Tom McMillan will present Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War, the title of his book released in July 2021. McMillan recently retired from a 43-year career in sports and media communication in Pittsburgh. He previously published Flight 93: The Story, The Aftermath and The Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 (2014) and Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers (2017).

Irishman Dave Finney from Indianapolis will deliver a St. Patrick’s Day presentation entitled George Armstrong Custer at Gettysburg. Mr. Finney retired in 2006 after serving the Michigan public school system for 37-years as an instructor of Civil War history. He was employed by the National Park Service as a visiting historian and has been featured in Civil War documentaries on the History Channel. He previously published Remembering Michigan’s Civil War Soldiers (2015) and Images of America: Howell (2013), a pictorial guide to historical Howell, Michigan

Eric Wittenberg will return to the Civil War Round Table to present Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia (2020). President Abraham Lincoln played a critical role in birthing the new state of West Virginia. Yet, the constitutionality of the process that produced the new state concerned the President, and he polled every member of his cabinet before signing the bill. The controversy led to the 1871 U.S. Supreme Court decision Virginia v. West Virginia, in which former Lincoln cabinet member Salmon Chase presided as chief justice over the court that decided the constitutionality of the momentous event. Mr. Wittenberg will explore the complex convergence of military, political, social, and legal events that brought about the new state. Mr. Wittenberg is a litigator and general counsel with Cook, Sladoje and Wittenberg, Co., LPA, in Columbus, Ohio and has authored 21 books most of which are dedicated to Civil War cavalry operations.

Kent Masterson Brown, a distinguish attorney, author, and filmmaker from Lexington, Kentucky, will present Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command (2021). General George Meade was assigned command of the Army of the Potomac just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg. He is often overlooked in discussions about great leaders of the war but Brown’s appraisal of Mead’s leadership recognizes the severe supply and logistical challenges he overcame, highlights how his rapid advance to Gettysburg on July 1, his tactical control and coordination of the army during desperate fighting on July 2, and his determination to hold the army’s position on July 3 resulted in critical victory for the Union. Mr. Brown’s previous books include Cushing of Gettysburg: The Story of a Union Artillery Commander (1993) and Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics and the Pennsylvania Campaign (2005).

David Mellott will present The Seventh West Virginia Infantry: An Embattled Union Regiment from the Civil War’s Most Divided State (2019). “The Bloody Seventh” earned its nickname many times over during the course of the Civil War. It stood in the Bloody Lane at Antietam, helped hold Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg, and attacked the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania. Fighting in more battles and suffering more losses than any other West Virginia regiment, the unit is recognized as the most embattled Union regiment in the most divided state in the war. Organized at Portland, Cameron, Grafton, Wheeling , Morgantown and Greenland, Virginia from July – December 1861, recruits came from throughout the restless border region of Western Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania, and southeastern Ohio. Mr. Mellott is a retired attorney from Cleveland, Ohio and reports that several of his ancestors served with the Bloody Seventh. In fact, regimental records identify that the most common name in the ranks is, in fact, Mellott!

Retreat From Gettysburg Field Trip

Wes Clarke, registered professional archaeologist and Collections Manager at The Castle Historic House Museum in Marietta, will present The Trouble With Monuments. The discussions, arguments and physical confrontations that now occur regularly regarding historical monuments are not just a debate in the U.S. over Confederate tributes but a world-wide phenomenon involving many conversations. The issues are about much more than the erection and maintenance of historic commemorations in public places; they are about the content and uses of historical narrative and who and what is included and left out of these stories. The presentation will briefly examine examples of monuments, the variety of objections and suggested solutions. Please note that Mr. Clarke forewarns, “We will not resolve these issues!”