First Vice President:                   Rob Monroe, Editor       
Richard Forrester                     2416 Edenbrook Dr.     
Second Vice President:                  Richmond, VA 23228-3040  
Shep Parsons                          rmonroe@richmond.com   
May 2004 PROGRAM

Dr. Elisabeth S. Muhlenfeld,

"Mary Boykin Chesnut"


8:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 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.

Dr.  Elisabeth Showalter Muhlenfeld has  been  president  of
Sweet Briar College since August 1996.  Prior to her arrival
at the Amherst County school, she was Dean of  Undergraduate
Studies  at  Florida  State  University  where  she had held
various positions since 1978.  Throughout her administrative
services  at FSU, she continued to teach one or more courses
a year in American literature and Southern literature.   Dr.
Muhlenfeld  received a Ph.D.  in English from the University
of South Carolina, concentrating on Southern literature  for
her doctoral studies.                                       

She  is  author of four books, including a biography of Mary
Boykin Chesnut, a work on Chesnut's novels and an edition of
Chesnut's original diaries, co-edited with historian C.  Vann
Woodward.  Mary Boykin Chesnut: A  Biography  was  nominated
for  various  prizes,  among  them  the  Pulitzer,  and  was
selected by Choice  magazine  as  an  "outstanding  academic
book." In 1992 the biography was reprinted in paperback, and
has now had numerous reprintings.                           

Dr.  Muhlenfeld has written dozens of  articles  and  essays
and  has  made  frequent  presentations  at state, regional,
national, and international conferences and workshops,  many
of which have dealt with the works of Southern writers.  She
is a frequent commentator in newspapers,  journals,  and  on
C-SPAN   and   National   Public   Radio.   Active  in  many
professional  organizations,  she  has  served  on   various
boards,  committees and councils, including the Board of the
Tredegar Civil War Center.  Dr.  Muhlenfeld is  the  current
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors of the United Way of
Central Virginia.                                           

Review of the April Program

The April meeting of the  Richmond  Civil  War  Round  Table
began  with  a  reading  of General Orders Number Nine.  The
recitation of Gen.  Robert E.  Lee's farewell address to his
troops  in  the  Army of Northern Virginia has been an April
tradition with the RCWRT, marking  the  anniversary  of  the
surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865.                



Mark  G.   Malvasi,  a  history  professor at Randolph-Macon
College, then addressed the Round  Table  on  "My  Brother's
Keeper:  Proslavery  Thought  and  the  Southern Critique of
Modernity." Malvasi began his talk by stating no  one  wants
to  talk  about  slavery.  When discussing the subject it is
almost impossible to avoid being controversial.             

According to Malvasi, the generation  of  southern  thinkers
who  came of age between 1815 and 1850 recognized the plight
of the modern world arising directly from the brutal  nature
of  the  so-called free labor system and from the exploitive
character of free society itself.  They posited  slavery  as
an alternative.                                             

One of the great myths of the 19th century, Malvasi says, is
that there was an overall lack of education in the South.  In
general,  southerners  were  well-versed  in  the  Bible and
maintained "a Christian defense of slavery." For the typical
slaveholder  of the mid-1800s, Malvasi explains, to maintain
bondsmen meant to be "my brother's keeper."                 

White southerners, being primarily products of  an  agrarian
society, often bemoaned capitalism and its perceived lack of
concern for the welfare of its labor force.  Malvasi  stated
that  "progress" (as it was defined in the North) meant "few
in charge  of  many"  to  white  southerners.   This  fueled
skepticism in slaveholders who countered that slavery in the
South was better than much wage work in  the  North.   White
southerners    contended    that   this   wage   labor   was
"irresponsible" and more exploitive toward its workers  than
slavery.                                                    

Antebellum  southerners  reasoned  that  all  societies  had
foundations in subordination - it was always  necessary  for
one  class to rule another -- and all advanced civilizations
had slavery.  Servitude prevented  anarchy,  they  believed,
and  slavery  was necessary to establish and maintain moral,
social and  political  order.   Malvasi  stated  that  white
Southerners  of  the  mid-19th century believed that without
slavery there would be no  standard  of  living  and  blacks
would live in squalor.                                      

Some  of  the most passionate proslavery arguments came from
antebellum white southerners who looked  to  the  Bible  for
justification.  They proclaimed that God had decreed slavery
and that Authority-Subjugation was His way.  Pointing to Old
Testament  scripture,  they  noted  that  even  God's chosen
people, the Israelites, owned slaves.  In the New Testament,
St.  Paul told slaves to obey their masters.                

