The
river port town of Helena,
Arkansas
was a strategic site on the Mississippi River
during the Civil War. Located 70 miles downstream from
Memphis, it served as a staging area for the Union in supplying
troops and material for Grant during
the siege of Vicksburg.
The program looks at the town itself, its significance during the Civil War and
the Battle of Helena in July of 1863 as the Confederate forces under
Theophilus Holmes
attempted to retake the town for the confederacy.
Don
comes to us from Camden
by way of a number of pastoral assignments throughout the state. He is a
graduate of Ouachita
Baptist
University
and holds a Doctor of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
His retirement has brought him to
Little Rock to be closer to his two hobbies;
grandchildren and the civil war. A longtime Civil War Buff, he has presented
many programs before roundtables in the area.
Some of you may be thinking
that you remember Don
Hamilton was supposed to be the
speaker. Well you are right.
Hamilton tumbled from a ladder a while back and
fractured his pelvis (ouch). Although able to get around on
crutches he is not yet 100 percent. Don
Nall
has graciously agreed to swap programs.
A BIG
THANK YOU
Cal
Collier
The officers and members of the CWRT of Arkansas want to take this opportunity
to thank
Cal
and
Mel
Collier for bringing us the program last month.
Sometimes we do
not stop and take the time to acknowledge the traditions that come
to us through the years.
Cal
has presented programs to us for as many years as anyone can
remember. After they moved to
Maryland, this has become long distance
relationship. Yet each May they make the effort to return to us and
they only leave us after
Cal
has imparted some of his vast knowledge of our history.
They make a valiant effort to visit us each year and we should make sure that
they know we appreciate their efforts.
COMING PROGRAMS
June 28, 2005
– Don
Nall
–
Helena
on the Mississippi
July 26, 2005 –
Don
Hamilton –
The
Tullahoma
Campaign
August 23, 2004
– Ron Fuller
September
“If All of Arkansas
Read the Same Book” is a program that brings an author into the
state for a book tour. In the fall of 2005, they are trying to
schedule Jeff
Shaara and his book “GODS AND
GENERALS”. We are working on a special event
for CWRT members and will keep you informed as his visit nears.
September 27, 2005
– Regular Meeting
Terry
Winschel,
Historian - Vicksburg
NMP –
“A Tragedy of
Errors: Failure of the Confederate High Command in the Defense of
Vicksburg”
October 25, 2004
–TBA
November 22, 2005
–
Dave
Gruenewald
–
Pat
Cleburne's
Ireland
and
Election of
Officers
December 2005 –
No meeting
Scheduled in December
We Who
Study Must Also Strive To Save!
THE
OFFICERS
Randy Bladwin,
President
rbaldwin63@comcast.net
Don
Hamilton, Vice President
don.hamilton@lrwu.com
Brian
Brown, Treasurer
BrianB1578@aol.com
Brian
Brown
is still accepting dues of $15.00
Chas.
Durnette, Secretary/Editor
milhistory@aristotle.net
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Visit
www.civilwarbuff.org
Register to receive your newsletter on-line.
<>&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
THINGS YOU DIDN’T
KNOW
YOU WANTED TO KNOW
The last
shot of the WBTS was fired in the Bering Sea in
June 1865 by the CSS Shenandoah, the only Confederate ship to sail around the
world.
-------------
"Maurice Liverman, of Company A, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Frazier's
Farm June 30th, 1862, and turning to some of his comrades, he said: "Boys, I
can't live much longer, so hold me up so that I can fire one more shot and kill
one more Yankee before I die, to get even with them for my own death."
His comrades complied with his request."
<>
One of his comrades was
his brother Hardy Liverman.
Hardy, told the family
and it has been passed down by oral tradition.
Hardy
said he was the one
who helped
Maurice
take aim on that last shot of revenge and that it did kill a damyankee.
[Hardy himself
was wounded and captured there and again
wounded and captured at Gettysburg.
He returned home defiant and unreconstructed for the rest of his long life.
Never count a Confederate dead when he has one shot left.
-------------
The first ironclads to go into combat were Yankees... Andrew Foote's "Pook
turtles" which went into action at Fort Henry on the Tennessee River (USS ESSEX,
CARONDELET, CINCINATTI, and ST. LOUIS) on February 6, 1862. Eight days
later (February 14) the PITTSBURG, CARONDELET,
LOUISVILLE, and ST. LOUIS took on
Fort Donelson on the
Cumberland River. These six gunboats played a key role in what
would turn out to be the downfall of the Confederacy after this point in time.
The
VIRGINIA
was the first ironclad to fight another ironclad, but she was by no means the
first one in combat.
A GRAY
GHOST MEETS AND IRON HORSE
<>
The
years had passed but time had treated
Col.
