The War CorrespondentNewsletter of the Ray Fawcett Chapter of The Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable

November 2009 Vol. 19, NO.5

General-in-ChieFs ReportBy

Tim Maurice

Hello everyone, this willbe our last meeting at theWesterville Electric Company.

Eric Mink a ranger atFredericksburg was our firstscheduled speaker at theWesterville Electric Company atthe February 2003 meeting, I sayscheduled because Eric had cartrouble on the drive here fromVirginia and was unable to makeit. We watched a movie on theLincoln assassination instead.There have been 77 meetingsheld at the Electric Company withsuch notable presenters asRichard McMurry, Ed Bearss, J.David Petruzzi, Alan Graff, KenNoe, Russell Bonds and JeffreyWert. I'd also be remiss if I didnot mention fellow members whohave so graciously presented uswith informative and entertainingtalks often on short notice;Howard Strouse, Eric Wittenberg,Jamie Ryan, Dallas Cahill andRobert Hatton, thanks guys!

It seems appropriate thatEric Wittenberg, a chartermember will be speaking to us atour last meeting at the ElectricCompany.

Please look elsewhere inthe newsletter for informationabout our new meeting place atthe Ohio Health facility on Polaris

Parkway. We will begin meetingthere with the January 13, 2010meeting.

I hope to see a lot of folksin November as well as perhapssome new faces.

Tim Maurice

Answer to the OctoberPuzzler

What Confederate shipcruised the South Atlantic fortwenty-one months, over 75,000miles of ocean, refueling inforeign ports, and returned withprizes worth over $6.5 million?

The ess Alabama

November Puzzler

late in 1862 when aTennessee raid by Confederatecavalryman Nathan B. Forrestnetted 1,200 prisoners, what didhe do with them?

Welcome

Please welcome the followingnew members:

There were no newmembers in October

Historian General'sReport

ByMike Peters

Our speaker for theNovember 11, 2009, meeting willbe Eric Wittenberg. The topicwill be: The retreat fromGettysburg.

Eric is a charter memberof the Roundtable; he is a notedCivil War cavalry historian andauthor, and has written over adozen books on Civil Warcavalry subjects, as well asarticles in popular Civil Warmagazines.

He lives in Columbuswith his wife Susan.

Adjutant General'sReport

ByRory McIntyre

October 14, 2009Meeting

Esteemed roundtableguest John Fazio spoke on thebattle of the CSS Alabama andUSS Kearsarge at our Octobermeeting.

Raphael Semmes, com-mander of the CSS

Continued on page 2

Alabama, and John Winslow,commander of the USSKearsarge had a long historybefore that storied battle. Theyhad both served on the USSCumberland during the MexicanWar and both lost ships of theirown.

After the war started,Semmes, siding with theConfederacy, realized that thesouth needed commerce raidersto interrupt shipping to the Union.He was a master of that activity,sinking the USS Hattaras and 65merchantmen in two years; USshipping was wrecked and wouldnot recover until long after thewar.

John Winslow was givencommand of the Kearsarge in1863. He had heard rumorswhile in England that theAlabama was laid up inCherbourg, France. He aw hisopportunity and sailed there assoon as he could. He positionedhimself outside the harbor.Semmes asked him to for theAlabama to get underway, andWinslow complied. TheKearsarge was more heavilyarmed and had fresher powder,as well as chain armor down hersides. This proved to bedecisive.

Seven miles outside themouth of the harbor, at 9:45 am,June 19, 1864, the battlecommenced. The Alabama fireda broadside but the Kearsargedidn't answer, instead closing onher opponent the Alabama firedagain and this time theKearsarge replied with a salvo ofshot and shell. To indicate justhow accurate and effective theKearsarge guns were, she firedonly half as many rounds as theAlabama. The Alabama placedone shot perfectly, though hittingthe stern post. However, theshell was a dud and didn'texplode, leaving the Kearsargeto continue battering the rebel

ship. Finally the Alabama hadsuffered too much, struck hercolors and sank at 12:24 pm. AnEnglishman, a Mr. Lancaster,had sailed out in his yacht to geta better view of the battle andended up saving forty-two rebels,including Semmes himself. TheAlabama suffered 21 killed, 12drowned, but the Kearsargesuffered only two wounded.

