October 20th 15th, 2010 – Our 79th Meeting! Our sixth in our new home – the Bone & Joint Center!
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, October 20th in our new home at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Hospital. This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall - I-24, Exit 4 in Tennessee. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
OUR SPEAKER AND TOPIC: “The Shadow Of Shiloh: General Lew Wallace and the Civil War”
In the Spring of 1862, Union Major General Lew Wallace appeared to have an exceptional military career ahead of him. At the age of 35, he was the youngest major general in the Union Army, rising to that rank from colonel in only eleven short months. After performing very well at Fort Donelson where he showed great initiative launching the first Union counterattack against the surging Confederates, his failure to appear on the battlefield until the end of the first day of Shiloh appears to have put his career on hold. However, the 1864 Battle of Monocacy , the “battle that saved Washington,” appears to have resurrected it. The truth, however, is never that simple. Wallace was a genuine hero, but he made mistakes and was also a scapegoat for others. The story of Lew Wallace and the Civil War is complex and highlights some important truths about battles within the Union Army as well as those with the Confederates.
Lew Wallace was an Indiana native and the son of one of that state’s governors. He served in the Mexican war in the 1st Indiana Infantry and afterward was elected to the state senate. With the coming of the Civil War, Wallace was appointed state adjutant general helping to raise troops and was soon appointed colonel of the 11th Indiana Infantry, a Zouaves regiment. He reached Brigadier General not long after that commanding a brigade. After the war, Wallace wrote what is considered one of the finest pieces of American literature in the 19th Century, the famous book Ben-Hur.
This month’s program will be presented by Gail Stephens, author of the new book, Shadow Of Shiloh: Major General Lew Wallace in the Civil War. This is her first book. She holds a Bachelors’ Degree in International Politics from George Washington University and has done graduate work at Johns Hopkins and Harvard Universities. She retired from the Department of Defense after 26 years of service which then gave her the time to study the Civil War on a greater scale. Gail volunteers at Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Maryland and she also teaches classes at area colleges in addition to giving battlefield tours. In 2002, she won the National Park Service’s E.W. Peterkin award for her contributions towards the public’s understanding of Civil War history. She will hopefully have copies of her book at the meeting.