From the Brigade Commander: Barry Arnold
Our December meeting had a little turn of events. Our speaker, Marc Blau, who was going to give a talk on a WWII story of Letters to the Homefront…. A love story between a community and its soldiers. He had to cancel due to the weather. He come to us from the north and the snow was the problem. Still, we had a great time and I want to thank Kathy and Neil Coddington as well as Gary Weaver for coming in period dress. They showed us what it may have looked like during the civil war era. Also, we had a great stand in. Our very own Jim Duffy.
Jim gave an outstanding account of the Battle of Monocacy. It was fought on July 9, 1864 just outside of Frederick, Maryland. The confederates under command of General Jubal A. Early and his army of the Valley clashed with Major General Lew Wallace and his small force of a hundred day men that had never seen battle before. As the battle enraged on that date, the union army lost the battle. Still they delayed Gen Early from marching to Washington DC. As reinforcements came and defended the capital at Fort Stevens. I thought Jim gave a great talk, and if you were there, I hope you thought the same.
On January 7, 2020 at our next meeting we will have Alisa Dupuy She is an extremely talented portrayer of a mother of a civil war soldier. She will render a 1st person account. It should be an outstanding performance. Until our next meeting in January, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and be safe this coming year. Please note we have a field trip planned for February 01, 2020. We will be going to the Union League. Thanks to Jim Duffy for arranging this event. This is not a museum that is open to the general public, so we are so fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the site. As I mentioned in my last letter, please save the date of April 18, 2020 for our brush-cutting at Gettysburg National Park. We are assigned to the Codori farm where we will be asked to do some painting, fence-mending, and other miscellaneous tasks. Also on that date we will be visiting the Spangler farm for a talk and exploration of the field hospital. This is a real treat as the museum does not open again for several months and we will be rewarded for our hard work by being given a private tour.
On May 30, 2020 we will be visiting Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. We will have a guided tour of this fine battlefield. We are looking forward to having Dennis Frye as our guide. For our college football followers of our round table. Tailgating is a big part of college football. When was the first tailgating event in history? The answer is not a football game. The first tailgating event started during the American Civil War. The first battle of the civil war was Bull Run. In 1862 the citizens of Washington DC came out to view the battle in their wagons with picnic luncheons. That was the first Tailgating event. Another fact in history.
Barry