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June 2008 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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June 2008 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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CANISTER From The Chattanooga Civil War Round Table www.chattanoogacwrt.org |
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| VOLUME XXV | June 17, 2008 | NO. 6 |
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| DATE: | TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2008 | TIME: 7:00 PM |
| TOPIC: |
"'A MALIGNANT VINDICTIVENESS:' The Rivalry Between Rosecrans & Grant"
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| SPEAKER: | DR. TIMOTHY B SMITH, HISTORIAN, PROFESSOR, & AUTHOR |
| PLACE: |
MILLIS-EVANS ROOM, CALDWELL HALL, ACADEMIC QUADRANGLE, THE MCCALLIE SCHOOL, HISTORIC MISSIONARY RIDGE |
| (Directions to Caldwell Hall-Enter the McCallie School campus off of Dodds Avenue opposite the end of Bailey Avenue. Take the main drive into the campus and follow the signs for the Academic Quadrangle. There is a parking area there beside the Chapel and you will have passed Caldwell Hall on the right as you approach the parking area. Find a place and park. Caldwell Hall will be behind you as you park. Come in either the first or second floor doors and follow the signs to the Millis-Evans Room.) |
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| JUNE MEETING |
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One hundred and forty-five years ago this month, the active phase of the 1863 Campaign for Chattanooga began.
To the southwest nearly 400 miles, another campaign, another campaign that would be significant in determining
the outcome of the war, that for Vicksburg, was continuing toward an increasingly evident conclusion. The relationship,
or perhaps the lack thereof, that existed even then between the two senior Union leaders of those campaigns became, in the
end, one of the key elements in the continuation and eventual decision of the campaign that would mostly unfold in the
shadow of Lookout Mountain. In October, a month after Chickamauga, Ulysses S. Grant relieved William S. Rosecrans of his
command of the Department and Army of the Cumberland. The fact that Grant chose that course was not solely a factor of
Rosecrans’ one bad day on a battlefield, 20 September, in the valley of the “River of Death.” The fact that Grant might
take that course if or when, as he was, elevated to a higher ranking position might easily have been predicted by many.
A “malignant vindictiveness” by the fall of ’63 existed between the two senior generals of the Union cause and had for
months. What was the origin of this poor relationship? In his talk this month, “’A Malignant Vindictiveness:’ The Rivalry
Between Rosecrans and Grant,” Mr. Evan Jones, will explore the development of the poor relationship that in the end probably
doomed Old Rosy’s career even more than the defeat at Chickamauga. The rivalry went back more than a year before the fall
of ’63 and continued, to Rosecrans detriment, into the years following the battles for the Gateway to the Deep South. Why
the two men did not see eye to eye can be instructive in understanding how much of the Western campaigns unfolded. Mr. Evan Jones is a native of California. Bit by the Civil War bug, Evan traveled east for college where he could study in close proximity to where the events unfolded. He attended Mr. Jefferson’s university, the University of Virginia, his professors including Dr. Michael Holt and Dr. Gary Gallagher. Summers for several years were spent working at several National Park Service Civil War sites including Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefield Memorial National Military Park, Vicksburg National Military Park, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, where he is working again this summer while on break from pursuing medical school back in the Golden State. Previously, he has spoken to our Round Table on the experience of Confederate soldiers in the days and weeks of the spring and summer of 1865 as the war came to a close and they made their way back to their homes. We are fortunate to have Mr. Jones back with us again.
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SPEAKER'S FUND SUPPORT OF THE MONTH There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first is a copy of The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka & Corinth by Peter Cozzens, a book about the campaign that had a key part to play in the development of the relationship between Rosecrans and Grant. The second item this month is a copy of Dr. Nat and Bucky Hughes’ Quiet Places: The Burial Sites of Civil War Generals in Tennessee, a valuable guide to making visits to cemeteries more meaningful. The third item is a copy of Confederate Chronicles of Tennessee, Volume 4, April, 1994, with memoirs and letters of Daniel C. Jones of Rice’s Tennessee Battery, Forrest’s speech at a reunion of some of his veterans, and letters of a 20th Tennessee soldier. The fourth item is two issues of Blue & Gray Magazine from 1998. One is offered as a 145th Anniversary piece as it includes an article about the end of John Hunt Morgan’s Indiana and Ohio Raid which began this month and which ended next month, in the Battle of Buffington Island, which is the focus of the main article and tour in one of the issues. The other issue is June anniversary oriented too but it is a 146th Anniversary, that of Jeb Stuart’s ride around McClellan on the Peninsular in June, 1862. 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.
