The Courier July 2016 1

“Where Both Sides Are Heard”

Founded in 2012

The Courier

The Newsletter of the Civil War Roundtable of North Florida

Mailing address:

Civil War Roundtable of North Florida

13450 NE 100th

Street, Williston, FL 32696

Website: www.cwrnf.org

Phone: Diane Fischler (352) 378-3726; or Terry Huston (352) 359-1442

Email: diane@proofinggrounds.com; or thuston528@msn.com

The Courier is written by Diane Fischler (diane@proofinggrounds.com)

Vol. IV, No. 7 July 2016 Gainesville, Florida

Next Meeting (open to the public)

Thursday, July 14, 2016, 6 to 8 p.m. at:

Trinity United Methodist Church (TUMC)

4000 NW 53rd

Avenue

Room 232 in the front Education Center

Gainesville, Florida 32653

Reminder! NO meeting in August

New Civil War movie coming out June 24: “Free State of Jones” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124037/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-free-state-jones-180958111/

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CWRNF News

June 9, 2016: 27 members and guests attended

Well-known author, photo technology historian, and archivist Bill Ryan spoke

on Bringing Digital to Brady Photography in the Civil War. He described how

photography began in America when telegraph inventor Samuel Morse (1791-1872)

brought the daguerreotype process from France around 1840. Famed Civil War

photographer Mathew Brady (1822-1896) studied under Morse. Brady learned about

daguerreotypes and later mastered the “wet collodion process”—which Ryan described

as a “nightmare” requiring 20- to 30 sec. exposure times. This process would be used

to produce thousands of negative images on glass during the Civil War years. Brady

was both a technical and marketing genius. The well-to-do lined up to pay to be

included in his Gallery of Illustrious Americans, which he established in 1845 across the street from P.T.

Barnum’s American Museum in New York City.

The Civil War transformed both the process and cultural impact of photography, as images of the

horrors of war were seen by Americans as never before. Brady and his associates made the war “come

alive.” Brady’s “What’s-It Wagon,” a traveling photo laboratory, became the norm for on-site

photography production. The Edward Anthony Company sold Brady all his supplies and also sold

supplies to the Confederates (echoing the April 2016 CWRNF talk on Trading with the Enemy by Philip

Leigh). Having spent his fortune buying up hundreds of negative plates and deeply in debt, Brady gave

the bulk of his collection to the Edward Anthony Company, which later became Ansco, where Bill Ryan

worked and first encountered the Brady photo collection.

Ryan brought many prints for his talk, and marveled at the amount of detail hidden in the

“grainless” glass negatives. His PowerPoint presentation showed multiple Brady prints along with high-

definition enlargements Ryan had made from the negatives, with scans at 2000 DPI, revealing people and

items that had previously never been seen. He also spoke about how these black-and-white and sepia-

toned photos have lasted for more than 150 years—and will outlast today’s digital images in the Cloud.

Above photo: Renowned Civil War photographer Mathew Brady taken on July 22, 1861, one day

after the Battle of First Manassas. Photo courtesy: Civil War Trust

Book sales

Please donate your “gently used” history books, history DVDs, historical maps,

and/or magazines for re-sale at our monthly meetings. They can cover any period in history,

but American 19th

and 20th

century history books, periodicals, and DVDs would be preferred.

All proceeds go toward outside speaker fees and room rental fees. Payment by cash or

check. Place a post-it on the cover to show the price. Prices are not negotiable at these

reduced rates. At the June 9 meeting, the CWRNF made $75 in book sales.

Website: www.cwrnf.org

Please check the website periodically for updates on the CWRNF’s ongoing events,

past newsletters, upcoming speakers. We will continue emailing the monthly online Courier

newsletter as an attachment in PDF format.

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CWRNF newsletter: The Courier (in PDF format)

IF you did NOT receive the online Courier newsletter (sent as a PDF attachment to

your requested email address) at least one week before the next meeting, contact Diane

Fischler to email you the latest newsletter (diane@proofinggrounds.com). But before

requesting another newsletter attachment, first please check your spam/junk folder in case the

email with attachment landed in that folder.

