James Lamason and Gerard Myers present “Into the Vortex of Fire”
On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pa, the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteer Infantry regiment found itself in a literal vortex of fire.
Come and hear co-authors James (Jim) Lamason and Gerard E. (Gerry) Mayers as they share the hows and whys the Eleventh NJVI found themselves in a key position on the bloody battlefield of Gettysburg.
Speakers:
Jim Lamason- For the last 25 years he has independently studied and researched New Jersey at Gettysburg, especially the 5th , 8th and 11th New Jersey at the battle. .
In addition to the above he is in the process of researching and writing a book on the 12 th New Jersey with Gerard, along with books on the III Corps of the AOP, E Clarke Cline, and the life of Major General G.K. Warren. Also considered the biographer of Robert McAllister and the go to person on the units noted above.
He has contributed in various ways to several of other historical projects including editor and proof reader of a released on Kindle books and in paper back, “Nothing but heros” by Mr. Gerald Mayer , a recently released work “A little hill over yonder” by Mr. Paul Knoke and contributed to Dr David Martins guide book on New Jersey at Gettysburg.
He has also spoken on G.K. Warren and Robert McAllister to several Civil War Round tables and at the Warren statue on Little Round Top to several other Round tables. In addition he has lead volunteer battlefield walks at Gettysburg in the Wheatfield and at the Klingle Farm.
During the 150 Commeration he led the re-dedication of the 5th , 8th and 11th New Jerseys monuments at Gettysburg.
He was also a Trustee for the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association, and where was also the past president After a 30 year career in information technology, and 22 years with Home Depot, he has retired.
He is married to Mrs Beverly A. Lamason, has two adult children Heather and Steve and his wife Sraci . He resides in Middlesex NJ.
Gerard “Gerry” Mayers has been a life-long Civil War buff but credits both the Ken Burns mini-series The Civil War and the Ted Turner Pictures Gettysburg movie with rekindling his interest. He holds degrees in both English and History (with Honors) from St. John’s University, New York. Active with the Bucks County Civil War Roundtable (Doylestown, Pa.), he is the program chairman for that organization as well as an At-Large Member of its Board of Directors. He is also involved with Civil War reenacting and living history. An alumnus member of the Civil War Heritage Foundation (where he portrayed John W. Fairfax of Lt. General James Longstreet’s staff), he currently belongs to Company C, 44th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry as a re-enactor. In that organization, he portrays a member of the original Company C of the regiment.
Mayers has previously published an historical fiction novel about the Confederate side of the September 1862 Maryland Campaign, culminating in the horror that was Antietam/Sharpsburg. Titled None But Heroes, the book is presently available on Amazon Kindle. (A companion novel, dealing with the Union side of the same campaign, remains in the works.) This book is his second historical fiction project. In conjunction with Scott Mingus, Sr., he co-authored Erin Go Bragh: Human Interest Stories of the Irish in the American Civil War, 1861-1865.
Mayers’ maternal two times great-grandfather, Patrick Bracken, was a veteran of the Mexican-American War; his maternal great-grandfather James T. Bracken served with Battery E, First N. J. Light Artillery; and his maternal great-granduncle John G. Bracken served with the Twenty-first Regiment, N. J. Volunteer Infantry,