Meeting Dates
The organization meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month September through May. Meetings are held in the Williamsburg Regional Library Theatre located at 515 Scotland St in Williamsburg, VA, unless otherwise posted. The meetings begin at 7 PM. Membership is open to the general public.
This Month's Speaker
MONTHLY MEETING NOTICE
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 7 PM
Chris Kolakowski
"Perspectives of the 1862 Virginia Campaigns"
The meeting will be via Zoom. Zoom links will be sent to all email recipients no later than March 14th.
On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Chris Kolakowski will
present "Perspectives of the 1862 Virginia Campaigns“. The spring and
summer of 1862 in Virginia witnessed campaigns and bloodshed unlike any
before in North American history. Those campaigns - Valley,
Peninsula/Seven Days, and Second Manassas - are some of the most famous
of the conflict. The results of the fighting also marked a transition
point in the Civil War. This talk will examine lesser-appreciated
aspects of those campaigns and their contexts.
Christopher L. Kolakowski was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Va.
He received his BA in History and Mass Communications from Emory & Henry
College, and his MA in Public History from the State University of New
York at Albany.
Chris has spent his career interpreting and preserving American military
history with the National Park Service, New York State government, the
Rensselaer County (NY) Historical Society, the Civil War Preservation
Trust, Kentucky State Parks, and the U.S. Army. He has written and
spoken on various aspects of military history from 1775 to the present.
He has published two books with the History Press: The Civil War at
Perryville: Battling For the Bluegrass and The Stones River and
Tullahoma Campaign: This Army Does Not Retreat. In September 2016 the
U.S. Army published his volume on the 1862 Virginia Campaigns as part of
its sesquicentennial series on the Civil War. He is a contributor to the
Emerging Civil War Blog, and a reviewer and contributor to the Air Force
Journal of Indo-Pacific Studies. His study of the 1941-42 Philippine
Campaign titled Last Stand on Bataan was released in late February 2016.
He is currently working on a book about the 1944 India-Burma battles.
On January 6, 2020, Chris became Director of the Wisconsin Veterans
Museum, after serving as MacArthur Memorial Director from September 16,
2013, to December 6, 2019.
Chris Mackowski visited a few sites at Petersburg National Battlefield for a series of videos.
NAU Center Spring Events
details
2021 Nau Civil War Center Signature Conference: "Black Virginians in
Blue," April 13-14, 7 PM ET
details
Previous Zoom Meeting Presentations
September 21, 2020 - Kevin Pawlak presented "Robert E. Lee Defends the Confederate High Water
Mark at Sharpsburg" (view presentation -
73 minutes)
Kevin can be reached at
https://antietamguides.com/antietam-guides/antietam-battlefield-guides/kevin-pawlak/
November 24, 2020 - Scott Mingus presented "Flames
Beyond Gettysburg - The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna
River - June 1863
(View
presentation - 85 minutes)
December 8, 2020 - Ken Rutherford presented "America's
Buried History - Landmines in The Civil War".
View
presentation - 66 minutes
January 26, 2021 - Steve Phan presented "The Capital
Can't Be Taken! The Civil War Defense of Washington"
View presentation
February 16, 2021 - Dr. Thomas G. Clemens presented
“Special Orders 191 - Myths, Misconceptions and Facts Related to Lee's
Lost Orders”.
A map of the Antietam campaign and special orders 191 are on our website
at http://www.wcwrt.org/so191.jpg
and
www.wcwrt.org/Antietam-Campaign-3-to-17-1862-June.jpg. Please
download both. Video link is
wcwrt.org/zoom/feb21-clemens.mp4
-For best viewing of entire presentation, fast forward video to 5:24
minutes
March 16, 2021 - Michael Block presented the battle of
Cedar Mountan, August 9, 1862. Video link of presentation is
wcwrt.org/zoom/mar21-Block.mp4
- 93 minutes
Visit the American Battlefield Trust site to view animated Peninsula Campaign map
Visit the Williamsburg Battlefield Association (view
newsletter)
(http://www.williamsburgbattlefieldassociation.org/)
(https://www.facebook.com/WilliamsburgBattlefieldAssociation)