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

November 2001 PROGRAM

Mrs. Virginia B. Morton

"Marching Through Culpeper"

Richmond Civil War Round Table Holiday Party
Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at the
Willow Oaks Country Club
6228 Forest Hill Avenue

The Richmond Civil War Round Table annual holiday party will
be  held on Tuesday, November 13, 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  payable to the Richmond Civil War
Round  Table,  c/o  Clark  H.   Lewis,  P.   O.   Box  1122,
Richmond,  Virginia  23218-1122 as soon as possible.  If you
have questions, please contact Clark Lewis  at  697-1474  or
clark.lewis@troutmansanders.com

Richmond  native Virginia Beard Morton has lived in Culpeper
for over thirty years.  The Longwood College graduate  is  a
former  teacher.  She became fascinated with Culpeper's vast
Civil  War  history  and  after  several  years  of  intense
research decided to tell Culpeper's story to the world.  She
hopes her novel, Marching Through Culpeper, now in its fifth
printing  will  promote  tourism  and  preservation  of  the
county's three  battlefields.   In  addition,  she  conducts
Civil  War Walking Tours of the historic downtown area every
first and third Saturday May through October to benefit  the
Museum of Culpeper History.  She narrates group bus tours of
the  Brandy  Station,  Cedar  Mountain,  and  Kelly's   Ford
battlefields by appointment.                                


Review of the October Program


Dr.  Art  Bergeron  gave  a  talk  on  "Henry  Heth  in  the
Petersburg  Campaign." A native of Chesterfield County, Heth
graduated from the United States Military  Academy  at  West
Point,  where  his roommate was future Union general Ambrose
E.  Burnside.  One of Heth's closest friends in the old army
was  another  future opponent, Winfield Scott Hancock.  Heth
arrived in Mexico too late to fight in that  conflict.   His
pre-war  service then consisted of duty on the frontier with
some minor engagements with Indians.                        

Heth resigned his commission when Virginia seceded from  the
union.   After  brief  duty  as a staff officer, Heth became
colonel of a Virginia infantry regiment in western Virginia.
He  was  promoted  to  brigadier general in January 1862 and
commanded a brigade.  In his first independent  action,  his
force was defeated.  Heth then was assigned to Major General
Edmund Kirby Smith's department and participated in  Smith's
invasion  of Kentucky during the fall of 1862.  Heth and his
brigade were not engaged in  any  of  the  battles  of  that
campaign.                                                   

After requesting a transfer to his native state, Heth joined
the Army of Northern Virginia just prior to  the  Battle  of
Chancellorsville.  He led a brigade in Major General Ambrose
P.  Hill's famous "Light Division"  during  that  engagement
and  temporarily  led  the  division  when Hill succeeded to
command  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  Second   Corps.    Heth's
performance  impressed  Hill,  who  recommended  to  General
Robert E.  Lee that Heth be promoted and given command of  a
division.   When  Lee  reorganized  the  army, he acted upon
Hill's recommendation, and Heth received command  of  a  new
division  that  became  a  part  of  Hill's new Third Corps.
Heth's men initiated the Battle of  Gettysburg  on  July  1,
1863,  and  the  general received a head wound that kept him
out of action for the rest of the battle.                   

Because Hill's Third Corps  was  primarily  responsible  for
holding the Confederate trenches around Petersburg from June
1864 to April 1865, Heth and his division became a prominent
part  of the defense of that important city.  Heth commanded
in several battles of  the  campaign,  most  notably  Reams'
Station  (August  25,  1864)  and Burgess' Mill (October 27,
1864).  Bergeron outlined Heth's difficulties with  generals
William  Mahone  and  Cadmus  M.  Wilcox, who led Hill's two
other divisions.  The high point of Heth's activities during
the  campaign came at Burgess' Mill.  There he helped devise
an attack on Major General  Winfield  S.   Hancock's  Second
Corps  that  almost  destroyed  that unit.  The Confederates
simply did not have enough men to exploit the  success  they
enjoyed for most of that battle.                            

Heth  became  a  businessman after the war but did not enjoy
success in the several occupations he  had.   He  became  an
agent  of  the Office of Indian Affairs and did well in that
post.  Heth assisted in collecting documents that  became  a
part  of  the  Official  Records.   Prior  to  his  death in
Washington, D.  C., in 1899, Heth wrote his  memoirs,  which
were not published until 1974.                              

