MCCWRT to Have a Naval Slant Tuesday...Sort Of

The MCCWRT (MCCWRT) will hold its monthly meeting this Tuesday, May 14, at the Woodstock Public Library at 414 W. Judd Street in Woodstock, Illinois.

It will be both in person and via ZOOM from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The speaker will be Ed Urban about the Ellet Raid at Vicksburg.  This will involve the Mississippi Marine Brigade which was a Union Army amphibious unit which included the United States Ram fleet (hence the naval aspect).

The brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet and operated in coordination with the Mississippi River squadron.

All are invited to a pre-meeting get-together for dinner or snacks at 3 Brothers Restaurant in Woodstock on Illinois Highway 47.

Come On By.  --Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Set for February 24: Battle of the Ironclads at Hampton Roads

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will be having its monthly discussion group on Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Panera Bread Co. store in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  This month the topic will be "The Battle of the Ironclads at Hampton Roads.

It will be in person and on Zoom if we can get it up.

This battle between the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor changed naval warfare for ever. 

Everyone invited (even non-members).  All you need is an interest in history and especially the Civil War.  And we even stay on topic at times.

Panera Bread is located on US-14 (Northwest Highway) by Main Street.

We meet from 10 am to 11:30.

Come on Down.  --Old B-Runner

McHenry County CWRT Discussion Group This Sat.: 'Marines in the Civil War'

The McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table discussion group will have a meeting this Saturday, April 29, to discuss the USMC and CSMC in the war.  

The meeting will be held at Panera Bread (US RT. 14 and Main Street) in Crystal Lake, Illinois, from 10 am to 11:30.  This will be in person and via Zoom.

The role -played by both the U.S. and Confederate Marines in the war is often overlooked, but, nonetheless important.  The CSMC was closely modeled after the USMC and served on ships as well as on land.  Both groups played a role in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.

Where there is always good discussion (often times on subject) and debate.

Come on Out.  --Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Group Topic 'Confederate Commerce Raiders' Feb. 25

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) will be having their next discussion group this Saturday, February 25 at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois (US Highway 12 and Main Street).

The topic is Confederate Commerce Raiders.'

It will be from 10 am to 11:30 am.  

This will be an in person and Zoom event.

All are welcome and we usually manage to stay on topic a fair amount of time.  Member or not, come on down.

--Old B-Runner

The Timby and the Monitor Blog: An Unmarked Grave for Theodore Timby

The Timby and the Monitor blog says this about Theodore Timby's grave:

"Theodore Ruggles Timby, brilliant inventor of the technology that revolutionized  the United States' and world's navies, lies today in an unmarked grave on a remote, sparsely grassed hill in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C..  It is the shame of the  government of the United States of America and in part to the  companion duplicity of one of the principle actors in this story, for the consummate failure to recognize this man, who was responsible in no small part for the preservation of that government at a critical time in its history.  How did this happen?"

I would say this short blog is going to be a defense of Mr. Timby's good name.

Like I said, I had never heard of him before, nor had members of my Civil War Round Table when I asked them.

His name should be right up there with John Ericsson's when the name USS Monitor is mentioned.

--Old B-Runner

The Fort Caswell You've Never Seen-- Part 1: What You See Is Not What It Was

From the November 27, 2021, Wilmington (NC) Star-News Join Brunswick Civil War Round Table, discuss the Fort Caswell You've Never Seen" by Cheryl M. Whitaker.

"The Fort Caswell You've Never Seen" will be the topic for the Tuesday, December 7 meeting of the Brunswick  Civil War Round Table.  Local historian and site manager at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, Jim McKee will speak at the program which begins at 7 pm at Hatch Auditorium on Caswell Beach on the grounds of the North Carolina Baptist Assembly.

Everyone is welcome to attend.  Registration begins at  6:15 pm.  The visitor fee is $10, which can include a spouse, and could be applied toward the $25  annual membership dues.

What exists at the fort today is very different from the 19th century Fort Caswell.  McKee's unique presentation will how it as it was  during and immediately after the Civil War through rare photographs and  archival drawings, things that you can't see today during the infrequent tours given at the site.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate Shipbuilding in England

From the September 19, 2021, Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) ) "Confederate ships topic for BRCWRT" by George Morris.

Patrick Martin spoke  about Confederate ships made in England before the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table on August 19.

Martin noted that at the beginning of the Civil War,  the Confederacy  did not have a Navy of facilities to construct and equip warships.  Confederate states did not have the industrial base of the North, so shipbuilding was undertaken on a much smaller scale.

Early in the war, Union General Winfield Scott drew up a strategy known as the Anaconda Plan to restrict  water access to Southern ports, which would  deny the Confederacy   of needed supplies.

This would be the blockade of the Southern coast.

Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory immediately embarked in a program that involved foreign shipyards to build ocean-going ships  to draw the Union Navy away from the South and disrupt international commerce going to the North.

