Newsletters

Stephen Davis of Atlanta has been a student of the Civil War all his life. He grew up in Atlanta, and at Emory University, he studied under the renowned Civil War historian Bell I. Wiley. After a Master’s degree in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he earned his Ph.D. at Emory, where he concentrated on the Civil War in Southern literature.

Steve is the author of a two-volume history of the Atlanta Campaign, published by Savas Beatie in 2016 and 2017:  A Long and Bloody Task: The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton through Kennesaw to the Chattahoochee, May 5-July 18, 1864 and All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign from Peachtree Creek to the City’s Surrender, July 18-September 2, 1864.

His book, What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta, was published by Mercer University Press in 2012.  He is also the author of Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, John Johnston and the Heavy Yankee Battalions (2001).

In December 2017 Mercer University Press published his book, John Bell Hood: Texas Brigadier to the Fall of Atlanta, which will recount Hood’s rise to commanding general of the Army of Tennessee. The companion volume, John Bell Hood: Into Tennessee and Failure is set for publication by Mercer in late 2020.

His presentation for the Kentucky Civil War Round Table, “George N. Barnard: Photographer of Civil War Atlanta,” is based on his forthcoming paperback, 100 Significant Photographs—Atlanta Campaign, to be published later this summer by Historical Publications LLC, of Charleston SC.  ■

Amy Murrell Taylor is a historian of the American South whose work focuses on the era of the Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Taylor graduated from Duke University and received her PhD in History from the University of Virginia. She is currently a professor of history at the University of Kentucky, where she was honored with a Great Teacher Award from the UK Alumni Association in 2016.

Her latest book, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps (UNC Press, 2018), received the Avery Craven Prize for Civil War history, and the Merle Curti Prize for U.S. social history, from the Organization of American Historians in 2019.

Taylor is also the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America (UNC Press, 2005), and co-editor, with Michael Perman, of Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction (Cengage, 2010). She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Southern History and the Civil War Monitor Magazine, and enjoys working with local history sites, including Ashland and Waveland, on researching and interpreting the history of slavery. ■

Robertson is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as Civil War! America Becomes One Nation, General A.P. Hill, and Soldiers Blue and Gray. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner mega-movie, Gods and Generals. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film. In recent years, his historical commentaries on National Public Radio made him something of a rock star in his field. A professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, Robertson was named by President John F. Kennedy to head up the Civil War Centennial Commission in 1961.

The recipient of every major award given in the Civil War field, and a lecturer of national acclaim, Dr. Robertson is probably more in demand as a speaker before Civil War groups than anyone else in the field. He holds the Ph.D. from Emory University and honorary doctorates from Randolph-Macon College and Shenandoah University. He is presently an Alumni Distinguished Professor, one of ten such honorees among Virginia Tech’s 2,200 faculty members. He is also Executive Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, created by the University in 1999. Robertson was also a charter member (by Senate appointment) of Virginia’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. ■

Kent was born in Lexington, Kentucky on February 5, 1949. He is a 1971 graduate – and in 2014 named a distinguished graduate – of Centre College and received his juris doctor degree in 1974 from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Kent has practiced law for forty-four years with offices in Lexington and Washington, DC. Kent has published six books, all on the Civil War, including Cushing of Gettysburg: The Story of a Union Artillery Commander, Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics and the Pennsylvania Campaign, and One of Morgan’s Men: The Memoirs of Lieutenant John M. Porter of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry; they have been selections of the History Book Club and Military Book Club. All of them have received rave reviews and numerous national awards.

He is currently writing George Gordon Meade and the Gettysburg Campaign, which will go to press in early 2019. Kent has also written, hosted and produced, through Witnessing History, nine award-winning documentary films for public and cable television, including “I Remember The Old Home Very Well: The Lincolns in Kentucky and Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West.

All Kent’s films have been widely broadcast throughout the United States, Canada, and overseas. All have won Telly Awards; one was nominated for an Emmy Award. Kent and the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc. are producing a new film, “In the Declaration all men are created equal:” Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, 1830 to 1860, to be released in February 2019.

A nationally-known speaker and Civil War battlefield guide, Kent was the first chairman of the Gettysburg National Military Park Advisory Commission and the first chairman of the Perryville (Kentucky) Battlefield Commission, a seat he held for eleven years overseeing the expansion of the Perryville Battlefield.

He served on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and is now a member of the Kentucky Film Commission. He has also been a director of the Gettysburg Foundation.

Kent is now the President and Content Developer for the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc. Kent lives in Lexington with his wife, Genevieve, and their three children, Annie Louise, Philip and Thomas. ■

We are heading into the sixty-sixth year of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable. It remains the largest such organization in the United States and, for speakers, the most sought after venue. That shows in our extraordinary lineup of speakers this year. We start with Ron Maxwell, the writer and director of the blockbuster films Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, and Copperhead, all classic Civil War productions. In November, our great friend, Bud Robertson, returns for the fifty-first time to regale us with a talk on Robert E. Lee as Superintendent of West Point.