John
Mosby well. The man who had once
confounded Yankee commanders and terrorized their men indeed found himself at
peace after the fighting had ended, but the old warrior kept himself continually
busy
practicing law and traveling widely, serving as
Consul to Hong Kong and representing railroad interests, writing and lecturing.
Through it all, he never seemed to forget those who had served with him, and
especially those who had died in the struggle.
Once, while in
California, the Colonel called on the son of a fallen
comrade. The host had been but a boy when his father, Mosby’s
good friend, had been killed in 1864, and the officer, by then in the seventh
decade of his long life, was the family’s most welcomed guest. While there,
stories were shared and the youngsters of the household became captivated by the
Legend’s presence.
Soon, one of the children had
the old man out and on horseback. In a recreation of glories long past,
Mosby assumed the role of himself, the leader of a band of partisan
rangers. The boy on that day became
Robert E.
Lee. Together the two, one growing old and the other a
child destined for greatness in the Twentieth Century went back in time and
fought again for a cause they thought noble and just. Colonel
John
Singleton Mosby, ‘The Gray
Ghost of the Confederacy,’ and a lad named
George S.
Patton, Jr.
——from the new book “Rebel
Reader: 500 Things You Probably Never Knew About the Civil War” by
Barry Price.
News from
Thomas
Eishen
Online
<>
My
reenactment list has continued to grow and I have added the drill location
making it easier for prospective recruits to find a company in their area.
Coming in August, more photographs of major battlefields including photographs
of Gettysburg
showing the recent tree removal around Devil's Den.
<>
After 15 years of work, my first
novel, Courage on Little Round Top is now available online from
Amazon.com,
Barnes and Noble.com,
The Twentieth Maine Store,
Maine Historical Society, and
Walmart.com. Autographed copies are also
available from my
website (www.).
<>
Courage on Little Round Top is the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and
Robert Wicker, the
young officer Chamberlain captured during the 20th
Maine's charge
down the bloody slope of Little Round Top, and the events that brought them
together.
I've been very encouraged by the
reviews I have received from reenactors.
From
Robert A. Niepert,
Florida Reenactors Online.com
. . The battle for Little Round Top is brought to
life straight from the pages of Eishen's book. A lot of thought
was put into the author's portrayal of what may have been said between
the everyday soldier and his friend and the worry, ideas and casual comments of
his commanders. Let your mind relax from the historic
text book type reading that we all usually partake of and enjoy a
historically accurate novel just for the fun of it.
Glory Was Not Their Companion
The
Twenty-Sixth New York
Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War
By Paul
Taylor
54photographs &
illustrations, maps, notes, appendices, bibliography, index 231pp. hardcover (7
x 10) 2005 Available for immediate shipment
This is a story of New Yorkers who
were recruited primarily from the gentle farmlands of central
New York—young and middle-aged, American and European, farmer
and tradesman, poor and well-off—all of whom were among the
first to step forward and answer their fledgling nation’s call
during the Civil War. Though those
young men marched proudly off to war anticipating glory and
quick victory, victory was usually absent and glory was not
their companion. Official accolades never seemed to materialize,
and death soon wrapped its cold arms around the “Second Oneida”
with a vengeance experienced by very few other blue-clad
regiments. To be fair, more often than not the regiment
was placed in difficult, often impossible tactical
situations, which resulted in the New Yorkers being forced to
leave the field in disorder. They did their best and played
their small role in a much bigger production whose results
helped to shape
America
into what it is today.
This work covers the regiment’s
entire two-year term of enlistment from May 1861 to May 1863.
Glory Was Not Their Companion draws upon numerous unpublished
letters and diaries from the collections of individuals, private
libraries and public institutions, as well as contemporary
newspapers and obscure government documents. Appendices cover
the order of command within campaigns and post assignments. Also
included is a regimental roster listing the 1,182 men who served
in the Twenty-sixth.
About the Author
Historian and writer
Paul
Taylor lives in the
Detroit, Michigan, area.
He is also the author of books on the Battle of Ox Hill and on
Florida in the Civil War.
Hear
Ye Hear Ye
The latest news
Just one penny
Get your news here
[LITTLE ROCK] ARKANSAS
TRUE DEMOCRAT
1860
[LITTLE ROCK]
ARKANSAS
TRUE DEMOCRAT, February 22, 1860, p. 1, c. 2
"Fashion is a Fickle Jade."
But Mrs.
R. A.
Graham
has just received the latest and most fashionable in Fancy Goods and
can satisfy all that her's is the last and most approved style of
the "fickle jade." She has Bonnets, Ribbons, Dress
Trimmings
and all description of
Millinery
Goods.
Also Dress Making attended to as
usual
Call and examine for
yourselves, and such inducements will be offered as will insure a bargain to the
purchaser.
R.
A.
Graham.
----------------------------------------
[LITTLE ROCK]
ARKANSAS
TRUE DEMOCRAT, February 22, 1860, p. 1, c. 2
<>
Garden
Seeds.