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FIGHTING FOR THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE HEARTLAND: A SYMPOSIUM EXPLORING THE
STORIES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE, JUNE 19-20, 2008 Notice of this symposium, the speakers at which include Thomas Cartwright, our own Sam Elliott, Dr. Earl Hess, State Representative and Civil War preservation advocate Steve McDaniel, and Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area Director Dr. Carroll Van West, the tour for which include Thompson's Station, Murfreesboro, Franklin battle sites, and Stones River, was only received after the May Canister was produced so getting the word out to the Round Table was going to be a challenge. I don’t know if it is still possible to register, but for more information, check www.franklinscharge.org or call 615-595-0636. I did get them to mail me some copies of the brochure for the symposium and will have them at the meeting if you want to look at it, but if you think you might have any interest, you probably want to check on-line and/or call.
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THE GOLDEN AGE OF BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION AVAILABLE Our contact at the University of Tennessee Press was traveling in the weeks following Dr. Smith’s talk last month so the remaining copies of Dr. Smith’s most recent book, The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America’s First Five Military Park, that the press sent us to have available at the meeting are still here. Hence, if anyone would still like to acquire a copy at the reduced price, $30.00 instead of $38.95, I’ll have them at this month’s meeting and you can pick one up. I’ll have to send the remaining copies back after that.
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LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN BATTLEFIELD VISITOR CENTER RE-OPENS!! As I think I intimated at our May meeting, progress was being made even that day which, it was hoped at the time, would allow Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park staff to have a “soft” opening of the renovated Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center and its new exhibits on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. While there were still a few things the contractor had to do, the Visitor Center did open that Saturday morning, May 24, and it has been open 8:30 AM to 5 PM since. If you have not ventured to make a visit since the 24th, you should when you’re out and about sometime. The lobby is roomier, and, for the first time ever, the National Park Service now has exhibits to related, at least briefly, the Siege and Battles for Chattanooga and their position in the war. The space available largely limits the depth at which the action is covered, only a couple of artifacts are included, but, for the VAST majority of visitors, there is A WHOLE LOT MORE than there has ever been before in the NMP’s Battles for Chattanooga visitor center and that means that more of those who visit will depart better informed about the important events that unfolded on Lookout Mountain and in its shadow in the fall of 1863. But, beyond that, you should see the James Walker 13’ x 30’ “Battle of Lookout Mountain” painting!. In my twenty years or so of seeing it, in the years after many helped make its initial restoration and display, including OUR Round Table, possible, I’ve never seen it look SO GRAND ! ! ! It was cleaned to remove surface grime, surface cracks in-filled, and a new lighting system was installed that lights it like you’ve never experienced before. It really is impressive! The floor of the room was opened up and the back wall moved back about four feet so now you can step back further to take more in if you want and do that in a lot more places. It is impressive! Plan on making a trip up the mountain sometime soon and taking it in yourself.
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SCOUTS REPORTS! There were several WBTS related programs in the last month here locally and in the region. Did anyone make it to Richard McMurry’s talk at the N. B. Forrest Camp No. 3 meeting on May 27? Or to the Confederate Memorial Day Service at the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery on May 31 where Dr. John Fowler of Kennesaw State University, the author of the history of the 19th Tennessee Infantry, spoke? If you were able to attend any of these events or another one of note since our last meeting and you’re at our June meeting, give us a report. Good intelligence is one of the keys to military success!
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FUTURE ROUND TABLE MEETINGS July 15, 2008 - To be announced
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UP-COMING LOCAL CIVIL WAR EVENTS OF NOTE
NEW ENTRIES: 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
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www.chattanoogacwrt.org |
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President -- Jim Ogden Vice President -- Ansley Moses |
Treasurer -- Harvey Scarborough Secretary -- Neil Greenwood |
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If you or a friend would like to join the Chattanooga Civil War Round Table, send
your check for dues, made out to Chattanooga Civil War Round Table, to Chattanooga
Civil War round Table, c/o Jim Ogden, 4 Gala Drive, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia 30742.
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Regular Membership $20.00 Senior Citizen (62+) $15.00 |
Family Membership $30.00 Student $15.00 |
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The Round Table dues year is October 1 to September 30. Membership fee for new
members joining after October is pro-rated, being reduced by $1.50 per month for
regular membership, by $2.50 per month for family membership, and $1.00 per month
for Senior Citizens and Students. Members up-dating their dues or rejoining are
expected to pay the full rate. [Note from the webmaster: a chart with the appropriate dues can be found at: Membership Dues. An application can be found at: application] |
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