Sam Craghead, President         Art & Carol Bergeron, Editors
4361F Lakefield Mews            3901 Paces Ferry Road      
Richmond, VA 23231              Chester, VA 23831-1239   

October 2001 PROGRAM

Dr. Art Bergeron

"Henry Heth in the Petersburg Campaign"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 9, 2001, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.)

Dr.  Art Bergeron is the  Historian  at  Pamplin  Historical
Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.  He has
held this position since May 1996.   Bergeron  received  his
master's  and  doctoral  degrees  in  American  history from
Louisiana State University, where he studied under the  late
Dr. T. Harry  Williams  and   Dr.  William J. Cooper, Jr.  A
native of Louisiana, Bergeron worked  as  historian  at  the
Port Hudson State Historic Site and as Chief of Interpretive
Services  for  Louisiana  State  Parks  before   moving   to
Virginia.   He is the author, co-author, or editor of nearly
a  dozen  books.   Among  them  are   Guide   to   Louisiana
Confederate  Military  Units,  1861-1865  (LSU Press, 1989);
Confederate   Mobile,   1861-1865   (University   Press   of
Mississippi, 1991); and The Civil War Reminiscences of Major
Silas T.  Grisamore, C.  S.  A.  (LSU Press, 1993).  The two
latter  titles  were  selections  of  the History Book Club.
Bergeron has written  articles  and  essays  for  dozens  of
scholarly  journals  and compiled works such as Encyclopedia
of Confederate History and The Confederate General.  He is a
past  president  of the Louisiana Historical Association and
is an active member of the Society of Civil War  Historians,
Southern   Historical  Association,  and  the  Blue  &  Gray
Education Society.                                          

The subject of Bergeron's presentation, Henry  Heth,  was  a
native  of  Chesterfield County.  Heth is perhaps best known
among Civil War  enthusiasts  as  a  division  commander  in
General Robert E.  Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and whose
troops brought on the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1,  1863.
During  the  Petersburg  Campaign,  1864-1865,  Heth and his
division played a pivotal role in the defense of the Cockade
City.   Bergeron  will  give an overview of those operations
and present an analysis of Heth's generalship.   Those  nine
and  a  half  months were, in many ways, Henry Heth's finest
hours.                                                      


Review of the September Program



Dr.    Richard   McMurry   presented   a   provocative   and
entertaining look at the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.  A native
of the Atlanta area, McMurry had an early interest in  those
operations  and wrote a paper on the subject while attending
the Virginia Military Institute.  His talk  was  based  upon
his  most  recent  book,  Atlanta  1864: Last Chance for the
Confederacy.  In his opening remarks,  McMurry  stated  that
there  have  been three basic questions about the Civil War:
what caused it, what were its results, and why did the  side
that  won  it succeed (or why did the Confederacy lose).  He
mentioned some of the answers given to  those  questions  by
historians  over the years but dismissed almost all of them.
The South lost, he said, because Confederate armies lost the
battles.   Although  the  Confederacy  won  many  battles in
Virginia, it lost the war because its armies  lost  most  of
the battles it fought in the Western Theater.               

Of  the  western  campaigns,  one  of  the  most  crucial to
Northern victory was the Atlanta Campaign.  By  early  1864,
it  seemed  clear  that  the  Confederates  could  not win a
military victory.  They  had  to  hold  out  and  erode  the
North's  resolve to keep fighting-win by not losing.  One of
their best opportunities was the  presidential  election  of
1864,  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  might  be defeated.  The
Confederates could  help  insure  that  defeat  in  northern
Georgia,   where  General  Joseph  E.   Johnston's  Army  of
Tennessee faced three Union  armies  led  by  Major  General
William  T.   Sherman.   If  Johnston  could stall Sherman's
advance and protect Atlanta, Lincoln might lose to George B.
McClellan.                                                  

According  to McMurry, Lincoln made his worst blunder of the
war  by  ordering  Ulysses  S.   Grant  to  Virginia.   This
decision took the Union's best general out of the area where
he was winning and put him in an area where the Confederates
might  nullify  his  strengths  as  a general.  In the West,
Grant might have ended the war by July 4.  A second part  of
Lincoln's  mistake was replacing Grant with Sherman.  George
H.  Thomas would have made a better choice  and  might  well
have won the campaign more quickly than Sherman did.        

Johnston  essentially  lost  the  campaign in early May 1864
when he failed  to  protect  Snake  Creek  Gap  and  allowed
Sherman's  armies  to  force  him  out  of  his positions at
Dalton.   The  latter  resembled  the  Union   position   at
Gettysburg  in  its  shape and strength.  Johnston failed to
fortify the  southern  end  at  Snake  Creek  Gap  and  then
permitted  Union  troops  to  capture it without significant
opposition.  From that point  onward,  Johnston  followed  a
totally  passive  strategy,  retreating from one position to
another with  enormous  significance  to  the  fate  of  the
Confederacy.   The  retreat was a logistical, political, and
psychological disaster.                                     

