At our June Meeting - the final one of this campaign year, we heard Gen James Longstreet talk about his early years and some of the highlights of his career and battles.
We held our annual preservation raffle with prints and books being awared to lucky winners.
We also held our monthly book raffle with the winners pictured below.
Looking forward to a refreshing break in the summer and a new campaign starting the first Tuesday in September.
Annual Raffles prizes
Book raflle winners
WHO WAS JAMES LONGSTREET??
For the last 160+ years, enough has been written about the American Civil War that the tomes would fill buildings! Depending on the author, the same story could be viewed from a Northern bent or a Southern story of antebellum ways of life.
Even so, the most succinct description of the conflict has not been fully accepted by our whole country, since it is considered by some groups to be the "War of Northern Aggression", "Mr. Lincoln's War" or other descriptors. This 19th century crisis, which caused a split amongst its citizens so large in its views of society, loyalty, and economy, to state a few, that its magnitude, emotionally, was bigger than the Grand Canyon is to geology.
Through this epic debacle, brother was fighting brother, extended families were on opposite sides, and all men had to decide what they believed almost overnight (between November, 1860 and March,1861). And, once Secession became a political reality in the South and Lincoln called for volunteers to end this rebellion, the die was cast.
My ancestors were here in the US for over 100 years by the time I was born. My father was born in New Jersey and moved the family to Georgia. 'Pete' (as they called me) Longstreet spent his formative years with my uncle in South Carolina, listening to local people visiting my uncle's home and espousing southern rights, destinies, and philosophies, which helped develop my loyalties. After my father died, when I was young, and my mother moved the family Alabama, friends there help me get an appointment to West Point.
It was there that I made lifelong friends that I would see on my side of the War's battles as well as across those battle lines, including my very close friend, U.S. Grant, who chose to stay with the Union, despite having Southern slave holding in-laws. Feeling that I could not fight against family from Alabama or South Carolina, my decision was made very quickly, and just as quickly, I jumped into the fray and fought in almost every major battle on the Eastern front, from Manassas to Appomattox Court House, and was present with R. E. Lee at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia in April, 1865.
So why am I portrayed as a traitor to the South and treated as a pariah by my comrades? Was I really a traitor to the Southern cause during the war? Was I the reason the Confederacy lost the battle of Gettysburg and, ultimately, the War?
On Tuesday evening, June 4, and out of the depths of history, "Old Pete" comes to speak to our group about his origins and views, and hopefully, to answer these questions.
How can you spot a Civil War buff?
They’re the kinds of folks who are always on the lookout for ways to treat themselves to secondhand lives-and-times experiences that surrounded the war. They’re excited to stomp across wet, grassy fields to follow in the imagined footsteps of soldiers who fought in that place. And while inside a museum, you can almost watch them get goosebumps while viewing an article of clothing or a saber once worn by a favorite officer.
If I’ve just described you, I’m happy to report we’ve got a field trip coming up, on June 8, that is right up your alley. Round Table members AND their guests are welcome. You can read all about it at the right or on pages 4 and 5 of our June newsletter
If you want to make it a weekend, and the sounds and smells of the battle are enough to get you in a Civil-War-frame-of-mind, I invite you to read about an upcoming shooting event, using Civil War reproduction weaponry, on pages 3 and 4 of the June Newsletter.
Check the photo on the right. Notice any goosebumps? June 4 will be the last meeting of Campaign 46. You can read a bit about our speakers and their subject on page 2 of that same June newsletter. More details will follow via email once we receive their final synopsis.
And, in case I forget to say so during the meeting, let me thank everyone now for another successful campaign. And watch for our Summer, 2024, edition of the Civil War Roundtable of Eastern Pa., Inc., which is planned for a mid- July, 2024, release.
BARRY
Jack Stanley brought some of his Civil War memorabilia to the May CWR meeting for a fantastic display.
Look at the photos to see a reincarnation of an 1863 photograph of noncommissioned officers of Co D 93 New York infantry dinner mess. It included a basic cooking mess exhibit using original tinware and the often used Sibley tripod and stove.
