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May 2009 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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May 2009 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 XXV1 | MAY 19, 2009 | NO. 5 |
VISITORS AND GUESTS WELCOME |
| DATE: | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009 | TIME: 7 PM |
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TOPIC: |
“PEACHTREE CREEK: HOOD'S FIRST BATTLE FOR ATLANTA"
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| SPEAKER: | ROBERT JENKINS, ATTORNEY & HISTORIAN |
| 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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MAY MEETING |
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The Gate City was so vital. It was in many ways the capstone to the Confederacy's
growing military-industrial complex. It had to be held. Confederate President Jefferson
Davis expected an aggressive defense of that important place. But, by July, 1864, the
Union army under William T. Sherman was almost at the gate of the Gate City. Was the
commander of Atlanta's defending Army of Tennessee going to fight to hold the place?
Davis was afraid not; that commander, Joseph E. Johnston, was replaced......with
someone who seemed willing to fight--John Bell Hood. And, Hood's first battle
(although some will later say it was actually Johnston's) was in the valley of Peachtree
Creek. The battle that unfolded that 20th day of July, 1864, has become a poorly
understood and confused affair. It was not a victory for Hood. But why? Where did the
plan fall apart? But Jenkins, drawn to the battle because of his ancestor's regiment's role
in the fight has spent years digging into the action. In his talk this evening about "Hood's
first Battle for Atlanta," Bob will relate what he has learned about what really did happen. Our speaker this evening is Round Table member Robert "Bob" Jenkins. Bob received a Business Management degree from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro (with minors in Geography and History) and then attended Law School at Mercer University. Since 1990, he has been a general practice attorney in Dalton and Northwest Georgia. An interest in his ancestor's 31st Mississippi has led him to study the war's Western Theater extensively. He has just completed the manuscript for a volume on the Battle of Peachtree Creek and is in the beginning phases of work on a volume on the Battle of Ezra Church. Ultimately, he'd like to do a history of the Confederate Army of the Mississippi. Bob, his wife Kathy, a Georgia Southern student also, a teacher, and now manager of two toy stores, and their dauthter Katie Beth and son Robby live in Rocky Face. |
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SPEAKER'S FUND SUPPORT OF THE MONTH There are four items this month for the Speaker’s Fund. The first this month is a copy of a Larry M. Strayer and Richard A. Baumgartner's Echoes of Battle: The Atlanta Campaign, a wonderful volume of accounts by or about several hundred soldiers who experienced the drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta in 1864. The second item, is a copy of Lee Kennett's Marching Through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers & Civilians During Sherman's Campaign. The third item is a copy of the April 1995 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine with an article on the first day of the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, by Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park Interpretative Historian Supervisor Greg Mertz. In addition to the great article, as will all the Blue & Grays, there's a tour of associated sites, some off the beaten path. The fourth item is a copy of the auto cassette tape tour of the Battle of Lynchburg, Virginia, from June 1864. Even if you can't get up that way in this 145th anniversary year of those events, it is still interesting to listen too. 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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PARKER'S CROSSROADS BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION Some of you all may have received the mailing from Civil War Preservation Trust about their fundraising efforts to save another piece of the Parker's Crossroads Battlefield in West Tennessee. Parker's Crossroads is the scene of the December 31, 1862 battle in which Nathan Forrest said, when informed of Federals closing in on his rear as well as his front, that he'd charge them both ways. CWPT is supporting the local group in protecting more of the battlefield. You can learn more by visiting CWPT's website at www.civilwar.org. They have already helped the local group preserve 214 acres at the site. Contributions to the effort are matched dollar for dollar. You could mail a contribution to CWPT's Hagerstown, Maryland, office at 11 Public Square, Suite 200, Hagerstown, Maryland 21740. A map of the battle and the preservation efforts appears elsewhere in the newsletter. It is in color so you might want to look at it online at our website or CWPT's. [To view CWPT's color battlefield map pdf, click here: The CWPT's Parker's Crossroads, TN Appeal Map] [To learn more about the Civil War Preservation Trust, please click here: Civil War Preservation Trust.] |
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STONES RIVER BATTLEFIELD HIT BY TORNADO As noted in last month's Canister, the severe storms that swept the Southeast on Friday afternoon, April 10, spawning tornados in Middle Tennessee (taking two lives), caused damage to Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro. While much of the National Battlefield was closed for a couple of weeks while the most threatening of the hundreds, thousands, of trees that were blown down or badly broken up were cleaned up, almost all of the Battlefield in now open, only a couple of trails are still closed. So, if you're headed that way and plan on making a visit, you shouldn't encounter any difficulty. But, you may still want to check their website, www.nps.gov/stri, for the latest up-dates. If you want to see some images of the damage, Civil War dealer Larry Hinklin, who has a shop next door to the battlefield park, has some photographs on his website, www.midtenrelics.com/update.htm. Look under "New Items" for the pictures.
