President’s message: Living History Weekend, East Tennessee History Fair

Our August 8 monthly meeting was well-attended by 63 diners (55 members and 8 guests), and 36 members plus 3 non-members came for the lecture. So 102 persons listened and learned as Greg Biggs discoursed on the impressive logistics of Sherman’s Atlanta and To-The-Sea campaigns.

Did you know that each horse required at least 20 pounds of fodder per day, and there were several thousand horses in the army? Or that a Union soldier could march only about 50 miles before his shoes wore out? Or that Union trains traveled in a loop from Nashville to Chattanooga to Bridgeport to Nashville so that no use of sidings was required?

On September 12 Dave Mowery will discuss John Hunt Morgan’s raid across the Ohio River. Morgan had lots of men and animals—and no railroad or secure logistical tail. Come and hear how these obstacles were addressed.

Although most of our members elect to receive the monthly newsletter electronically, hard copies are still mailed to museums, libraries, and a few members. Our Secretary Steve Dean has found a company that will do this for us, and at less cost than we have been paying.

***************************

REMEMBER!!

Dinner now begins at 6:30 pm, business at 7:15 pm, and program at 7:30 pm.

Renew your membership! If you have already done so, thank you

John Hunt Morgan’s Great Raid of 1863 at the next KCWRT meeting

Tags

David Mowrey, John Hunt Morgan, Morgan's Great Raid

From July 2-26, 1863, while the great battles at Gettysburg and Vicksburg captured the attention of the American people, Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan led nearly 2,500 cavalrymen on a daring raid into the North. Morgan’s objective

Morgan’s objective was to distract the Union forces under Major General William Rosecrans and Major General Ambrose Burnside from building up enough momentum to wrestle the mostly pro-Union East Tennessee region from its Confederate occupants and push General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee beyond its supply base at Chattanooga. Morgan’s incursion

Morgan’s incursion into Indiana and Ohio would produce the effect he desired, but it would end with disastrous results for his famous division. Come join us as

Come join us at the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable’s monthly meeting on Sept. 12 as David Mowery discusses Morgan’s Great Raid as it passed through three Union states and circumvented Cincinnati, which at the time was the seventh largest city in the United States and which served as the headquarters for Burnside’s department.

Morgan’s special forces operation represented the pinnacle of Morgan’s strategic and tactical skills and the best of his division’s raiding capabilities. No other American mounted infantry division would ever achieve what Morgan’s raiders accomplished on the Great Raid of 1863.

David Mowery has been studying the Civil War for over 35 years during which time he has researched, visited, and site-documented over 500 Civil War battlefields across the United States.

New schedule for meetings: Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., program at 7:15

With the September meeting, the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable begins a new schedule, with all meeting events a half hour earlier than with the previous schedule.

Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The business meeting and program will begin at 7:15 p.m., and the speaker will generally begin at 7:30.

Meetings should adjourn at about 8:45 p.m.

Make a note of this schedule change, and don’t be late for the September meeting.

Living History weekend at Ft. Dickerson set for Oct. 29-30

Tags

Civil War in East Tennessee, Fort Dickerson, Knoxville Civil War Rountable

Fort Dickerson, the Civil War earthwork atop a hill on Knoxville’s southern riverfront will once again be populated with soldiers in blue and gray as the Knoxville Civil War
Roundtable and the City of Knoxville present a Living History weekend on October 29
and 30, 2017.

Local re-enacting units, historians, and authors alike will commemorate the Siege of Knoxville that took place in November of 1863.

The free event is sponsored by the City of Knoxville’s Parks and Recreation Department and hosted by the Civil War Roundtable. Fort Dickerson Park is located just off Chapman Highway in South Knoxville at 3000 Fort Dickerson Road.

The Living History Weekend will run from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 29, and from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., Sunday, October 30. Activities will include living
history campsites, infantry drilling with rifle firing demonstrations, a Civil War medical
and surgical exhibit, ladies fashions, battle reenactments, cannon firings, and a salute to all veterans.

