Bernard Fisher, President              Rob Monroe, Editor       
7300 Ann Cabell Lane                   2416 Edenbrook Dr.       
Mechanicsville, VA 23111               Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
bernard.fisher@comcast.net             RMonroe500@comcast.net   
 October 2007 PROGRAM

James A. Morgan
"The Battle of Ball's Bluff"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 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.

Most Civil War students are familiar with  the  October  21,
1861  Battle  of  Ball's  Bluff  because of its far-reaching
political fallout.  The  battle  itself  remains  relatively
obscure.   Nestled  in the midst of Northern Virginia sprawl
(the  entrance  to  it  is  through   a   Leesburg   housing
development),  the battlefield itself has been preserved and
is accessible for those who want to understand the  dramatic
fight that occurred there.  Our October speaker will discuss
the battle and the misunderstandings about it.              

A lifelong Civil War enthusiast, Jim Morgan was born in  New
Orleans,  grew  up  in  Pensacola, Florida, and now lives in
Lovettsville.   He  holds  master's  degrees  in   Political
Science  from  the  University  of  West Florida and Library
Science from Florida State  University.   He  works  as  the
Acquisitions  Librarian for the State Department's Office of
International Information Programs in Washington, D.C.   Jim
is a reenactor, a past president of the Loudoun County Civil
War Roundtable, and a volunteer guide at  Ball's  Bluff  for
the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.  His interest
in the battle led him to write A Little Short of Boats:  the
Fights  at  Ball's  Bluff  and Edwards Ferry, October 21-22,
1861 that a reviewer praised as "the definitive  account  of
Ball's Bluff." He also wrote Always Ready, Always Willing: A
History of Battery M, Second United States  Artillery,  From
Its  Organization  Through  the  Civil  War  and has written
articles for Civil War Times, America's Civil War, Blue  and
Gray  and  The  Artilleryman  among others.  His accounts of
Ball's Bluff  appear  on  the  "eHistory.com"  website,  the
Northern    Virginia   Regional   Park   Authority   website
(www.nvrpa.org), and the  Journey  Through  Hallowed  Ground
website    (www.hallowedground.org).     He   currently   is
researching a biography of Union  Brig.   Gen.   Charles  P.
Stone.   Copies of A Little Short of Boats will be available
at the meeting.                                             


Museum of the Confederacy
Announces Plans for the Future

In September The Museum of Confederacy released its plan  to
expand  to  a  statewide  system of visitor sites that would
advance the institution's educational mission by  broadening
the reach of its extensive artifact collection.  The visitor
sites will concentrate on and complement existing  flows  of
both historical and recreational travelers.  The museum will
remain in Richmond  with  its  headquarters,  marketing  and
development functions, research library, collections storage
and conservation and preservation efforts.  The White  House
of  the  Confederacy  will  serve  as  a major visitor site.
Additional locations under consideration include Appomattox,
Chancellorsville and Fort Monroe in Hampton.                

"It  is  an  exciting  prospect  to expand our outreach to a
greater number of historical tourists in  Virginia,"  stated
Museum  Board  Chairman  Carlton  P.  Moffatt.  "The plan is
contingent on financing.  After three  years  of  hard  work
involving  a state study commission, a peer review study and
a large number of volunteer experts, the Board feels that  a
system  of  museum  sites  is the best way to accomplish our
central mission of using artifacts  to  educate  the  public
about the Civil War and the Confederacy."                   

"We  are  focused  on  taking our collection to the visitor,
rather than trying to get the visitor to come to  us,"  said
S.   Waite  Rawls, III, museum president and CEO.  "Richmond
and the other sites under consideration hold great  war-time
significance.   They have strong visitation numbers and name
recognition.  We are looking to have  space  for  many  more
artifacts  that  can  be seen by three to four times as many
people."                                                    

Museum officials had  considered  relocating  all  functions
outside  of  Richmond.   Plans  call  for the current museum
building to remain operational and open to  the  public  for
the  next  five  years.  The new facilities will be built in
time for the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011-2015).        


The Museum of the Confederacy will host a casual open  house
for  RCWRT  members  and  their  guests from 6:30 to 9:00 on
Wednesday evening, October 10 (the night after our meeting).
Waite  Rawls  will  discuss  the  proposed museum system and
answer questions.                                           


Pamplin Park Symposium Explores Civil War Mishaps

On Friday through Sunday, October 19-21, Pamplin  Historical
Park  &  The  National  Museum of the Civil War Soldier will
host its  11th  Annual  Symposium,  "Infamous  Episodes  and
Disastrous  Endeavors of the Civil War." Speakers and topics
include James Blankenship on "Sabotage at City Point," Terry
Winschel on "Blunders of the Vicksburg Campaign," David Long
on "The  Dahlgren-Kilpatrick  Raid,"  Dennis  Frye  on  "The
Surrender of Harpers Ferry," William Marvel on "Mr.  Lincoln
Goes to War," and Richard Sommers on  "Grant's  Failures  at
Petersburg."  James  I.   "Bud"  Robertson will be a special
guest.                                                      

Registrations for the symposium are $206 for  park  members,
$229  for  nonmembers  and  can  be made by calling the park
toll-free at 1-877-PAMPLIN.                                 


