Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Civil War Forum walks Pickett's Charge to cap off 20 years of battlefield tramping


The High Water Mark of the Rebellion
Last week, in Gettysburg, the good folks of the CompuServe Civil War Forum—one of the earliest and most enduring online Civil War Round Tables—held their 20th and last battlefield conference. Forty-some folks gathered from far and wide—from San Francisco (yours truly) and Albuquerque, from Toronto and Memphis, and many points in-between. It was a spectacular weekend in the company of some stellar Licensed Battlefield Guides, and an altogether fitting and proper close to two decades of battlefield tramping.
Trostle Barn, April 2016 
Timothy O'Sullivan image of the Trostle barn showing horses from Bigelow's 9th Massachusetts Battery.
Note the hole from a Confederate artillery shell visible in the south face of the barn in both photos. 
Stuart Dempsey kicked things off with a detailed look at 11th Corps actions on the First Day. Chuck Burkell then took the reins for a full day’s touring of the Second Day fighting, and Chris Army spent a morning with us looking over Culp’s and Cemetery Hills, and the East Cavalry Battlefield, including a stop at the old stone barn on the Rummel Farm. Chris also took us by Power’s Hill, where the Civil War Trust is spearheading efforts to preserve an additional 26 acres along the Baltimore Pike.

Chuck Burkell joined us again Saturday afternoon to conduct a walk of Pickett’s Charge. Highlighting our evening events was a moving and memorable talk on “The Meaning of the Gettysburg Address,” by Scott Hartwig at the Dobbin House. Scott was the historian at Gettysburg NMP for 34 years, overseeing a monumental transformation of the park facilities and landscape.
 
Homing in on the copse of trees, left of center
CompuServe Civil War Forum: Twenty Years of Battlefield Conferences
1997: Antietam and Harpers Ferry with Dennis Frye and Tom Clemens.
1998: Chickamauga and Chattanooga with Jim Ogden; talk by Sam Elliott.
1999: Petersburg with Chris Calkins; talks by Bill Miller, Will Greene, Noah Trudeau; Museum of the Confederacy with John Coski; Hollywood Cemetery
2000: Vicksburg with Ed Bearss; side-trip to Port Hudson; Terry Winschel
2001: Gettysburg, with Jeffry Wert and Wayne Wachsmuth
2002: Shiloh with Stacy Allen; speakers included Wiley Sword and Larry Daniel
2003: Fredericksburg with Bob Krick; side-trip to Chancellorsville; side-trip to Guinea Station with Frank O'Reilly
2004: Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove with Bill Piston and Bill Shea
2005: 1st and 2nd Manassas with Scott Patchan; speakers included Bill Miller and Gary Ecelbarger; side-trip to Loudoun County sites with Steve Meserve
2006: Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, with Thomas Cartwright; side-trip to Stones River with Jim Ogden; side-trip to grave site of Sam Watkins with David Fraley
2007: Appomattox with Ed Bearss, Ron Wilson, and Patrick Schroeder; side-trip to Battle of Lynchburg
2008: The Campaign for Atlanta with Greg Biggs, Charlie Crawford, Steven Woodworth, Steve Davis, Russell Bonds, Gordon Jones, and J. D. Fowler
2009: the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign with Scott Patchen and Steve Meserve
2010: Civil War New Orleans, with Prof. Justin Nystrom, and Charlie Nunez
2011: The Seven Days, with Bobby Krick, and Chris Furgeson
2012: The Battle of Bentonville with Mark Bradley; Wilmington and Fort Fisher with Chris Fonvielle
2013: Fort Sumter and Secessionville, Charleston, with Pat Brennan and Richard Hatcher
2014: Ball's Bluff and Monacacy, with James Morgan, and Benjamin F. Cooling
2015: Mobile Bay and Pensacola, with Richard McMurry
2016: The Battle of Gettysburg, with D. Scott Hartwig, Stuart Dempsey, Chris Army, and Chuck Burkell

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