In January 2020, our own Amy Taylor will present a program on slave refugee camps, a lecture from her award-winning book on that subject. In March, Professor Steve Davis of Atlanta will present a program on Atlanta during General William T. Sherman’s occupation, a program that uses all the great photographs taken by George Barnard during the occupation of Atlanta, an absolutely stunning photographic record. Keeping Atlanta in focus, our sixty-sixth year will end in May with the Curator of the Atlanta History Center, Gordon Jones, providing a program about the transfer, re-hanging, and restoration of the great Cyclorama of the July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta, a program that will be given using photographs of the steps taken during the process of moving and restoring that great work of art, now housed at the Atlanta History Center.

I want to take this time to let you know that the most recent film produced by the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc., “In the Declaration all men are created equal:” Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, 1830 to 1860, will be aired on KETKY on Sunday, September 1, 2019, at 9:00 P.M. It has already been broadcast by three PBS affiliates in Peoria, Champaign-Urbana, and Charleston, Illinois, before large television audiences, receiving wonderful reviews. It will soon be broadcast by WTTW, the PBS affiliate in Chicago.

Finally, we talked in May about a possible tour of the Perryville Battlefield for the Roundtable. Because of the UK football schedule and my own, I plan to provide that tour in April of 2020. An announcement will be made in November about a date. We want to attract a large crowd of members.

This will be a fabulous year for the Roundtable. ■    

Kent Masterson Brown
President

“Fighting the Civil War: Historical Treasures of the Conflict in the Collection of the National Civil War Museum”

Opened in 2001, The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is one of the largest museums in the country dedicated to telling the complete story of the war from the viewpoint of both sides. The museum holds more than 4,000 three dimensional artifacts and over 21,000 archival items including manuscripts, diaries, letters, photographic images, newspapers, and correspondence dating from 1861-1865. Join the museum’s CEO Wayne Motts on a journey of the history of the war illustrated by some of the nation’s rarest surviving Civil War artifacts in the museum’s collection.

President’s Report

The 2019-20 Season is coming upon us, and what a season it will be! Let me give you our speaker schedule:

On September 23, 2019, Ron Maxwell, the Writer and Director of the movies “Gettysburg,” “Gods & Generals,” “Copperhead,” “Parent Trap,” and other fine films you all know and love, will be making his debut at the Roundtable and his first ever visit to Kentucky! He will speak on the making of “Gettysburg” and “Gods & Generals.”

Believe it or not, on November 18, 2019, James I. “Bud” Robertson will be making his 51st appearance at our Roundtable after an amazing recovery and clearance from his doctor to travel to Kentucky! Bud will speak on Robert E. Lee’s superintendency at West Point, the lecture he had planned to give last November.

On January 27, 2020, University of Kentucky’s own Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, author of “Embattled Freedom: Journeys Through the Civil War’s Refugee Camps,” will speak on her fascinating book. Historian Steve Davis, an Atlanta native, businessman, and freelance writer who serves “Civil War News” as its book review editor, will speak on March 16, 2020 on the remarkable George Barnard photographs of Atlanta during Sherman’s occupation. Then, our season will conclude on May 18, 2020 with a fascinating talk by Gordon Jones, the curator of the Atlanta History Center, who will share with us the drama behind the preservation, relocation, and restoration of the magnificent Atlanta Cyclorama.

I hope all of you have enjoyed the past season of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable. We have had some marvelous speakers. I look forward to seeing everyone next year; it will be terrific!    

Kent Masterson Brown | President

Secretary’s Report

MEETING RSVPs: As we noted in our previous newsletters, we started with the last meeting – our March 2019 KYCWRT meeting – by “changing the way we do things” to make the meeting RSVP process more reliable and more cost effective.

Unless you have affirmatively opted out of our new process, you will not be receiving a copy of this Newsletter by U.S. Mail (and, as a result, you will also not be receiving an RSVP card for the May 20, 2019 meeting through the mail). To RSVP for the May 20, 2019 meeting, please either RSVP online through the KYCWRT’s website, kycivilwarroundtable.org, or alternatively, by timely contacting Susie Morton, our Administrator, by email at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com or by phone or text at (859) 221-7199.

If you affirmatively request to receive the Newsletter by mail, you will still receive the traditional RSVP card. Please note, however, that even if you receive the RSVP card in the mail, it is still preferred that you RSVP through the KYCWRT website or by contacting Susie at the email address or number above. Doing so will avoid the possibility that your RSVP card is lost in the mail or not timely received. It will also provide you the comfort of knowing that your RSVP has, in fact, been timely received.

