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

Mrs. Gail Stephens,

"Jubal's in the Valley:
The Long, Hot Summer of 1864"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 14, 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.

Gail Stephens  has  a  Bachelor's  Degree  in  International
Politics  from  George  Washington University in Washington,
DC, and has done graduate work at Johns  Hopkins  University
and  Harvard  University.   She worked for the Department of
Defense for 26 years, retiring in 1994 as a  member  of  the
Department's Senior Executive Service.  Upon retirement, she
began to pursue her lifetime  interest  in  the  Civil  War,
volunteering   at   Monocacy   National   Battlefield   near
Frederick, Maryland.                                        

She has done extensive research on Confederate  Gen.   Jubal
Early's  1864  advance  on  Washington,  the  Battle  of the
Monocacy and its participants, including  Lew  Wallace,  the
Union  commander  at  Monocacy.  She has lectured, taught at
area colleges, given battlefield tours, and written  several
articles  on Monocacy and Lew Wallace .  In 2002 she won the
National  Park  Service's  E.W.   Peterkin  Award  for   her
contributions to public understanding of Civil War history. 

On  Tuesday evening, October 12, Mrs.  Stephens will address
the Richmond Civil  War  Round  Table  with  a  talk  titled
"Jubal's  in  the Valley: The Long, Hot Summer of 1864." She
will focus on the first three months of Jubal  Early's  1864
Valley Campaign - mid-June to mid-September.  Mrs.  Stephens
believes the memory of  Early's  initial  successes  in  the
summer  has  been overwhelmed by a focus on his battles with
Union Gen.  Phillip Sheridan.  She intends to engender  some
questions  and  discussion  by  looking, instead, at Early's
considerable achievements.                                  



Annual Holiday Meeting Scheduled for Next Month


The  Richmond  Civil  War  Round  Table's  annual  Christmas
holiday  meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, November 9
at the Willow Oaks Country Club, 6228 Forest Hill  Ave.   in
Richmond.  Come early for the social gathering with cash bar
from 6:00 to 7:00.  Dinner will be served from 7:00 to 7:45,
followed  by  the business meeting and our featured speaker.
The RCWRT is proud to have Dr.  Taylor Saunders as our guest
for  this special evening.  Dr.  Saunders will be addressing
the Round Table on "Lee as President of Washington College."

The cost for this annual event is  $30.   You  may  bring  a
check  to  the  RCWRT's  October  12 meeting and give to any
officer or mail to:

Shep Parsons
107 Rose Hill Dr.
Richmond, VA 23229

You may call Shep at home, (804) 288-6816,
or at work, (804) 782-7236.


Museum of the Confederacy Facing Challenges


The Museum of  the  Confederacy  is  finding  itself  facing
massive  obstacles.   Some of them are more than ten stories
high.  In the most recent fiscal year, the  museum  saw  its
number  of  visitors  drop  to  its  lowest  level in over a
decade.  This has  placed  a  great  burden  on  an  already
conservative   operating   budget.   The  museum  recognizes
several   factors   contributing   to   this   decline   but
unquestionably the major culprit is the increasingly awkward
accessibility of the museum.                                

In recent years, hospital  buildings  from  the  neighboring
Virginia  Commonwealth  University  Medical Center (formerly
the Medical College of Virginia) have cast a shadow over the
museum and the adjacent White House of the Confederacy.  Ten
and 12-floor buildings have been erected  to  the  immediate
south and west sides, dwarfing the museum and hiding it from
would-be visitors.                                          

VCUMC's latest 15-year growth plan calls for  rehabilitation
or  building on all streets surrounding the museum, starting
in January 2005.  Included in the plan  is  a  new  14-floor
hospital  just  to  the  east  of  the  museum.   This would
permanently block the White House of the Confederacy's  view
of  Shockhoe  Valley  and  would  thrust the museum into the
heart of  a  construction  site.   In  a  letter  to  museum
supporters,  board  of  trustees  chairman J.E.B.  Stuart IV
writes,  "At  the  end  of  this  process  the  museum  will
essentially  be  a  small  cultural anomaly hidden within an
extensive medical campus."                                  

The museum's board is emphatic  that  they  are  in  no  way
considering  ceasing  operations  and  that will never be an
option.  Rather, the  questions  before  the  board  concern
chiefly  how to sustaining the viability of the White House,
possibly relocating the museum,  and  coping  with  steadily
declining income from entrance fees.                        

