Current Newsletter and Archives
Williamsburg Civil War
Roundtable
Meeting Place:
WILLIAMSBURG
Williamsburg Regional Library Theatre
Volume LI Number 8 April 27, 2021
MONTHLY MEETING NOTICE
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 7 PM
Christopher L. Kolakowski
"Perspectives of the 1862 Virginia Campaign"
The meeting will be via Zoom. Zoom links will be sent to all email recipients no later than April 25th.
Join us for the next meeting of the Williamsburg
Civil War Roundtable at 7 PM on Tuesday, April 27,
2021.
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.
Last Month
On Tuesday, March 16th, Michael E. Block will
present “A Rusty Sword, Five Friends, and ‘as
perfect a beauty ever born on the soil of the Old
Dominion.” Incidents and anecdotes from the Battle
of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862.
The Battle of Cedar Mountain is considered by some
as the opening fight in the Second Manassas
Campaign, others a one-off fight. Mike will give an
overview of the Cedar Mountain Campaign and the
battle itself. But his focus will be on the
experiences soldiers who participated in the battle.
Their stories are typically lost in the recounting
of the fight, so tonight’s presentation features
their tales.
Michael E. Block is a recently retired government
consultant, having served 20 years in the U. S. Air
Force and 19 with the firm Booz Allen Hamilton. He
was recently the Vice-President of the Friends of
Cedar Mountain Battlefield, but still volunteers for
the organizations. He has been published in
Blue and Gray Magazine, Hallowed Ground and will
have his first book published, “The Carnage Was
Fearful: The Battle of Cedar Mountain”, in 2021. His
specialty is the Civil War in the Virginia Piedmont,
with an emphasis on Cedar Mountain and the Winter
Encampment of 1863-64. He resides in Williamsburg,
Virginia with his wife of 39 years, Caryn. They have
two married sons and three granddaughters.
2019-2020 Officers of WCWRT:
President: Bill Miller
Vice-President: Lee Underwood
Secretary:
Gene Danko
Treasurer:
The Executive Committee consists of the elected
officers, the immediate past president and other
members appointed by the incoming president. Those
members include
Debbie Bedosti, Tom Lamb, and Terri Teopke.
Upcoming Meetings and Speakers
- May 25, 2021 - Matt Atkinson - TBA
Special Events
Visit the Williamsburg Battlefield
Association
(http://www.williamsburgbattlefieldassociation.org/)
(https://www.facebook.com/WilliamsburgBattlefieldAssociation)
WEBSITE: Be sure to frequently
visit the site for newsletter info, announcements,
future and past speakers, and an up to date calendar
of events in the Civil War world. It’s
available anytime you need the info.
http://www.wcwrt.org.
The purpose of this organization shall be to promote discussion and study of the Civil War and to further stimulate interest in all aspects and phases of the Civil War period.