From the Brigade Commander ~ December 2023

Captain Taylor’s sword arrived safely in the Lehigh Valley, and we expect to have it on display at our December meeting. I hope you agree that the effort and financial support needed to return the sword to the hometown of its original owner was worth it. Many thanks to the many of you who played a role in this great success. The sword will be “unveiled” during a December 13th ceremony at Nitschmann Middle School. You’ll find details the the December Newsletter, including how to sign up to attend the ceremony.

A recent review of our Round Table’s website visits showed an almost 30 percent increase since the previous review. It’s sometimes hard to know exactly what causes a boost in visitor interest. But I’m guessing that at least some of it has to do with the Taylor sword and, especially, the article written by our own Frank Whalen, which was published in late October on WFMZ.com. You’ll find the second installment of that article in the December Newsletter.

Speaking of our website, let me bring to your attention to two recently posted items: “Restoration Victories: Bulldozers on Battlefields” and “GAR Museum and Archive: Connecting the Public Campaign.” You can access the first item in the Preservation Updates page on our website. You’ll find a summary of the latter news item, sent to us from our friends at the GAR Museum & Library in Philadelphia, in the December Newsletter on page 4.

Barry

December 5th Meeting Details Announced

A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS

Before the Civil War, Christmas was not an official holiday in the United States. By the end of the war in 1865, Christmas had gone from a relatively unimportant holiday to the opposite – a day rooted in an idealized vision of home. The way Americans observed the holiday changed too, setting the stage for the more modern Christmas holiday we know today. Though individual traditions still varied, the upheaval of the Civil War made the holiday season seem more and more important to separated families. The Christmas season reminded mid-19th century Americans of the importance of the home and the institution of new Christmas traditions. Come join historical reenactor, lecturer, and tour guide Michael Jesberger for a discussion on one of our favorite holidays.

Mr. Michael Jesberger is an independent military historian who specializes in the American Revolution and Civil War time periods. He is renowned for his depth and breadth of knowledge, as well as his engaging and passionate presentation style, whether providing formal lectures, living history presentations, or tours of historic sites in the Tri-State area.

A member of numerous history based organizations and active in the reenactment community, he participates in numerous battle reenactments, living history programs, and ceremonies to honor our first and current veterans. A lifelong resident of the Philadelphia region, Mr. Jesberger is a native of Northeast Philadelphia and has relocated to Bucks and Montgomery County, PA and currently resides in Lansdale, PA with his wife, Amy, son Erik and two daughters, Erin and Emma.

November Meeting Summary and Photos

Linda Clark presented ~ Walk a Mile with Lincoln as she spoke about the citizens Lincoln would have passed after his arrival at the train station in Gettysburg and his brief remarks at the cemetery on November 19, 1863.

Photos below of Linda and the presentation of the check.

Ed Root announced that Jonathan Taylor’sd sword is on its way to the Lehigh Valley. He extended an invitation to Round Table members to attend the dedication ceremonies at the Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem on December 13th at 11:00am. Please let Ed know if you would like to attend.

As usual, we also held our preservation book raffle with winners pictured below.

From the Brigade Commander - November 2023

Great news bears repeating:

We’ve raised the money needed to acquire the sword of 20-year-old Bethlehem native, Captain Jonathan Taylor!

It's often said that preserving history happens one story at a time. And now Captain Taylor’s story, recently preserved in print by our own Round Table member, Frank Whalen, together with the upcoming, local display of the sword that Taylor carried into his last battle, to can do what stories do best: influence, teach, and inspire. Congratulations, and many thanks.

Of the $9,000 needed to purchase the sword, more than 80 percent of that sum came either from Round Table members or friends of Round Table members. Inside, you can read more about the sword and what will happen in the November Brigade Call newsletter. You’ll also see a reprint of the first installment of Frank Walen’s article.

At our upcoming November meeting, we’re heading back to one of our favorite places: Gettysburg. This time, we’ll hear from someone who dedicated more than 40 years of her life to learning and teaching others about what happened at this place and why it mattered—and still matters. She is also a retired school teacher. And teachers often make the best storytellers. You can read more in the November Newsletter about Linda Clark and the upcoming presentation she will share with us on Tuesday, November 7.

Hope to see you there.

BARRY

November 7th Program Information Announced

Linda Clark presents ~

Walk a Mile with Lincoln: Nov 19, 1863
Much has been written about President Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. But little has been written about the residents of 1863 who actually had Gettysburg addresses, those local citizens who witnessed the battle and its aftermath.

This Power Point presentation follows Lincoln’s journey as he traveled from the train station, where he arrived on November 18, 1863, to the cemetery where he delivered his “few appropriate remarks” on November 19 th .

