Blake Barber

The speaker for the September 13, 2021 meeting is our own Kent Masterson Brown. He has promised to bring several copies of his new book Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command. He will be available before and after the meeting for sales and autographing the books.

President’s Report

I want to welcome every one of you to the 68th year of the Kentucky Civil War Round Table! After two canceled meetings in March and May 2020, and Zoom meetings in September and November 2020 and in January, March and May, 2021, all because of the COVID-19 Pandemic we are finally getting ready to meet in person on Monday, September 13, 2021 at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Newtown Pike. I am most excited about returning to the camaraderie among the members that is the hallmark of the meetings of the Kentucky Civil War Round Table.

We are going to have a great year. Among the speakers will be Steve Hood, who will speak about his new book, Twice Patriots, the stories of prominent Confederate officers and governmental officials who became noted United States Army officers or United States government officials after the Civil War. Many of them were Kentuckians. In addition to Steve, Dr. Kenneth Noe, professor emeritus of Civil War history at Auburn University, will return to speak on how weather affected the outcome of the Civil War, and Dr. Gary Gallagher, professor emeritus of Civil War history at the University of Virginia, will return to speak on Generals Grant and Lee and the Overland Campaign.

Steve T. Phan is a Park Ranger and Historian at the Civil War Defenses of Washington. He recently served as acting Chief of Interpretation at Camp Nelson National Monument. He has also worked at Gettysburg National Military Park, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Stones River National Battlefield, Rock Creek Park, and Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. A military history scholar of the Civil War era, Phan’s research focuses on military occupation, operational command, and fortifications during the Civil War. He is the author of articles about Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Civil War and the Defenses of Washington for numerous publications. He was nominated for the National Park Service Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation (2019). He holds a Master’s degree in American History from Middle Tennessee State University. ■

President’s Report

On Thursday, April 15, I spoke at the Cincinnati Civil War Roundtable. Held in Cincinnati, there was a great crowd and a wonderful buffet dinner. Everyone had a good time. It was that Roundtable’s first “in person” meeting since the pandemic began.

After our May 2021 meeting, the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable will have made it through a full year of meetings using Zoom. It is my sincere desire that “in person” meetings begin again in September.  Like all of you, I miss the dinners and the camaraderie. Fellowship is the driving force behind our success as a roundtable. Our speakers have all bemoaned the fact that they could not be with all of us. Rest assured, I will do everything I can to begin our dinner meetings again. I am lining up some wonderful speakers for next year.

Our May meeting will feature one of the most prominent young historians on the horizon, Steve Phan. He holds a Masters’ Degree in History, and is an honored member of the National Park Service staff at the Defenses of Washington, DC National Monument. This past year he has been a visiting interpretation specialist at the Camp Nelson National Monument, the newest addition to the Civil War sites managed by the National Park Service.  He will speak to us about his specialty, the Civil War Defenses of Washington, DC. I know you will enjoy him and his lecture. ■

Peter S. Carmichael is the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College and the Director of the Civil War Institute. Peter’s books include: Lee’s Young Artillerist: William R.J. Pegram, and, Audacity Personified: The Generalship of Robert E. Lee. His lecture to be given at the March 15, 2021 Virtual meeting of the Round Table will be about his most recent book: The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived the Civil War Armies. ■

President’s Report

With Peter Carmichael speaking at the March virtual meeting, a word should be said about the upcoming summer conference of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. Held for four days every June for the last thirty-five years, the Civil War Institute brings together leading historians and great audiences for battlefield tours, small group discussions, lectures, and roundtable conversations about the Civil War era. Lodging and meals are traditionally held on the two hundred-acre college campus. This year the conference will be held from June 10th through June 13th.

Among the speakers, in addition to Peter, will be Gary W. Gallagher, Carol Reardon, Keith Bohannon, Jennifer Murray, John Hennessy, and many more, including yours truly. Battlefield tours of various aspects of the Battle of Gettysburg, including following the footsteps of individual Union and Confederate regiments in notable attacks on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, will be offered. The Civil War Institute is a must for those seriously interested in the Civil War. See you in Gettysburg! ■

The members of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable heard a wonderful lecture in November by Gordon Jones. He spoke about the great Cyclorama of the July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta. Gordon refused to accept an honorarium for his talk, and consequently, the Executive Committee unanimously voted to make him an Honorary Member of the Roundtable, an honor bestowed upon very few individuals. If you were not able to see his presentation, it has been uploaded to our website. Please feel free to view it from there.

For our first Speaker of the 2021 Season, Dr. Stephen Davis of Atlanta will address the Roundtable on Monday, January 25, 2021 at 7:00 PM by means of Zoom. Complimenting Gordon’s talk, Steve will speak about the magnificent photographs taken by George N. Barnard during the occupation of Atlanta by General William T. Sherman’s army in the summer of 1864, the subject of one of his recent books.

Steve is a graduate of Emory University where he studied history under the renowned Civil War historian, Bell Irvin Wiley. Steve received his master’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina and his doctorate degree in Civil War history and Southern literature from Emory University in Atlanta. Steve has taught history and has lectured widely on the campaign and battles for Atlanta.

Steve is the author of six books, all devoted to aspects of the campaign and battles for Atlanta and the prominent personalities in those operations, such as Generals William T. Sherman, Joseph E. Johnston, and John Bell Hood.

We welcome Stephen Davis to the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable! ■

Greetings! I hope this Newsletter finds all of you well. I must say our September virtual meeting with Jack Davis was great fun. We had a large audience, and they were treated to a fabulous talk about the letters of General Gabriel Wharton and his wife, Nanny Radford.

On November 16 at 7:00 PM, the Roundtable will be treated to another remarkable talk. Our speaker, Gordon Jones, is the Senior Military Historian and Curator at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where he has worked since 1996. Gordon curated the 9,200 square foot permanent exhibition Turning Point: The American Civil War, featuring the incredible DuBose and Dickey collections.

From 2014 through 2019, Gordon oversaw the five-year project to research, conserve, re-interpret and re-exhibit the famed 1886 Cyclorama painting of the July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta, and that will be the subject of his talk. For those who have never observed the Cyclorama, it is a circular painting that stands 49 feet tall and is longer than a football field and weighs 10,000 pounds! It is one of only two cyclorama paintings in the United States, the other being of the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg that is housed in the new Visitor’s Center at the Gettysburg National Military Park. For his talk, Gordon will have illustrations of the Cyclorama and of the effort to re-exhibit it at the Atlanta History Center.

Gordon is a graduate in History from Furman University; he received his MA in Public History from the University of South Carolina, and his PhD in History from the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University.

We welcome Gordon to the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable for our second virtual meeting! ■