centuries,  this
site  on  the  Pamunkey River sits directly across the shore
from today's Pamunkey Indian reservation.                   

It was settled and farmed by colonist John Custis.  He  left
a   wealthy   widow,  Martha,  who  here  met,  married  and
honeymooned with an up-and-coming Virginia  Militia  officer
named  George  Washington.   White House Farm passed through
the Custis family to Robert E.  Lee's son,  Rooney.   Father
and  son  both  toiled  here  to  restore  the plantation to
profitability.  Mrs.  R.E.  Lee spent much of the early days
of  the  war here until it was occupied by the Union Army of
the Potomac.  It was a key  component  of  McClellan's  1862
Peninsula Campaign to take Richmond.  The home "White House"
was burned by Federal troops during the "Change of Base."   

The home that Rooney Lee rebuilt on the foundation was  also
lost  to  fire  in  the  late  19th century.  Today only the
foundation  and  a  springhouse  remain.   This  is  a  rare
opportunity to soak up centuries of American history at this
privately-held site.   Speakers  will  include  Jim  Harris,
Robert K.  Krick, and Robert E.  Lee Krick.                 

This  event  is  open  to  the  general  public  and the RBA
recommends bringing a lawn chair and picnic lunch.  So  they
may  plan  appropriately,  the  RBA asks attendees to please
RSVP  at  this   link:   admin@saverichmondbattlefields.org.
Directions  to  9980  Rockahock  Bar Road in New Kent can be
found on the RBA website:   www.saverichmondbattlefields.org


RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2008


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