Membership dues

Full membership dues—renewal or new—will be payable at the Sept. 8 or Oct. 13

meetings for 2016-2017 participation in the CWRNF. Please pay your renewal or new

membership dues at either of these two upcoming meetings so we can keep your name on

our CWRNF membership list. You can give a check to our treasurer, Terry Huston, or

mail a check to: Terry Huston, 13450 NE 100th

Street, Williston, FL 32696. Please make checks

payable to CWRNF. Your dues go directly toward paying outside speaker fees and room rental

fees. Individual: $25; Couple/Family: $35; Student: $15

“Like” the CWRNF page on Facebook

We have a Facebook page. Search “Civil War Roundtable of North Florida – Facebook.”

Many thanks to member John Walsh for his time and effort to update and maintain this page.

Our Facebook page receives about 400 to 500 views a year. Some of our posts have appeared on the

Civil War Trust’s Facebook page.

Upcoming Meetings

(second Thursday of each month—6 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church) (speakers and topics subject to change)

July 14, 2016:

Member Bill Zettler will speak about the Civil War’s German soldiers in a talk

titled: German Voices: I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel! German-American soldiers played a

major role in the war—about 25% of all Union troops were of German descent. Bill will

follow three German privates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia. He will also

share the “shock and awe” experienced by a Georgia soldier—in his own

words—after Sherman’s troops ransacked his family’s plantation near

Savannah. Finally, Bill will go “back to the future” to visit some of their

descendants now living in Florida, Georgia, Virginia—and Germany.

Left photo: General Franz Sigel (1824-1902), one of the war’s most well-known

German officers—with a dubious reputation on the battlefield. Photo courtesy:

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/civil_war_series/1/sec5.htm

Right poster: Civil War recruitment poster for Germans in Pennsylvania

Image courtesy: http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/PADutch.html

August 11, 2016: No CWRNF meeting

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September 8, 2016:

Guest speaker Matt Gallman will make a return visit to discuss the 1864 presidential election

and Lincoln’s “Blind Memorandum.” Dr. Gallman spoke to our group in April 2015 about

Appomattox. He is the author of numerous books, including Lens of War: Exploring Iconic Photographs

of the Civil War (2015) and Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the

Union Home Front (2015). Defining Duty is the winner of the Inaugural Bobbie and John Nau Book Prize

in American Civil Era History for 2016. Dr. Gallman has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on

the Civil War era and on American Women’s History.

1864 campaign posters:

Left: National Union Party:

Abraham Lincoln & Andrew Johnson

Right: Democratic Party:

George B. McClellan & George H. Pendleton

Posters courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

United_States_presidential_election,_1864

Oct. 13, 2016:

Member Toni Collins will speak on: Civil War Blockade Running

on Florida’s Gulf Coast: A Cat and Mouse Game, which is the title of her

fourth book. Her other titles include: Cedar Keys Light Station (a history of

the 1854 lighthouse on Seahorse Key), The Lady of the Lighthouse: A

Biography (the life of Catharine Hobday, the only woman to serve at the

Cedar Keys Light Station as Assistant Lighthouse Keeper, and Atlantic Coast

Line Railroad: Dunnellon to Wilcox, Florida (a history of the ACL railroad in

Levy County).

Map: The 4 Federal Blockade Squadrons (= their principal bases):

NABS = North Atlantic Blockading Squadron

SABS = South Atlantic Blockading Squadron

EGBS = East Gulf Blockading Squadron

WGBS = West Gulf Blockading Squadron

Map courtesy: http://thomaslegion.net/the_civil_war_blockade_history.html

Nov. 10, 2016:

The former executive director of the National Civil War Naval Museum

(Columbus, Georgia), Bruce H. Smith, will speak on: Secret Naval Missions

of the Civil War: Both Sides. Prior to his tenure at the Naval Museum, he was

the curator of the National Museum of the Pacific War at the Admiral Nimitz

Center (Fredericksburg, Texas). He has been involved in numerous consulting

Civil War naval projects and professional presentations. Right painting: David and Goliath by artist

Paul Bender, which illustrates a small Union Navy launch’s spar-torpedo attack, led by Lt. William

Cushing, on the Confederate ironclad Albemarle. The confrontation was on the night of Oct. 27-28,

1864, at Plymouth, North Carolina. Painting courtesy: www.bendermaritime.com

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Dec. 8, 2016: No CWRNF meeting. Civil War Roundtable Holiday Dinner at Napolatano’s.

Signup sheet to be circulated only at Sept. 8 and Oct. 13 meetings. Space is limited.

Jan. 12, 2017:

Local historian David Riker will give a presentation on

medicine in the Civil War. Lori Riker will answer questions on

women and medicine in the war.