Visitors are invited to park for free at Disc Exchange across from Shoneys, where they can ride a free shuttle to Fort Dickerson.

Fort Dickerson was one of sixteen earthen forts and battery positions surrounding
Knoxville that were built by the United States Army during the Civil War. It was one of
three constructed upon the heights across the Holston (now Tennessee) River from
Knoxville, the other two being Fort Stanley and Fort Higley.

The middle fort was named for Captain Jonathan C. Dickerson, 112th Illinois Mounted
Infantry, who was killed in action near Cleveland Tennessee.

For more information on this event as well as Civil War History in Knoxville, contact Event Coordinator Tom Wright at 865-482- 1680 thomaswright8@comcast.net or Re-enactor Coordinator Perry Hill at 865-283- 1691 or cpthill63rdtn@yahoo.com.

Tentative schedule of activities:

Saturday, October 29, 2017
10:00 am – Camps open to public
11:00 am – Ladies Fashions
11:30 am – Mustering in/Infantry Drill
12:00 pm -Civil War Arms
12:30 PM – MEDICAL DEMONSTRATION
1:00 PM – FIFE AND DRUM
1:30 PM – HISTORY OF FORT DICKERSON
2:00 PM – BATTLE OF FORT DICKERSON
3:00 PM – PASS IN REVIEW
3:30 PM – MEDICAL DEMO
4:30 PM – CAMPS CLOSE TO PUBLIC

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2017
11:00 AM – CAMPS OPEN TO PUBLIC
12:00 PM -CIVIL WAR ARMS
12:30 PM – INFANTRY DRILL/FIFE AND DRUM
1:00 PM – CIVIL WAR MEDICAL DEMONSTRATION
1:30 PM – HISTORY SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE
2:00 PM – CIVIL WAR SKIRMISH
3:00 PM – PASS IN REVIEW
4:00 PM – CAMPS CLOSE TO PUBLIC

Jim Lyle tours Ft. Dickerson in these three videos

Tags

Fort Dickerson, Jim Lyle

KCWRT’s Jim Lyle conducts a short tour of Ft. Dickerson in Knoxville.

Thanks to Val Lyle for these videos.

KCWRT welcomes Greg Biggs as August speaker

Tags

Greg Biggs

Greg Biggs has studied military history from the Spartans to modern wars for over 50 years with concentrations on the Napoleonic Era, the Civil War and World War II.

Greg Biggs

An expert on the military flags of the 18th and 19th centuries, Greg has consulted with museums, collectors and auction houses on Civil War flags and has written several articles on the topic in SCV publications, North-South Trader and Civil War News, Battle of Franklin Trust Magazine and others.

Greg is also a text editor and author for the scholarly Flags of the Confederacy web site (www.confederate-flags.org).  He has done research for several Civil War authors and has written articles for Civil War Regiments journal, Blue & Gray Magazine, Civil War News, Citizens Companion, Hallowed Ground and some online publications.

August at KCWRT: “The Question of Supplies” – The logisitics of Sherman’s Atlanta campaign

Tags

Atlanta campaign, William Tecumseh Sherman

Join us as historian Greg Biggs examines the nuts and bolts of Sherman’s logistics including the errors that were made in the process. 

(Meeting details on the left side of this page.)

No army in history moved without a secure line of supplies especially if it moved into enemy territory.

If an army got cut off from its supplies calamity usually followed, often ending in defeat and/or destruction.

When William T. Sherman set his sights on Atlanta he prepared for the supplying of his army in a manner that surpassed every other Civil War general.  Rebuilding railroads and confiscating locomotives and cars to haul supplies, Sherman set daily goals for shipments to his forward base in Chattanooga.

Ruthless in making sure that only supplies got on the cars, Sherman also had to worry about protecting the line of rails that ran back to Louisville, Kentucky from Confederate raiders.

