Few thought in 1861 that it would be a long war; even fewer thought that the creation of any size of military force would produce any medical issues of any consequence or scale. Providing for the sick and injured was almost an after thought. But, hardly days into the concentration of hardly more men than necessary to form a company, let alone the concentrations for regiments and brigades and the first armies, dozens, scores, hundreds of men turned up sick. Caring for them all of a sudden became a crisis. Impromptu hospitals sprang up in camps and towns and cities. But the process was chaotic. For what became the Confederate Army of Tennessee, it was not until the start of the second year of the war that some system began to be applied to the care of the sick and injured. The man principally given that task was Dr. Samuel H. Stout of Pulaski, Tennessee. In the major towns along the railroads behind the army, Stout formalized the hospitals already located there and established others. Chattanooga, we know, was a major hospital center, so did Ringgold, and so did Tunnel Hill. Located on the Western & Atlantic Railroad and at a bottle-neck, the location of the tunnel for the railroad through a major ridge line, Tunnel Hill became home to a large General Hospital within Dr. Stout’s system. Our speaker this evening, Mr. Marvin Sowder, will talk about the history of the hospital at Tunnel Hill that cared for sick of the Army of Tennessee in 1862 and 1863 and wounded from the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. He will also talk about the interesting story of the burials of the dead from that hospital.

Marvin Sowder is the principle historian of the Civil War in Dalton and Whitfield County. He has spent years puzzling out the locations of places referenced in wartime correspondence and reports and encouraging the preservation of the surviving earthworks around Dalton itself and such engagement areas as Dug Gap on Rocky Face. He has been a member and officer in the Dalton Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp and the Dalton Civil War Round Table.

There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first though is a copy of Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein’s Confederate Hospitals on the Move: Samuel H. Stout and the Army of Tennessee, the book to date on the hospital system that served the Army of Tennessee, one of whose hospitals was located at Tunnel Hill. The second item is a copy of Manhunt: The Twelve-day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson that was published in 2006. The third item is James Lee McDonough’s Shiloh: In Hell Before Night. The fourth item is two booklets on other April Civil War events; one is the old National Park Service Historical Handbook on Fort Sumter; the other is a brief history of the Andrews’ Raid or Great Locomotive Chase published by Randell W. McBryde of Chattanooga in 1904. Three of the four 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.

As reported last month, I hope to have John French, the Tennessee Temple Academy student who won the Round Table’s prize at the Chattanooga Regional History Museum’s David Gray History Fair, bring his exhibit on Kentucky’s Camp Nelson to a Round Table meeting for all to see. But, like most high school students today, John’s got a full schedule so he can’t make it this month, but he should be able to be at the May meeting. Since we’ll have our other May speaker as well, I’ll see if I can get John there and set up a bit early so if you get there a bit early too, you’ll have a chance to see his exhibit in the minutes before the meeting.

Did any one attend the re-enactment at Bridgeport or make it up to Murfreesboro for the Stones River seminar or go to the Sultana Disaster Descendant’s Reunion? If so, and you make it to the April meeting, make us a report if you will.

Thirty-six folks turned out for the Civil War Preservation Trust Park Work Day at the Chickamauga Battlefield on the cold Saturday morning of April 7. Some brush was chipped in an area where the privet is being removed and the underbrush thinned in the woods to make those woods look more like they did in 1863 and 300 yards of new fencing was put up at the Brotherton Farm where fence was located in 1863 to help improve visitor understanding of that important place on the field.

The second of five issues covering the campaign leading up to the Battle of Chickamauga and the battle itself of Blue & Gray Magazine is off the presses and should be appearing in mail boxes (for those who subscribe) and on selected newsstands as any day now. This second issue in the five part series picks up where the first left off, the Confederate abandonment of Chattanooga and it’s occupation by the Federals on September 9, 1863. Part two begins with coverage of the decision to dispatch Longstreet’s troops from Virginia and then resumes the coverage of the on the ground movements late on September 9. The bulk of the issue covers Bragg’s efforts to strike Rosecrans in McLemore’s Cove and ends with Bragg’s frustrated withdrawal on the night of the 11th. The publisher has sent me a few issues to sell directly for those who do not subscribe and I’ll have them at the meeting for anyone who is interested.

May 15, 2007 - Greg Biggs, historian and author, member of the Clarksville Civil War Round Table, previous speaker to our Round Table, on “Stanley Defeats Wheeler: The Union Cavalry at Shelbyville” June 19, 2007 - To be announced.
July 17, 2007 - IN THE FIELD --
August 13, 2007 - Dr. Glenn LaFantasie, Western Kentucky University, author of Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates (Oxford University Press, 2006), “William C. Oates in War and Peace.” NOTE THE SPECIAL DATE--THE MONDAY BEFORE THE SECOND TUESDAY; this rare change in date is being made to accommodate our speaker’s schedule and to share costs with the Knoxville Civil War Round Table
September 18, 2007 - "Wilder and Walker Fight for Alexander’s Bridge,” an evening walking tour on the Chickamauga Battlefield on the evening of the 144th anniversary of those events; more details later.
October 16, 2007 - Timothy B. Smith, Author, Historian, & Professor of History, University of Tennessee—Martin, “Via the Yazoo Pass?: Grant Strikes, Again, for Vicksburg”
November and December 2007 - To be announced.

