“The Gun Boats open the ball this morning early-- We put out a line of pickets in front of our breastworks last night, but there was no disturbance all night-- But it commences very brash this morning-- They knock the iron off the Fort, make the iron fly in every direction-- Knock those big square logs about like they were fence rails-- Harts Battery is in full blast-- and the small arms on the left again-- when we hear amid all the roar of the artillery zip-- zip zip-- zip bullets from the enemy in front of us-- now the 6th opens-- and small arms on the Fort. Whoopee now comes the business-- every gun and cannon we have are doing its best….Is this the end of the world?-- Is this war?--….Lord deliver us…..”

So recorded one of the Texans who fought at Arkansas Post in January one hundred and forty-five years ago. That fight is often overlooked (it’s even often overlooked that a good part of the battlefield is preserved as a unit of the National Park System) and while it is not of the same level of national significance as Manassas or Shiloh or Vicksburg or Chattanooga or the Wilderness, it is a battle those interested in the later Campaign for Chattanooga might want to be at least a bit familiar with. A fair number of the units and men engaged wind up taking part in the struggle for the Gateway to the Deep South. The Confederate position at Arkansas Post not only potentially blocked any Federal penetration into Central Arkansas up the Arkansas River, but it also served as a base from which to strike against Union forces operating on the Mississippi River in the larger effort to capture Vicksburg. To remove this Confederate post, Union Major General John A. McClernand, with a force that included troops under William T. Sherman, supported by an ironclad naval flotilla, attacked on January 10 and 11, 1863. Based principally around the earthen Fort Hindman, the Confederate position at a bend in the river and with swampy bayous protecting its flanks, seemed strong. But it proved no match to the power of the big guns of the brown-water navy. The naval gunfire silenced the fort and several vessels were able to pass up-stream to essentially “surround” the Confederate position. When the Union infantry attacked, the Confederates, by a means debated long after, surrendered, giving the Mississippi River Federals an early victory in the new year. Before that same year was out, a fair number of the Arkansas Post participants found themselves campaigning in a river valley bordered not by swamps, but by mountains, many of them having taken quite interesting paths between. In “Early Contact: Some Eventual Chattanooga Civil War Players and the Battle of Arkansas Post,” Historian Jim Ogden will relate the events of this lesser know fight and the roles of some of men who in the late summer and fall of 1863 hallowed ground here.

There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first is a copy of One of Cleburne's Command: The Civil War Reminiscences and Diary of Capt. Samuel T. Foster {24th Texas Cavalry (dismounted)}, Granbury's Texas Brigade, CSA. The second item is a copy of Dr. Steven Woodworth's valuable Davis & Lee at War. The third item, since it is the anniversary of Lee's birth, is a copy of Traveller, A Confederate Grey: The Warhorse of Robert E. Lee by Beau Burris. The fourth item is a copy of the Fall, 1997, issue of the Civil War publication Columbiad. It contains some interesting articles including one entitled "McClellan, von Clausewitz, and the Politics of War and another by Carol Reardon on how Pickett's Charge was remembered. There's also one about Vaughn's East Tennessee Brigade of Confederates in the Battle of Piedmont in 1864. 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.

The Chattanooga Area Historical Association Annual Luncheon this year will have as its speaker Dr. Nat Hughes. Dr. Hughes will speak on “Constance Cary in the Civil War & Its Aftermath.” The luncheon will be held on Saturday, February 16, 2008, in the Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Roosevelt Room. There is a cost of $20.00 for the meal. If you are interested in attending to hear Dr. Hughes, call CAHA and Round Table member Dr. R. Smith Murray at 423-266-5592 or Dr. John Farr at 423-875-9282.

There didn’t seem to be too many Civil War events in the last month. Did anyone make it up to Stones River National Battlefield for their commemoration of the 145th Anniversary of the Battle of Murfreesboro? They had big crowds on Saturday and decent numbers on Sunday even though the program schedule was shorter. If you attended any events of note and are at the January meeting, make a report! Good intelligence is one of the keys to military success.

It looks like the pickings are going to be pretty thin in the next few weeks. Just before Christmas and during the holidays, the History Channel ran “The Search for John Wilkes Booth” several times probably because of the connection with the Nicholas Cage movie “National Treasure II.” But now, it doesn’t look like there is much WBTS content coming soon on C-SPAN’s Book TV, the History Channel {or is it the Popular Science Channel now?}, or PBS. About all I could find is an interview on C-SPAN’s Book TV with Historian Nell Painter on January 12 at 9 AM and January 14 at 3 AM. One of Historian Painter’s works is an edited edition of the memoir of former slave Harriet Jacobs who spent some time with some United States Colored Troops on the coast of South Carolina in the latter stages of the war. And, the History Channel will air two episodes of Civil War Journal--Pickett’s Charge on January 15 at 7 AM and Franklin & Nashville on January 22 at 7 AM.

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.

February 19, 2008 - “To be announced"

NEW ENTRIES:
February 7, 2008—“The Battle of Campbell Station,” lecture by Civil War Historian and Author Gerald Augustus, 7 PM, Farragut Town Hall, Farragut, Tennessee; sponsored by the Farragut Folklife Museum, 865-966-7057
February 16, 2008—Chattanooga Area Historical Association Annual Luncheon with address by Dr. Nat Hughes; see information above
March 11, 2008—Retired National Park Service Chief Historian Ed Bearss speaks to the Knoxville Civil War Round Table, “Forrest at Parker’s Crossroads, Tenn.: ‘Charge ‘em both ways!;’” March 23-24, 2008—Civil War Naval Living History Weekend, Port Columbus Civil War Naval Museum, 1002 Victory Drive, Columbus, Georgia 31901, 706-327-9798, www.portcolumbus.org
November 8-9, 2008—Civil War Naval History Symposium, Port Columbus Civil War Naval Museum, 1002 Victory Drive, Columbus, Georgia 31901, 706-327-9798, www.portcolumbus.org

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:
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 last 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.

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