Richard Forrester, President           Rob Monroe, Editor       
8008 Spottswood Road                   2416 Edenbrook Dr.       
Richmond, VA 23229                     Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
dforrester@verizon.net                 RMonroe500@comcast.net   
November 2005 PROGRAM

Jeff Johnston
"Recovery and Restoration of the Monitor"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 8, 2005,
24th floor of the SunTrust Building
919 E. Main St., Downtown Richmond

6:00 Social
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Featured Program

You may park for free by using the Cary Street entrance into
SunTrust's  parking  garage below the building.  Come to the
lobby and take the elevator to the 24th floor.
There will be a cash bar.

Jeff Johnston is a Program Specialist and Historian with the
National  Oceanic  and  Atmospheric  Administration  (NOAA).
Since 1995 he has been a part of the Monitor National Marine
Sanctuary,   working   for   NOAA   in  their  recovery  and
restoration of the famous Union ironclad.  He  has  provided
topside support for recordkeeping, as well as historical and
other information on the wreck site and the vessel's  design
and   construction.    Johnston  has  more  than  20  years'
experience in the field  of  maritime  history.   He  is  an
expert  on  the  navies  of  the American Civil War, and has
taught people of all ages about such subjects as  the  lives
of   sailors   in  the  18th  and  19th  centuries  and  the
experimental weapons  used  by  the  Union  and  Confederate
navies.   He  has also designed educational and interpretive
programs for museums and state and national parks.          



If you have not signed up to attend this year's  dinner,  it
may not be too late.  Please contact Shep Parsons as soon as
possible at 288-6816.                                       


Summary of October Meeting

A frequent guest of the  Richmond  Civil  War  Round  Table,
Gordon  Rhea  returned  to  the Capital City to speak at the
RCWRT's October meeting.  As entertaining and informative as
ever,  Rhea compared and contrasted Phil Sheridan and J.E.B.
Stuart and highlighted the events before, during  and  after
the Battle of Yellow Tavern.                                

In the spring of 1864 serious questions surrounded the Union
cavalry.  Phil Sheridan seemed an odd choice for  commander.
Many  in  the  Union army confused him with Sherman.  As the
Overland Campaign began,  Sheridan  knew  virtually  nothing
about  his  subordinates.   He had little cavalry experience
but had impressed U.S.  Grant with his success at Missionary
Ridge.                                                      

"A  more  bizarre  figure  is  hard to imagine," Rhea noted.
Sheridan stood a mere 5'2"  and  weighed  only  115  pounds.
Lincoln  commented  that Sheridan didn't have neck enough to
strangle and the Union cavalryman could scratch  his  ankles
without bending over.  The son of Irish immigrants, Sheridan
always insisted he had been born  in  New  York.   There  is
speculation  that  this claim was false but made by Sheridan
so that he might one day run for president.  Rhea joked that
Sheridan  had  as  much chance of being elected president as
Arnold Schwarzennegger.                                     

By contrast, Stuart was a "very known quality" by the spring
of 1864.  A snappy dresser, 5'11" and 175 pounds, Stuart was
quite the opposite of Sheridan.  He was widely known as  the
eyes  and ears of the Confederacy and possessed the "spirit"
of  a  Southerner.   As  the   two   armies   moved   toward
Spotsylvania Court House, the skilled fighting of Stuart and
Fitz Lee enabled the  Confederate  cavalry  to  control  the
roads.   Stuart's  men  threw  up  barricades, fought behind
them, and then abandoned them.                              

Never a man to do things on a small scale, Sheridan took his
entire cavalry and moved south toward Richmond on May 9.  He
successfully cut the Confederate supply  line  at  Beaverdam
Station  in  Hanover County, and liberated a large number of
Union POWs in the process.  Stuart left  4,000  of  his  men
with  Robert E.  Lee, and with his remaining 4,000, rode off
to Yellow Tavern to meet Sheridan's  12,000.   Stuart  split
his  force  yet again, sending half of his men to harass the
rear of the Union cavalry.  It was Stuart's personality that
led him to try such audacious tactics, Rhea surmised.       

