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October 2006 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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October 2006 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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CANISTER From The Chattanooga Civil War Round Table |
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| VOLUME XXIII | October 17, 2006 | NO. 10 |
www.chattanoogacwrt.org |
Visitors & Guests Welcome
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| DATE: | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2006 | TIME: 7:00 PM |
| TOPIC: |
"Sharpshooters in the Valley of the River of Death: A Georgia Sharpshooter Battalion at Chickamauga"
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| SPEAKER: | RUSSELL K. BROWN, HISTORIAN & AUTHOR |
| PLACE: |
MILLIS-EVANS ROOM, CALDWELL HALL, ACADEMIC QUADRANGLE, THE MCCALLIE SCHOOL, HISTORIC MISSIONARY RIDGE |
| (Directions to Caldwell Hall-Enter the McCallie School campus off of Dodds Avenue opposite the end of Bailey Avenue. Take the main drive into the campus and follow the signs for the Academic Quadrangle. There is a parking area there beside the Chapel and you will have passed Caldwell Hall on the right as you approach the parking area. Find a place and park. Caldwell Hall will be behind you as you park. Come in either the first or second floor doors and follow the signs to the Millis-Evans Room.) |
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| OCTOBER MEETING |
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The term “sharpshooters” today generally evokes the connotation of sniper or
individual rifleman. So to many who see “such and such” Battalion of Sharpshooters
on the table of organization of the Army of Tennessee or on some of the monuments
and tablets on the Chickamauga Battlefield, it can raise the question, “Boy, they
certainly had a lot of snipers didn’t they?” But the sharpshooter organizations in
Bragg’s army, and to a lesser extent Lee’s, weren’t truly snipers. They were
sharpshooters in the sense that they were expected to be better marksmen than your
average soldier and they were more specifically expected to pick out and shoot at
specific targets, but, what they really were were full time skirmishers, units
specifically trained to be really good at being skirmishers. They were to know
thoroughly and to use aggressively, the tactics to feel for the enemy believed
to be immediately in front of a Confederate main infantry line of battle and to
keep that enemy force at bay as long as possible and the Confederate main line
unengaged as long as possible. It was a concept that grew out of tactical
developments in Europe in the 1840s and 1850s and from the widespread adoption
of rifled weapons in the 1850s. The Army of the Confederate States of America
would attempt to make extensive use of these organizations. One such was the
1st Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters. Organized of men from across the Empire
State of the South, Savannah could be considered its adopted home. After being
organized in 1862 and seeing some action in Mississippi in the summer of ’63,
the 1st Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters would come to the Army of Tennessee and
serve with it the rest of the war. The 1st Battalion’s story is the subject of
our speaker’s book, “Our Connection With Savannah:” History of the First Battalion
Georgia Sharpshooters, 1862-1865 (Mercer University Press, 2004), and the Battalion’s
role at Chickamauga is the subject of his talk this evening. Russell K. Brown is the author of several Civil War volumes including, To The Manner Born: The Life of William H. T. Walker, Augusta’s “Pet Company:” The Washington Light Artillery of Augusta, Georgia, and “Our Connection With Savannah:” History of the First Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, 1862-1865. He has previously spoken to the Round Table on “Shot Pouch” Walker and another Augusta man, John K. Jackson. Retired, Russell lives in the Augusta, Georgia, area. |
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SPEAKER'S FUND SUPPORT OF THE MONTH There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first is a copy of our speaker's most recent book, “Our Connection With Savannah:” History of the First Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, 1862-1865. The second item is a copy of the Jefferson Davis biography by William E. Dodd which has been reprinted with a new introduction by Steven E. Woodworth. The third item is a copy of a compilation volume of three great Civil War novels, The Killer Angels, Andersonville, and The Red Badge of Courage. The forth item is six issues of Civil War Times Illustrated for 1999 with articles on such subjects as N. B. Forrest’s first fights in Kentucky in late 1861, Perryville, women in the war, and the Battle of the Wilderness. The last three items this month were donated to the Round Table to support the Speaker’s Fund. To those donors go our thanks. Proceeds from the Speaker’s Fund go toward bringing speakers in from outside the area. Your support of the Speaker’s Fund is appreciated.
