The January, 2009 meeting of the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable will be held Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 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:

Greg Biggs - Clarksville CWRT

“Turning The Tide: The Union Cavalry At The Battle of Shelbyville"

As it was in the East, so it was in the West. From the beginning of the war, Confederate cavalry dominated its Union counter parts time and again. This had to do with proper massing of forces and excellent leadership under Forrest, Wheeler, Morgan and others. After the fall of Nashville, these raiders along with partisan bands, were unleashed against Union garrisons holding vital portions of their supply lines. Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell and later William S. Rosecrans did what they could to hold these areas but lacked enough cavalry to do so properly.

Finally, Buell, and especially his replacement, Rosecrans, began to pound the War Department for more mounted men and better weapons for them. Finally relenting, Rosecrans began to send out his troopers to get field experience and mix it up with Confederate cavalry. The plan worked better than expected and more and more Union victories and greater confidence were the result. Thus, when Rosecrans planned his brilliant Tullahoma Campaign, his cavalry, now massed and under solid leadership, would play a key role. The result was a total whipping of Joe Wheeler’s vaunted troopers at the Battle of Shelbyville in June,1863. Like Brandy Station in the east, Shelbyville turned the tide for the Union cavalry in the west making them into a more formidable foe than ever before.

Greg Biggs is a co-founder and president of the Clarksville CWRT and has helped create two other CWRTs in Ohio. He has been active in CWRTs since the mid-1980’s and has developed a number of programs which he has given to CWRTs and Civil War conferences across the country. Greg was also an Associate Editor for Blue & Gray Magazine and he has consulted with several museums on the topic of Confederate flags. He is currently writing a book on Tennessee’s Civil War flags for the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville.

Please join us as the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable welcomes Greg Biggs and his program on the Battle of Shelbyville.