Stuart  positioned  himself on a ridge above Telegraph Road.
To lead the Union attack, Sheridan selected  George  Custer.
In  the  ensuing  battle,  Stuart  was  shot in the abdomen.
Despite the  efforts  of  Fitz  Lee,  the  Confederate  line
crumbled.   The  mortally  wounded  Stuart  was brought to a
friend's home on Grace Street in  Richmond.   In  his  final
hours,  Stuart's  wife  arrived  and Jefferson Davis came to
visit.  Stuart asked for "Rock of Ages" to be played and  he
died soon afterward.                                        

The  Union  cavalry  continued to move toward Richmond until
the advance stalled near Meadow Bridge.   They  were  nearly
trapped until Custer fought his way out.  Robert E.  Lee did
not name a successor to Stuart until much  later  when  Wade
Hampton  was  selected.   Answering the inevitable "what if"
question, Rhea  asserted  that  Stuart  would  have  been  a
credible  infantry  commander  had  he  succeeded  Stonewall
Jackson.                                                    

Museum of the Confederacy Makes Appeal to Supporters

In a recent letter  to  supporters  of  the  Museum  of  the
Confederacy  (MOC),  Executive  Director S.  Waite Rawls III
expresses grave concerns about the institution's future.  In
the  letter,  dated  October  12,  Rawls  writes,  "It is no
exaggeration to say that the museum has  not  faced  steeper
financial  challenges  since its founding, nor has it needed
your mass rallying-cry to be stronger." Rather  than  asking
for  money,  the  MOC is imploring its supporters to contact
Virginia state legislators in order  to  encourage  them  to
provide financial support for the museum.                   

In  recent  years, the expansion of the neighboring Virginia
Commonwealth University hospital has put the museum  in  the
center of a vast construction zone.  The museum has remained
open during this time but its accessibility has been greatly
limited.   Attendance  at  the  museum  has declined sharply
since VCU's expansion began.  On a daily  basis,  MOC  staff
members  find  themselves  apologizing to visitors who voice
their frustrations about the difficulties  they  encountered
getting  to  the  museum.   Continued  VCU  expansion in the
coming   years   threatens   further   impede   the    MOC's
accessibility  and  cause the museum's visitation numbers to
continue to dwindle.                                        

Earlier this year,  the  Virginia  General  Assembly  passed
legislation  to  study  the museum's situation and location.
That subcommittee has held three of its four  meetings  with
the  final  meeting  scheduled for Monday, November 21.  The
subcommittee  will   then   pass   a   resolution   with   a
recommendation  for  the  MOC's  Board  of  Trustees.  "This
recommendation will have a  profound  impact  on  any  state
legislation,"  writes  Rawls.   "It  is imperative that this
recommendation be a unanimous acknowledgement of the current
difficulties,  the state's culpability in the matter, and an
agreement that the state help save  the  museum  financially
during its 2006 General Assembly session.                   

"If  you  want  the  Museum  of the Confederacy to survive,"
Rawls  continues,  "please  contact  General  Assembly   MOC
subcommittee  members  before  Nov.  21.  Do not think for a
minute  that  I  am  overstating  the  seriousness  of   our
situation."                                                 

Rawls  believes the previous subcommittee hearings have been
productive, "with the result that  the  state  now  realizes
what a dire situation the museum is in, due in large part to
the state's ignoring the effect of the continuing expansion"
of  the  VCU  hospital.   "The  legislators also realize the
seriously detrimental impact of doing  nothing.   I  believe
the  state subcommittee legislators are prepared to help the
museum in some way, but  have  gotten  conflicting  messages
from  some  in  the  general public, whose only issue is the
potential relocation of the White House.                    

"Whether you support or do not  support  the  museum  moving
from  its current location, the main message the legislators
must hear from museum supporters is that  it  is  imperative
that the state support and save this public treasure."      

The  names,  phone  numbers  and  addresses  of  the General
Assembly MOC subcommittee members can be found on the Museum
of         the        Confederacy's        website        at
www.moc.org/images/Scan0403.pdf or by calling the museum  at
(804) 649-1861.                                             

RCWRT Members Invited on Tour of Seven Days Battles

The Civil War Round Table of the District  of  Columbia  has
graciously  invited  RCWRT members on a day-long tour of the
Seven Days Battlefields.  Titled "Lee Takes  Command,"  this
bus  tour  will  be  held  on  Saturday,  November 12.  Marc
Thompson of the Rappahannock Valley Civil  War  Round  Table
will  be the tour guide.  He is a retired Air Force colonel,
a past president of the Omaha CWRT, and for  the  last  nine
years  has  worked  as  a volunteer tour guide and historian
with the  National  Park  Service  at  the  Chancellorsville
battlefield.                                                

Cost  of  the  tour  is  $60 per person and participants are
urged to bring a bag lunch.  Beverages will be  provided  on
the bus.  The 12-stop tour will leave from Northern Virginia
at 7am but the CWRT of DC has offered to meet  any  Richmond
area  participants at a predetermined location.  To register
for the tour, please contact John Restall at (703)  578-1942
or  by  email,  restall@joimail.com.   You'll  need  to  act
quickly.  The CWRT of DC asks that you  please  contact  Mr.
Restall no later than November 5.                           

Once again, the Richmond Civil War Round Table is  proud  to
offer  Outer  Banks  brand  golf  shirts with an embroidered
RCWRT logo.  More details on these  handsome  shirts  coming
soon.                                                       

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2005

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