ECW Symposium Speaker Lineup and Topics

Posted on March 10, 2014 by

We are excited to announce our speaker lineup and topics.

Lecturers and Tour Guides:

  • Daniel T. Davis-”More Desperate Fighting Has Not Been Witness on this Continent.”: Ulysses S. Grant and the Overland Campaign.
  • Phillip Greenwalt-‘From Old Bald Head’ to ‘Lee’s Bad Old Man’: A Study of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia in 1864.
  • Chris Kolakowski-1864: The Last Stand of the Confederate Navy.
  • Chris Mackowski-An in-depth tour of the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield.
  • Meg Thompson-A Bad Month for the President: Campaigning the Election of ’64.
  • Kristopher White-A tour of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House Battlefields.
  • Lee White-”To die like men,”: Patrick Cleburne and the Tennessee Campaign of 1864.
  • Eric Wittenberg-The Trevilian Station Raid.
  • (Also joining us for the Friday roundtable discussion is author David A. Powell and publisher/author Theodore P. Savas.)

Click here for a full schedule of events.

Cost:

Location:

  • Stevenson Ridge. Stevenson Ridge is located on the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield, 12 miles south of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Click here for a map.

Click here for full details of the event.

earthworks

Earthworks at Stevenson Ridge.

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Question of the Week for March 10, 2014

Posted on March 10, 2014 by

What is your favorite movie (or mini series) about the Civil War?

gettysburg_xlg

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Stevenson Ridge in the Washington Post

Posted on March 9, 2014 by

We’ve told you about our upcoming Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, August 15-17. If you’re looking for a little more info about Stevenson Ridge, check out the travel section of today’s Washington Post. It features a great story—including a cameo by our own Chris Mackowski: “At Stevenson Ridge in Virginia, historic buildings come back from oblivion.“

Stevenson Ridge is located on part of the Spotsylvania battlefield, and the Post article offers some background about the many historic buildings that now sit on the property.

SR will be offering special packages and incentives for symposium attendees who stay on the property, so watch for details. It’s not often that you can actually stay on a battlefield; in Spotsylvania, SR is the only place that offers lodging accommodations on the field itself.

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Grant Takes Command

Posted on March 8, 2014 by
General Ulysses S. Grant

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant

This weekend marks the 150th Anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant’s promotion to Lieutenant General and designation as Commanding General of the U.S. Army. Often discussed in passing as regards the 1864 campaigns, to contemporary eyes this was a major event in the war. Grant’s promotion reveals much about the political and military undercurrents in March 1864. Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership--Federal, Personalities, Politics, Sesquicentennial | 1 Comment

ECW Weekender: Totopotomoy Creek Battlefield at Rural Plains

Posted on March 7, 2014 by
The Shelton house, "Rural Plains"

The Shelton house, “Rural Plains”

The fight at Totopotomoy Creek in late May of 1864 marks the “boundary” in the Overland Campaign between the North Anna phase of the campaign and the Cold Harbor phase. During the three-day engagement, Federals lost just over one thousand men as casualties; Confederates lost just under a thousand. The casualties would pale in comparison to the major assaults that would come just a few days later just a few miles to the southeast. Continue reading →

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Hood on Hood-Part III

Posted on March 6, 2014 by

The third part of a four part series.

Today we welcome back guest author Stephen “Sam” Hood. Sam is the author of John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General.

*   *   *

John Bell Hood BiographyRegarding the Spring Hill affair, Sword once again attacked Hood, ignoring the fact that Hood sent numerous orders to his subordinates to attack the fleeing Federals. “It was Hood’s mismanagement and his assorted careless errors that led to such disastrous consequences,” Sword wrote about Spring Hill. “Indeed, despite the failure of others the primary fault was Hood’s . . . The responsibility for the conduct of operations was Hood’s, and yet he had acted with gross carelessness. By failing to adequately communicate with his chief subordinates, he had created a fatal leadership malaise.” Hood in fact sent numerous orders to Gen. Frank Cheatham via multiple couriers, including Tennessee governor Isham Harris, yet Cheatham did not comply. Finally Hood ordered Nathan Bedford Forrest to block the road. Forrest failed, and neglected to send word of the failure back to Hood. According to Sword, this is carelessness and inattention to detail by Hood. [Sword, The Confederacy’s Last Hurrah, 154-155.] Continue reading →

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Lewis A. Armistead and the American Civil War

Posted on March 4, 2014 by

Today we welcome back guest author William F. Floyd, Jr. William worked for forty years for the City of Norfolk. In his retirement, he’s now pursuing the study of history at Tidewater Community College.