[Note: the NPS Stones River Battlefield website has a photo album of storm damage pictures at: |
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SCOUTS REPORTS! There were several Civil War related programs here locally and in the region in the month between our April and May meetings. A couple of folks I know made it out to see the eight horse hitch tow around a 20-lber Parrott in the Chickamauga Battlefield on April 25 & 26 (there were some tired horses by Saturday evening). A couple of folks also attended the Confederate Memorial Day program at the Georgia Monument on the 26th. Did anyone go up to Knoxville for the Civil War Genealogy Seminar onthe 25th or down to Kingston, Georgia for the Confederate Memorial Day service 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 May meeting, give us a report. Good intelligence is one of the keys to military success! |
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STRINGER'S RIDGE PRESERVATION EFFORT Almost certainly, you've seen in the paper or on the news or heard on the radio that The Trust For Public Land (TPL; www.tpl.org, 202 Tremont Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37405; 423-265-5229) has put together a deal to purchase and preserve the 92-acre tract of land on Stringer's Ridge that late last year and early this year was being considered for a high-rise condo development. These hill tops are the backdrop to downtown Chattanooga when viewed from downtown northward and are some of the ones occupied by Union soldiers in June of 1862 and August of 1863 in their first direct attacks on the "Gateway to the Deep South." The view from some of them is quite enlightening and instructive. TPL has and is putting together a coalition of community and conservation agencies, activities, groups, and individuals to make the purchase possible. Part of their effort is a grass roots appeal. They would love donations small or large to help show the public support for the project. There will be more information on this effort available at the meeting. |
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TENNESSEE LICENSE PLATE TO HELP PRESERVATION To support Civil War preservation activities in the Volunteer State as a part of the Sesquicentennial commemoration, the Tennessee General Assembly has authorized the creation of a “Civil War Sesquicentennial” specialty license plate. The sale of the plates and the distribution of the funds raised through them is being handled by the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, the statewide non-profit dedicated to preserving Tennessee’s Civil War battlefields. The distinctive tags are $35.00 and half the fee goes to preservation. For more information, see www.tcwpa.org or write to TCWPA, P. O. Box 148535, Nashville, Tennessee 37214. |
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OUR MEETING PLACE AT MCCALLIE As most of you all know by simply attending our meetings, the campus of The McCallie School on Historic Missionary Ridge is frequently a very busy place; many evenings, there are a lot of activities going on at the same time and this has only increased in the last couple of years. In the interest of being considerate “house guests,” we’re going to reduce our impact just a little bit. The Millis-Evans Room where we usually meet is now often used first thing in the morning, so we’re going to help by doing the “re-set-up” of the room after our meeting. We want folks to still have a few minutes to ask questions of our speakers informally and to converse amongst themselves, but we would like to have a couple of folks volunteer after a few minutes to help in putting the folding chairs away in the closet and putting the tables and other chairs back out in the room as they “normally” are. So, if you’re able, and can spare a few minutes after the meeting, we’d greatly appreciate the help. As a number of us have learned over the years when we’ve done it occasionally, it’s not a great amount of work and goes pretty quickly. |
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FUTURE ROUND TABLE MEETINGS
June 16, 2009 - Historian Lee White, co-author, with Charles D. Runion, of Great Things Are
Expected of Us: The Letters of Colonel C. Irvine Walker, 10th South Carolina Infantry, C. S. A., a University of
Tennessee Press publication to be released in May, 2009; presenting "'...at least twenty guns playing on us...':
C. I. Walker, Manigault's Palmetto Boys, and Hood's Battle of Zion Church, June 22, 1864" |
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UP-COMING LOCAL CIVIL WAR EVENTS OF NOTE NEW ENTRIES:
May 25, 2009 - Torch Light Tour of the Chattanooga National Cemetery, 8:45 PM. On Monday,
Memorial Day evening, explore some of the Civil War sections of the historic National Cemetery with Chickamauga
and Chattanooga National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden. PREVIOUS ENTRIES:
May 16, 2009--—Centennial Observance of the Dedication of the Wirz Monument, Village of Andersonville, Georgia,
special guests will include descendants of Captain Henry Wirz, 11 AM; sponsored by the Andersonville Guild; a BBQ dinner will be
available Noon to 2 PM |
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Appeal Map was pictured on this page in the printed issue of the May 2009 Canister. Click here for a color pdf of The CWPT's Parker's Crossroads, TN Appeal Map] |
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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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