The display also included an original officer’s campaign desk with many officer accoutrements as well as several original uniforms, field gear, and an interesting local item or two.
Pistols and Rfles were also included.
Enjoy these photos.
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE NIGHT!
We were treated to fantastic displays by Jack Stanley, and Alan & Patti Locher. (See separate Brigade News posts for details of each display.)
We listened to Brad Gottfreid speak about the little known Point Lookout prisoner of war camp in Southern Maryland used to house Confederate soldiers. With a capacity of 10,000, the prison held more than 20,000 men at times, with more than 50,000 passing through its gates in the years it was in use.
We held our monthly book raffle for preservation.
. . . both sides had taken substantial losses. Robert E. Lee’s 50,000 remaining troops of the Army of Northern Virginia needed to withdraw from 80,000 remaining Union troops in George Meade’s Army of the Potomac. Where did they go? Monterey Pass was the site of a battle that would determine whether Lee would be able to retreat and fight another day.
On Saturday June 8 join the E Pa CWRT on a field trip to the site of this battle.
DETAILS:
Leave - Delta Hotel at 8:00am sharp
Tour - 10:30 + visit battlefield museum
Lunch at a local restaurant
Approx cost for tour $15-20 each + lunch cost
Battlefield website is https://montereypassbattlefield.org/
Contact Claire if you are interested in attending.
On Saturday April 27th, members of the Roundtable took a trip to the new home of the GAR Museum in Philadelphia for a personally guided tour by Walt Lafty. (Museum website - https://garmuslib.org/ )
Claire wrote - “Walt, the tour today was absolutely amazing. When we went to lunch, everyone kept saying how great the tour was. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned so much.I hope to see you in the future. Many thanks.”
Kay noted, “Agree.. enjoyed it immensely and the restaurant was very good as well. Good job Claire.”
Ed said “It was a grand tour”
Walt replied, “Thank you all for a very enjoyable day. Your group was one of the best to have visited the GAR Civil War Museum. It was clear to me how knowledgeable and interested your members are on the subject. And it is so nice for me to spend time with people who enjoy Civil War history and who appreciate promoting the legacy of those who served as well as their families.
I want to also thank you all for the generous donation to help support the museum. I passed that on to our treasurer and Board members so you should get a thank you from them soon. You have inspired me to try and make it up to one of your upcoming meetings.
Thanks, Walt Lafty”
In addition to the usual dinner option and lecture, a special exhibit, curated by Round Table members Alan Lowcher and Jack Stanley, will be set up in our meeting room.
In keeping with the dinner theme of our meetings, the items on display will be a brought-to-life reincarnation of an 1863 photograph (right) of noncommissioned officers of Co D 93 New York infantry dinner mess. The exhibit will include a basic cooking mess exhibit using original tinware and the oftenused Sibley tripod and stove.
The display will also include an original officer’s campaign desk with many officer accoutrements as well as several original uniforms, field gear, and an interesting local item or two.
And, of course, no display would be complete without a few regimental instruments to keep the troops marching along.
Consider arriving earlier than usual so you’ll have plenty of time to view the display before the dinner and lecture begins. And since you’ll be there early, why not stay on and join us for dinner?
Campaign 46 is drawing to a close. But just as it started off with a bang—the culmination of a triumphant campaign to bring home the officer’s sword of Captain Jonathan Taylor, Campaign 46 is likewise coming to a memorable ending.
At our second-to-last meeting in May, attendees will be treated to a special Civil War display, inside our own meeting room, that will be curated by Round Table members Alan Lowcher and Jack Stanley. To me, the time and effort that something like this is going to take really speaks volumes about the way so many folks feel about the Civil War ... about not wanting to let it go away.
We want it to continue to tug at our imagination. We want to continue to feel it—even though none of us were there to see it. It’s why there is such a thing as the Civil War Round Table of Eastern Pa. You can read more about the special exhibit in Brigade News or on page 3 of our May newsletter.
I hope many of you will be able to arrange (or rearrange) your schedules to join us on May 7 so that you, too, can fire (or refire) your imagination about the extraordinary moment in history that we call the American Civil War.
BARRY