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DUES It's that time of the year again....dues time. Please pay your dues over the next couple of months.
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SEPTEMBER'S MEETING Numbers-wise, at least, our meeting last month was a great success. Harvey got a firm count of 107 people but there might have been a few more. I gave up trying to identify separately Round Table members from others, but I think A LOT of Round Table folks were out. Thanks also go to the members of N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3, Sons of Confederate Veterans, for helping get the word out and coming out. For those who did attend, I hope something was offered that allowed a little more insight into an aspect of the Battle of Chickamauga. The weather was great and while the size of the crowd (the line of cars leaving the Visitor Center must have made us look like a funeral procession) kept us in the woods and on the trail further into darkness than I had hoped, I think it was a great way to recognize the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga. And, from what I’ve heard from folks, they wouldn’t mind doing it again in the future. And, by chance, in 2007, the third Tuesday of September is the 18th so we will plan to do it again next year, and we’ll talk about the fight between John Wilder and William H. T. Walker at Alexenader’s Bridge on September 18, 1863. We’ll mostly have paved road to walk on.
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CANISTER IN ELECTRONS Last month, September, was the fourth month in the experiment of distributing the Canister by email. As far as I can tell, all of the now more than twenty folks who have signed up for the “E-Canister” got the September issue both electronically and in paper through the mail. The only glitch was with the attempt to include a portion of Cleburne’s report in the email version. The image of that page didn’t email but it did appear in my “electronic master” and I had even printed the image so when I want to do that again, I’ll have to try another tact. We’ll get there. More accurately, I’ll learn.
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A CHANCE TO VISIT WILLIAMS' ISLAND It may not be as important as Orchard Knob or Snodgrass Hill or Wauhatchie, but Williams’ Island is a part of the Chattanooga Civil War story and it is a feature of the campaign landscape that can’t easily be visited, usually. But, on Saturday, October 21, 2006, between 11 AM and 5 PM, there will be a chance. The Tennessee River Gorge Trust, which manages the island for the State of Tennessee, will be holding “Gorge Fest ‘06” as part of their celebration of twenty-five years of protecting the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee. “Gorge Fest” will occur at the Baylor School and costs $5.00 per person. One of the activities is a boat ride over to Williams’ Island and a tour of the island on foot or hayride style. They’ve got several people lined up to tell about the island’s history along the way including Archeologist Lawrence Alexander and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden. Transportation to the island is via a small fleet of john boats, including a 22-footer (personal floatation devices provided). Civil War connections to the island include the recapture of James Andrews of Andrews’ Raid fame when he escaped from the Chattanooga jail and a role in struggle at the mouth of the gorge over a supply route into Chattanooga during the Siege of Chattanooga—the Federals wanting to use the Suck Creek Road and Haley’s Trace and the Confederates wanting to deny them that use. The Confederates had some initial success but the Federals had the ultimate success. The view into the gorge from the island can be fantastic. It should be a great opportunity. For more information, contact the Tennessee River Gorge Trust at www.trgt.org or julieb@trgt.org or 423-266-0314.
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CHATTANOOGA CONFEDERATE CEMETERY Military Order of the Stars & Bars members Anthony Hodges and Peter Snyder will present a program on and in the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery next to Citizens’ Cemetery and between Third and Fifth Streets (next to UTC) on October 24, 2006 at 6:30 PM for the N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the general public. The Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery is the resting place of hundreds of Confederate soldiers who died in Chattanooga during the war while being cared for in hospitals and of Confederate veterans who died in Chattanooga after the war. The cemetery has an interesting history, including being relocated, and is a valuable tool in relating part of War Between the States story. N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3 has been responsible over the years for helping to ensure that the cemetery is maintained and they are embarking on another campaign now to address needs of the entrance arch and the wall. Come out and hear this interesting program and learn of the continuing preservation efforts. You should be able to find free, on-street parking on Fifth Street (UTC parking permit needed to use a UTC lot) and enter through one of the gates on Fifth Street.
