August 25, 2021

Topic: THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE

Speaker: John Launius

John Lanius is originally from Newport News, Virginia.  Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Arkansas and later to Wisconsin. John enlisted into the Wisconsin Army National Guard after high school and completed his basic and advance training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After graduation, he entered the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, WI, where initially majored in mechanical engineering; however, he found it a poor fit, so switched majors to his real passion, history.

In 2014, John's college studies were abruptly interrupted when his National Guard Unit deployed to Afghanistan. His unit spent nine months providing artillery support for US and Coalition forces. After completing his combat tour in Afghanistan, John returned home and began an internship at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Over the next three months, John fell in love with the mission of the National Park Service and historical interpretation.

Once his internship at Fredericksburg ended, he returned to Wisconsin for his final semester of college and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in History. Shortly after, he was hired at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, in Eads, Colorado, where he remained for just over three years. In 2019 John had the good luck and good fortune to return to Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania, this time as a full-time permanent employee. 

September 22, 2021

Topic: MARINES AT 1ST MANASSAS

Speaker: MAJ (R) Bruce "Doc" Norton & MSG (R) Phillip Gibbons

Distinguished Marine Corps historians Bruce H. Norton and Phillip Gibbons present the most accurate picture of the United States Marine Corps at the onset of the American Civil War and describes the actions of the Marines at the Battle of First Manassas, or as the Union called it, Bull Run. To tell the story of the actions of the U.S. Marines in the Manassas Campaign, Bruce and Phillip begin with Marine actions in October 1859 at Harpers Ferry, where they were instrumental in suppressing John Brown’s raid on the town’s Federal Armory and attempted slave insurrection. The Marines were the only professional fighting force that could respond immediately when the call for assistance came to retake the Armory, which Brown’s men had seized. The Marines were led by highly professional and well-trained officers and noncommissioned officers who represented a decades-old standard of excellence well established by the eve of the Civil War. The presenters then discuss Marine actions at the Battle of First Manassas, the Civil War’s first battle, on July 21, 1861, a story that has never been adequately or accurately told. In both engagements, the Marines proved that they were “at all times ready,” as the Corps remains to this very day.

October 27, 2021

Topic: OLD ALLEGHANY: THE LIFE AND WARS OF GENERAL EDWARD JOHNSON

Speaker: Gregg Clemmer

Gregg Clemmer’s meticulous research over a dozen years discovered two notable caches of General Edward Johnson’s letters and a treasure trove of primary records. General Johnson’s life is equated to life in the 1800s, to include the Civil War, Mexican War, Seminole Indian War, Plains Wars, and Grattan Massacre of 1854. Greg’s biography, Old Alleghany: The Life and Wars of General Edward Johnson, won the Douglas Southall Freeman History Award as the book of highest merit in the field of Southern history.

November 17, 2021

Topic: THE GENERALSHIP OF LEE AND GRANT IN THE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN

Speaker: Gordon Rhea

More than a century and a half has elapsed since the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River and Baldy Smith’s 18th Corps pressed toward Petersburg, aiming to sever the Army of Northern Virginia’s main supply line.  The six weeks of combat preceding the movement on Petersburg represents the most intense continuous bout of warfare the continent has ever witnessed.  Each side’s premier general – Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – matched wits and endurance in a campaign of combat and maneuver from the Rapidan River to the James.  Packed into those six horrific weeks were the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, and Cold Harbor. 

Gordon Rhea talk will present an appraisal of Grant’s and Lee’s generalship during the Overland Campaign, as the meeting engagement between these two talented warriors is popularly called.  The focus will be on the campaign’s final days at Cold Harbor and Grant’s decision to pry Lee from his formidable earthworks by slicing the Army of Northern Virginia’s main supply line at Petersburg.  The story is one of the most exciting in the annals of American military history.

January 26, 2022

Topic: THE FORGOTTEN LEGION: SUBORDINATE COMMANDS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC (1864)

Speaker: John Hennessy

John will discuss the subordinate command of the Army of the Potomac--its composition, how it evolved, how those that survived the turmoil did so. He will take a snapshot of the subordinate commend--brigade commanders through corps commanders--at the outset of the campaigns of 1864.

Februray 23, 2022

Topic: SEASON OF SLAUGHTER: THE BATTLE OF SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE

Speaker: Chris Mackowski

March 23, 2022

Topic: THE PRESIDENCY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, PRESERVING THE CIVIL WAR'S LEGACY

Speaker: Dr. Paul Kahan

In The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy, historian Paul Kahan focuses on the unique political, economic, and cultural forces unleashed by the Civil War and how Grant addressed these issues during his tumultuous two terms as chief executive. A timely reassessment, The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant sheds new light on the business of politics in the decade after the Civil War and portrays an energetic and even progressive executive whose legacy has been overshadowed by both his wartime service and his administration’s many scandals.

Paul Kahan is the author of a number of books, including Eastern State Penitentiary: A History and The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Temple University and is currently working on a narrative history of Philadelphia due out in 2023 followed by a biography of President James Buchanan.

APRIL 27, 2022

Topic: ELLEN HARRIS: AMERICA'S FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

Speaker: Jane Connor

The story of Ellen Harris' labors by a thousand death-beds, on the field in hospital tents, in shelter tents, in transports, or in lodges for the refuges, we are at a loss which most to admire in Mrs. Harris – the practical good sense with which she labored for the physical comfort of sufferers or the abounding Christian zeal and love with which she always strove to make sacred impressions on the minds of those she met.

MAY 18, 2022

Topic: THE TRIAL OF JEFFERSON DAVIS

Speaker: Bob O'Connor

Jefferson Davis was arrested and incarcerated but never went to trial. What if he had?  Bob O'Connor brings in witnesses and allows them to explain what they were on record for suggesting during their lifetime. In this case, the Founding Fathers give their opinions on the legality or the illegality of secession. A topic the federal government at the end of the war might certainly have had to argue if such a trial had taken place. 

Bob is an author and historian who has now published 21 Civil War books. He tends to tackle stories and subjects not well-known. His works include fiction and non-fiction plus two children's books. He has spoken and presented over 1,200 times since his first book was published in 2006.