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Are you having a good summer? Your Round Table Committee would like to take this opportunity to extend their wishes for a happy and safe summer. There will be no meetings until 11 September (Patriot Day) but here is a letter to (hopefully) keep your interest going strong until then!
Dr. Everard Smith gave about 35-40 members a talk on his especial interest: letters and diary entries from the North Carolinians serving in the Army of Northern Virginia. It was an interest that began, he related, when he was an intern at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Southern Historical Collection. His work, Marse Robert’s Men: Voices from the Army of Northern Virginia, is based on his examination of 650 items from 240 soldiers. His soon-to-be published work is over two thousand pages long, divided into thirteen chapters. Dr. Smith has indicated that it is indeed the voices of the men, with a minimum of editorial input. He has made some interesting discoveries; certainly his relation of the wounding of “Stonewall” Jackson sheds new light on that tragedy. His theory that the men of the 18th North Carolina had no idea they had fired on their own general until well after the battle. The letters examined indicate that the men were sure they had “repulsed” a Yankee cavalry charge. If the men had known they had wounded Jackson, the letters home would have been full of references to that event.
After the battle of Gettysburg the popularity of Robert E. Lee, seemingly never questioned, comes in for a closer look as Dr. Smith has discovered that Lee’s generalship was questioned by many of his own troops. Blamed in large part for the loss in Pennsylvania, his reputation after the war changed dramatically; indeed, by October of that year, at Bristoe Station, “everyone is to blame except Lee.” After the war, Lee was (and is) revered with Southerners pointing their fingers at others who they felt were more suitable scapegoats.
These Honored Dead- Bruce Patterson; Vicksburg Campaign, Mike Budziszewski; Phantom Army of the Civil War - Richard Rianno; The Stonewall Brigade - Ed Gibson; Scouts and Spies of the Civil War- Dale Lear; Mr. Lincoln’s Army - Dick Covell. Our Grand Prize, The Illustrated History of the Civil War was won by Gary Henderson. Thanks once again top all who have donated items for our raffle; this is how we raise some of our monies to pay for the programs we present throughout the season. Please look through your book collection, or at library or garage sales for any suitable items that you may wish to donate for the raffle.
One other thing!
If, in your summer travels, you come across a speaker, author or tour guide that you feel would deliver an interesting talk to our RT, please obtain their contact information so that we may contact them for a possible appearance at a meeting. Thanks!
In reading the recent issue of the Civil War News, there are many articles about the loss of Civil War battlefields, i.e. a cell tower to be built at Antietam; mining at Cedar Creek and a trash incinerator at Monocacy battlefield. It is important to preserve these sites for future generations, but we must also realize that rapid development is also striking a lot closer to home. Brunswick County has been among the “hottest” real estate markets in the country for some time and although it looks like the “bubble is bursting”, that county shows no sign of abatement. Battlefields, of course should be preserved, but we must also be aware of the local (usually small) cemeteries and possibly historic houses that dot the county. Some builders will gladly work with those interested in keeping history alive, whether it is college students or a local history group (such as CFCWRT) but some would just rather ignore a historic site and bulldoze it out of existence. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open and if you know of such a site, you may want to check on it every so often.
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