When:  January 9th

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

Time:   7pm

Speaker:  You!     Annual Roundtable group discussion

Topic:   “The Changing Historical Perspective on George McClellan.”

Please come to the meeting ready to listen to some of the recent reappraisal’s of Little Mac’s generalship and to argue whether these perspectives have any validity.  Mike Peters will be making a presentation on the history of scholarship on McClellan, and then Tim Maurice will discuss his personal experience on his attitude toward McClellan and the effect of recent scholarship on his views. I will moderate the discussion but also give some insight into  why I feel that many of the histories written from 1940 to 2010 treated McClellan incorrectly.

Major General George McClellan and Mrs. McClellan

Presidents Message

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District

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There is no meeting in the month of December. Enjoy the holidays and we will reconvine in January for our ever popular membership roundtable discussion.

December Presidents Message

When: November 14th

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

Time: 7pm

Speaker: Ted Savas

Topic: A Dying Prodigy, Fake News, and the Fall of the Old South. The War Outside my Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Gresham, 1860-1865.

An in-depth discussion about how one of the  most important Civil War Diaries was found, how it came to be published, the genius of the young teenager who wrote it, and the amazing insights we gain from it.

Theodore P. Savas is the Managing Director of Savas-Beatie, a leading independent trade publisher in military and general history titles.

He graduated from University of Iowa College of Law in 1986 (with distinction), and practiced law in the Silicon Valley for many years. Realizing one day he would have to face St. Peter, he decided to go into honest work. Ted taught business and history classes for about 20 years, and has written or edited a dozen books (published in 7 languages) including A Guide to the Bas of the American Revolution, Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-Boat War in the Atlantic, Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold.

His hobbies include scuba diving, smoking good cigars, drinking expensive gin, and playing bass and keyboards in the hard rock band Arminius.

In connection with Ted’s visit, Savas Beatie is making the following offer to all our members. Please note that the offer is open through October 31st, so please act soon.

 We have set up a special for COCWRT members only. 

 35% off any of our titles currently available, a signed author book plate with each book, AND $5.00 flat rate shipping for as many as they would like. ( The ONLY books this will not apply to are the Georga Regimental Roster set by Rick Allen. If that is ordered, we will cancel it on our end) 

 So here is how it works.

 1. Go to http://www.savasbeatie.com/, set up a free account, and order 1 or more titles (no limit). Several payment methods are available, OR they can call the office at 916-941-6896 and place their order.

2.  Columbus members use code CWRTCO

     That will take 35% off in the cart at checkout, etc.

 3. This offer EXPIRES on the night of October 31st to allow us time to process the order. The books will be shipped to the Columbus RT and dispersed at the meeting.

 

 

When: October 10th

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

Time: 7pm

Speaker:  Ronald S. Coddington,  Editor and Publisher, Military Images magazine.

Topic: Cardomania! The Rise and Fall of the Carte de Visite in Civil War America

The Civil War Generation was the first to grow up with photography. This transformative medium made it possible for Americans from all walks of life to preserve their own likeness, a privilege once reserved only for the wealthy. During photography’s early years, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes ruled the portrait world. Then, on the eve of the Civil War, a curious new format landed in America—the carte de visite. After hostilities began, hundreds of thousands of citizen soldiers and sailors posed for their likenesses. Countless millions of photographs were produced. Significant numbers of these most intimate and personal artifacts survive today. Some are finding a place among the iconic images of the war. Join Ron Coddington, author of four books of collected Civil War portraits and editor and publisher of Military Images magazine, as he tells the story of the rise and fall of the carte de visite—and what became of them.

 

While other kids in his Middlesex, New Jersey, neighborhood were collecting baseball cards, 14-year-old Ron Coddington was browsing flea markets looking for old photographs. Little did he realize after he purchased his first photo in 1977 that collecting historic images would become a lifelong pursuit. He originally collected various formats of vernacular photography dating from the 1840s to the 1890s. Over time, he focused his collection on Civil War era cartes de visite, a paper format popular during the 1860s. 

 From 2001-2016, he authored Faces of War, a regular column in the Civil War News. Each month, Ron profiled a soldier, and each was illustrated with an original, wartime carte de visite photograph. His subjects were enlisted men and non-commissioned officers, and officers below the rank of colonel. Ron believes that appreciating the role of the volunteer soldier is key to understanding America’s greatest conflict. He writes, “The history of the Civil War is the stories of its soldiers and sailors.” 

