November 6, 2013 Meeting Speaker Bio

 

Speaker:	Roger Arthur
Topic:	“1863 - A New Birth of Freedom”
Time:	7:00 PM
Place:	West Chester Borough Hall, Gay Street

Our Speaker this month is none other than Roger Arthur, a long-time members and valuable contributor to the Round Table.  His topic will be “1863:  A New Birth of Freedom.”

Roger has been a student of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln his entire life. He has traveled extensively across America visiting most of the major Civil War and Lincoln sites including the

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. He has attended numerous forums, symposia, lectures and classes about Lincoln and the War. He has been a member of the

Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table since 1990 and served as program chairman for many years. In addition to his interest in the Rebellion and Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Arthur has a great interest in America's youngest, most dynamic, most decorated, most energetic and popular president, Theodore Roosevelt. He has developed a first person portrayal of "Colonel Roosevelt" for audiences of all types.

Mr. Arthur holds both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in history and regularly lectures on historical topics to a variety of groups, libraries, colleges, and historic clubs in the East. He teaches Modern American History at Bishop Shanahan High School and courses at the Chester County Night School.  Mr. Arthur is married and lives with his wife, Leslie, in historic Chadds Ford. They have six children and nine grandchildren.

November 6th Rear Ranks Entry

From the Rear Ranks:  

Greetings Members!

I hope everyone is well!  This month we are fortunate to have long-time member and contributor to the Round Table, Roger Arthur presenting.  He will be speaking on "1863 - A New Birth of Freedom."  As always we look forward to Roger's presentations and this one is appropriate given the approach of the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. 

In modern times Abraham Lincoln's speech was the focus of the dedication ceremonies at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, however at the time Edward Everett was seen as the "headliner" at those ceremonies.  I have included an excerpt of the New York Time review of Everett's oration.

I look forward to seeing you all this week!  And please get your dues in if you have not done so already!

Respectively,

Chip Crowe
President,
Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

New York Times,
November 20, 1863

Orations of Everett and Beecher.

 

We devote a broadside of this morning's TIMES to the publication of two orations which we are sure will command the attention of the day. And not of this day only. Elaborate and finished discourses from two such men as EDWARD EVERETT and HENRY WARD BEECHER, upon topics of such great National interest as those they discuss, will not lightly be passed over, much less ignored altogether, by any intelligent citizen. Mr. EVERETT's theme is the "Battle of Gettysburgh," and the occasion is the dedication of that historic field as a National Cemetery. Mr. BEECHER's discourse was upon his recent tour in Great Britain -- his experiences there, and his views as regards British feeling and policy toward this country. These orations from two masters of oratory, delivered on the same day, but upon such different topics -- one historical and domestic, the other practical and foreign -- admit of little comparison.

 

     Mr. EVERETT's oration is, of course, classical and ornate in its diction, felicitous in illustration, well-wrought and strong in its logic, correct and explicit in its statement; in a word, it is eloquent, in the best sense of that much-abused term. His exordium is of great beauty; and his peroration is splendid. If we might offer a single point of criticism on the oration, it would be upon that part of it, constituting one-half of its body, which gives a narrative of the marches, manoeuvres, skirmishes and strategy of Gens. HOOKER and LEE, Gens. PLEASONTON and STUART, from the time at which the two armies left the opposite banks of the Rappahannock until they confronted each other on this side of the Potomac, and also the detailed account of the preliminaries of the battle, and of the action itself. Mr. EVERETT enters into a very minute statement of these things; and the elaborateness of the details, the large number of names, places and circumstances he has occasion to recall, will tend to confuse and repel those who are less familiar with the events than himself, and crowd out those "glittering generalities" which he or any other great orator might be expected mainly to deal in on such an occasion. It may be said that these things were dwelt upon, as the oration is intended and expected to be enduring and historical; but so also will be the reports of Gens. MEADE and LEE, from which the facts are largely drawn. After he gets through with this, however, Mr. EVERETT does justice to his subject and himself. Mr. BEECHER's very eloquent and effective oration will command no less attention than the oration of Mr. EVERETT. Great and national as has been his reputation as a speaker previously, that reputation has been largely magnified by his efforts on the other side of the sea. The English critics, who make such severe demands upon a public speaker, were taken captive by the American preacher; and the echoes of his resounding eloquence found a no less appreciative and delighted auditory in his own country. His speech last night was equal to his best efforts in England; indeed in logical connection, force and brilliancy, it was superior to any of his heretofore published speeches. His analysis of British sentiment and character did as perfect justice to the British people as his defence of America did justice thereto in England. The speech, however, will be universally read throughout the land, and every one can give vent and form to his own admiration.

