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
On Tuesday March 26, Ryan Quint will present “Determined to Stand and
Fight – The Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864”.
In early July 1864, a quickly patched together force of outnumbered
Union soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace prepared for a
last-ditch defense along the banks of the Monocacy River. Behind them,
barely fifty miles away, lay the capital of the United States, open to
attack. Facing Wallace’s men were Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederates.
In just under a month, they had cleared the Shenandoah Valley of Union
soldiers and crossed the Potomac River, invading the north for the third
time in the war. The veterans in Early’s force could almost imagine
their flags flying above the White House. A Confederate victory near
Washington could be all the pro-peace platforms in the north needed to
defeat Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming election.
What followed, the Battle of Monocacy, came to be known as “The Battle
that Saved Washington.” Ryan Quint will tell the story of the fight
through the words of those who lived it, using contemporary accounts and
photographs to reveal the determined fighting that took place through
the hot hours of July 9, 1864.
Ryan Quint graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a
degree in history. He worked as a seasonal park guide at the
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park before moving to
work at as an interpreter for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. His
first book Determined to Stand and Fight: The Battle of Monocacy, July
9, 1864, was published in 2017 by Savas Beatie as part of their
award-winning Emerging Civil War Series. He is currently at work on a
second book about the Battle of Dranesville.
CWI-CWRT CONGRESS PARTNERSHIP details
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)