When:  September 11th

Where:  La Navona, 154 North Hamilton Road. Gahanna Ohio 43230

Time:   7pm

Speaker:  Phil Spaugy

Topic:   “Boy’s, We Must Hold Our Colors on this line, Or Die under Them”.  The actions of the Color Guard of the 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry on July 1st, 1863.

Phil Spaugy;

Professional – Vice President and co-owner of Aviation Sales, Inc., a provider of aviation services to the Miami Valley General Aviation community.  Aviation Sales Inc.

Personal – born in Sidney, Ohio and currently a resident of Vandalia, Ohio.

Fueled by my grandmother’s love of books and history (she taught in the Metz Schoolhouse near Jackson Center, Ohio), I have had a lifelong interest in the American Civil War since age seven and started collecting items from the period at age 16.

I have been a member of Union Guards, Company A, 19th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the North South Skirmish Association [N-SSA] for the last 41 years. During my time as a member, I have served on the N-SSA Board of Directors for over 20 years and have held the offices of Midwest Region Commander, National Inspector General, National Deputy Commander, and from 2013-2016 I had the honor to serve as National Commander of the organization. As a member of the N-SSA I have live-fired almost every type of firearm issued to both sides during the American Civil War.

North South Skirmish Association
N-SSA Videos

My main areas of study and interest have been in the arms and accoutrements of the Federal infantry soldier with an emphasis on soldiers from the great state of OHIO and the firearms of the U.S Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. My collection of Civil War longarms altered for the states of OHIO and Indiana in 1861 by Miles Greenwood won the prestigious “Best Military Arms” display award at the 2017 Ohio Civil War Show.

I have also extensively studied the soldiers, battles and campaigns of the famed Iron Brigade of the West, of which the 19th Indiana was a member regiment, with a particular interest in the actions of the color guard of the 19th at the battle of Gettysburg. Along with my friend Lance Herdegen, I took great pride in doing the research with for the Don Troiani print “The Black Hats” which depicts the gallantry of Sergeant Major Asa Blanchard of the 19th Indiana on the afternoon of July 1st.

The Black Hats

I have done research and proofreading for authors such as Ron Coddington (Military Images magazine), Lance Herdegen, Eric Wittenberg, Dan Masters, Scott Mingus, Don Troiani and others.

I am currently a contributing editor for Military Images magazine.

Military Images Magazine

I have been a guest contributor to the American Battlefield Trust series of live videos, most recently for the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

American Battlefield Trust Videos

Over the last 5 years my wife Amy and I have been active supporters of the Seminary Ridge Museum, by donating a reproduction Civil War ambulance, funding the wayside marker that detailing the wounding of Lt. Colonel George McFarland of the 151st Pennsylvania along with donating the material to reconstruct a portion of the “slight barricade of rails” on Seminary Ridge where the Old First Corps of the Army of the Potomac made their final stand on the afternoon of July 1st.

Seminary Ridge Museum

My wife Amy and I also provided the funding to enable the creation of the OHIO display at the Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In 2018 my friend Phil Harris and I am raised the funding needed to restore the badly deteriorated statue of Brigadier General Solomon Meredith that marks his grave in Riverside Cemetery, Cambridge City, Indiana. Long Sol commanded the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg. For more on this very worthwhile endeavor please visit the link below:

Brigadier General Solomon Meredith

My blog, which reflects my interests, can be found at:Phil Spaugy Blog

I am a proud descendant of soldiers who served with the following units during the war:

61st PVI 142nd PVI, 57th, 81st, 99th OVI and the 26th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

Contact info:

Phil Spaugy

11150 North Cassel Road

Vandalia, Ohio 43577

Cell 937-673-4407

Home 937-454-1846

Pspaugy@aol.com

September Presidents Message

Where: MOTTS MILITARY MUSEUM, 5075 South Hamilton Rd, Groveport, OH 43125

When:   August 14th

Time:     7pm

Speaker: Steve T. Phan

Topic:  The Defenses of Washington, D.C.

