Today, if we are really serious about wanting to know where we are or where we might be going or how to get there, we’ll grab one of the great maps that are available like the gazetteers by the DeLorme Company or may be find a USGS 1:24,000 scale topo map or, if we’ve got a wireless lap top with us out in the field, maybe even log onto topozone.com or google earth and zoom right in. With a little work, we can find maps today of unbelievable detail. But, 144 years ago, how the heck did William Starke Rosecrans find his way over the Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee River and Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain with more than 60,000 troops spread out in multiple columns? One of the frequently overlooked and under-appreciated aspects of Rosecrans’ Campaign for Chattanooga is the effort and success of the Topographical Engineers Department of the Army of the Cumberland. Full sets of maps down to a scale of two miles to the inch were distributed down the chain of command to individual brigades, probably even multiple sets to each brigade. The maps aren’t what we’re used today, but they are more than good enough to maneuver the major columns of troops. And, they tell us a lot about what Rosecrans did and didn’t know about the area as he campaigned into it. Using full scale copies of some of the original maps, we’ll take a look at another effort and another product that made the Army of the Cumberland successful in the summer and fall of 1863 in the campaign for the control of the “Gateway to the Deep South.”

There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first is a copy of David M. Owens’ The Devil’s Topographer: Ambrose Bierce and the American Civil War, a book related to our top this evening. The second item is a copy of The Railroads of the Confederacy by Robert C. Black, III, the railroads of course being one of the features most frequently mapped by the Army of the Cumberland’s Topographical Engineers. The third item is another one of the selective collections of chapters from the Battles and Leaders of the Civil War set. Articles on June events in the volume include J. E. B. Stuart’s Peninsula Campaign ride around McClellan, Vicksburg, and Petersburg. The fourth item is a copy of the old National Park Service handbook for the Richmond Battlefields. 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.

I ran in last month’s CANISTER some information on the “Why Franklin Matters! Exploring the Preservation and Interpretation of Franklin’s Civil War Story” symposium scheduled for June 21-24 in Franklin. I also had a few copies of the brochure for the symposium at the May meeting. If any one had any interest in attending, here’s a bit of welcome news. The conference’s lead organizer, Franklin’s Charge, is offering a reduced conference fee rate for members of the Round Table. In a letter to the Round Table dated May 30, Franklin’s Charge’s Julian L. Bibb informed the Round Table that the fee for any Chattanooga Civil War Round Table member attending would be reduced to $295 instead of the $485 (or more) listed in the brochure. If this change in rate causes you to consider attending, make sure you mention Mr. Bibb’s May 30 letter and the special rate when you call to register. The conference is on the preservation possibilities on the Franklin Battlefield and includes tours, lectures, workshops, and presentations. Speakers at the conference who have also spoken to the Round Table include our own Sam Davis Elliott, Dr. Keith Bohannon, Mauriel Joslyn, Fred Prouty, and Dr. Tim Smith. 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.

Did any one attend the Resaca Re-enactment May 19 or 20? I understand the Federal army, just like in the real battle, showed up in strength. If you did attend and you make it to the June meeting, make a report if you will.

Year before last, as many folks will remember, our July meeting was at the John Ross House in Rossville. As you know, the Chief John Ross House Association and the City of Rossville have been trying to improve the visitor experience at the Ross House. The house has gotten a new roof and there’s a new interpretative marker. As a part of this this summer, the will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM, through the end of August. If you’re out sometime mid-day and down Rossville way, you might want to stop in.

Also, Rossville has been going forward on its streetscape project and part of that will allow the re-erection of three brigade and division tablets and a marker and there will be real, true parking at the Iowa Reservation and Iowa Monument. The parking, on both Chickamauga Avenue and West Crest Avenue will give you a place to park to explore part of the Rossville Gap part of the Missionary Ridge Battlefield.

Attorney, historian, author, and Round Table member Sam Davis Elliott, who is also a member of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association and the Tennessee Wars Commission has sent us the new brochure for the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association. The organization is growing and expanding their efforts and wants to enlist more troops to be able to then take on even more. The brochure is too heavy to mail, but I’ll have copies of it at the June meeting. Additionally, you can find out more about TCWPA’s activities by logging on to www.tcwpa.org.