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FUTURE ROUND TABLE MEETINGS
November 21, 2006 - Sam Davis Elliott, "The Southern End of the Battle of Missionary Ridge"
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UP-COMING LOCAL CIVIL WAR EVENTS OF NOTE
October 20-21, 2006--The Lincoln Symposium "Now He Belongs to the Ages": Lincoln's America,
Abraham Lincoln Library and museum, Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, Harrogate,
Tennessee; speakers include Dr. Paul Bergeron, author of Antebellum Politics in Tennessee, Rhode Island
Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, co-author of Judging Lincoln, Dr. Jason Phillips, author of
Religious Belief and Troop Motivation; for more information, call 423-869-6439 or email
carol.campbell@imunet.edu; it's real likely that there will
be good fall color that weekend up there in the mountains around Cumberland Gap and you can visit that
historic spot as well so this seminar might make a good weekend's outing. |
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The Civil War, and Free Expression Sponsored by the West Chair of Excellence, the UTC Communication and History departments, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and WRCB-TV Channel 3. All paper sessions are free and open to the public. |
| 7:00-10:00 p.m. |
Opening Remarks: “Memories and Myths” David B. Sachsman, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga “Dual Perspectives: The Letters of A.R. Dyson” Regina M. Faden, Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, Hannibal, MO “Philomen’s Father: The Civil War Friendship of Diarist Clara Solomon and Correspondent Durant Da Ponte” Nancy McKenzie Dupont, University of Mississippi “We Miss the Good We Sought: Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Civil War” Steve Cox, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga “’The Notes and Memories of Thousands’: The Second Civil War and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain” Crompton Burton, Marietta College “‘Confounding the Wise, if not the Devil Himself’: The Civil War Humor of R.R. Gilbert of the Houston Telegraph” Mary Lamonica, New Mexico State University Panel: ”Children’s Civil War Fiction: Unexplored Territory” Verbie Prevost and Fran Bender, U. of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
Luncheon and Dinner in the Chickamauga Room (2nd Floor) |
| 9:00-10:50 a.m. |
“The Mystery Men Who Took the Pictures: Civil War Photojournalists Associated with Mathew Brady’s Gallery from 1861-1865” Elizabeth Paul, Georgia State University “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July: A Historical Communication Analysis” Megan O’Byrne, Bowling Green State University “Father Abraham & Mammy Lincoln; Aunty Abe & Uncle Abe: Gender Embodied in Civil War Cartoons of Abraham Lincoln” Andrea Foroughi, Union College “’Freely and Fearlessly’: The 1863 New York Editors’ Resolutions” David W. Bulla, Iowa State University |
| 10:50-11:00 a.m. | Refreshments |
| 11:00-11:55 a.m. |
“Southern Shadows, Southern Sunsets: Framing American Public Issues, 1855-1885, A New York Times Case Study” Donald L. Shaw and Thomas Terry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Editors in Uniform: The Historiography of Civil War Soldier Newspapers” Wallace B. Eberhard, University of Georgia |
| 12:00-1:30 p.m. |
Luncheon in the Chickamauga Room, University Center “’The Night of Our Knowledge’: Sidney Lanier and the Struggle for Faith” Roy Morris Jr., Military Heritage Magazine |
| 1:30-3:40 p.m. |
“Ex Parte McCardle and the First Amendment During Reconstruction” Wendy E. Swanberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Doctors, Sex, and Obscenity: Moving Stories from a ‘Forgotten’ Health Monthly, 1876-1896” Janice Wood, Texas Christian U. “Changes in News Conventions during the Gilded Age: The Relationship between Cultural Values and News Definition in Press Coverage of Yellowstone, 1863-1872” Nickieann Fleener, University of Utah “Henry Berry Lowry and the Scuffletown Outlaws: Mythological Archetypes in Newspaper Portrayals from 1870 to 1922” Catharin Shepard, University of Georgia “John Dougherty: A Case Study of a Public Figure in 19th Century Southern Illinois” Robert L. Spellman, Southern Illinois U. |