Steve will detail the only major battle that took place within the confines of Washington, D.C., as Confederate Jubal A. Early embarked on an ambitious raid on the Federal capital in July 1864. Awaiting the Confederate Army of the Valley District were the Defenses of Washington. By 1864, 68 major forts, 93 batteries, 900 cannons and mortars, and 32 miles of earthworks encircled the city. The fortified capital lacked trained defenders by summer 1864. Could the forts hold Early off long enough for reinforcements to arrive?

 

Steve T. Phan is a historian and park ranger at the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Prior to his arrival at CWDW, he worked at Gettysburg National Military Park, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Stones River National Battlefield, and Rock Creek Park. A military history scholar of the Civil War era, Phan’s research focuses on military occupation, operational command, fortifications, and the Western Theater during the Civil War. He holds a Masters degree in American History, with a concentration in Public History.

 

 

 

Steve Phan on Emerging Civil War

August Presidents Message

On a Great Battlefield

 

Where: MOTTS MILITARY MUSEUM, 5075 South Hamilton Rd, Groveport, OH 43125

When:   August 14th

Time:     7pm

Speaker: Steve T. Phan

Topic:  The Defenses of Washington, D.C.

Steve will detail the only major battle that took place within the confines of Washington, D.C., as Confederate Jubal A. Early embarked on an ambitious raid on the Federal capital in July 1864. Awaiting the Confederate Army of the Valley District were the Defenses of Washington. By 1864, 68 major forts, 93 batteries, 900 cannons and mortars, and 32 miles of earthworks encircled the city. The fortified capital lacked trained defenders by summer 1864. Could the forts hold Early off long enough for reinforcements to arrive?

 

Steve T. Phan is a historian and park ranger at the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Prior to his arrival at CWDW, he worked at Gettysburg National Military Park, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Stones River National Battlefield, and Rock Creek Park. A military history scholar of the Civil War era, Phan’s research focuses on military occupation, operational command, fortifications, and the Western Theater during the Civil War. He holds a Masters degree in American History, with a concentration in Public History.

 

 

 

Steve Phan on Emerging Civil War

August Presidents Message

On a Great Battlefield

 

When: July 10th

Where: La Navona, 154 North Hamilton Road. Gahanna Ohio 43230

Time: 7pm

Speaker:  Dr. Jennifer M. Murray

Topic: “‘On A Great Battlefield’: The History of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1863-2016

 

“‘On A Great Battlefield’: The History of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1863-2016” explores the 150 year history of the Gettysburg battlefield. Over 6,000 books and articles have been written on the three-day battle, but historians have devoted minimal attention to the history of the landscape itself and the complicated, divisive, and controversial nature of preserving, interpreting, and commemorating America’s most hallowed ground. Ultimately the Gettysburg landscape is significant beyond the events of July 1-3, 1863. Dr. Murray’s program explores the first preservation and commemorative efforts of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association and the U.S War Department, with a particular focus on the National Park Service administration.

The National Park Service acquired the battlefield in 1933 and the ensuing eight-decades highlights the complicated nexus between preservation, tourism, popular culture, interpretation, commemoration, and memory. The Park Service’s management of the battlefield occurs not in a vacuum, but within a larger realm of political, social, and academic trends. Decisions made by park officials simultaneously influence the interpretive story at Gettysburg, the narrative presented to thousands of park visitors, and shape more broadly the Gettysburg experience. The history of the Gettysburg battlefield from 1933 to the present underscores the complicated relationship between race and reunion, public and private interests, between preservation theories and utilitarian uses, between the National Park Service and the American people, and between fact and fiction.