 

Note:  The Times thus published and praised Everett's now forgotten oration a full day before re-printing the elegiac little speech that Lincoln had delivered afterward.   

October 2 Speaker Bio

Jaan Ingle Troltenier

Biographical Information

Jaan was born in the second capital of the Confederacy (Richmond, VA) and grew up in a city

subject to a famous Western theater campaign held in late 1863 (Chattanooga, TN). But please
don’t hold her Rebel roots against her!

As the daughter of an American History professor, Jaan visited numerous Civil War sites as a

child, although her interests today are oriented more to such topics as the medical aspects of
the War and the semiotics of period dress than to battlefield logistics. She holds Bachelor’s
degrees in Spanish and in Latin, and received her Master’s in Linguistics from Louisiana State
University, an institution whose first superintendent back in 1859, oddly enough, was none other
than William Tecumseh Sherman.

Jaan has been a docent with Art Goes to School, an elementary school art history program, for

nine years. As part of this program she has impersonated such 20th century artists as Frida
Kahlo and Sonia Delaunay, and 17th century male artist Diego Velazquez. In addition, she gives
programs at the local high schools’ language programs in the art of Germany, Mexico, France,
and in Cajun French.

Jaan has been a resident of West Chester since 2005 and lives here with her husband, Dirk, and

their two children. Dirk and she have been members of BVCWRT since 2012.

October 2, 2013 Rear Ranks Entry

From the Rear Ranks:  

Greetings Members!

I hope everyone is enjoying the fine Fall weather we have been experiencing.  This month we are privileged to have one of our own members, Jaan Troltenier presenting.  She will be speaking on "Art of the Civil War."  I believe this is the first time this topic has been shared with the Round Table and I for one am looking forward to it. 

We recently observed the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, the largest battle in the Western Theatre.  I would like to share with you this month an article printed in the New York Times on September 26th, 1863, describing one of the key players in that great battle.  I apologize upfront for my slight prejudice here, but George Thomas is one of my favorite figures from the Civil War.

I look forward to seeing you all this week!

Respectively,

Chip Crowe
President,
Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

MAJ.-GEN. THOMAS.

September 26, 1863

 

The full accounts that are reaching us from the hard-contested field near Chickamauga Creek do justice to the services of one of the ablest and most successful Generals in the Union army -- Maj.-Gen. THOMAS. It appears that this gallant soldier bore the brunt of the rebel attack unharmed, on both days of the fight, though the onset in each case was impetuous and overwhelming. It is no discredit to the corps of Gens. MCCOOK and CRITTENDEN that they were broken by the outnumbering hosts of the enemy. The metal of these men had been tried before, and they are known and approved as among the bravest of our Union soldiers. But if a part of the gallant army of ROSECRANS could be driven back without disgrace, it must not be denied that unusual credit and renown are due to that portion which withstood every shock, and dealt horrible slaughter upon a foe so numerous as to be deemed invincible. This is the signal merit of the corps of Gen. THOMAS in the sanguinary battle in Northern Georgia. The stubborn fighting of this portion of the army is all that saved the fortunes of the day, as we understand the contest at this distance; and if the enemy fails to follow up his supposed advantages, it will be mainly because of the damaging blows inflicted by this heroic

 

General. Gen. THOMAS is a Southerner, a native-born Virginian, and will be remembered as the leader of the Union forces in that first fortunate and decisive battle in Kentucky, Mill Spring, in which Gen. ZOLLICOFFER lost his life, and the rebel Gen. CRITTENDEN was driven across the Cumberland and out of the State in such confusion and rout. He has the prestige of success, and richly deserves the gratitude of the nation.

September 4, 2013 Speaker Bio

Speaker: Ed Bonekemper

Topic: “How Robert E. Lee Lost the Civil War”

Time: 7:00 PM

Place: West Chester Borough Hall, Gay Street

 

Our speaker this month is Edward H. Bonekemper, III. I am sure that many of you remember Mr. Bonekemper, he

has spoken to our Round Table before. I can remember one talk he gave about “How Grant Helped Lee Lose the
War” February 2005. Mr. Bonekemper lives in Willow Street, PA with his wife for over 40 years. I pulled just a small
amount of his Bio, as well as a sample of his large number of publications.  Over the past 14 years Mr. Bonekemper has spoken at the Smithsonian Institute as well as Roundtables in Chicago, Milwaukee, Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater Pittsburgh CWRTs to name a few.

  

Education:

J.D., Yale Law School, New Haven, CT (1967)

M.A., history, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA (1971) (Master’s thesis: “Negroes’

Freedom of Contract in Antebellum Virginia, 1620-1860”)

B.A., cum laude, American history, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA (1964)

 

Publications:

 

Lincoln and Grant: The Westerners Who Won the Civil War.  Published as e-book on Kindle and Nook in November 2011.  Published as hardcover and softcover book by CreateSpace in February 2012.

