Heritage bump!
Posted on 01/13/2003 8:34:55 PM PST by stainlessbanner
The largest amphibious military landing before D-Day happened on Hilton Head Island.
Talk of the South's secession from the Union began in Bluffton.
Three major battles were fought in Jasper County, killing hundreds of men. Later, in the last year of the war, Sherman marched though and burned everything those battles didn't destroy.
The Lowcountry certainly has its share of Civil War history. In March, it'll also have its share of Civil War historians.
The Lowcountry Civil War Roundtable will host its second annual South Atlantic Civil War Symposium March 27-29, featuring a dozen of the nation's top military historians. The symposium is open to the public. Registration is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.
"You are going to get three full days of lectures by a number of the preeminent authors and historians working in the Civil War history area today," said Bob Eberly, a former president of the roundtable.
There's Richard McMurry, famous in the field for his "Two Great Rebel Armies" and "Atlanta 1864" books. McMurry was the first historian to commit to last year's successful symposium, inviting eight of his colleagues to spend a winter weekend in the Lowcountry and speak to one of the nation's fastest growing roundtables.
Topping McMurry in fame this year, but just barely, is James I. "Bud" Robertson, author of "Stonewall Jackson" and "Soldiers Blue and Gray." He'll speak about common soldiers.
Other historians will talk about William T. Sherman's often-overlooked march through the Carolinas (during which he burned most of Jasper County to the ground), about the Confederate navy, and about Yankee Gen. Lew Wallace, who wrote the famous novel "Ben Hur."
They'll talk about the controversial Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and the hotly debated "massacre" of black troops at Fort Pillow, Tenn. They'll talk about Confederates and Indians in the West. They'll speak of Robert E. Lee's famous Army of Northern Virginia, which originally formed under Gen. Joseph Johnston, better known as Sherman's adversary from the Western Theater.
"They'll talk about the cutting edge of Civil War research," Eberly said. "It's not going to be a recitation for the 27th time about Second Manassas."
Eberly said the historians, easily the cream of the field's crop, come to the Lowcountry for the symposium for three reasons: the weather's great, it's their "off season" from the national lecture series scene, and the Lowcountry Civil War Roundtable is made up of intelligent amateur historians who ask good questions.
"I think the symposium is the greatest opportunity one could have to talk to the latest people writing Civil War history," said roundtable Vice President Bernie Covert. "They'll talk to you, they'll sign your books. That's the greatest thing about the symposium: there's time to sit and talk with the authors about Civil War history."
In addition to the three-day symposium, Parris Island Museum Director Stephen Wise, himself an author and speaker at the symposium, will lead an optional boat tour of Port Royal Sound to discuss the important battle and amphibious landing that occurred there early in the war. The tour, on March 26, costs $125 for non-roundtable members.
Call Covert at 795-7808 for more information or to sign up for either the symposium or the boat tour. The symposium is technically organized by the national Blue & Gray Education Society.
More information on the roundtable, which is made up mostly of Sun City and Bluffton residents but is open to anyone within driving distance, is available online at www.lowcountryCWRT.org
zzzzzzzzzzz.......
That means "Red" McPherson wasn't invited right?
Driftless gets out his guitar and starts playing "The Good Old Rebel". Why do I get the feeling you wrote that song?
That sounds like one heck of a symposium.
Very interesting. Thanks for the info (not that I'd pay $850 for a statue anyway --- even one of my "idol", Honest Abe.) ;~))
Heritage bump!
History - YES! Revisionist claptrap - NO!
I would have thought the neo-rebs would welcome the opportunity to rebut the 'socialist' historians in open session. You know, on a level playing field. Alas like most confederates, you'd rather fight behind barricades than engage your enemy in the field.
Sir, we face them everyday here on FR. The lies have been refuted time and time again. I would more than welcome a communist like Asa Gordon to the symposium, however with men like him I have found their screed is shouting a mantra of a few words instead of discussing the actual topic. I suggest you check out a few of their sites before you begin name calling. Their ignorance is a disease not an excuse
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