Jefferson Davis was justified in removing Johnston  in  July
1864  and  replacing  him  with  John Bell Hood.  The latter
found himself in an impossible situation.   His  defense  of
Atlanta was not that bad and has never been fully evaluated,
McMurry stated.  Hood's generals  were  largely  responsible
for failing to carry out Hood's plans.  When his last supply
line was finally cut in late August, Hood had no choice  but
to abandon Atlanta.                                         

McMurry  clearly  placed  responsibility  for  the  fall  of
Atlanta upon the shoulders  of  Joseph  E.   Johnston.   His
continual  retreats  cost the Confederacy the campaign.  The
capture  of  Atlanta  was  a  huge   factor   in   Lincoln's
re-election.   There was no doubt of the war's outcome after
that.                                                       


Announcements


Round Table Raffle

The raffle item for October will be  Richmond  at  War:  The
Minutes of the City Council, 1861-1865, by Louis H. Manarin.
Dr.  Manarin has donated the book for preservation.         


Symposium Announcement

Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg  announces  its  Fifth
Annual  Civil  War Symposium, "The Politics of War," October
20-21.  This program brings together some  of  the  nation's
foremost  scholars  on the politics of the Civil War.  Their
presentations will lead to a greater understanding  of  that
aspect  of  the conflict.  The speakers and their topics are
as follows: Dr.  John Y.  Simon, Executive Director  of  The
Ulysses  S.   Grant  Association and Professor of History at
Southern  Illinois  University,  "Lincoln  as  Commander  in
Chief:  Blending Political and Military Goals;" Dr.  William
J.  Cooper, Jr., Boyd  Professor  of  History  at  Louisiana
State  University, "Jefferson Davis and States Rights in the
Confederacy;" Dr.   Thomas  E.   Schott,  Historian,  United
States  Air  Force,  "Alexander  H.  Stephens;" Dr.  Paul H.
Bergeron,  Professor  of  History  at  the   University   of
Tennessee,  "The  Three  Lives  of  Andrew Johnson: Senator,
Governor, and Vice President;" and Dr.   George  C.   Rable,
Charles  G.  Summersell Professor of History at the Universi
f Alabama, "What Can  Be  Learned  from  the  History  of  a
Christian Slaveholders' Republic?"                          

The  symposium  will  include  a tour of Civil War Richmond,
with stops at Belle  Isle,  Hollywood  Cemetery,  the  State
Capitol,  and the National Park Service's Tredegar Civil War
Visitor  Center.   For  more   information,   call   Pamplin
Historical  Park  at  (804) 861-2408 or visit the park's Web
site: http://www.pamplinpark.org.                           


Civil War Richmond Program

The Civil War Education Association will sponsor "Civil  War
Richmond-Then  and  Now" on November 2-4.  This tour program
will explore the sites that  bridged  the  gap  between  the
battles  at  Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor and will be led by
Robert E.  L.  Krick.  Stops on Saturday will include Carmel
Church,   Henagan's  Redoubt,  Ox  Ford,  Hanover  Junction,
Mangohick Church, "Wyoming," Haw's Shop, and Shelton  House.
The  Sunday  program  will  be a combination bus and walking
tour of Civil War  sites  in  downtown  Richmond,  including
Capitol Square, Monumental Church, and the site of the house
where Jeb Stuart died.                                      

A deposit of $50 for the  program  is  required.   For  more
information,  write  Civil War Education Association, P.  O.
Box  78,  Winchester,  VA  22604;  phone  800-298-1861;  fax
800-550-1347;  or  e-mail cwea@mnsinc.com.  A block of rooms
has been reserved at the Wyndham Hotel Richmond Airport, and
a  special rate is available.  Call them at 804-226-4300 and
identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA program.     


Civil War Round Table Holiday Party

The Richmond Civil War Round Table annual holiday party will
be  held  on  Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at the Willow Oaks
Country Club at 6228 Forest Hill Avenue.  Our speaker is Ms.
Virginia  B.   Morton  who  will  give a presentation on her
recent book Marching Through Culpeper: A Novel of  Culpeper,
Virginia, Crossroads of the Civil War.                      

	The schedule for the evening is as follows:         
		6:00 p.m. (Cocktails - Cash Bar)            
		6:30 p.m. (Dinner)                          
		7:45 p.m. (Business)                        
		8:00 p.m. (Speaker)                         

The cost for dinner is $23.00 per  person  and  includes  an
entree,  house  salad,  vegetables,  dessert,  ice  tea  and
coffee.                                                     

Please send all checks by November 6, 2001 payable to:      

Richmond Civil War Round Table                              
c/o Clark H. Lewis (1111 E. Main Street)                    
P. O. Box 1122                                              
Richmond, Virginia 23218-1122                               

If  you  have  questions,  please  contact  Clark  Lewis  at
697-1474 or clark.lewis@troutmansanders.com


Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
Art & Carol Bergeron, Editors
3901 Paces Ferry Road
Chester, VA 23831-1239