| 3:40-3:50 p.m. | Refreshments |
| 3:50-6:00 p.m. |
Panel: “Constructing Race and Gender in the 19th Century Press” “Jane G. Swisshelm: 19th Century Symbol of Liberal Bigotry?” Maurine Beasley, University of Maryland, College Park “The Pen Could be the Sword” Ann M. Colbert, Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne “Defining Civilization: The First Six Months of Harper’s Weekly” William E. Huntzicker, St. Cloud State University “A True American: David Naar and His New Jersey Newspaper” Barbara Straus Reed, Rutgers University “John Jolliffe’s Defense of Escaped Slave Margaret Garner: Gender, Race, Slavery, and Murder in the 19th Century Press” Lee Jolliffe, Drake University |
| 6:00-8:00 p.m. | “Texas’ Civil War Correspondents: Forgotten Reporters from the Frontier” Mary Lamonica, New Mexico State University “George W. Bagby and the Unintended Consequences of Reporting on the Politics of War” Debra van Tuyll, Augusta State U. “Henry Timrod: The Failed War Correspondent Who became the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy” Pat McNeely, South Carolina |
| 9:00 a.m.-12:00 |
“Old News in the Digital Age” Michelle Harper, Readex Project “Fiction Still Fights the Civil War: ‘It Ain’t Over Though It’s Over’” Thomas Ware, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga “The Bermuda Connection: The Royal Gazette on the American Civil War” Barbara Straus Reed, Rutgers University “19th Century Newspaper Coverage of Crime Victims During the Penny Press and Yellow Journalism Periods” Jack Breslin, Iona Panel: “Researching the 19th Century from the New Millenia: A Focus on Primary Sources” “In Pursuit of Elusive Memories: Oral History and the Civil War” Charles W. Crawford, University of Memphis “A Prism on the Past: Tennessee’s Civil War Veterans Questionnaires” Doug Cupples, University of Memphis “Preservation and History: The Letters of Dr. William J. Armstrong, 1863-1878” Richard Nollan, University of Memphis “Bad News Travels Fast: The New Madrid Earthquake Account of John Clark Edwards” Kent Moran, University of Memphis “The Long Arm of Lincoln: Suppression of the Northern Democratic Press” Timm Jobes, University of Memphis |
| 12:00-6:00 p.m. | Discussion continues while the group visits Chattanooga’s historic Civil War Sites (includes lunch and dinner) |
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www.chattanoogacwrt.org |
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President -- Jim Ogden Vice President -- Ansley Moses |
Treasurer -- Harvey Scarborough Secretary -- Neil Greenwood |
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If you or a friend would like to join the Chattanooga Civil War Round Table, send
your check for dues, made out to Chattanooga Civil War Round Table, to Chattanooga
Civil War round Table, c/o Jim Ogden, 4 Gala Drive, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia 30742.
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Regular Membership $20.00 Senior Citizen (62+) $15.00 |
Family Membership $30.00 Student $15.00 |
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The Round Table dues year is October 1 to September 30. Membership fee for new
members joining after October is pro-rated, being reduced by $1.50 per month for
regular membership, by $2.50 per month for family membership, and $1.00 per month
for Senior Citizens and Students. Members up-dating their dues or rejoining are
expected to pay the full rate. [Note from the webmaster: a chart with the appropriate dues can be found at: Membership Dues. An application can be found at: application] |
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