Right photo: “Dr. [Jonathan] Letterman, the ‘Father of

Battlefield Medicine,’ pioneered and devised a standardized

medical kit of various instruments needed for immediate

surgery. The instruments were interchangeable so they could be easily replaced due to loss or

damage.” Photo and quote courtesy: https://featherfoster.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/civil-war-

medicine-dr-lettermans-system-evolves/

Feb. 9, 2017:

Member Bob Wooley will speak about the Skirmish at Station No. 4,

which occurred on the morning of Feb. 13, 1865, near Cedar Key, between Union

and Confederate soldiers in the fields on the mainland near one of the station

stops on the Florida Railroad. Right sketch: Battle of Station 4: A sketch

from Dickison and His Men: Reminiscences of the War in Florida (1890) by

Mary Elizabeth Dickison. Drawing shows Confederate troops firing on the

Federals. In the background is Number 4 trestle.

Sketch courtesy: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/stationfour.html

March 9, 2017:

Members Fred & Judy Donaldson will talk about the Red

River Campaign (March 10 to May 22, 1864) and the Bailey’s

Dam episode. They will also cover the recent attempt at raising

Acting Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter’s flagship USS Eastport

(ironclad) sunk by a mine in the river above Alexandria on April

15, 1864. Left photo: USS Eastport. Photo courtesy:

http://photos.usni.org/content/10025478jpg

June 8, 2017:

Member Bill Zettler, in his ongoing research on the role of Germans in the

Federal armies, will talk about Major Gen. Carl Schurz (1829-1906). Schurz was a

German revolutionary in 1848, U.S. Minister to Spain (1861-1862), Union general at

Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, U.S. senator (1869-1873), and Secretary of

the Interior (1877-1881) under Rutherford B. Hayes. Right photo: Gen. Carl Schurz

Photo courtesy: civilwarfacialhair.wordpress.com

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July 13, 2017:

Author Philip Leigh will make a third appearance to speak on his latest book:

The Confederacy at Flood Tide: The Political and Military Ascension, June to

December 1862 (2016). Leigh states that these seven months offered the Confederate

States of America the best opportunity to achieve independence—and why the CSA’s

efforts failed. Phil first spoke to our Roundtable in July 2015 on his book, Lee’s Lost

Dispatch and Other Civil War Controversies (2015), and in April 2016, he gave a

talk on another of his books, Trading with the Enemy: The Covert Economy

During the American Civil War (2014).

Upcoming Local & Regional & State Civil War-Related Events (events & dates subject to change; confirm event before traveling)

July 2-3, Aug. 6-7, Sept. 3-4, Oct. 1-2, Nov. 5-6, Dec. 3-4, 2016:

First Weekend Union Garrison at Fort Clinch, 2601 Atlantic Ave., Fernandina Beach.

www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinch

Aug. 24-28, 2016, Nov. 9-13, 2016:

Living History Program Events at Fort Jefferson (including medicine of the Civil War

demonstrations) at Dry Tortugas National Park (on Garden Key) to commemorate NPS Centennial,

70 miles west of Key West (accessible only by 2 1/4-hour NPS catamaran for $175; $165 over age 62).

www.nps.gov/drto; https://www.drytortugas.com/faqs

Sept. 23-25, 2016:

Rifles, Rails & History, Wooten Park in downtown Tavares on Lake

Dora. Reenactment skirmishes, military drill, cannon and musket firing

demonstrations. bobbyag22@gmail.com

Sept. 2016 (exact date TBA):

Re-lighting of the Dry Tortugas Light Station on Loggerhead Key

(built four years before the Civil War and in continuous operation from 1857

to 2014), 70 miles west of Key West (accessible only by 2 1/4-hour NPS catamaran for $175; $165

over age 62). www.nps.gov/drto https://www.drytortugas.com/faqs

Oct. 8-9, 2016:

Confederate Garrison at Fort Clinch, 2601 Atlantic Ave., Fernandina Beach.

www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinch

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Gutzon Borglum at Gettysburg

The North Carolina State Monument on the Gettysburg

battlefield is located on West Confederate Avenue on Seminary Ridge.

The monument was sculpted by the renowned—and highly

controversial—American celebrity sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941).