Memorial Day photographs from Dennis Urban

KCWRT announces preservation grant award

The Knoxville Civil War Roundtable (KCWRT) awarded the first annual Dot Kelly Preservation Grant to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Chapter 89 (UDC 89). The $500 grant was presented May 2 at the annual meeting and awards of the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) held at the Foundry. The grant was to repair the pool and fountain at the Bleak House, Confederate Memorial Hall in Knoxville. The over 100-year-old concrete fountain was in disrepair due to leaks and cracks in the base.

In December 2015, the KCWRT created the grant to honor past president and long-time board member Dot Kelly for her many years of service to the KCWRT and her tireless efforts towards the preservation of Knoxville’s Civil War history and historic sites. This annual grant, in an amount not to exceed $500, is given to a group, individual, or organization for a Knoxville area Civil War preservation project. Beginning in 2017 and in future years, the annual grant information and application is included with the ETHS Awards of Excellence announced each February.

Accepting the grant check from KCWRT past president Dennis Urban and Dot Kelly was Karen Blevins, 3^rd vice president of UDC 89. Also present was John Stegner, president of the KCWRT and Carlene Johnson, president of UDC 89.

Bleak House is a Victorian mansion built in 1858 by prominent Knoxvillian, Robert H. Armstrong. Slave labor was used to mold the bricks for the house on site. During the siege of Knoxville and the Battle of Fort Sanders in November and December 1863, the home served as headquarters for Confederate Generals James Longstreet and Lafayette McLaws. Three soldiers using the house’s tower as a sharpshooters post were killed there by Federal cannon fire. A comrade sketched their likenesses on the wall of the tower. Two cannonballs are still embedded in the walls. Artillery was also set up on the lawn to fire on the Federals. Tours of the house and grounds are offered. Refer to the UDC 89 website: http://www.bleakhouseudc89.org/

Bud Robertson to speak to KCWRT on ‘four-legged soldiers’ in May

Tags

horses, James I. "Bud" Robertson

Come join us for an unforgettable evening (Tuesday, May 9) with the redoubtable Civil War historian and luminary, Dr. James I. (Bud) Robertson, as he addresses…    

      ~The Four-Legged Soldiers in the Civil War~

It is easy when studying Civil War history to forget that an army existed, and functioned, solely because of horses and mules.  They were not merely the property and province of officers and cavalrymen. Every wagon, every ambulance, every artillery piece was immobile and, for all intents and purposes, useless in the absence of horsepower. While the human cost of the war was horrendous, far more of the silent servants died than did humans.  Yet one scarcely gives their sacrifices a passing thought.

What they did–and gave–will be the first half of Bud Robertson’s talk.  He will then “switch horses” and focus on regimental mascots, who were so invaluable in boosting troop morale, providing companionship, and promoting love to soldiers on both sides in the chilling atmosphere of war.

James I. “Bud” Robertson

James I. Robertson Jr., one of the country’s most distinguished Civil War historians, is the author or editor of more than 25 books including biographies of Gens. Robert E. Lee and A. P. Hill, several works on the common soldiers, and three studies written for young readers. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the basis for the characterization of Jackson in the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”, a film for which Dr. Robertson served as chief historical consultant. For the sesquicentennial, The National Geographic Society published in 2011 his book The Untold Civil War based on stories and vignettes from his popular and long-running weekly series on National Public Radio. His latest book, After the Civil War: The Heroes, Villains, Soldiers, and Civilians Who Changed America was published in October of 2015.

Dr. Robertson served as Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission in the 1960s and worked with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in commemorating the war’s 100th anniversary.  He then taught 44 years at Virginia Tech, where his upper division course on the Civil War era attracted 300 or more students per semester and made it the largest class of its kind in the nation.  At his retirement in 2011, the University named him Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History.

The Danville, Virginia native holds a Ph.D. degree from Emory University and honorary doctorates from Randolph-Macon College and Shenandoah University. A man of many talents, he is the lyricist of the Old Dominion’s newly adopted traditional state song, “Our Great Virginia” which the governor recently signed into law.

The recipient of every major award given in Civil War history, and a lecturer of national acclaim, Dr. Robertson is probably more in demand as a speaker than anyone else in the field of Civil War studies.