RSVPs Generally: We must still receive your RSVP by the Wednesday before the meeting; otherwise, you (and your guests) are not guaranteed a spot (or a meal). Members (and guests) will not be seated (or presented a meal) without a timely-made reservation.

We must provide the Embassy Suites with our RSVP numbers by Close of Business the Wednesday before the meeting – i.e., 5:00 pm on May 15, 2019.

Guests: Starting with the September 2018 meeting, the guest fee (in addition to the $29 meal charge) is $25 per guest, for a total of $54 per guest. Payment is due in advance or at the door.

Cancellations: Any RSVP cancellation needs to be received no later than 4:00 pm of the Friday before the meeting (in this case, by May 17th, 2019). If you need to cancel, please contact Susie at (859) 221-7199 or by email at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com.  If you do not timely cancel your reservation or miss the meeting, you will be charged $29 per person for your reserved meal.

EMAIL ADDRESSES: If you have a new or different email address and/or your physical address has changed, please remember to share that information with Susie at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com and/or me at aj.singleton@skofirm.com so that we can update our records accordingly.

CIVIL WAR FAMILY PHOTOS AND STORIES: To add content to both the KYCWRT Website and our Facebook Page, we would like to know if you have any photographs of ancestors who fought in the Civil War. If you have any such photos (and any accompanying stories) that you would be willing to share with us so that we could share with others, please let Susie or me know by email. This could prove to be a fun, educational, and rewarding project for our KYCWRT.

Treasurer’s Report

The Kentucky Civil War Roundtable finished the 2018 year at a near breakeven thanks to a reduction in missed meals expense and increased income from members’ dues, guest fees, auctions and charitable contributions. Let’s hope this trend continues in 2019 as we attempt to increase membership and hold the line on expenses.

If you’ve been invoiced for missed meals we’d appreciate your prompt payment as we are committed to the Embassy Suites to pay for meals at the time of your reservation.

We want to reinstate any members who have not paid dues for 2019. Membership dues are $100 for singles and $120 for married couples.

Our membership to date is 320 with the goal of reaching 400. Please consider bringing a guest to an upcoming meeting or recruiting a member to join to help us achieve the 400.

Administrator’s Report

Hello, Members! This upcoming meeting is a bit of an anniversary for me. I attended my first KCWRT meeting in May 2018! That meeting was for observational purposes so I could witness the registration process and experience the meeting atmosphere. Well that meeting, and the wonderful people I met that night, convinced me to join this Organization as Administrator and what a first year it’s been! This year has seen us update the Website and introduce online registration and pay options as well as electronic Newsletter mailings! These are big changes that have helped reduce our administrative costs and I, along with the Executive Committee, appreciate your support.

In August, I will be emailing 2020 Membership Dues invoices. If your email address changes, please contact me ASAP to update my database. For those members who are receiving their RSVP cards and Newsletters through the USPS that is how you will receive your Dues invoice. Have a wonderful summer and see you in September!

Brian Steel Wills is the Director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga. In addition to leading tours, offering lectures, and conducting programs, Dr. Wills is the author of numerous works relating to the American Civil War. These publications include biographies of Confederate generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and William Dorsey Pender, and award-winning studies of Union general George Henry Thomas and on noncombat deaths in the Civil War. He is also the current President of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table and a member of the Georgia Civil War Commission. A graduate of the University of Richmond, Va., and the University of Georgia, he spends time on his farm in Virginia when not teaching and working in Kennesaw. ■

President’s Report

Ireceived an email on Wednesday night, February 13, 2019, alerting me of an auction that was scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 17, at Bluegrass Auction and Appraisal here in Lexington. The “alert” came about because to be auctioned were the contents of the Helm Place on the Bowman Mill Road. That magnificent antebellum house was the home of Emily Todd Helm, the half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln and the widow of Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863. The Helm Place was also the home of long time Roundtable member Joseph B. Murphy and his wife, Mary Genevieve, the daughter of none other than William H. Townsend, the founder and first president of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable. Townsend had actually acquired the house for his daughter from Benjamin Hardin Helm, Jr.

Among the items to be auctioned was the oil portrait of Mr. Townsend, commissioned by the Roundtable, and painted by Howard Barron of London, England; it hung over the mantelpiece in the parlor of the Helm Place. The portrait was presented to Mr. Townsend by Roundtable Secretary, Hambleton Tapp, on the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the Roundtable on November 18, 1963 in the ballroom of the Lafayette Hotel. The guest speaker that night was none other than Bell I. Wiley, one of the foremost Civil War historians in America and the mentor of such notable Roundtable speakers, members, and officers, as Charles Roland, Otis Singletary, James I. “Bud” Robertson, and many others. Wiley said that night that Townsend “personified the charm and eloquence of this part of the country more than any man I have known.” Townsend died on July 25, 1964.