This iconic battlefield memorial features five Tar Heel infantrymen resolutely

advancing during Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863. Within just one hour, 15

North Carolina infantry regiments under Gen. Johnston Pettigrew suffered

heavy casualties: 2,700 (470 killed, 1,893 wounded, 337 captured).

In Borglum’s sculpture, one man kneels injured on the ground,

pointing toward the enemy while three other Rebels look across the one-mile

open field knowing that entrenched Federals await them. A fifth man holds a

flag as he advances with the colors. Borglum modeled the flag bearer on the

Stars and Bars Confederate flag designer, Orren Smith, a North Carolinian.

The other soldiers were sculpted from photographs of Confederate soldiers. The monument was

dedicated on July 3, 1929, exactly 66 years after Pickett’s Charge. This memorial was the second

Confederate state marker to be placed on the battlefield; the first state monument was the Virginia

Memorial erected in 1917 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Monument).

Top photo courtesy: http://www.brotherswar.com/Gettysburg-Day-1Pic-28.htm

Middle photo courtesy: http://livewire.wgal.com/Event/Gettysburg_150?Page=3

Photo of artist, sculptor, promoter Gutzon Borglum courtesy: Library of Congress

Photo of Mt. Rushmore courtesy: https://openclipart.org/detail/226888/mount-rushmore-national-memorial South Dakota map (Mount Rushmore located in southwest corner of state) courtesy:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/southdakota/

In the mid-to-late 1920s, Gutzon Borglum took

time off from his colossal South Dakota Black Hills

project—Mount Rushmore—to work on Gettysburg’s

North Carolina Monument. Borglum died in March

1941, never having finished the Mount

Rushmore carving of the 60-foot-high

granite faces of Washington,

Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

Gutzon’s son, Lincoln (1912-1986), an

engineer and sculptor, took over the

daunting task of completing the

presidential tribute. But due to lack

of funding, impending involvement in

the European war, and other major obstacles, Lincoln Borglum

terminated the dynamiting and jackhammering in October 1941.

Today, Mount Rushmore National Memorial looks the same as when

Gutzon Borglum scrutinized it for the last time in early 1941.

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Below left: Dedication of North Carolina State Monument on July 3, 1929. The seven children in

front of the monument are grandchildren of North Carolina veterans who fought at Gettysburg.

Below right: Gutzon Borglum (lower left) in the late 1920s in his San Antonio, Texas, studio at

work on the clay model of the North Carolina monument. Today, the restored historic Borglum

Studio looks out on the 17th

hole of the Brackenridge Park Golf Course.

Both photos courtesy: heidi767.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

Inscription on a stone tablet near the North Carolina Monument courtesy:

http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/ confederate-

monuments/confederate-state-monuments/north-carolina/

“To the eternal glory of the North Carolina soldiers. Who

on this battlefield displayed heroism unsurpassed

sacrificing all in support of their cause. Their valorous

deeds will be enshrined in the hearts of men long after

these transient memorials have crumbled into dust.

“Thirty two North Carolina regiments were in action at

Gettysburg July 1, 2, 3, 1863. One Confederate soldier in

every four who fell here was a North Carolinian.”

Mt. Rushmore “selfie” cartoon by Bill Whitehead courtesy:

https://www.cartoonstock.com/

directory/g/gutzon_borglum.asp

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Six other statues of Civil War-related figures sculpted by Gutzon Borglum Top left photo: General Philip Sheridan on his famous horse Rienzi (1908) in Sheridan Circle, Washington,

D.C. NW. Photo courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Philip_Sheridan#/

media/File:General_Philip_Sheridan_Memorial_-_Rienzi.JPG

Top right photo: Bust of Lincoln (1908) in the Crypt of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum#/

media/File:Bust_of_Abraham_Lincoln_by_Gutzon_Borglum_cph.3b20231.jpg

Bottom center photo: Seated Lincoln (1911) outside the Essex County Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.

Photo courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seated_Lincoln

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Top photo: Bust of Lincoln (1931) outside his tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. This

sculpture is a copy of the Lincoln bust in the U.S. Capitol Building. Photo courtesy:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/420734790158318418/

Bottom left photo: (Seated) Alexander H. Stephens (1927), vice president (1861-1865) of the Confederacy, in

Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy:

https://www.aoc.gov/art/national-statuary-hall-collection/alexander-hamilton-stephens

Bottom right photo: (Standing) Zebulon B. Vance (1916), governor (1862-1865) of North Carolina, in

Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Statuary_Hall_Collection