Grant and Lee: Victorious American and Vanquished Virginian (Praeger/Greenwood, Westport, Connecticut and London, 2008) (reissued as e-book, 2010)(being reissued as softcover by Regnery Press, December 2012)

McClellan and Failure: A Study of Civil War Fear, Incompetence and Worse (McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2007) (reissued as softcover, 2010)

A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant’s Overlooked Military Genius (Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, D.C., 2004) (reissued as softcover under title Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher, 2010) (reissued as e-book, 2009). Nominated, by request, for the Lincoln Prize of the Civil War Institute. About 9,000 copies sold.

How Robert E. Lee Lost the Civil War (Sergeant Kirkland’s Press, Fredericksburg, VA, 1998, hardcover and softcover (reissued as e-book, 2010).  Nominated for Virginia Book of the Year.  Over 8,000 copies sold.

·         Adjunct Lecturer, Muhlenberg College, U.S. military history (American Military

History: The Revolution to Vietnam, Civil War, World War II)(2003-present)

·         Included in 2006-07 edition of Who’s Who Among American Teachers &

Educators

 

Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (Retired)

September 4, 2013 Rear Ranks Entry

From the Rear Ranks:  

Greetings Members!

 

I hope everyone had a good summer.  I was able to get out and attend the 150^th anniversary events at Gettysburg and had a great time.  I saw a few of you there as well and I think the Park Service did a great job with the battlefield hikes and activities.  Be that as it may, on to a new campaign.  We have a great selection of speakers this year and the meetings this year should be a good time.  I do have a general announcement, until such time that a new editor for the Signal Flag can be found this will be the only mailing this year to individuals without email, I will still post a short message on the Blog as well as the Facebook page for those who are interested, prior to each meeting.  I am doing this one mailing this year to make folks aware of our speakers as well as to send out the membership form for the new campaign. 

 

This month we have a speaker who is back for a return engagement.  Ed Bonekemper will be speaking on "Why Lee Lost the War."  Ed spoke to use about U.S. Grant a few years back. 

 

I hope to see you all on September 4th!

 

Respectively,

Chip Crowe

President,

Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

April 3, 2013 Rear Ranks Entry

From the Rear Ranks:  

 

Greetings Members!

 

A good time was had by all during Charlie Zahm’s re-scheduled concert this month.  The great snow storm hoax of 2013 put a slight wrinkle into our original meeting but due to members of the executive committee pulling together and some luck in scheduling availability by the town everything worked out.  This month we are priviledged to have John Michael Priest speaking on Pickett’s Charge.  For this month I have selected an article in the New York times describing the first set of Bread Riots by the Ladies of Richmond in 1863.  This article is but one example of how the prolonged War of Rebellion was taking its toll on Southern civilians.  I hope to see you all this week!

 

Respectively,

Chip Crowe
President,
Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

March 2013 Rear Ranks Entry

From the Rear Ranks:  

 

Greetings Members!

 

I hope everyone enjoyed last month’s presentation by Chris Densmore.  Personally I enjoyed learning about the Quakers and Emancipation as well as hearing about local communities in our area.  This month we are lucky to have Charlie Zahm back for the third time at our roundtable.  We are fortunate to have such a talented singer and musician perform for us again.  I hope to see you all this coming week.  For this month I have found an interesting passage in the New York times regarding General Hooker’s introduction of more fresh break to the army as opposed to hard tack, perhaps a minor point unless you have ever had the unfortunate experience of having to live on hard tack alone…

 

Respectively,

Chip Crowe

President,

Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

 

FRESH BREAD vs. "HARD TACK."

We are glad to hear of the success of the system inaugurated by Gen. HOOKER for supplying his army regularly with fresh bread. If we may judge of the style of ovens used by the pictures of them given in the illustrated papers they are simple and well contrived, and ought to turn out a good loaf or biscuit. There are professional bakers enough in every brigade of the army to work the matter, as well as the dough, properly. As each soldier is entitled to a pound loaf every other day, we suppose between sixty and seventy thousand loaves will be consumed per diem by the infantry, artillery and horse-marines under command of Gen. JOE HOOKER.

DE QUINCEY[1] says that one can form some conception of the vast mass of human beings who dwell in London by observing the prodigious droves of cattle that march into it daily, never to march out again, but to be devoured by the Cockneys; and on the same principle, some conception can be formed of the magnitude of Gen. HOOKER's army by pondering upon the prodigious pyramid of bread (not to speak of cattle) that it makes away with daily. Sixty thousand pound loaves, if put together endwise, would stretch from the Battery to Seventieth-street; if piled on top of each other, would reach -- not quite to the Dog-Star; if they were used for a breastwork, with a hungry army to defend them, all the rebels in the South, with JEFF. DAVIS at their head, could not capture it.