The summer schedule of ranger-led tours and walks on the Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge battlefields is under way. I’ll bring copies of the schedules to the meeting this month or you can log on to www.nps.gov/chch.

Enclosed you will find a copy of the newsletter Vicksburg National Military Park has published announcing their cultural landscape study. Any who have visited Vicksburg in the last century know that most of the battlefield has become heavily wooded and looks little like it did in 1863. Important sight lines between the Union and Confederate positions are obscured. Vicksburg NMP is undertaking this study to help guide them in efforts to restore portions of the battlefield. The enclosed copy is in black and white but if you go online to the NMP’s website, you can see a copy in color and the pictures of the work already done in the area of the Railroad Redoubt are much more impressive. Given the way the National Park Service does planning these days, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to read the newsletter and send them a few comments. If they don’t hear from folks in the Civil War community who, I would judge, would be in favor of making the battlefield look more like it did in 1863, they may just knuckle under to the tree huggers and fern feelers and let things be and us historical types will have to settle for, “At the time of the battle, these trees weren’t here and you could see…….. The online version of the newsletter is at:

http://www.nps.gov/vick/parknews/newspaper.htm

The second of five issues covering the campaign leading up to the Battle of Chickamauga and the battle itself of Blue & Gray Magazine is now on the street. If you subscribe, you should have your copy. Blue & Gray can be found on selected newsstands. The 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.

July 17, 2007 - IN THE FIELD -- to be announced
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:

July 4, 7, & 8, 2007—Civil War historian, author, and publisher, Richard A. “Rick” Baumgartner, Blue Acorn Press, author of Blue Lightning: Wilder’s Brigade of Mounted Infantry in the Chickamauga Campaign and co-author of Echoes of Battle: The Struggle for Chattanooga, will be at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., for a book signing for the just released expanded edition of Blue Lightning.
September 14 to 23, 2007—144th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Chickamauga, Chickamauga Battlefield unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., ranger led tours and talks, Living History presentations, etc.; more details later
September 20, 2007—“Confederate Cavalry in the Western Theater,” presented by Tennessee State Museum Curator Myers Brown and State University of West Georgia Professor Dr. Keith Bohannon, Rock Point Books, southwest corner of Broad and 4th Street in Downtown; more details later

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

June 16-17, 2007—“Politics from the Piedmont Porch,” Longstreet Society Seminar featuring address by Dr. Keith Bohannon, tour of Gainesville, Georgia, Longstreet sites, a visit to the Atlanta History Center to see Longstreet artifacts, and other activities; for more information call 1-770-530-5504 or write to The Longstreet Society, P. O. Box 191, Gainesville, Georgia, 30503, or see www.longstreet.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; ALSO, SEE NOTE ABOVE
August 18, 2007—Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association’s “Two Flags” recognition of Wilder’s August 21, 1863 bombardment of Chattanooga; details soon, probably at Ross’s Landing; for more information email tcwpacontact@aol.com or see www.tcwpa.org
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 5, 2007—Retired National Park Service Chief Historian Edwin C. Bearss presents final lecture in the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park’s Second Annual Vital Speakers Series; topic and details to be announced later.
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.
November 18, 2007—Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association’s “Two Flags” recognition of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, 3 PM, Bragg Reservation, Missionary Ridge; includes walking tour of portion of the Missionary Ridge Battlefield; for more information email tcwpacontact@aol.com or see www.tcwpa.org
December 1-2, 2007—Nashville Civil War Show, Tennessee State Fairgrounds, Nashville; for details see www.mikekentshows.net
February 2-3, 2008—Chickamauga Civil War Show, Northwest Georgia Trade Center, Dalton; for more information see www.mikekentshows.net
March 14-16, 2008—Chickamauga Study Group 2008 “Seminar in the Woods;” two days of half day walking tours of individual phases of the Battle of Chickamauga with a possible optional half day tour on the final morning; specific phases to be studied in the 2008 Seminar are under consideration presently and will be announced soon; for more information in a couple of months, contact David Powell, Dpowell334@aol.com. [See Study Group 2007 for this year's event.]

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