 In 2004, a collection of columns became part of Ron’s first book, Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories. A companion volume, Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories, followed in 2008. Four years later, the publication of African American Faces of War: An Album marked the third book in the series. A fourth volume, Faces of the Civil War Navies: An Album of Union and Confederate Sailors, was released in 2016. All are published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. His next volume will profile the lives and contributions of nurses and other caregivers. 

 Ron also wrote for the New York Times Disunion series from 2011-2014. His contributions documented the experiences of the enlisted men and line officers who participated in the Civil War. 

In 2013, he became editor and publisher of Military Images, a quarterly magazine dedicated to showcasing, interpreting and preserving early American photographs of soldiers and sailors. 

Ron has participated as a speaker at numerous Civil War-related events, and at meetings for round tables and other organizations. 

A 1985 graduate of the University of Georgia, Ron lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Anne. He is currently Editor, Visuals, for The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

 
Military Images Magazine

facebook: Military Images

Civil War Photo Sluth

October Presidents Message

2018 COCWRT Roster

Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College

 

 

 

When: September 12th

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

Time: 7:00pm

Speaker: Harry Smeltzer

Topic: “The Future of Civil War History”

In “The Future of Civil War History,” we will discuss the current Civil War history environment and where it is headed. We’ll discuss trends in academic, public, and “amateur” history delivery systems, the impact of document availability, and what our roles are, may, should, and can be. While there are elements of presentation, this is most importantly a discussion. Come ready to contribute.

Harry Smeltzer maintains the website Bull Runnings, which he founded in November 0f 2006.  He lives just outside Pittsburgh, PA and was born and raised in Southwestern PA.  He earned an undergraduate degree at The Pennsylvania State University and a graduate degree at the Katz School of the University of Pittsburgh.  Neither sheepskin is in history or any art. He’s been published in the journal Civil War History, The Civil War Monitor, Civil War Times, and America’s Civil War, and has been profiled in the American Battlefield Trust’s Hallowed Ground. He was a Contributing Writer for America’s Civil War and is a Digital History Advisor for The Civil War Monitor. He serves on the board of directors of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation, and has served as its vice-president and newsletter editor.  He’s presented programs on First Battle of Bull Run related and other topics to organizations in six states and the District of Columbia, and has orgainized and/or led tours of the battlefield of First Bull Run.

Bull Runnings Blog

September Presidents Message

When:   August 8th

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

Time:  7pm

Speaker: Michael Block

Topic: The Battle of Cedar Mountain

On the blazing hot afternoon of August 9, 1862 a few miles south of Culpeper, Virginia, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson led his troops into battle against Nathaniel Banks’ corps of John Pope’s new Army of Virginia. Over 3,000 men were killed or wounded that afternoon and evening in the shadow of Cedar Mountain during the deadliest day in Culpeper’s history. Culpeper’s native son, Major General A. P. Hill, sealed the Confederate victory when his division re-formed Jackson’s crumbled line and led the charge that turned the tide of the battle.

For Hill and the other Culpeper men engaged, this was a personal battle to liberate their homes, friends, and family from the Union occupation. Today, local citizens are coming together to ensure that this battle and the valor displayed by both armies will never be forgotten.

A life-long student of the American Civil War, Mike Block moved to Southern Fauquier County in 2004 where he developed a deep appreciation and love of Culpeper County and what happened on that historic ground during the Civil War.

He has been giving battlefield tours and lectures for two decades, focusing on those stirring events in Culpeper and Fauquier Counties. Mike also has been collecting photos, drawings and first person accounts of events, both significant and mundane that occurred in the region during the war.

Mike is on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield since 2012, and is currently serving as its Vice-President. He also served on the Board of the Brandy Station Foundation and on both the Culpeper and Fauquier counties Civil War Sesquicentennial Committees.

In the Spring of 2016, Mike authored the primary article in Blue and Gray Magazine, the first published study on the Battle of Cedar Mountain in nearly 25 years. He is now has a book in edit on that same topic, “The Carnage was Fearful,” for the Emerging Civil War Series.

Mike retired from the United States Air Force in 2001; serving in Europe, Asia and the United States. He continues to support the U.S. Government as a Lead Associate for the consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton. Part of his work is as a Gettysburg Staff Ride Instructor for Government Intelligence Analysts, focusing on the geospatial and intelligence aspects of the
battle.

Mike has been married for 37 years to Best-selling Romance Novelist Caryn Moya Block. They have two married sons, and three grand-daughters, Vera, Amilya and Quinn. Mike now resides in Williamsburg, Virginia.

 

 

Presidents Message

Buckeyes in Blue: Ohio Solders in the Shenandoah Valley. A Civil War Conference

Friends of Cedar Mountain

The Carnage Was Fearful: The Battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862