If President Lincoln had the time to meet the residents who lived in the houses he passed, he would have found it very interesting how similar their lives were to his own. Photographs of those same buildings, with their present-day facades, will be included.

Although Linda was not able to interview any of the people of 1863, she has researched them using a variety of primary sources. Some would be surprised to learn what assortment of businesses their homes now house!

Linda Clark
As a Gettysburg native, Linda Clark found her passion for books, and the Civil War, through a juvenile fiction book presented by her third grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School.

A now retired school librarian and an emeritus Licensed Battlefield Guide, Linda enjoys researching her hometown citizens, and telling their personal stories of the Battle of Gettysburg. 

She and her husband have a Gettysburg address, with a view of the sun setting over the Blue Ridge.

Photos from "Beyond the Gatehouse" Tour of Evergreen Cemetery

Members of the CWRT of Eastern Pa were treated to a tour of Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg.

Among the photos are:
The group; the Gatehouse; Brian Kennel; from the Bedroom of the Gatehouse; the Gatehouse basement where the Thorn family stayed during the fighting and where wounded were brought; wreath from the top of the gatehouse taken down during refurbishment; Jenny Wade’s grave gatehouse sketch.

Oct 3 Program Information Announced - Seven Pines

Victor Vignola presents, “The Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) VA; The Turning Points of the Civil War”

     Surprisingly little has been written about the important Battle of Fair Oaks (and the simultaneous Seven Pines). The bloody two day affair (May 31-June 1, 1862), fought on the doorstep of the Confederate capital, was the first major battle in the Eastern Theater since Bull Run/Manassas the previous summer.

     It left more than 11,000 casualties in its wake and the primary Southern army without its commander. The possession of Richmond hung in the balance. Victor Vignola’s Contrasts in Command, which is centered around the Fair Oaks fighting, rectifies this gap in the literature.

     Major General George B. McClellan marched his Army of the Potomac up the Virginia Peninsula during the spring weeks of 1862 before committing a near-fatal error by placing his inexperienced IV Corps at the tip of the spear south of the flood-prone Chickahominy River.  Opposing McClellan at the head of the Virgina army was General Joseph E. Johnston, who had fallen back without offering much opposition.

     When the opportunity to strike beckoned, Johnston crafted an overly complex attack plan to crush the exposed IV Corps. A series of bungled Confederate marches, piecemeal assaults, and a lack of assertive leadership doomed the Southern plan. One of the wounded late in the day of May 31 was General Johnston, whose injury led to the appointment of General Robert E. Lee to take his place – a decision that changed the course of the entire Civil War.

     Sandwiched between Shiloh and the Seven Days’ Battles, the combat at Fair Oaks, and Seven Pines, has been mostly overlooked or forgotten. Although tactically inconclusive, the ramifications were far reaching in ways no one could have foreseen. And like Shiloh, the battle provided a clear warning that the war would be long and bloody.

Biography – Victor Vignola

      Historian Victor Vignola, a lifelong student of the Civil War, has written articles for publication in North and South Magazine and other forums. He delivers historical programs, conducts tours, and regularly visits various Civil War sites. He is the author of “Contrasts in Command”, which is centered around the Fair Oaks fighting.

     Vic graduated from SUNY-New Paltz with a degree in economics and business. His career included executive level labor and inter-agency relations for the Office of Mental Health in New York State. He lives with his family in Orange County, New York, home of the 124 th New York “Orange Blossoms” Regiment, which served as part of the III and V Corps from September 1862-April 1865. They fought at Gettysburg on July 2 nd at Devil’s Den as part of Ward’s Brigade.

From the Brigade Commander ~ October 2023

Our first field trip of Campaign 46 will have us heading to Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery (on Saturday, October 7). The carpool will leave from the Marriott at Delta parking lot at 10:30 a.m. and arrive just in time for a barbeque lunch. Afterwards, participants will be treated to a two-hour tour of the cemetery and the Gatehouse Museum. A few spots have recently opened up, and so, if you’d like to join the trip, please contact Claire Kukielka at clkuk@ptd.net as soon as you can.

Our October lecture will feature the Battle of Seven Pines/ Fair Oaks. I hope you’ll be able to join us. Guest speaker Victor Vignola, whose book on the subject is scheduled for a November, 2023, release, has collected from some never-before published sources to create what he says is “an original tactical and leadership study that directly challenges convention accounts.” You can read more about the lecture in the October newsletter. Sounds like it could be an interesting one! I hope to see you there!

In other news, our quest to bring home Captain Taylor’s sword continues to inch closer to reality—you’ll find an update inside the October Newsletter.

BARRY

September Meeting ~ Summary and Photos

The 46th Campaign got off to the great start as Commander Barry Arnold opened the meeting, and turned it over to Laura Kleinsmith who introduced our speaker.