We hope that as Gen. HOOKER has introduced the fresh bread ration into his army, he will look around occasionally to see that the bakers furnish a good, light, digestible article. There is nothing worse for the stomach and pluck of the troops than damp, heavy, half-cooked bread. A single meal of it, on the eve of a battle, would almost certainly insure defeat. We are no special admirers of the bran-bread school of philosophers; but in favor of bran-bread itself, as an article of diet, there are excellent arguments, which would have more than ordinary force in the army. Everybody knows that there are some quite valuable elements of the flour lost in the super-refining process; and many a dyspeptic can testify to the value of the invention of Rev. Mr. GRAHAM. Corn bread or "dodgers," also, would form an excellent article for the army -- cheap, nutritious and wholesome. All the Western troops would far prefer it to the flour bread, and their preference would be justified by chemistry, physiology and experience. The rebel soldiers, it is true, live on this article to a great extent; but we do not see that that furnishes any argument why our gallant boys should live on an article which is in every way its inferior. Corn bread and bacon; corn bread and coffee! They're dishes fit for a sovereign, or an army of sovereigns, such as Gen. JOE HOOKER commands.

 

(Source New York Times Article Published March 4,1863)

---

[1] Of course, English author Thomas De Quincy (1785-1859) had also advocated consuming opium.

February 2013 Speaker Profile

Brandywine Civil War Roundtable

Come to our Next Meeting!

February 6, 2013

Speaker:	Christopher Densmore
Topic:	Emancipation and the Pennsylvania Quakers
Time:	7:00 PM
Place:	West Chester Borough Hall, Gay Street

Our speaker for this month is Christopher Densmore.  He will be discussing the Emancipation Proclamation and Quakers.  Mr. Densmore has held the position of Curator at the Swarthmore College Friends Library, a position he has held for over 12 years.  Previously he was the University Archivist at the State University of New York at Buffalo for 27 years.  He received a BA in History from Oberlin College and  Masters in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madision.  He is also a member of the board of Chadd’s Ford Historical Society, the Friends Library and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries.

Mr. Densmore is the author of Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator (Syracuse Univ. Press, 1999), co-author of Quaker Crosscurrents: Three Hundred Years of the New York Yearly Meetings (Syracuse, 1995), author of introduction to the new edition to Robert C. Smedley’s History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania (Stackpole Books, 2005), and of fifty other publications including articles in Quaker History, New York History, Quaker Studies, American National Biography and other publications.

In addition Mr.  Densmore has done recent presentations on the following topics: 

“Early Woman’s Rights in Chester County,” Hadley Foundation, Unionville, PA, February 27, 2012; “Short History of Quakers in Pennsylvania,” Winterthur Museum, Delaware, June 2, 2011; “Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, Slavery and the Chester County Quakers, Hadley Memorial Lecture, Unionville, PA, January 15, 2010; Across Regions, Across Religion, Across Race: Quakers, African-Americans and the Underground Railroad,” Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference, Cambridge, MD, June 5, 2010

February 2013 Rear Ranks Post

From the Rear Ranks:  

 

Greetings Members!

 

I hope everyone enjoyed last month’s traditional roundtable format.  There were some great discussions and conclusions from each group.  This month’s presentation by Chris Densmore will explore the Emancipation Proclamation in associate with the Quakers.  This is appropriate given we have just passed the 150^th anniversary of its passage.  I hope to see you all this coming week and for your amusement I have included Abraham Lincoln’s letter to General Hooker as he took command of the Army of the Potomac.  

 

Respectively,

Chip Crowe
President,
Brandywine Valley Civil War Round Table

Letter to General Joseph Hooker

January 26, 1863

Executive Mansion

Washington, January 26, 1863

Major-General Hooker:
General.

            I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac.  Of course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons.  And yet I think it’s best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which, I am not quite satisfied with you.  I believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier, which, of course, I like.  I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right.  You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality.  You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does, good rather than harm.  But I think that during Gen. Burnside’s command of the Army, you have taken counsel of your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer.  I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator.  Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command.  Only those generals who gain successes, can setup up dictators.  What I now as of you is military success and I will risk the dictatorship.  The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders.  I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticisizing their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you.  I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down.  Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army, while such spirit prevails in it. 

     And now, beware of rashness.  Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories.

Yours very truly

A. Lincoln

 

(Source Abraham Lincoln:  His Speeches and Letters p. 693-4)