Brag Bowling, President         Rob Monroe, Editor     
3019 Kensington Ave             2416 Edenbrook Dr.     
Richmond, VA 23221              Richmond, VA 23228-3040

May 2003 PROGRAM

Ervin L. Jordan, Jr.
"History's Heretics:
Afro-Confederates and the American Civil War"

8:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 13, 2003, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.) Enter
the basement door on the right side under the front steps.

Ervin L.  Jordan, Jr.,  is  a  research  archivist  and  the
University of Virginia's Records Manager.  He specializes in
Civil War and African-American history and is the author  of
three  books: 19th Virginia Infantry (1987), Charlottesville
and the University of Virginia in the Civil War (1988),  and
Black  Confederates  and  Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia
(University Press of Virginia, 1995).  The latter earned him
a  Virginia  Foundation  for  the Humanities Fellowship as a
scholar-in-residence.  Black Confederates,  a  History  Book
Club  selection,  was  named by Publisher's Weekly as one of
1995's best non-fiction books and cited as one of the  1,100
most  important  Civil  War  books in David J.  Eicher's The
Civil War in Books: An Analytical  Bibliography  (University
of  Illinois Press, 1997).  His Charlottesville book remains
the  only  single-volume  scholarly  history  of  the  city,
Albemarle  County, and the University during the War Between
the States.  He has addressed  several  distinguished  round
tables,  including the Civil War Round Table of Chicago (the
nation's oldest); the Civil War  Round  Table  of  Milwaukee
(the  nation's  second oldest); the Civil War Round Table of
Philadelphia; the  Lynchburg  Civil  War  Round  Table;  the
Rockbridge  Civil  War Round Table; and the Waynesboro Civil
War Round Table.                                            

Professor Jordan is a member of the  Advisory  Committee  on
African-American  Interpretation at Monticello, the Founders
Award Committee (Museum of the Confederacy), and is  also  a
state  officeholder  by  virtue  of  appointments  by  three
governors to the State  Historical  Records  Advisory  Board
(1996)  and  the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Museum of
Natural History (1997) with reappointments to both boards by
Governor  Mark Warner in 2002.  Jordan resides with his wife
Lorraine in Charlottesville.                                


Review of the April Program


DeAnne Blanton gave a lively and informative presentation on
"They  Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War."
She used slides of wartime and postwar images to show  those
in attendance what some of these women looked like.  Blanton
said that she  first  became  interested  in  the  topic  by
accident.   While  doing research for a patron, she found an
old file labeled "Women Soldiers." Kept by a War  Department
clerk  early  in  the  20th  century,  the  folder contained
various notes and newspaper clippings.  Blanton  and  Lauren
Cook  later  collaborated to write a book that was published
last year by Louisiana State University Press.              

The most famous woman in the  Confederate  army  was  Loreta
Velazquez.   She  was  also  the  most  vilified.  Velazquez
published her memoirs in 1876 because she desperately needed
money  for  herself  and her family.  An early critic of her
story was former general Jubal Early.  Blanton  acknowledged
that  most  modern  historians  have  written that Velazquez
could not have done everything she  claimed  but  said  that
about 75 percent of her story can be verified.              

Mary  A.   Brown enlisted with her husband in the 31st Maine
Infantry in December 1864.  Her identity was discovered  the
following  month,  but  she  was  allowed  to  stay with the
regiment as a nurse.  Brown died in 1936.   Frances  Clayton
was the most photographed of the women soldiers; four images
of her have survived.  Though from Minnesota,  she  enlisted
with  her  husband  in a Missouri cavalry unit.  Her husband
was killed at Stone's River, and Clayton confessed  her  sex
and left the army after the battle.  She then returned home.

Besides  Velasquez, the only woman who wrote a memoir of her
service was Sara Emma Edmonds.  Her book, Nurse and  Spy  in
the  Union  Army, was published during the war.  Edmonds was
from Canada but had moved  to  Michigan.   She  enlisted  as
Franklin Thompson in the 2nd Michigan Infantry.  Some men in
her company knew that she was a woman but did not reveal her
secret.   Edmonds became the regimental mail carrier.  After
recovering from malaria contracted while on the Peninsula in
1862, she became an orderly to Brigadier General Orlanda Poe
at Fredericksburg.  Edmonds  became  sick  again  after  her
regiment  was  transferred  to  the  Western  Theater.   She
deserted in Kentucky and went to live with friends in  Ohio.
Edmonds  sought  a  pension  after  the  war and was able to
obtain testimonials from her  former  comrades  while  at  a
regimental   reunion.    Congress  dismissed  the  desertion
charges against her as a result.                            

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman  was  the  only  woman  soldier  whose
letters have survived.  She enlisted as Lyons Wakeman in the
153rd New York Infantry.   Blanton  said  that  Wakeman  had
lived  and worked as a man prior to the war.  Her letters to
her parents were preserved  by  the  family  and  have  been
published.  Wakeman became sick after the Red River Campaign
and died of dysentery in a New Orleans hospital.            