Virginia Historical Society Examines Lee and Grant

On October 20 the Virginia  Historical  Society  (VHS)  will
open  its  new  exhibition,  "Lee  and Grant." Funded by the
National Endowment for the Humanities, the  exhibition  will
explore the boyhoods of Robert E.  Lee and Ulysses S. Grant,
their West Point careers,  their  early  assignments,  their
service  in  the  Mexican War and on the nation's frontiers,
their Civil War campaigns, and their  postwar  contributions
to national reconciliation.                                 

Actual uniforms and accouterments owned by the generals will
be displayed to suggest the presence of  Lee  and  Grant  as
contemporaries   knew   them.   Letters  and  other  written
records, and visual images-paintings,  photographs,  prints,
and  sculpture-will be presented, to allow a glimpse of each
man as he understood himself and his place in the world.    

In conjunction  with  the  new  exhibition,  VHS  will  also
present  two  lectures  next  month.   At  noon on Thursday,
November  1,  William  M.S.   Rasmussen  will   present   an
illustrated  lecture  examining  Lee  and  Grant  and  their
influence on our  history.   Rasmussen  is  co-author  (with
Robert  S.   Tilton)  of Lee and Grant.  The book is a major
re-assessment of the lives, careers, and  historical  impact
of the two generals that addresses the question: "How should
Lee and Grant be evaluated in 2007, the 200th anniversary of
Lee's birth?"                                               

At  noon  on  Thursday,  November  8,  Josiah  Bunting  III,
superintendent emeritus  of  VMI,  will  present  a  lecture
titled  "Who is Buried in Grant's Tomb?" Ulysses S.  Grant's
image in the eyes of historians and the general  public  has
varied  over  the  years.   In  this  lecture,  Bunting will
describe the general's character and survey the  changes  in
his reputation since his own time.                          

Also   next   month   RCWRT  member  Brig.   Gen.   John  W.
Mountcastle will teach a four-session class on Lee and Grant
in  the  1864  Overland  Campaign.   Classes will be held on
November 1, 8, 15, and 29 from 5:30-7:00  pm  in  the  VHS's
Robins  Family  Forum.   Tuition is $110 for VHS members and
$125 for nonmembers.  To register go  to  the  VHS  website,
www.vahistorical.org, email cynthia@vahistorical.org or call
(804) 342-9676.                                             


ACWC Lectures Will Focus on
Battles of Monocacy and Lynchburg

The Battle of Monocacy occurred on a scorching  hot  day  in
July  1864  fifty  miles  outside  Washington.  On Saturday,
October 20, acclaimed author and historian Marc Leepson will
speak  at  the  American  Civil  War Center on his new book,
Desperate  Engagement,  which  chronicles  this   overlooked
battle  and its consequences.  Leepson contends that had the
Confederacy attacked at a different time, and had they  been
victorious  that day, they would have been able to push even
further to the  nation's  capital.   From  there  the  final
outcome  of the war may have taken a very different look.  A
book sale and signing will follow the event.                

On Sunday, November 4, historian Greg Starbuck will speak on
Union  Major  General  David Hunter's raid on the Shenandoah
Valley  in  1864,   his   attempts   to   take   the   vital
transportation  center  of Lynchburg, and the clever tactics
employed by Confederate Lieutenant General  Jubal  Early  to
repel Hunter's attack.                                      

Both  lectures  begin  at 2 pm and are free to ACWC members,
$10 for nonmembers or free with museum admission.           


RCWRT's Annual Banquet Scheduled for
Thursday, November 15

By popular demand, the 2007 annual Richmond Civil War  Round
Table banquet will be held at the top of the world (well, of
Richmond, anyway) - in the restaurant on the 24th  floor  of
the  SunTrust  Bank  tower, 919 E.  Main St.  Mark Thursday,
November 15th on your calendars.  We'll gather at 6:00  p.m.
for  drinks  (cash  bar)  and  socializing  and  the  dinner
(chicken Florentine) will begin at 7:00 p.m.                

At 8:00, Thomas P.  Lowry, M.D., will  present  "Confederate
Heroines:   Southern   Women  Convicted  by  Union  Military
Justice." Known best for his  best-selling  1994  book,  The
Story  the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War, Dr.
Lowry has mined U.S.  court martial records for the dramatic
stories  of  real  life Southern women whom history had long
forgotten.                                                  

The cost of the banquet is $37.50 per  person  and  includes
all  services  and  gratuities.   Parking  is  free  in  the
SunTrust garage,  entered  from  the  Cary  St.   side.   To
reserve your spot(s), bring to the next meeting a check made
payable to RCWRT or mail it to:                             

Richard Grosse               
14187 Hickory Oaks Ln.       
Ashland, Virginia  23005-3148


Proposed Increase in Annual Dues

The Richmond Civil War Round Table has a long  tradition  of
providing  superior  speakers  on  a  year round basis.  Our
invited speakers do  not  receive  an  honorarium.   As  our
guest,  they  are  reimbursed  for travel, food and lodging.
Over the last four years, mileage reimbursement  rates  have
risen  35%  due  to  increased  fuel  prices.   In  order to
continue  providing  an  excellent  speaker   program,   the
executive   board  has  recommended  a  $5  across-the-board
increase  in  RCWRT  annual  dues.   Members  will  have  an
opportunity  to  vote  on  the proposed dues increase at the
October meeting.                                            


RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2007


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