One of the key partners for the National Park Service, and specifically our Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, as it works to make the new Moccasin Bend National Archeological District of the National Military Park a full National Park Service area will be the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park (FOMB). FOMB has already played some key roles, particularly in helping ensure that resources on Moccasin Bend were ensured better protection by their inclusion in the National Park System. Now, as the National Park Service begins to develop true visitor facilities for Moccasin Bend, FOMB is helping again by assisting in learning from those who desire to see the protection and interpretation of the Bend's resources exactly what those folks have in mind, particularly for the proposed interpretative/cultural center. They've essentially been conducting a series of listening sessions. While the American Indian story is the biggest part of the story on Moccasin Bend, there is a very important Civil War story too and there is the desire that it not be overlooked. Of course, there are the earthworks remains themselves on Stringer's Ridge, but, there are some other Civil War pieces too and there are the questions about how the Civil War story will be told. A great many Round Table members have taken one or more of the Civil War tours that have been offered on the Bend so most folks should be familiar with the resources themselves and, even if you haven't seen the earthworks, you certainly know the outline of the Siege and Battles of Chattanooga story and would have some valuable thoughts on how to tell that story. FOMB and the National Park Service want to hear those ideas. A couple of FOMB members will be at the meeting to talk more about what they are doing and what plans there are now, but most importantly, they'd like to discuss with us, those interested primarily in the Civil War, ideas about how to tell the Civil War story. There will be some maps and charts of the Bend and its resources and of ideas that have been proposed at the meeting. Put you thinking cap on and come out and participate in a Round Table meeting that really will be more like the type of meeting from which comes our title, Round Table.

There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund (and yes, they actually will be at the meeting along with the ones from last month that didn't make it). The first is a copy of Matt Spruill's Storming the Heights: A Guide to the Battle of Chattanooga since we're talking this month about how to interpret a Chattanooga area Civil War story. The second item is a copy of The Civil War: A Photographic History. The third item is a copy of Avery O. Craven's Civil War in the Making, 1815-1860. The fourth item is a copy of the Summer, 1997, issue of the Civil War publication Columbiad. It contains some interesting articles including one on what Dan Sickles should have done at Gettysburg, the Iron Brigade, and one on Jewish chaplains. 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.

Again this past month, there have been quite a few things going on that one could have participated in. If you took in any War Between the States related activities in the last month and you are at the meeting, give us a brief report. Anyone make it to the Civil War show in Nashville or go to the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association "Evening with Mort Kuntsler" event or to the Forrest Symposium at Spring Hill?

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Lupton Library Special Collections Librarian and Round Table member Steve Cox reports that he is making good progress getting more of UTC's collection of John T. Wilder manuscripts on line. For a while now, there has been a detailed listing of the items in the collection on the Special Collections' website [see: http://www.lib.utc.edu/special-collections.html] and there were transcriptions and digitized copies of the of the originals of a few of the items. Now, Steve is at work gettng the full text and images of more of the material on the website and he's made and is making great progress. All of the military letters and documents are up now and Steve is now working on Wilder's wartime letters to his wife. Four of these letters are available and more will be coming almost daily. If you want to take a look at these materials that have a definite Chattanooga connection, go to:

http://www.lib.utc.edu/john-t-wilder-letters.html

Keep up the good work Steve!!

In June, 2007, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a special Tennessee license plate to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States. Proceeds from the sale of the plate will go to support Civil War preservation activities in Tennessee through the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association. Actually implementing the plate’s use requires 1,000 pre-orders by June, 2008. For more information, see the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association website, www.tcwpa.org or email tcwpacontact@aol.com.

January 15, 2008 - “To be announced"

NEW ENTRIES:
December 15, 2007—1863 Civil War Chirstmas, presented by the 37th Georgia Volunteers and the Mullis Heartland Civilian Living Historians, at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center, 10 & 11 AM, Noon, 1, 2, and 3 PM: for more information call 706-866-9241

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:
through January 13, 2008—the special exhibit from the Tennessee State Museum, “Hoofbeats in the Heartland: Civil War Cavalry in Tennessee,” will be at the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tennessee.
through December 30, 2007—“Portraits In Gray: A Civil War Photography Exhibition,” the Confederate, mostly Georgia, photographic collection of David Vaughn of Atlanta, including eight of the twelve known images of uniformed Georgia Military Institute cadets, also some other GMI artifacts, at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, 2829 Cherokee Street, Kennesaw, Georgia 30144, 770-427-2117, www.southernmuseum.com, free with paid admission to the museum
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.]
April 24-27, 2008—PNJW Collections Civil War Era Civilian Clothing Exhibition, a FIRST RATE display of original Civil War era civilian clothing items that is interpreted by two extremely knowledgeable material culture experts, Rippavilla Plantation, 5700 Main Street, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 931-486-9037.
July 3-5, 2008-- PNJW Collections Civil War Era Civilian Clothing Exhibition, a FIRST RATE display of original Civil War era civilian clothing items that is interpreted by two extremely knowledgeable material culture experts, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Kennesaw, Georgia, 770-427-4686.
September 17-18, 2008—Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Symposium, Tusculum College, Tusculum, Tennessee, featured historians include Dr. Paul Bergeron, University of Tennessee (ret.), long time editor of The Papers of Andrew Johnson, and Dr. Eric Foner, Columbia University; more details later at www.tusculum.edu
November 13-15, 2008—16th 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.

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