Bergeron  concluded  that  Heth  was  personally  brave  but
frequently unlucky as a general.  He lacked  what  historian
T.   Harry  Williams  called "will"-the ability to adjust to
adverse conditions on the battlefield and turn them  in  his
favor.   During the Petersburg Campaign, Heth performed well
on several battlefields and helped Lee's  army  prolong  the
campaign for nearly ten months.  It was Heth's finest moment
as a military commander.                                    



 Announcements 

Round  Table Raffle

The November raffle item is a framed copy of Mort Kunstler's
print "Night Crossing." Tickets are $2.00 each.             


Elizabeth Roller Bottimore Annual Lecture

The Elizabeth Roller Bottimore Annual Lecture this  year  is
"Johnny   Reb   and   G.   I.   Joe:  A  Soldier-Historian's
Reflections on Two Wars," by Dr.  Charles  P.   Roland.   It
will  be  held on November 29 at 7:30 p.  m., in Jepson Hall
at the University of Richmond.  The lecture is free  to  the
public.   Dr.  Roland will reflect on his own experiences in
World War II as a framework for understanding the  realities
of  soldiering  and  leadership  during  the Civil War.  Dr.
Roland is emeritus professor of history at the University of
Kentucky and served as an infantry captain in Europe.  He is
author  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston:   Soldier   of   Three
Republics; The Confederacy; The American Iliad: The Story of
the  Civil  War;  and  Reflections  on  Lee:  A  Historian's
Assessment.                                                 


Civil War Show

Join  The  Museum of the Confederacy at the annual Civil War
Show at the Richmond Raceway Complex (tent) on  November  17
from  9:00-5:00 and November 18 from 9:00-3:00.  The show is
co-sponsored with the Central Virginia Civil War  Collectors
Association  with  400  exhibitors  of  the finest Civil War
memorabilia in the country.  David Eicher will  sign  copies
of  his  work  The  Longest Night: A Military History of the
Civil War on Saturday from 1 p.  m.-3 p.  m.   Admission  is
charged.   Contact  the  CVCWCA  (formerly  CVRHA)  at (804)
798-6817 for more information.                              


An  Evening  with  David Eicher

This  program  will be held at the Museum of the Confederacy
on Thursday, November 15, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.  and  is  free
to  the  public.   Astronomer  and Civil War historian David
Eicher will discuss his most recent work, The Longest Night:
A Military History of the Civil War.  Tracing the engagement
at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at  Appomattox,  the  book
addresses  the  military aspects of Western Theater, details
of  the  major  and  lesser-known  battles,  strategies   of
military  leaders and other significant issues.  Eicher will
sign copies of this work as well  as  some  of  his  others,
including  Civil  War  Generals  and  R.   E.   Lee:  A Life
Portrait.  Please R.S.V.P.  to the Museum  at  804-649-1861,
extension 23.                                               


Civil War Christmas

Every   Saturday  during  the  month  of  December,  Pamplin
Historical Park & The  National  Museum  of  the  Civil  War
Soldier will host special events celebrating various aspects
of Christmas during the Civil War.  "Christmas in Camp" will
be  held  on December 1.  This will be a presentation of the
holiday season as the Civil  War  soldiers  experienced  it.
Interactive  programs  are  designed to entertain as well as
educate.  "Christmas at Home" will be held  on  December  8.
The  day will focus on homefront holiday traditions of Civil
War Virginia.  Tudor Hall plantation will serve as the venue
for   a  memorable  day  of  historical  interpretation  and
programming.                                                

For more information, call Pamplin Historical Park at  (804)
861-2408    or    visit    the    park's    Web   site   at:
http://www.pamplinpark.org


Civil War Encounters

Join the Museum of the  Confederacy  for  a  living  history
encounter  at  the  Museum  as  costumed  historians portray
eyewitnesses to significant Civil War  events  one  Saturday
each  month.   The  program  for  this  month  will occur on
November 17 at 2:00 p.  m.  In "Prison  on  Belle  Isle,"  a
Confederate   guard,  member  of  the  local  defense  unit,
discusses the prison's harsh conditions in November of 1863.
The program is free with museum admission.                  


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