The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, February 17th,, 2010, in the café of Borders Books in Governor’s Square Mall. This is located on Wilma Rudolph Blvd (Hwy 79) south of Exit 4 off I-24, then head south a bit. The mall is on the left. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. There is no cost to attend.

OUR PROGRAM

“The Commanders of the Fort Henry - Donelson Campaign”

The study of the commanders of the Ft. Henry-Donelson Campaign makes for some interesting observations in both the style of command to the quality of each officer. From the top levels of the protagonist presidents, Lincoln and Davis, down to the brigadier generals of both sides, the commanders in this campaign offered glimpses of great things to come for some and portents of bad things as well. For U.S. Grant, it was commander in chief of the US Army in the war; for John Floyd, it was a trial for treason if captured and removal from command after the forts fell. In between there were some solid officers like John Logan, Simon Buckner, Jacob Lauman, Augustus Mersy and many more. For Charles Smith, grizzled Army regular held in high esteem by Grant, it was the critical performance of his career.

For most officers in this campaign it was the first time that many had ever commanded anything larger than a company and there were certainly learning curves to overcome. Some were political officers with no military training at all and of this grouping Logan and Lew Wallace, who initiated the Union counterattack on his own accord, showed great promise. But others, like John McClernand, who hated West Pointers, it was the beginning of long feuds with his fellow officers.

Members of the Clarksville CWRT are pretty well informed as to what happened between February 6th and February 16th, 1862. So this program, presented by Austin Peay State University history professor Dr. Wallace Cross, will be an analysis of these commanders more than the nuts and bolts of the campaign. If you are familiar with Dr. Cross’ works or have heard him speak before, you know that he is an astute observer of history and is unabashed in his historical views. This combination of the commanders and Dr. Cross will make for a very interesting program indeed!

Dr. Wallace Cross earned a Master's Degree in History in 1975 from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and his PhD from Vanderbilt in British Empire and English history. From 1983 to 1987 he was employed as a scholar in residence with the Tennessee Humanities Council in a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Cross then joined the APSU History Department as an Assistant Professor of History. In 1990, he took over the History program at APSU's Fort Campbell satellite campus.

He has published three books, two of which are regimental histories on the Civil War and a bibliography of local Tennessee history and is presently teaching on the APSU main campus.

We hope to see you at this meeting.

Greg Biggs
Clarksville CWRT