NEW ENTRIES:
April 29, 2007 -- 143rd Confederate Memorial Day Service, Kingston Baptist Church and Kingston Confederate Cemetery, Kingston, Georgia, 2:30 PM; Kingston is rich in War Between the States History—an important point in the Andrews’ Raid, location of significant Confederate hospitals, part of the abortive Confederate effort at Cassville in May, 1864, site of one of the earliest Confederate memorial days; our February speaker on Cass (Bartow) County spoke of it and the preservation efforts; the little museum in Kingston will be open; it might make an interesting afternoon
May 4-5, 2007 -- Third Annual New Interpretations of the American Civil War Symposium, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, this year, “The Struggle Within: The Confederate Home Front,” with Dr. George Rable, University of Alabama, author of The Confederate Republic and Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, on “Blended History: New Approaches to Studying the Confederate Home Front;” Dr. Victoria Bynum, Texas State University, on “Guerrilla Wars: Plain Folk Resistance to the Confederacy;” Dr. Kenneth Noe, Auburn University, author of the book now on the Battle of Perryville, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, on “The Origins of Guerrilla War in West Virginia;” and Dr. LeeAnn Whites, University of Missouri, author of The Civil War as a Crisis in Gender: Augusta, Georgia, 1860-1890, on “Corresponding to the Enemy: The Home Front as a Relational Field of Battle;” for more information and registration information, see http://www.kennesaw.edu/history/ or email Dr. John Fowler, jfowler2@kennesaw.edu
May 19-20, 2007 -- Battle of Resaca Re-enactment, 25th annual, more information available at www.georgiadivision.org or from Battle of Resaca, P. O. Box 919, Resaca, Georgia 30735-0919 or csgrizly@bellsouth.net; some proceeds support the preservation efforts of the Friends of Resaca Battlefield, www.resacabattlefield.org
June 21-24, 2007 -- “Why Franklin Matters! Exploring the Preservation and Interpretation of Franklin’s Civil War Story,” a conference on the preservation of the Franklin Battlefield, tours, lectures, workshops, and presentations, for more information and registration, contact Franklin’s Charge at 615-595-0636 or info@franklinscharge.com or 604 West Main Street, Franklin, Tennessee 37064

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:
April 13-14, 2007--20th Annual Sultana Disaster Descendant’s Reunion, Athens, Alabama; activities include talks, displays, and visits to such Northwest Alabama places as Fort Henderson and Sulphur Branch Trestle where many of the men who eventually wound up on the Sultana were initially captured; lodging and some food on your own; bus tour and banquet and general registration only about $25.00, deadline March 31; for more information, contact Knoxville CWRT Program Chairman Norman Shaw, nshawatty@hotmail.com or shawclan4@bellsouth.net
May 28, 2007--Torchlight Tour of the Civil War Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga National Cemetery, Holtzclaw Avenue, 8:30 PM; more details later [see 2006 Torchlight Tour for last year's event]
September 8-9, 2007--Battle of Tunnel Hill Reenactment, Tunnel Hill, Georgia; for more information, see www.tunnelhillheritagecenter.com or call 706-876-1571
September 11, 2007--National Park Service Chief Historian emeritus Ed Bearss speaks to the Knoxville CWRT, subject TBA; Bearden Banquet Hall, 5809 Kingston Pike, next to Buddy’s BBQ, Knoxville; dinner at 7, talk at 8; call 865-828-8752 or 865-671-9001 for dinner reservations by the Friday before the meeting.
September 15, 2007--War Between the States day, City of Chickamauga, Georgia
October 9, 2007--Dr. Mark Bradley, U. S. Army Center for Military History, speaks to the Knoxville CWRT on “Sherman’s Carolina Campaign and the Battle of Bentonville;” Bearden Banquet Hall, 5809 Kingston Pike, next to Buddy’s BBQ, Knoxville; dinner at 7, talk at 8; call 865-828-8752 or 865-671-9001 for dinner reservations by the Friday before the meeting.
November 8-10, 2007--15th Annual Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, sponsored by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Department of Communications; more details later.
November 13, 2007--Historian and author Dr. Richard McMurry speaks to the Knoxville CWRT on “General in a Jar;” Bearden Banquet Hall, 5809 Kingston Pike, next to Buddy’s BBQ, Knoxville; dinner at 7, talk at 8; call 865-828-8752 or 865-671-9001 for dinner reservations by the Friday before the meeting.

[Note from the webmaster: a chart with the appropriate dues can be found at: Membership Dues. An application can be found at: application]