From the Brigade Commander - May 2019
Wow, Peter Carmichael certainly gave a lively presentation on the life of the Common Soldier at the April meeting. His thoughtful analysis of the entirety of the Civil War soldier experience was both thought provoking and entertaining. If you unfortunately missed the meeting you missed a great one. We will have a few of his excellent new book “the war for the Common Soldier” available for sale at the May gathering.
Bill Frankenfield was kind enough to donate 4 tickets to the combined museums at the Pry House at Antietam, The National Museum of CW Medicine in Frederick, MD & Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office in Washington, DC. Thanks to all those who participated in the raffle at the April meeting. We’re happy to report that Bill is home from rehab and continuing to recover from his surgery. It was also wonderful to see Jim Duffy again at the meeting and he has now taken back his duties as our Paymaster.
We were very happy to report at the April meeting our donation in the amount of $1000 to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation for their Star Fort initiative at Winchester. Because of a 47 to 1 match our donation is very significant! These folks have done yeoman works in the Valley and all should appreciate and applaud their excellent preservation work. See www.shenandoahatwar.org
Elsewhere on the Preservation front the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust continues to fight for all of us in the Fredericksburg area where it seems strip malls sprout faster than Spring weeds. They have recently saved 73+ acres at Myers Hill, part of the Spotsylvania Battle. See www.cvbt.org Please remember that the cost doesn’t just stop once properties are purchased by these groups. Many times there are maintenance costs as well as costs returning the land to its battlefield appearance such as removing structures erected after the war.
At Gettysburg attempts are still being made to preserve a portion of Camp Letterman where so many suffered after that great battle. Stay tuned for further developments.
We will report at our May meeting about the April 15 Clara Barton program which we cosponsored with the Southern Lehigh Public Library as well as the results of our April 27 Gettysburg Brush cutting venture.
Sadly we received word prior to the April meeting of the passing of long time member Rev. Craig Landis. As Rev Berntsen said during his invocation Craig thoroughly enjoyed being part of our group and his smiling face and gentle manner will be missed. We also were advised that former member Stephen Herczeg also passed away. I’m sure many of you will remember him
We are fast approaching vacation time and many of you will be visiting our Civil War sites. We have a number of battlefield guidebooks and maps that have been donated over time. These items will be available for a donation at the check in table at both our May and June meetings.
Please make sure you stop by the Preservation Table as you enter the meeting room. We have some absolutely marvelous items for our annual June Preservation raffle. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to win one of these great items. See Jim and Kay.
The election for Officer and Directors for the 2019-20 Campaign will be held at the May meeting. The Nomination Report for our next Campaign for Officers and Directors is as follows:
Additional nominations, if acceptable to the nominee, may also be made at that meeting.
Brigade Commander – Open
Regimental Commander – Bob McHugh
Company Commander – Claire Kukielka & Barry Arnold
Paymaster – Jim Duffy
Adjutant – Kay Bagenstose
Directors, term ending June 2021 – Neil Coddington & Kim Jacobs
Directors, continuing, term ending June 2020 – Bill Frankenfield & Frank Whelan
Please join us on May 7th as Michael Shaffer will present In Memory of Self and Comrades.
Ed Root sartilly@hotmail.com 610-417-6673