I believed that the Townsend portrait was a vitally important piece of the history of the Roundtable, and it was critical that we obtain it. I mobilized a group of Roundtable members – Gary Detraz, Chris Anderson, Bill Farmer, and Neil Rush. Chris, our Treasurer, came up with $300.00 from the Roundtable account; Bill, our Vice President, offered $200.00, and Neil $150.00. Gary performed the bidding. I am happy to report that the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable obtained the portrait of its founder, William H. Townsend! Thank you Gary, Chris, Bill, and Neil. The portrait will be presented to the Roundtable at the March meeting. ■    

Kent Masterson Brown | President

Secretary’s Report

As we noted in our previous newsletters and again during the January 2019 meeting, starting with the March 2019 KYCWRT meeting, we are “changing the way we do things” to make the meeting RSVP process more reliable and more cost effective.

Unless you have affirmatively opted out of our new process, you will not be receiving a copy of this Newsletter by U.S. Mail (and, as a result, you will also not be receiving an RSVP card for the March 2019 meeting through the mail). To RSVP for the March 2019 meeting, please either RSVP online through the KYCWRT’s website, kycivilwarroundtable.org, by paying for your meal(s) or alternatively, by timely contacting Susie Morton, our Administrator, by email at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com or by phone or text at (859) 221-7199.

If you did affirmatively request to receive the Newsletter by mail, you will still be receiving the traditional RSVP card. Please note, however, that even if you receive the RSVP card in the mail, it is still preferred that you RSVP through the KYCWRT website or by contacting Susie at the email address or number previously stated. Doing so will avoid the possibility that your RSVP card is lost in the mail or not timely received. It will also provide you the comfort of knowing that your RSVP has, in fact, been timely received.

RSVPs Generally: We must still receive your RSVP by the Wednesday before the meeting; otherwise, you (and your guests) are not guaranteed a spot (or a meal). Members (and guests) will not be seated (or presented a meal) without a timely-made reservation.

We must provide the Embassy Suites with our RSVP numbers by Close of Business the Wednesday before the meeting – i.e., 5:00 pm on March 13, 2019.

Guests: Starting with the September 2018 meeting, the guest fee (in addition to the $29 meal charge) is $25 per guest, for a total of $54 per guest. Payment is due in advance by paying for “Single Meeting Dues” online or at the door.

Cancellations: Any RSVP cancellation needs to be received no later than 4:00 pm of the Friday before the meeting (in this case, by March 15, 2019). If you need to cancel, please contact Susie Morton.  If you do not timely cancel your reservation or miss the meeting, you will be charged $29 per person for your reserved meal.  

EMAIL ADDRESSES: If you have a new or different email address and/or your physical address has changed, please remember to share that information with Susie at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com and/or me at aj.singleton@skofirm.com so that we can update our records accordingly.

CIVIL WAR FAMILY PHOTOS AND STORIES: To add content to both the KYCWRT Website and our Facebook Page, we would like to know if you have any photographs of ancestors who fought in the Civil War. If you have any such photos (and any accompanying stories) that you would be willing to share with us so that we could share with others, please let Susie or me know by email. This could prove to be a fun, educational, and rewarding project for our KYCWRT. ■

Treasurer’s Report

The Kentucky Civil War Roundtable finished the 2018 year at a near breakeven thanks to a reduction in missed meals expense and increased income from members’ dues, guest fees, auctions and charitable contributions. Let’s hope this trend continues in 2019 as we attempt to increase membership and hold the line on expenses.

A few of you have commented about the $25.00 guest fee policy. This policy, adopted by the Board in 2018, helps cover our meeting production expenses (which exceeded $15,000.00 in 2018) and encourages repeat guests to become members. The Board feels that $25.00 is a nominal charge for anyone to attend one of our meetings.

Unpaid membership dues and meals were $1,094 as of December 31, 2018. We have since rebilled and or contacted many of these folks trying to collect before the March meeting to avoid deleting anyone from membership for nonpayment by March 31, 2019.

Our membership to date is 342 with the goal of reaching 400. Please consider bringing a guest to an upcoming meeting or recruiting a member to join to help us achieve the 400. ■

Administrator’s Report

Hello Members!! I want to remind you of a couple of administrative changes taking place with this Newsletter.

This Newsletter marks our full transition to Electronic Mailing!! Unless noted to me, from here forward all KCWRT correspondence will be sent electronically.

Receipt of your electronic newsletter is your reminder of the upcoming meeting and that means you’ll need to RSVP for the meeting without the RSVP card.

How do I RSVP without the card you ask? You can RSVP on the website by prepaying for your meal if you wish. Or you can email me at kcwrt.susie@gmail.com or text/call me at 859-221-7199.

Electronic mailing is a huge step toward reducing our postage/printing expenses which were well over $1500 last year. Thank you for your assistance with our effort to curb some of our operating expenses.

Looking forward to seeing you at the next Meeting. ■