Just received, a fresh supply of the "Quaker" Kentucky
Garden Seeds, and for sale by
John
Collins,
Jan 25
Steamboat Landing.
----------------------------------------
[LITTLE ROCK]
ARKANSAS
TRUE DEMOCRAT, February 22, 1860, p. 1, c. 2
<>
Garden
Seed.
By late arrival, we are in
receipt of a fresh lot of Kentucky Garden Seed, put up expressly for Southern
use by Pitkin, Waird & Co., of
Louisville. Call and get a
supply.
Feb. 1,
1860 Hudson & Ives.
----------------------------------------
[LITTLE ROCK]
ARKANSAS TRUE DEMOCRAT, February 22, 1860, p. 3, c. 7
Grand, Sublime and Novel
Exhibition
by
the Ericsson and Hydrogen Balloon Company!
Will exhibit at
Little Rock, on Saturday, march 3d,
1860, in their Mammoth Wall Pavilion, Positively for One Day Only!
Circuses! Menageries!
and all other Exhibitions thrown in the shade by the Thrilling Sublimity
of the most Stupendous Balloon exhibitions in the world!!
The unrivalled Aeronauts with this Company!
Mr. W.
J. Shotts, the
greatest of American Aeronauts, and
Mons. Le White, the great Daring, Foreign, Equiliptic
Aeronaut having been engaged by this Company, at an immense expense to visit the
principal cities and towns of the United States, for the purpose of making a
variety of their unrivalled and magnificent Balloon Ascensions!
The Company will distribute at
each place where the Ascension takes place, $1,000 Dollars worth of Prizes to
the audience, consisting of handsome Gold and Silver Watches, Magnificent Gold
Jewelry, Beautiful Gold and Silver Pencils, and Admission Tickets to
Prof. Pyrington's Grand
Fire Works Exhibition, for the 5th of July.
Admission tickets to the
Balloon Exhibition, only one dollar, each one admitting the holder, and
entitling them to one of the prizes. Admission without a
prize 50 cents.
N.B.—Should
the weather prove unfavorable, the Ascension will come off the next fair day
For full particulars, see
small and descriptive bills.
----------------------------------------
[LITTLE
ROCK] ARKANSAS
TRUE DEMOCRAT, March 7, 1860, p. 2, c. 1
The soubriquet of
Johnny Crapand, no
longer attaches to a Frenchman with its former significance, for both English
and Americans have learned to consider frogs as good eating.
In the market houses frogs are sold, or rather the
legs are sold at two dollars a hundred. Restaurants
and hotels serve them up as a choice dish.
As an evidence of the demand
for this luxury, we see it stated that an enterprising firm
have
recently prepared large ponds in New
Jersey as froggeries for breeding these batrachian table
delicacies. Superior breeds have
been introduced and, no doubt, the future journalist will hereafter
record enormous legs of frogs, weighing ever so many ounces, as they now make
items of the weight of cattle or sizes of huge vegetables.
<>----------------------------------------
McClellan's
War
The Failure of Moderation in
the Struggle for the Union
Ethan S.
Rafuse
How political beliefs shaped the
war strategy of one of the Civil War's most controversial generals.
"A superb piece of historical scholarship. Rafuse has crafted a book that
is groundbreaking in its conception." —Joseph
L. Harsh, author of Confederate Tide
Rising: Robert
E. Lee
and the Making of Southern Strategy, 1861–1862
"Brings something new, or at
least relatively unknown, to the '
McClellan
debate.' . . . It is the first work I have read that explains
McClellan's approach in a way that is both somewhat favorable and
satisfactory, showing the basis of
McClellan's
views." —Brian K. Burton, author of Extraordinary Circumstances: The Seven Days
Battles <>
This biography of the
controversial Union general George B. McClellan examines the
influences and political antecedents that shaped his behavior on
the battlefield, behavior that so frustrated Lincoln and others
in Washington that he was removed from his command soon after
the Union loss at Antietam. Rather than take sides in the
controversy,
Ethan S.
Rafuse finds in
McClellan's politics and his desire to restore
sectional harmony ample explanation for his actions. Rafuse
sheds new light on the general who believed in the rule of
reason and moderation, who sought a policy of conciliation with
the South, and who wanted to manage the North's military
resources in a way that would impose rational order on the
battlefield.
Ethan S.
Rafuse is author of A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and
Battle of Manassas and George
Gordon
Meade and the War in the East.
He has taught history at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the U.S.
Military Academy and is an associate professor of military history at the U.S.
Army's Command and General Staff College. He lives in
Platte City, Missouri.
Sales territory is worldwide.
544 pages, 17 b&w photos, 11
maps., bibliog., index,
6 1/8 x 9 ¼
cloth
0-253-34532-4
$35.00 <>
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SEE YOU TUESDAY NIGHT
for
Don
Nall
GOD BLESS
AMERICA