* * *

Lewis A. Armistead

Lewis A. Armistead

Lewis A. Armistead was a Confederate general in the Civil War. He is best remembered for the role he played in “Pickett’s Charge” at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. The public’s interest in General Armistead was renewed by Michael Sharra’s Pultizer Prize winning book, “Killer Angels” on which Turner Picture’s movie “Gettysburg was based. The most iconic image of the charge is that of Armistead leading his Virginia brigades over the stone wall at the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. The general was wounded in the right arm and left leg as he placed his hand on a Union cannon. He died two days later behind Union lines. His long time friend

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, was in command of the Union’s II Corps on Cemetery Ridge that day. Hancock was also wounded during the assault, and lay not far from where Armistead had been shot. Hancock, who would survive his wound, refused to be carried from the field, until the outcome of the battle had been decided. The war would go on for almost two more years, but this moment at Cemetery Ridge could be said to be the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. The Confederate army would never again fight on northern soil in any substantial way. Continue reading →

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Registration Open for the First Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge

Posted on March 3, 2014 by

First Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge
“The Civil War in 1864″

Please join us for the First Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. The theme of this years symposium is “The Civil War in 1864″. Below are details pertaining to the August 15-17 event, as well as a schedule of events.

Dates:

  • August 15-17, 2014

Cost:

Location:

  • Stevenson Ridge. Stevenson Ridge is located on the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield, 12 miles south of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Click here for a map.

Symposium Highlights:

  • Friday night roundtable discussion emceed by Chris Mackowski.
  • Author book signing events.
  • Saturday lecture series, with keynote presentation by Eric J. Wittenberg.
  • Sunday tours of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields.
  • Door prizes.
  • Welcome Gift Bag Continue reading →
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Question of the Week for March 3, 2014

Posted on March 3, 2014 by

What is your favorite spot on the Gettysburg Battlefield to visit?

2nd Rhode Island Monument at Gettysburg.

2nd Rhode Island Monument at Gettysburg.

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March-April Presentations

Posted on March 1, 2014 by

March:
12th: Chris Mackowski, “The Bloody Angle,” at the Lynchburg (VA) Civil War Roundtable

13th: Chris Mackowski, “The Bloody Angle,” at the Chesapeake Civil War Roundtable (MD) 

15th: Kristopher White, “Turning Points in the Wilderness,” at the North Carolina Civil War Roundtable (NC)

28th: Phill Greenwalt will be teaching for the Rappahannock Life Learning Institute, ”From the Rapidan to the James River, the Overland Campaign of 1864 between Lee and Grant.” (VA)

April:
4th: Phill Greenwalt will be teaching for the Rappahannock Life Learning Institute, ”From the Rapidan to the James River, the Overland Campaign of 1864 between Lee and Grant.” (VA)

5th: Kristopher White, “The Dead Lay All About….” The Aftermath of Gettysburg, at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (PA)

8th: Phill Greenwalt, “Overland Campaign from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania with George Steuart.” Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table. (MD)

11th: Phill Greenwalt will be teaching for the Rappahannock Life Learning Institute, ”From the Rapidan to the James River, the Overland Campaign of 1864 between Lee and Grant.” (VA)

15th: Kristopher White, “A Trip to Hell: The Second Battle of Fredericksburg,” at the Charlottesville Civil War Roundtable (VA)

24th: Chris Mackowski, “The Battle of the Bloody Angle,” at the Buffalo Civil War Roundtable (NY)

25th: Steward Henderson, “Fighting for Their Freedom: The United States Colored Troops,” at Lake of the Woods Civil War Study Group (VA)

26th: Phill Greenwalt will be leading a bus tour for the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields. (VA)

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