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July 2011 - rcwrt.org

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David Whitehead, Pres.                 Gary Cowardin, Editor    
4305 Cary Street Rd.                   1404 Lorraine Ave.       
Richmond, VA 23221                     Richmond, VA 23227-3735  
davidwhitehead1@comcast.net            cowardin@juno.com        
Earl J. Hess

Overland to Appomattox:
Field Fortifications in Virginia, 1864-1865

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 12, 2011, at the
First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA., 4602 Cary Street Road, 23226
A parking lot is available behind the church with an entrance off the
parking lot to the left and down a few stairs.



Anyone who has  ever  stumbled  across  ghostly  entrenchments  in  some
Hanover  County  forest,  studied the effective use of terrain along the
North Anna, marveled at the trench lines at Cold Harbor, or walked among
the  remnants  of forts and redoubts near Petersburg will want to attend
our meeting on July 12th.   We  are  very  fortunate  to  have,  as  our
speaker,  Dr.   Earl  Hess.   He will share with us some of his findings
concerning the tactics, techniques, and procedures employed by the  Blue
and  the  Gray  as  they grappled with each other from the Wilderness to
Petersburg and beyond.  No  historian  has  done  more  to  explain  the
reasons for the large scale use of field fortifications during the final
year of the Civil War.  We will all benefit from this presentation by  a
true expert on the subject.                                             

Dr.   Earl J.  Hess has been a student of Civil War history since he was
a teenager, growing up in rural Missouri.  He completed  his  B.A.   and
M.A.   degrees  in  History at Southeast Missouri State University.  His
Ph.D.  in American Studies, with a concentration in History, was awarded
by   Purdue   University  in  1986.   He  has  taught  at  a  number  of
institutions,  including  the  University   of   Georgia,   Texas   Tech
University,  and the University of Arkansas.  Since 1989, he has been at
Lincoln Memorial  University,  in  Harrogate,  Tennessee,  where  he  is
Associate  Professor  of  History,  director of the History Program, and
holds the Stewart McClelland Chair.   Dr.   Hess  has  published  twelve
books, twenty-three articles, and more than 100 book reviews.  Among his
publications are a number of well-received studies on the use  of  field
fortifications  during  the  Civil  War.   Round  Table  members will be
familiar with many of the titles of his books.   Among  them  are  Field
Armies  and  Fortifications  in  the  Civil  War: The Eastern Campaigns,
1861-1864  (2005),  Trench  Warfare   under   Grant   and   Lee:   Field
Fortifications  in  the  Overland  Campaign  (2007),  In the Trenches at
Petersburg: Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat (2009), and Into
the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg (2010).  He is also the author
of The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth  (2008).   Dr.
Hess  is  married  to  Dr.   Pratibha  Dabholkar,  who  is  an Associate
Professor of Marketing at the University of Tennessee.                  

Be sure to come early to get a good seat.
Meeting Attendance: June 2011 = 91

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.)

 A Word from Our President 

Welcome to summer!  Our July RCWRT meeting is near - July 12.  Jack  has
provided  another  excellent speaker - Earl Hess.  Please bring a friend
and enjoy the talk.  Don't forget the books to bring and sell to  others
for $5-10. I hope all are learning during our Sesquicentennial.         

                                            David Whitehead, Pres. RCWRT


2011 RCWRT FIELD TRIP


We had our annual field trip Saturday, June 18, 2011, visiting  the  new
USS  Monitor  Center  at  the  Mariners'  Museum  in  Newport  News, the
Monitor-Merrimack Overlook Park, and Drewry's Bluff.


We were met by Anna Holloway, our May Speaker, who passed us over to one
of  their great historians who helped us start our tour.  A salad, three
kinds of fresh sandwiches, and cookies were served for lunch in a  quiet
private room in the Museum.

During the tour we were able to walk around a full size  mockup  of  the
Monitor  and its turret.  The real one is nearby in a tank undergoing an
electrolysis process.  After leaving the museum  we  rode  over  to  the
Monitor-Merrimack  Overlook  Park where we were able to get out and walk
along the shore and pier.

 
After the park we loaded the van and headed to Drewry's Bluff.
We left the parking lot at 8:07am and returned at 6:01pm right on time!

Book Report

A Glorious Army
By Jeffry Wert

At first glance I expected this book to be a  repeat  of  the  same  old
civil  war  history  of  the Army of Northern Virginia, but thankfully I
took a closer look and was very pleasantly surprised.                   

From the time Robert E.  Lee  took  command  of  the  Army  of  Northern
Virginia on June 1, 1862, until the Battle of Gettysburg thirteen months
later, the Confederate army compiled a record  of  military  achievement
unparalleled  in  our  nation's  history.   By following the armies, the
leaders and the men themselves Jeffry Wert has compiled a very readable,
informative history of the Army of Northern Virginia and the civil war. 

From  Seven  Days  to  Second  Manassas,  Antietam, Chancellorsville and
Gettysburg Wert not only follows the armies onto the  field  of  battle,
but  offers  fresh assessments of Lee and his top commanders Longstreet,
Jackson and Stuart: and a  shrewd  battle  strategy  that  still  offers
lessons to military commanders today.                                   

Wert shows how the same audacity, (his favorite and most often used word
throughout the book), and aggressiveness that  fueled  Lee's  victories,
proved  disastrous  at Gettysburg.  But as he points out, Lee had little
choice, outnumbered by an opponent with superior resources,  he  had  to
take the fight to the enemy to win.  For a year his superior generalship
had prevailed against his opponents, but eventually what  Lee's  trusted
lieutenant  General  James  Longstreet  called  "headlong combativeness"
caused Lee to miscalculate.  Then in 1864 an equally  combative  Ulysses
S.  Grant took command of the northern forces and Lee was defeated.     

By  quoting  historians  Gary  Gallagher, Joseph Harsh, Douglas Southall
Freeman, Robert K.  Krick, and Robert E.  Lee Krick  plus  drawing  from
unpublished  diaries,  letters  and  many sources never before used this
book this book is an interesting study for the veteran civil war  reader
as  well as someone just getting interested in the subject and will make
a good addition to any civil war library.         ISBN 978-1-4165-9334-8

Book Report by,
Danny Witt

Civil War Trust
For the latest CWT news visit: www.civilwar.org

Upcoming Events



www.virginiacivilwar.org
Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission

Visit The Museum of the Confederacy Online
www.moc.org

Visit The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar
www.tredegar.org
and their
Events Calendar

Pamplin Historical Park and
The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
www.pamplinpark.org
and their
Special Events Calendar

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2011


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