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December 2009 CANISTER Newsletter Website Version of Our Monthly Newsletter |
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December 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 | DECEMBER 15, 2009 | NO. 12 |
VISITORS AND GUESTS WELCOME M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S & H A P P Y N E W Y E A R |
| DATE: | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2009 | TIME: 7:00 PM |
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TOPIC: |
"FORREST, MILROY, & THE BATTLE OF THE CEDARS, DECEMBER, 1864" |
| SPEAKER: |
JIM LEWIS, PARK RANGER STONES RIVER NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD |
| (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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DECEMBER MEETING |
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It was certainly a bold plan...........then and since it can be called a desperate gamble..........in retrospect,
it can be called a forlorn hope............or even foolish...........this thrust by John Bell Hood with the Army
of Tennessee into the middle region of the Army's namesake state in late fall of 1864. But, the strategic situation
at the time called for some bold measure. A major Union army sat in one of the cities that had become one of the most
important if the Southern states were going to be successful in their bid for independence. Perhaps a strike well to
the enemy's rear, against one of the key waypoints on that army's line of supply with possibly a threat to points
beyond would cause that army that had made inroads into the Confederacy's military-industrial heartland to withdraw,
to move back northward to keep its lifeline from being permanently cut. And there would possibly be the effect on
Northern public opinion even in the aftermath of the election on the first Tuesday of November. Bold? Yes! But,
"desperate times call for desperate measures." And so Hood struck north. Decatur. Florence. Columbia. Franklin.
The outskirts of Nashville. And as part of this, to disrupt William T. Sherman's line of communications as much as
possible, to isolate Nashville and other Union garrisons in Tennessee as much as possible, there would be a strike
against the Union garrison at Murfreesboro and the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad features in that area guarded
by that garrison. This is what brought Union and Confederate forces to clash yet again at the one-time capital of
the Volunteer State. In his talk, "Forrest, Milroy, & the Battle of the Cedars, December, 1864," this evening, Stones River National Battlefield Park Ranger Jim Lewis will relate the events that unfolded along the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad in Rutherford County and at Murfreesboro when John Bell Hood sent forces to destroy that vital rail line and isolate or destroy Murfreesboro's Union garrison and those on down Sherman's line of communication. It was actions that pitted several unlikely characters against (or with) one another, forced some men into new roles, and that were certainly reflective of the nature of the war it moved toward the close of another year. Overshadowed by the bloodier and more spectacular fights that occurred before and after it, the fighting, however, around Murfreesboro of William B. Bate, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Robert Milroy provides insight into the larger vision that had driven John Bell Hood northward in the fall of 1864. Come out and learn about the fight at Block House 7 and the Battle of the Cedars. |
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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 one of the classic treatments of Hood's December, 1864, thrust into the Volunteer State, of which our topic this evening is a part, Thomas Robson Hay's Hood's Tennessee Campaign. The second item is a 2010 Civil War calendar featuring paintings of Mort Kunstler. The third item is a copy of the North & South magazine. It is from November, 1999, and actually has a supporting article for our talk this evening, one by former speaker Mike Bradley (along with his co-author Milan Hill) on Milroy's suppression of "guerrilla" activities in Middle Tennessee in 1864, a role he was pursuing when he had to turn again to conventional warfare with the approach of Hood in November of '64. Other articles in the issue include one on John S. Mosby in the Valley and the fight at Spotyslvania's Harris Farm. The fourth item is a copy of the Brother Against Brother: The War Begins volume from the great Time-Life Civil War series. 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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SCOUTS REPORTS! There were quite a few Civil War related programs in the area over the last month:
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DUES It is that time of the year again............the Round Table's October 1 to September 30 dues year has begun. Please pay your dues at this month's meeting or through the mail. For those of you who already have, thank you. |
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FUTURE ROUND TABLE MEETINGS January 19, 2010 -- Tom Carson and Dennis Schafluetzel, "Tennessee's Civil War Era Currency Notes & Script" February 16, 2010 -- To be announced March 16, 2010 -- To be announced April 20, 2010 -- To be announced May 18, 2010 -- Zack Waters, Historian & Author, author of forthcoming book on Florida Confederate Soldiers June 2010 -- To be announced July 2010 -- To be announced August 2010 -- To be announced September 21, 2010 -- IN THE FIELD "Forrest vs. Old Rosey: The First Days After Chickamauga" October 2010 -- To be announced November 2010 -- To be announced December 2010 -- To be announced |
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UP-COMING LOCAL CIVIL WAR EVENTS OF NOTE NEW ENTRIES:
PREVIOUS ENTRIES: |
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INSERT TO THIS MONTH'S CANISTER:
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