In The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation, Dr. Smith looks at the impulses behind the veterans’ creation of the battlefields at Chickamauga, Antietam, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg, impulses that include the sentiments of reconciliation, brotherhood, and reunification and which resulted in arguably what are still today the best preserved of the war’s major battlefields. He also looks at what it took to make these places realities and how while they are similar, each is unique in its own ways individually. The stars of the book are the colorful, driven, and dedicated former soldiers who, sometimes as members of Congress, pushed these battlefield parks into being and who are largely responsible for the legacy from which we benefit today and which we should strive to still carry forward. Dr. Smith will speak on the subject of his new book.

Dr. Timothy B. Smith, a Mississippi native, is a Historian and Professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He is also the author of several volumes, including This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park and The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield. A former park ranger at Shiloh National Military Park, Tim, his wife and daughter, live in Adamsville, Tennessee.

There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first is a copy of our speaker’s new book, The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America’s First Five Military Parks. The second item this month, in keeping with the "then & now" and preservation theme, is a set of the Theodore Davis prints of wartime and 1890s Chattanooga scenes, donated by the Chattanooga History Center, formerly the Chattanooga Regional History Museum. The third item, since this month is the 145th anniversary of the end of Streight’s Raid, is a copy of Jack Hurst’s fine biography of N. B. Forrest. The fourth item is the Summer, 1998, issue of the Civil War magazine Columbiad with articles on the death of Leonidas Polk, Lee’s over-confidence as a result of the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the short career of the C. S. S. Arkansas. 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.

There were several WBTS related programs in the last month here locally and in the region. I saw at least a couple of you all at the ceremony on April 21 recognizing still more successes in battlefield preservation on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield. The program acknowledged the recent addition of 382 additional acres to that battlefield. It was a pleasant morning at Point Park with a beautiful view from the Mountain. Tennessee U. S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Tennessee 3rd District U. S. Congressman Zach Wamp were both present and made appropriate and supportive remarks. If you have occasion to communicate to one or both of them, please consider offering your personal thanks for their attention and help in preserving so much more of the Lookout Mountain Battlefield over the last decade and encourage them to continue to be so engaged. There’s still more that could be achieved. Did anyone make to Rippavilla to see the FIRST RATE Civil War Era Civilian Clothing Exhibition? If you missed it there, note in the calendar that it will be at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield over the Fourth of July holiday. Did anyone go to the Sultana Association Reunion at Franklin? Or to the Resaca Re-enactment May 17-18? Again, there was quite a bit to do in the past month! If you were able to attend any of these events or another one of note since our last meeting and you’re at our May meeting, give us a report. Good intelligence is one of the keys to military success!

     PART 4, THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAGA, SEPTEMBER 19, 1863, is hitting the streets. For those of you all who either subscribe to Blue & Gray Magazine or have been picking up copies from other outlets, AND who have been following the five part series on the Chickamauga Campaign, you’ll be glad to hear that Part 4, the issue that covers the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, is hot off the presses and is starting to make its way through the distribution systems. If you subscribe, look for it in the mail in the coming days; if you pick it up at Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million or some other newsstand, start looking for it too. The publisher, again, sent me a few copies to make available to folks who might have trouble finding it and I’ll have those at the meeting. It looks good!

June 17, 2008 - To be announced

The Civil War Preservation Trust’s first 2008 battlefield preservation campaign is in Tennessee at the scene of the December 31, 1862 Battle of Park’s Cross Roads. This engagement is perhaps most widely recognized because of N. B. Forrest’s statement “Charge ‘em both ways!” when he was informed that a Federal force had appeared in his rear while he was engaged with another one. CWPT’s campaign is specifically for an 88 acre parcel of the battlefield. If, no, lets say when, the campaign is successful a significant portion of the battlefield will be protected, 75% by the estimate of CWPT’s president. One of the good things about this campaign is that there is a lot of “match” money available for the effort too. Most contributions will result in an impressive 8-to-1 leverage factor. A $25 contribution could eventually ensure $200 for the effort. For more information on the effort or to contribute, visit www.civilwar.org; look under “News” for the information on Parker’s Cross Roads. There’s also a nice color map of the battle and preservation efforts at www.civilwar.org/news/append/2008ParkersCrossroadsAppealMap.pdf

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.

NEW ENTRIES:
May 17-18, 2008—Battle of Resaca Reenactment, Gordon County, Georgia
May 31, 2008—Confederate Memorial Day Service, Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery, between 3rd and old 5th Street, now Vine, next to Citizens Cemetery and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus, across from the Student Center; sponsored by N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3, Sons of Confederate Veterans; Dr. John Fowler, Kennesaw State University and author of a history of the 19th Tennessee Infantry, will be the guest speaker; for more information, see www.scv-nbforrest3.com or email Camp Commander Terry Siler at Tenncoastie@aol.com
August 8-10, 2008—Nashville Southern Civilian Conference, Belmont Mansion, Nashville; bi-annual conference on Civil War era civilians; workshops and speakers and a tour of Nashville Civil War sites; for more information, contact Lynda Massey at 615-352-6384 or MasseyLA@aol.com
October 4-5, 2008—Commemoration of the 144th Anniversary of the Battle of Allatoona Pass, Allatoona Battlefield, part of Red Top Mountain State Park, 50 Lodge Road SE, Cartersville, GA 30121; I-75 Exit 285; battlefield tours and Living History Demonstrations; 10-5 each day; for more information, call 770-975-4226

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

May 27, 2008—Dr. Richard McMurray speaks to the N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, 6:30 PM, East Ridge Community Center, East Ridge; for more information, see www.scv-nbforrest3.com or email Camp Commander Terry Siler at Tenncoastie@aol.com
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
September 19, 20, & 21, 2008—Reenactment of the Battle of Chickamauga, to be held in McLemore’s Cove, Kensington, Walker County, Georgia; for information and for tickets, see www.BattleofChickamauga.net or call 1-800-624-0281, ext. 327
October 10-12, 2008—“In a Strange Country: Longstreet in Tennessee,” a seminar of the Longstreet Society, Holiday Inn Select Downtown, Knoxville, featuring Lieut. Col. Harold Knudsen, Dr. Alexander Mendoza, and Dr. William G. Piston; places to be visited include the McClung Museum, Confederate Hall, Fort Sanders site, Confederate Cemetery, National Cemetery, Campbell Station. For more information, call 770-539-9005 or visit www.longstreet.org.
October 17 & 18, 2008—Dedication of Patrick Cleburne Monument, Ringgold, Georgia; more details later.
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
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; for more information, see
http://www.utc.edu/Academic/SymposiumOnThe19thCenturyPress/ or
http://www.utc.edu/commdept/conference, or call 423-425-4219

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