Dr. Jennifer M. Murray is a military historian, with a specialization in the American Civil War, in the Department of History at Oklahoma State University. Murray’s most recent publication is On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013, published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2014. Murray is also the author of The Civil War Begins, published by the U.S. Army’s Center of Military History in 2012. She is currently working on a full-length biography of George Gordon Meade, tentatively titled Meade at War. Murray is a veteran faculty member at Gettysburg College’s Civil War Institute and a coveted speaker at Civil War symposiums and roundtables. In addition, Murray worked as a seasonal interpretive park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park for nine summers (2002-2010).

July Presidents Message

 

When:  June 12th

Where:    La Navona, 154 North Hamilton Road. Gahanna Ohio 43230

Time:   7pm

Speaker: Gary Dyson

Topic:   “A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans”

“A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans” explores the eyewitness account of Boston Journal War Correspondent Albert Gaius Hills from the day he left Boston Harbor in November 1861 through the New Orleans Campaign of 1862. Hills recorded his observations while with the Union fleet in the Gulf of Mexico and on Ship Island as well as his account of the bombardments of Forts Jackson and St. Philip and impression of captured New Orleans.  Hills’ life and his relationships with other correspondents are also part of the presentation.

Gary L. Dyson is a retired Environmental Specialist from the city of Gaithersburg, MD and a former Marine. He is a lifelong history enthusiast and has spent countless hours reading, researching and exploring battlefields – from the French and Indian War to World War II. Gary owns Dyson Genealogy and Historical Research and is the author of “Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith” and “A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, the Journals and Reports of Albert Gaius Hills of the Boston Journal.” He has a BS in Natural Resources Management from Oregon State University. Gary lives in Mount Airy, MD with his wife Emily and has two children away at college. He is also a board member for the Frederick County Civil War Round Table in Maryland.

Presidents Message

A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans

When:   May 8th

Where:  La Navona, 154 North Hamilton Road. Gahanna Ohio 43230

Time:      7pm

Speaker:  Michael K. Shaffer

Topic:       “In Memory of Self and Comrades: Thomas Wallace Colley’s Recollection of Civil War Service in the 1st Virginia Cavalry.”

Thomas W. Colley served in one of the most active and famous units in the Civil War, the 1st Virginia Cavalry, which fought in battles in the Eastern Theater, from First Manassas/Bull Run to the defense of Petersburg. Colley was born November 11, 1837, outside Abingdon, Virginia, and grew up knowing the daily demands of life on a farm. In May 1861, along with the other members of the Washington Mounted Rifles, he left his home in Washington County and reported to camp in Richmond. During the war, Colley received wounds on three different occasions: first at Waterloo Bridge in 1862, again at Kelly’s Ford in 1863, and finally at Haw’s Shop in 1864. The engagement at Haw’s Shop resulted in the amputation of his left foot, thereby ending his wartime service.

The first modern scholarly edition of Colley’s writings, In Memory of Self and Comrades dramatizes Colley’s fate as a wounded soldier mustered out before the war’s conclusion. Colley’s postwar reflections on the war reveal his struggle to earn a living and maintain his integrity while remaining somewhat unreconciled to his condition. He found much of his solace through writing and sought to advance his education after the war. As one of an estimated 20,000 soldiers who underwent amputation during the Civil War, his memoirs reveal the challenges of living with what many might recognize today as post-traumatic stress disorder. Annotations from editor Michael K. Shaffer provide further context to Colley’s colorful and insightful writings on both his own condition and the condition of other veterans also dealing with amputations.

A Civil War historian, author, newspaper columnist, instructor,
and battlefield guide, Shaffer remains a member of the Society of Civil War
Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, Georgia
Association of Historians, and Georgia Writers Association. He serves as
president of the Friends of Camp McDonald, and on the board of the Cobb
County Civil War Round Table. Shaffer holds BA and MA degrees, with
honors, in Military History – Civil War Studies. He frequently lectures to
various groups, and currently teaches Civil War courses at Kennesaw State
University’s College of Continuing and Professional Education, and at
Emory University

Civil War Historian

Presidents Message  

Lee’s March to Gettysburg