The  South,  Malvasi explained, is vilified by the remaining
symbols of  slavery.   During  the  20th  century,  southern
conservative  thinkers  argued  that slavery had come to the
South  without  decision.    Their   efforts   to   distance
themselves  from  the  legacy of slavery, Malvasi said, have
obscured the most critical and imposing  insights  of  their
antebellum forebears.                                       


Conference to Focus on Women and the Civil War

The 6th Conference on Women and the Civil War, June 25-27 in
Richmond, features the latest in research into women's roles
during the conflict.  The conference, jointly  sponsored  by
the  Society  for  Women  and  the  Civil War (SWCW) and the
Museum of the  Confederacy  (MOC),  includes  the  following
presentations:   The   Stories  Behind  the  Socks:  Women's
Handiwork as Social and Political Expression (Karin Timour);
History  Done  Her  Wrong: The True Story of Mary Custis Lee
(John Perry); The Civil War Diary  of  a  Good  Woman:  Mary
Samuella  Hart Curd (Dr.  Susan Arpad); The Horizontal Trade
(Elizabeth Topping); Listen Ladies  One  and  All:  Northern
Soldiers  Yearn  for  Their 'Fair Cousins of the North' (Dr.
Patricia Richard); Women on  Trial:  The  Courts-Martial  of
Southern Women by the Union Army (Beverly Lowry & Dr.  Thomas
Lowry); Soliloquy for Sarah (Robin Young); The 'Fairer'  Sex
of the 1860s: How Patriotic Women Raised Money in Support of
the Union (Dr.  Gwen Harding-Peets);  Period  Correct:  19th
Century Sanitary Protection Protection (Virginia Mescher).  

Saturday   night's   entertainment  will  feature  the  U.S.
premiere of "The Unsexing of Emma Edmonds," a documentary on
the  life  and  adventures of Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias Pvt.
Franklin Thompson, 2nd Michigan Infantry.                   

Optional  events  include,  on   Friday,   behind-the-scenes
workshops  on  the MOC uniform and flag collections, as well
as furniture and decorative objects in the  White  House  of
the  Confederacy and, on Sunday, an optional 4-hour bus tour
of Civil War Richmond focusing on sites relating  to  women.
For    more    information:    womenandthecivilwar.org    or
 E-mail: womencivilwar@aol.com or 540-381-4518.               

RBA Announcements

The Richmond Battlefields Association (RBA)  will  hold  its
annual  meeting  on  Saturday,  June 12, at Willis Methodist
Church on the Frayser's Farm/Glendale battlefield.   William
J.  Miller will give a talk on the battle and lead a walking
tour through the southern  two-thirds  of  the  battlefield.
This  is  a  great and rare opportunity to see the privately
owned Whitlock Farm in the heart of  the  battlefield.   The
event  is  free,  open to members and non-members alike, and
begins   at   10:00am.    For    more    details    go    to
www.saverichmondbattlefields.org.                           

Please save your 2004 Ukrop's Golden  Gift  Certificates  to
benefit the Richmond Battlefields Association (RBA). Ukrop's
will send the certificates to its customers during the month
of  May.   While  we  know many organizations participate in
this program, please try to direct your, and your  friends',
certificates   to  help  our  local  efforts  to  save  area
battlefields.                                               

Please bring your certificates to a RCWRT  meeting  or  mail
them to:                                                    

David West                                                  
88 West Square Drive                                        
Richmond, VA 23233                                          

Thank you for your continuing support of the RBA!

Symposium Explores the War in
Shenandoah Valley in Fall 1864

In the fall of 1864, as the Union solidified its control  of
the Shenandoah Valley, Federal troops passed from village to
village,  destroying  farms,  mills,  livelihoods  --   this
"breadbasket  of  the  Confederacy".   On  May  21-22, noted
historians  John  Heatwole  and  Jeffry  Wert  will  lead  a
symposium  on  this  devastating time.  Based at Bridgewater
College, the event will offer participants their  choice  of
three  tours  exploring  the personal stories of this tragic
consequence of the American Civil War.  For more information
or    to   register   online,   visit   ShenandoahAtWar.org.
Registration deadline is May 15.                            

The symposium is sponsored by the CrossRoads  -  the  Valley
Brethren-Mennonite        Heritage        Center,        the
Harrisonburg-Rockingham  Historical   Society,   Bridgewater
College  and  the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation,
the management entity for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields
National  Historic  District.   This  is a 140th Anniversary
event in the Shenandoah Valley.  For more information  about
the calendar of 140th events, visit Valley1864.com.         

RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2004

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 28     
July newsletter				July 2     
August newsletter			July 30    
September newsletter			September 3
October newsletter			October 1  
November newsletter			October 29 
December newsletter			December 3 

Information may be emailed to rmonroe@richmond.com

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