"At  no  time  since  the museum's early days have we needed
help so urgently from our faithful members," writes  Stuart.
"We  need  your financial support, because any of the viable
options will cost more money than we have asked for  in  the
past."                                                      


Upcoming Events


Friday-Sunday,  October  15-17

"The Controversial Joe Johnston." Eighth Annual Symposium of
the  Pamplin  Historical Park and the National Museum of the
Civil War Soldier.  Includes lectures (Fri.  &  Sat.),  tour
of   Pamplin   Historical   Park  (Sat.)  and  bus  tour  of
Bentonville  Battlefield  (Sun.).    $195   symposium   fee,
registration required.  For more information, see article in
September RCWRT newsletter,  go  to  www.pamplinpark.org  or
call 1-877-PAMPLIN.                                         

140th  Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek,
south of Winchester near Middletown.  Belle Grove plantation
tours,  living  history  demonstrations, evening candlelight
tours  and  other  weekend  events  in  addition  to  battle
reenactments.  One day tickets are $20, three day passes are
$40.  Info: www.cedarcreekbattlefield.org or 1-888-628-1864.

Thursday, October 21

"Why They Fought." Symposium at Tredegar Gun  Foundry.   See
article on back page of this newsletter.                    

Saturday, October 23

"Haunted Harvest Hayride" with Civil War  living  historians
at  the  Staunton  River  Battlefield  State Park in Halifax
County.  Nighttime hayride of the battlefield.  Info:  (434)
454-4312.                                                   

Sunday, October 24

"The  Recovery  of  the  H.L.   Hunley."  Lecture   at   the
Chesterfield  Central  Library.   The  latest  news  on  the
Confederate  submarine   discovered   off   the   coast   of
Charleston,  SC and the burial of its crew.  This free event
begins at 2:00 pm.  Info: jchaptertwo@aol.com.              

Friday & Saturday, October 29 & 30

"Haunted  History  Hike"  at  Sailor's   Creek   Battlefield
Historic  State Park in Amelia County.  Visitors will take a
_ mile hike on  the  battlefield  and  encounter  ghosts  of
soldiers  and  civilians who were involved in the battles at
Sailor's Creek.  Activities for young folks and adults  near
the  Hillsman House.  Hikes every hour from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.
Info: (434) 392-3435.                                       

Saturday & Sunday, November 6 & 7

"Americans at War." The history  of  the  American  military
from   Colonial   Times  to  the  present.   Living  history
demonstrations, military vehicle displays and real  veterans
of America's modern wars.  Free with regular Park admission.
Info: www.pamplinpark.org or call 1-877-PAMPLIN.            

Tredegar National Civil War Center Foundation
Presents Program on Civil War Motivations

The Tredegar  National  Civil  War  Center  Foundation  will
present   a   symposium  about  the  motivations  of  Union,
Confederate  and  African  American   soldiers   and   other
participants in the war that defined our modern nation.  The
program entitled "Why They  Fought"  will  be  held  in  the
Tredegar  Gun  Foundry  at  500 Tredegar Street on Thursday,
October 21, from 7:30 to 9:00pm.   Admission  is  free,  but
reservations  are  required  due  to  limited  seating.   To
reserve a seat, please call (804)  788-6490  no  later  than
Friday, October 15.                                         

The  program  is another in a series of educational programs
in which the  Foundation  offers  the  whole  community  the
opportunity  to  discuss  important  questions  of  American
history with leading historians.  Dr.  Joseph T.  Glatthaar,
Professor  of  History, University of Houston, and author of
Forged in Battle: The Alliance of Black Soldiers  and  White
Officers,  will  discuss  the  Union motivation.  Dr.  Roger
Davidson, Jr, Assistant Professor of History at Coppin State
College   in  Maryland  will  present  an  African  American
perspective.  His book, A Constant Struggle:  Documents  and
Essays  in  African  American  History,  Volume  I,  will be
published  soon.   Dr.   William  J.   Cooper,   Jr.,   Boyd
Professor  of  History at Louisiana State University and the
author  of  Jefferson  Davis,  American,  will  discuss  how
Confederates saw their duty.                                

The  Tredegar  National  Civil  War  Center  Foundation is a
corporation formed to create the first museum  and  learning
center  in  the  United  States  that  will  tell how modern
America emerged from the Civil War.  The  Center  will  show
how  the dynamic interplay among the three major participant
groups in  that  war  --  Union,  Confederate,  and  African
American  --  changed  the  course of American history.  The
Center will anchor the western end of  the  Canal  Walk  and
attract  new  visitors  to  the  Richmond area, serving as a
gateway to other local and regional historical venues. Also,
it  will  offer  a variety of learning opportunities for all
ages  with  Web-based  programs,  community   dialogs,   and
leadership studies.                                         

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:           

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