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August 2008 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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August 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 | AUGUST 19, 2008 | NO. 8 |
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| DATE: | TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2008 | TIME: 7:00 PM |
| TOPIC: |
"'IT IS A STUPENDOUS UNDERTAKING:' ROSECRANS STRIKES FOR CHATTANOOGA, AUGUST, 1863"
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| SPEAKER: | JIM OGDEN, HISTORIAN |
| PLACE: | 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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| AUGUST MEETING |
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Braxton Bragg and his Army of Tennessee were ensconced in the seeming mountain fastness of
Chattanooga itself; they sat keeping the vital "Gateway to the Deep South" closed and barred shut. It was
not the situation William Starke Rosecrans two months ago would have hoped or even expected that he
would be facing. But that is the way his movements of late June and early July had turned out. On the rain
muddied roads of Middle Tennessee, Rosecrans had been unable to force his disinclined counterpart to
battle before that opponent had slipped away into the seeming mountain fastness of the immediate and
greater Chattanooga region. Now, the Ohioan had to deal with his enemy in exactly the terrain he'd hoped
and desired to have crossed merely in pursuit of a battered and defeated rebel army. He exaggerated when
he called the mountains he faced "the Alps," but the region's geography certainly required that he develop a
plan of campaign almost as if he was dealing with those famous slopes, particularly since his opponent, if
he used the terrain as he might, could magnify his numbers to essentially out-number Rosecrans' Army of
the Cumberland two to one. And plan such a campaign he did. Building on possibilities he had
considered all along, Rosecrans refined and elaborated a plan that he hoped, when he initiated it when the
corn was ripening, would take him to or at least well toward the Confederacy's "gate City," Atlanta. It is Rosecrans' plan of campaign of August, 1863, that is the subject of our talk this evening, a talk that will be presented in a more graphic form than that to what we are normally accustomed. Come out and learn about and consider the plan of campaign that was beginning to unfold 145 years ago these very August days. |
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SPEAKER'S FUND SUPPORT OF THE MONTH There are three items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first, since it is the month of the 145th anniversary of the initiation of Rosecrans’ phase of his Campaign for Chattanooga that wins him Chattanooga but also brings him to Chickamauga, is a copy of Larry J. Daniel’s Days of Glory: The Army of the Cumberland, 1861-1865. The second item is a copy of Part 1 of the Blue & Gray Magazine series on the Chickamauga phase of Rosecrans’ Campaign for Chattanooga that covers events 145 years ago between August 16 and September 9. The third item is a copy of the Fall, 1998, issue of the Civil War publication Columbiad with articles on such subjects as the rain that slowed Sherman’s advance on Atlanta in June, 1864, the work that went into publishing the Official Records, and the Battle of Sabine Pass. All three of the 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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BLUE & GRAY MAGAZINE'S CHICKAMAUGA SERIES COMPLETE ! ! ! PART 5, THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA: SEPTEMBER 20, 1863, is hot off the presses and will soon appear in mail boxes for subscribers and in the magazine racks at some retailers, such as Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million or a few other larger newsstands. It is already on the shelves of the book store in the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center, along with a re-supply of Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. As with the first four parts, the publisher sent me a few copies to make available to folks who might have trouble finding it and I’ll have those copies of Part 5 at the meeting as well as the remaining copies of the other four parts that he sent me. |
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ALEXANDER’S BRIDGE PUBLIC SCOPING OPEN HOUSE COMMENT PERIOD Alexander’s Bridge over Chickamauga Creek at kind of the southeast corner of the Chickamauga Battlefield, the site of John T. Wilder and his Lightning Brigade’s delay of “Shot Pouch” Walker’s Reserve Corps on September 18, 1863, is now 101 years old. The 1907 steel structure is at the end of its life. As a result, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and the Federal Highway Administration are beginning the process to rehabilitate or replace a bridge which in itself is historic and which is a key feature at an even more historic and significant location. Protecting that historic site is one of the KEY guidelines of the project so simply replacing it with a modern concrete and steel structure isn’t the direct answer. Rehabilitating the present structure or replacing it with a newly made one of the same type or a newly made one that might even fit into the historic landscape better than the present one are some of the options being considered. The National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration is soliciting YOUR ideas. The historic Chickamauga Battlefield NEEDS to hear the ideas of folks who really appreciate the site of these nationally significant events so as to remind the Federal officials involved just how important that history and that site is and that how they do their jobs matters! The men who hallowed that ground 145 years ago had a portion of it set aside as Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park “for the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study the scene of some of the most remarkable maneuvers and brilliant fighting.” That hallowing and purpose and mission must be remembered! There was a public open house on Tuesday, July 22, at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center to solicit comment, but , but you can still comment at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/chch At that website, you’ll also find information on the project. Comments will be accepted via that website or by letter through August 22.
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TENNESSEE CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL LICENSE PLATE AVAILABLE 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. |
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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 the “Civil War: Hoofbeats in the Heartland,” the symposium on Civil War cavalry in Tennessee held July 26 in conjunction with the exhibit on the subject at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Clarksville? If you’re up that way in next couple of months, you can at least stop in and see the exhibit. August 8-10 was the Nashville Southern Civilian Conference at the Belmont Mansion. Did anyone make it there? If you were able to attend any of these events or another one of note since our last meeting and you’re at our July meeting, give us a report. Good intelligence is one of the keys to military success! |
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FUTURE ROUND TABLE MEETINGS September 16, 2008 - IN THE FIELD - As this night is the anniversary of one of the days immediately leading up to the Battle of Chickamauga, in fact the day on which Bragg began to issue the orders for the operation that he put into execution on the 18th, after postponing it from the 17th, the operation that directly resulted in the Battle of Chickamauga. Dalton State College Instructor and former Round Table speaker Mr. Rick Manion will be the speaker and tour leader this year. He’ll lead us to some of the sites most reflective of the artillery and mounted service in the battle. |
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UP-COMING LOCAL CIVIL WAR EVENTS OF NOTE
NEW ENTRIES: PREVIOUS ENTRIES:
August 14, 2008—Noah Andre Trudeau speaks on his new book, Southern Storm: Sherman’s
March To The Sea, for the Georgia Historical Society at the Congregation Mickve Israel Synagogue, Monterey
Square, 20 East Gordon Street, Savannah, Georgia, 7 PM; for more information, see
www.georgiahistory.com,
or call 912-651-2125
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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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