Winslow was made acommodore in recognition of hisgreat victory, but Semmes wasnamed Rear Admiral, and laterBrigadier General; he surren-dered with Johnston's army atthe war's end.

Thanks to John for hisdiscussion of an important navalengagement.

Book Raffle

The book raffle at theOctober meeting raised $32.00.

As you know these fundsgo toward the speaker expenses.

Thanks to everyone foryour support by donating booksand\or buy the raffle ticketsthroughout this year.

Dues

If you have not done soyou can still renew your member-ship:

Family - $35.00Single - $25.00Student - $15.00

You can send a check to: TheCentral Ohio Civil WarRoundtable at PO Box 471,Lewis Center, OH 43035-0471 oryou can bring it to the meeting.

New Civil War TrailOpens

The National ParkService opened a new trail in the

Pecos National Historical Parkthat allows visitors to explore thearea. The Glorieta BattlefieldTrail is more than two milesthrough the wooded and rockyhills southeast of Santa Fe and isaimed at educating people aboutthe decisive 1862 battle.

Christine Beekman chiefof interpretation and visitorservices at Pecos NationalHistorical Park, which overseesthe Glorieta Battlefield states"that it is important for visitors tosee the topography and otherobstacles at Glorieta Pass thatwould have hampered the troopsduring the battle".

From the Columbus Dispatch

Civil War EducationAssociation

I haven't received anyinformation on the tours for 2010.If you are interested in gettinginformation for 2010 you cancontact the Civil War EducationAssociation at:

For more informationcontact CWEA, Box 78,Winchester, VA 22604or call 1-800-298-1861.

Ft. Negley Park

The museum specialistfor Ft. Negley Krista Castillo maybe laid off her job due to budgetcuts. She is a highly competentand experienced Civil WarHistorian according to GregBiggs (Clarksville CWRT), andwould be replaced by a transferfrom another park in the city thathas no knowledge of Civil Warhistory. Greg is requesting thatother round-tables email themayor of Nashville Karl Deanletting him know how much youvalue Ft. Negley as a Civil Warsite for the entire nation. Contact:mayor@nashville.gov.

The War CorrespondentPatty Barker, Editor

Roundtable OfficersTim MauriceGeneral- in-Chief

614-818-9175 tmkus@wideopenwest.comPete ZuharsInspector General

740-363-9542 zeteman@yahoo.comRory McIntyreAdjutant General

614-261-7179 rmci@columbus.rr.comMike PetersHistorian General

614-866-6766 npetersl02@aol.comPatty BarkerChief of Signal Corps

614-985-3353patricia. barker@chase.com

War Council MembersBrian HallWar Council CommanderEd ChapdelaineWendy PetersSheryl TaylorLowell Fauver

THE WAR CORRESPONDENTNewsletter of The Ray FawcettChapter of The Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable

P. O. Box 471Lewis Center, OH 43035-0471

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

Wednesday, Nov~mber 11, 2009, 7:30 p.m. -The speaker will be Eric Wittenberg. His topicwill be "The Retreat from Gettysburg. Themeeting will be held at the Westerville ElectricCompany, 139 E. Broadway, Westerville, OH43081.

Future Meetings:

Tentative 2009-2010 schedule:

December - No meeting

January 13, 2010 - Annual discussion topic isthe most influential person (s) of the Civil War.

February 10, 2010 - Jay Simson - Custer & theFront Royal executions of 1864.

March 10, 2010 - Greg Biggs - Nashville: TheSiren's Song of the Western Confederacy

April 14, 2010 - Clark "Bud" Hall - Battle ofBrandy Station

Dates are subject to change

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