Rev. Dr Nancy Hale gave a thorough presentation on “Chaplains of Gettysburg.” She spoke of some of the chaplains present during the battle and how they experienced the war.

She noted that some of the chaplains gave accounts of the action to newspapers “back home.” These accounts, written at the time of the battle, tended to give accurate descriptions, and as opposed to those written months and sometimes years later.

We also held our monthly Preservation Raffle with winner pictured below.

Sword of War - Jonathan Taylor Story on WFMZ.com

History’s Headlines by Frank Whalen (CWRT Member)
August 26, 2023
WFMZ.com

Ed Root was excited. A past president of the Civil War Roundtable of Eastern Pennsylvania, a local group of war-between-the-states history enthusiasts, he had just heard that the man who owned a sword that was carried by Captain Jonathen Taylor, a Bethlehem man who died of his wounds shortly following the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, wanted to sell it. Root did not want to own it himself, but he did think it should be returned to the Lehigh Valley and to Bethlehem, which Taylor and his family considered home at the time of his death. Recently, Root has been working closely with others to see that the sword could be purchased.

One of those who has expressed an interest is the GAR Museum in Philadelphia. The initials stand for Grand Army of the Republic, which was a name given to those who fought in the army on the Union side during the Civil War. One of their proud possessions is Old Baldy, the horse that Union General George Gordon rode at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was stuffed long ago. Root notes the sword will be on display at Nitschmann Middle School. The Bethlehem Area School District, Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites, The Civil War Roundtable of Eastern Pennsylvania and the GAR Museum have coordinated the effort. The GAR Museum will be the ultimate owner. Root adds that he has been working closely with John Rohal of Bethlehem on this project.

The modern idea behind the sword began in 2017 when Peter Maugle, a former student at Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem, was speaking to a group of students at the rededication of the city’s Civil War monument in the Rose Garden. He reflected on his own days as a student there and had often wondered how the monument came to be. As fate would have it, Maugle became a park ranger and historian at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. It was here he learned that the monument he saw as a boy had been erected in part to honor Taylor. With special permission from the Moravian Church, which Taylor had attended before the war, he was buried in God’s Acre cemetery. The monument’s dedication in 1887 had attracted the largest parade in the city’s history.

Before he left for the war Taylor’s friends gave him the magnificent sword. “We don’t know exactly when they gave it to him, but believe he carried it on the Fredericksburg battlefield,” says Root. The current owner has agreed to sell, and the money is being raised. The sword is a foot infantry officer’s weapon, not a saber.

By the era of the 1860s cavalry sabers were among the last weapons of that kind being used in actual warfare. And even then carbines were more effective when used by mounted soldiers. A sword was a weapon that suggested rank and was in general carried by officers. As a captain it was understandable that Taylor would have carried one. According to one account, the education he received included the sword fighting warrior heroes of antiquity of Greece and Rome.

The long history of swords and sword-like weapons gave them an aura that persisted long after they had become obsolete. In the opening days of World War I, there were still European armies that believed mounted horse cavalry with sabers could serve as shock troops. The were soon disabused of this notion, which, like the red pantaloons worn by French infantry, died in the mud of Flanders.

Although a mounted Polish cavalry unit on the first day of World War II surprised, attacked and dispersed some members of a German infantry unit, causing a slight delay in their invasion, there is apparently no truth to stories of them charging tanks with swords and lances, an assumption made by journalists at the time and perpetuated by the post-war Communist regime.

It could be argued that swords were already outdated as weapons in the mud of Fredericksburg. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate generals were often photographed with swords but presumably did not attempt to use them as weapons. It is hard to imagine there are not some pictures of General Ulysses Grant holding a sword but probably very few of them. At Appomattox Grant refused to accept Lee’s sword as a token of surrender.

In 1781, at the end of the battle at Yorktown that ended the fighting of the American Revolution, the British commander Lord Cornwallis sent a subordinate, General Charles O’Hara, to turn his sword over to Washington. In response Washington had a subordinate, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, of a similar rank to O’Hara, to receive it.

At least as far back as the Bronze Age cutting weapons were used in combat. Homer’s warriors before Troy used them for close fighting. Ancient Athens and Sparta used them in their Peloponnesian wars. As did Alexander the Great in his famous battles. Probably the most proficient use of the weapon they called the gladius were the legions of Rome. After hurling their pilum or spear, it was the fighting with their short sword gladius that gave Rome her long empire.

Through the Middle Ages in both myth and reality swords were the weapons of knighthood. The mythical sword in the stone of the King Arthur legend and Durendal, carried by French knight Roland in chivalric romances, come to mind. And they retained that role even with the arrival of cannons and gunpowder. As late as the 18th century George Washington, like most of…

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