How many women served as soldiers during the  war?   Blanton
said  that  she  doesn't  know  and  that we will never know
because only the ones who were discovered during the war  or
revealed  themselves  afterward  have  been identified.  Her
book documents 240 women.  Of that number, three were black,
although  one  passed  as  a  white man.  Seventy percent of
these women served in the Union army, with 30 percent in the
Confederate  army.   Blanton  believes  that there were many
more  women  in  the  Confederate  army   than   have   been
discovered.   By  1864, the Confederates had stopped sending
women home, and many women had stopped pretending to be men.
Women soldiers served in virtually every large engagement of
the Civil War.                                              


Events

May 17-18

Richmond  National  Battlefield   Park   will   present   an
anniversary  program  at  Drewry's  Bluff  featuring  tours,
discussions, special  displays  and  naval  living  history.
Information: www.nps.gov/rich or 804-226-1981.              

May 17-18

Fort Pocahontas in Charles City County will be the  site  of
tours,  military  demonstrations  and  reenactments  of  the
Confederate attack  against  Wilson's  Wharf  on  the  James
River.   The  fort  will  be open from 9 am to 4 pm each day
with battles at 1 pm.  Saturday  night's  events  include  a
dance      and      artillery      firing.      Information:
www.fortpocahontas.org or 804-829-9722.                     

May 23

The Museum of the Confederacy will open  a  new  exhibition,
"The Confederate Nation".  Using its extensive collection of
artifacts, documents and photographs the museum will take  a
new  look into the government and people of the Confederacy.
Information: www.moc.org or 804-649-1861.                   

May 24-26

Pamplin  Historical  Park  will  feature  a  living  history
program,   "With   Spade  and  Shovel:  Building  Civil  War
Earthworks".  Special events will focus on  the  Confederate
Engineering  Corps.   Information:   www.pamplinpark.org  or
1-877-PAMPLIN.                                              

May 26

The Richmond and Petersburg areas will host several Memorial
Day events.                                                 

The  remains of three unknown Union soldiers will be laid to
rest with military honors at Poplar Grove National  Cemetery
in  Petersburg  at  11 am.  Information: www.nps.gov/pete or
804-732-3531.                                               

Richmond  National  Battlefield  Park   and   the   Veterans
Administration  will hold a special memorial program at noon
in the Fort  Harrison  National  Cemetery  on  Varina  Road.
Information: www.nps.gov/rich or 804-226-1981.              

At  1 pm, a new Civil War Trails marker will be dedicated in
Petersburg on Graham Road at the rear  entrance  to  Cameron
Field.   At  3  pm  Blandford Cemetery will be the site of a
Memorial Day service  featuring  speakers,  re-enactors  and
period  music.   For  information  on these events log on to
www.craterroad.com/memorialday.html or contact Jerry  Wright
at 804-526-2651.                                            

May 31

Four Civil War authors will be featured at a  noon  luncheon
at historic Hanover Tavern on Rt.  301.  Robert E.L.  Krick,
Gordon Rhea, Ann McMillan and Michael  Varhola  will  be  on
hand to discuss their books.  The $20 fee includes lunch and
a tour of the 18th-century tavern.   For  reservations  call
804-537-5050.                                               

May 31-June 1

Richmond National Battlefield Park will conduct its  popular
anniversary  program  at Cold Harbor.  Tours, demonstrations
and living history will take place throughout  the  weekend.
Saturday  night  events include period music and candlelight
tours.   Information: www.nps.gov/rich or 804-226-1981.     

Announcements

Richmond Battlefields Association Seeks Your Help

The Richmond Battlefields Association (RBA) is  looking  for
volunteers  to  help  clear a trail on land the RBA recently
purchased at Fort Harrison.  The association would like  the
trail to be ready for its annual tour and meeting to be held
Saturday, June 14.  Other events that day include a talk and
book  signing  by  Dr.   Richard Sommers, author of Richmond
Redeemed.                                                   

The RBA is hoping to raise funds  by  participating  in  the
Ukrop's  Golden  Gift  certificate program.  Ukrop's will be
mailing certificates to customers  in  early  May.   In  the
following weeks the RBA will try to collect as many of these
certificates as possible.  The association  will  receive  a
donation  by  turning these certificates back in to Ukrop's.
The amount of the donation will be determined by the  number
of  certificates collected.  You can help support the RBA by
bringing your certificates to the May or  June  meetings  of
the RCWRT.  You may also mail your certificates to:         

David West        
88 West Square Dr.
Richmond, VA 23233

The RBA is a non-profit  organization  working  to  preserve
local  battlefields.   Information about the association may
be found its website, www.saverichmondbattlefields.org.     

Newsletter Deadlines

To facilitate the printing and timely  distribution  of  the
monthly  newsletter,  information for it should be submitted
to the editors no later than the following dates:           

June newsletter, May 23         
July newsletter, June 20        
August newsletter, July 25      
September newsletter, August 22 
October newsletter, September 26
November newsletter, October 24 
December newsletter, November 21

Information may be emailed to rmonroe@richmond.com

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2003


Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
Rob Monroe, Editor     
2416 Edenbrook Dr.     
Richmond, VA 23228-3040