Current Newsletter and Archives
Williamsburg Civil War
Roundtable
Meeting Place:
WILLIAMSBURG
Williamsburg Regional Library Theatre
Volume LI Number 9 May 25, 2021
MONTHLY MEETING NOTICE
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 7 PM
Matt Atkinson
"The Battle of Gettysburg - A Simple Overview"
The meeting will be via Zoom. Zoom links will be sent to all email recipients no later than May 23rd.
Join us for the next meeting of the Williamsburg
Civil War Roundtable at 7 PM on Tuesday, May 25,
2021.
On Tuesday, May 25, 2021, Matt Atkinson will present
"The Battle of Gettysburg – A Simple Overview”. The
name Gettysburg is synonymous with American History.
Three days of battle that brought the country from
the brink of destruction to a “new birth of freedom”
at a cost of 51,000 casualties.
Today, despite Gettysburg being one of the most
studied battles in the world, many Americans do not
even have a simple understanding of the battle. If
you are one of those people, this program is for
you.
Join Matt Atkinson for a 50 minute overview packed
with information and stories about Gettysburg.
Matt Atkinson hails from Houston, Mississippi.
(Grierson’s Raid came through his town.) He attended
Ole Miss and graduated with a Bachelor of Business
Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in History. In
2016, Matt earned a Master of Arts in History at the
University of Louisiana-Monroe. His thesis is on the
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou or, as he would like to
call it - “Dead Yankees in a Swamp.”
Matt grew up in Mississippi loving the Civil War.
His parents took him to local battlefields such as
Vicksburg and Shiloh. Matt always asked, “Dad, did
we win here?”, and Dad always responded, “No, not
here.” At age seven, Matt and his parents made a
trip to Washington, D.C. On the way, they stopped at
the Manassas Battlefield. Finally! A victory! Alas,
his mother was sick, and the family had to move on.
It would take another 20 years for Matt to return,
and he still has yet to forgive his mother.
Matt currently resides in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
with his twin girls, Emma and Aubrey, and his son
Benjamin Lee. He is employed at the Gettysburg
National Military Park and enjoys listening to sad
country songs.
Last Month
On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Chris Kolakowski presented "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.
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
- September 28, 2021- Chris Makowski: “The Battle of Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle”
- October 26, 2021 - Dennis Frye - “Stonewall’s Greatest Victory”
- November 23, 2021 - Dr. Charles Ross - “Breaking the Blockade: The Bahamas during the Civil War”
- December 21, 2021 - John Fox III - “The Confederate Alamo – Fort Gregg”
- January 25, 2022 - Kevin Pawlak - “In the Wake of Antietam – The Loudon Valley Campaign of 1862”
- February 22, 2022 (To Be Determined)
- March 22, 2022 (To Be Determined)
- April 14, 2022 - Dr. Curt Fields & Thomas Jessee, portraying General Ulysses S. Grant & General Robert E. Lee, respectively: “Appomattox – The Last Forty-Eight Hours”
- May 24 – Dr. Jonathan White
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.