General george meade and union forces from july to december 1863 as they followed confederates through virginia. This event was part of historical parks small battles, big result s symposium. Im very pleased to introduce our last speaker of the afternoon, Jeffrey William hunt, director of the military forces museum at camp maybury in austin, texas, and adjunct professor where he has taught since 1988. God bless you. Author of the last battle of the civil war and contributor to essential civil war curriculum and the gail library of daily life. American civil war. His last work is a trilogy from the final stage of the Gettysburg Campaign to the end of 1863 and includes meade and lee at mayan run due for publication next year. So lets give a welcome for jeffrey hunt. [ applause ] thank you. Its a real pleasure to be here. I appreciate jerrys invitation. Its always fun to stand in a group of people who have the same passion that you do. You dont get looked at as strangely as you do when yo
Colleagues with emerging civil war, welcome to spotsylvania. Its a great location to be because you cant turn around without tripping over civil war history. Its a pleasure to welcome you to spotsylvania county, what is literally the bloodiest ground in america. Few days over the next we will have the opportunity to commemorate and recognize some of those stories and some of the legacies. The theme this year is civil war legacy. Im proud to be presenting for you a fabulous lineup of speakers over the next day and a half, and excellent to her on sundaymorning tour on morning. Kicking things off for us is our keynote speaker, dana shoaf from civil war magazine. For generations of people it has served as the single most influential and accessible points in civil war history. Been there for 16 years, he has been editor for 7, and he has left some complementary copies for us upstairs. Thanks to dana for bringing some of his work to us. I want to ask about coming down here to speak as part o
New book will be coming out the world war ii memoirs of major russell. To ourive our attention speaker, dr. Lawrence kaplan. [applause] thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Discussing civil war artillery today, if it were possible, john tidball, who is one of theidered foremost experts on the topic, would be speaking to you today. Tidball died in 1906, thats not possible. The will be discussing topic based on his writings, which i edited, and were the title the Artillery Service in the war of the rebellion by Westholme Publishing in 2011. The main point that tidball makes is that Field Artillery was most effective in the civil war when it provided mass. Tration and he argues convincingly that the inability of the army to organize its Field Artillery prior to the battle of contributedille significantly to its defeat in a number of major battles. Byill illustrate his points book. G excerpts from his writings. Tidballs first, a word about john tidball. He was a career army off
Wehink that is about all have. Thank you for coming today, we appreciate it. You are watching American History tv all weekend. To join the conversation, like us on facebook. Next, on the civil war, historians and officials from the National Park service commemorates the conclusion of the Overland Campaign, which took place in virginia 150 years ago in may and june of 1864. In keynote remarks, civil war scholar James Robertson describes Union General ulysses s. Grants crusade to destroy the southern confederacy, was culminated in the last major battle of the campaign a cold harbor. There, mr. Robertson says confederate general robert e lee earned his greatest and final victory of the war, but it was not enough to stop grant from continuing his march and beseechingly and his men at petersburg. The Richmond National Battlefield Park organized this hourlong event. [applause] good evening. I and the pastor here at the Fairmount Christian church, and we are really sad that you are here tonig
These bow your head with me. Father in heaven, we come to this place tonight not to but to celebrate sacrifice, loyalty, bravery, and the things that have happened in our history to make us the great nation we are today. May we learn from the lessons of history, may we not repeat the but maythat divide us, we repeat those lessons that make us indeed strong. Tonight, dear lord, i thank you for the National Parks service and theyre very hard work in bringing this event to our community, our state, and to our nation, and, lord, i am most grateful that you have allowed us to be part of this. Bless what we do in this place this evening, and we humbly ask, dear father, that you bless our nation. In jesus name, amen. On the fourth of may, 1864, the union army of the potomac crossed the river and passed into the dense woodland the locals called the wilderness. Near the bridges, brass bands laid the National Errors along with other soldier favorites that stirred the mens souls with optimism and