The December 2008 meeting of the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable will be held Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 7 PM in the cafe of Borders Books store in Governor's Square Mall. This is located on Wilma Rudolph Highway (US 79) just south of Exit 4 off I-24 in Clarksville, TN. The meeting is always open to interested members of the public and you do not need to be an expert to attend!. We meet the Third Wednesday of each month.
OUR SPEAKER AND TOPIC:
“The Blue Waters of the Potomac Ran Red With Blood: The Battle of Ball's Bluff" - by Danny Gilkey, Austin Peay State University
The Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg, Virginia, on the bank of the Potomac River thirty miles northwest of Washington, D.C., was an unplanned misadventure fought on October 21, 1861, three months to the day after the Union debacle at First Bull Run. By later war standards, Ball's Bluff was merely a large skirmish having no real military significance, but because it was the second humiliation of the northern army in the eastern theater, the public, press, and Congress were eager to assign culpability. The political fallout was significant leading directly led to the formation of the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. The committee pilloried the corps commander, General Charles P. Stone, and his career was destroyed, serving as a warning to the largely Democrat officer corps that civilian authority and Radical Republican policy must be served.
Mr. Gilkey has a B.A. and M.A. Murray State University and is retired from the Christian County Schools after 28 years as both teacher and administrator (a well-deserved retirement, we’re sure!). From 2003-2005 he served as adjunct instructor of history for Hopkinsville Community College Ft. Campbell Center, and has been on the faculty of APSU since 2005. In 2007 he was nominated by the Student Government Association as exemplary faculty member of the year. Danny and his wife Ethel have been active in the Clarksville CWRT since its inception.
Please join us as the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable welcomes Danny Gilkey and his program on the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Greg Biggs
Clarksville CWRT