Three commerce raiders were built for the Confederacy  in Liverpool, England.  The most famous of these was the CSS Alabama commanded by Captain, later Admiral, Raphael Semmes, which sank 64 Union vessels until it was sunk by the USS Kearsarge in the English Channel.

Semmes was rescued from the channel by a yacht and taken to England where he was received as a hero.

The other two ships were the CSS Florida and CSS Shenandoah.

After the war, England was made to pay damages by the ships built for the Confederacy.

--Old B-Runner

Talking About the Union Blockade-- Part 2: Has Written Three Books on Civil War Navy History

Robert M. Browning has published  "From Cape Charles to the Cape Fear" which chronicles the establishment of the crucial blockade from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.   This stretch included the important sites of   the inland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the James river (going to Richmond) and the North Carolina Sounds.

He has also published  "Success Was All That Was Expected,"  a history of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron that blockaded the coast of the Confederacy  from the Cape Fear River to Florida.  This story covers  the harrowing engagements between ships and forts, daring amphibious assaults and the evolution of submarine warfare in the form of the H.L. Hunley.

Yet another Browning book is "Lincoln's Trident" about the blockade in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obviously, Mr. Browning knows his naval history.

The meeting will be at 7 pm, Thursday, October 14 in Room 226 at the Harbor United Methodist Church at 4853 Masonboro Loop Road, Wilmington.

Another one I'd love to be at, but I'm over 1100 miles away and don't do Zoom.

Oh, Well.  --Old B-Runner

Talking About the Union Blockade-- Part 1: Cape Fear Civil War Round Table

From the October 3, 2021, Wilmington (North Carolina) Star-News "Wilmington's Cape Fear Civil War Round Table, discuss the Union blockade: by Cheryl M. Whitaker.

Robert M. Browning, Jr., will be the guest speaker at the Cape Fear Civil War Round Table Thursday, October 14 at the Harbor United  Methodist Church.  His topic will be the Union blockade during the Civil War.

He is the retired historian of the Coast Guard and an acknowledged expert on the blockade.  His topic will be "How Did Naval Power Contribute to the Winning of the War."

Abraham Lincoln  proclaimed a blockade on  the 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline on April 19, 1861, soon after the fall of Fort Sumter.

The role of the U.S. Navy in the war was crucial to Union victory.  When the blockade was declared, there were only three  warships ready for duty to maintain that blockade, but by the end of the war, the Navy had grown in size to671 ships of all sizes and types from the revolutionary new monitor ironclads to small shallow draft wooden gunboats.

--Old B-Runner

About the Confederate Navy

From the October 3, 2021, Advocate (Louisiana) "Mark  K. Vogl spoke about the Confederate Navy when the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table met  Sept. 23."

At the beginning of the war, the South did not have a Navy.  In February 1861, the Confederacy had  only 14 ships that were seaworthy  while the North already had an organized Navy with 90 functional ships.

The overwhelming industrial capacity of the North made it clear that the South could not produce as many ships, so Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory relied on technological innovation and ship-building assistance from foreign countries to make the Confederacy competitive.

His strategy centered on commerce raiding with innovative ships like the CSS Alabama, which used both sail and steam; the use of powerful rifled  naval guns, which were devastating against wooden ships; development of ironclad  ships of war, like the CSS Virginia; and the use of innovative mines, torpedoes, submarines, like the H.L. Hunley.

Vogl said that against incredible odds, the commerce raiders damaged the Union economy and forced the North to reassign blockading ships to hunt down the elusive raiders.

However, their successes were short-lived because of the North's ability to out-produce similar ships.   Vogl said the small, but innovative Confederate Navy was a valuable resource for the South.  It helped protect Confederate harbors and keep them open as well as interrupting seagoing Northern commerce.  Those ports they helped keep open provided much-needed supplies coming in from abroad.

--Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Group This Saturday: Civil War Ironclads

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table's discussion group will meet this coming Saturday, May 22, 2021, at the Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois, at 10 a.m..

The topic will be Civil War Ironclads.  Anything dealing with the naval aspect of the war is my favorite, so I will really be looking forward to this one.

It is so nice to start having in person meetings again after all this time.

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Plus, the next regular McHenry County Civil War Round Table meeting will be held in person for the first time since March 2020.

It will be held June 8, 2021,  at the McHenry County  Historical Society Museum in Union, Illinois. where we will have a presentation by Bruce  Allardice on "Poltroons, Patriots and Politicians:  Civil War Generals."

Everyone's Welcome.  --Old B-Runner

Death of Paul Laird-- Part 3: Chris Fonvielle's Condolences

 As fate would have it, I ended up teaching in the Dept. of History at UNC Wilmington, our undergraduate alma mater, for many years.    I publicly credited Paul with jump starting my career path.  Modest as he was, Paul always downplayed his role, but its my story and I'm sticking to it.

Even after retiring as director of the Friends of Fort Fisher, Paul remained active as a board member for the Moore's Creek Battlefield Association and the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society, and an advisor  to the Brunswick Civil War Round Table.

He and I worked together on many local history projects. most recently the Joseph Ryder Lewis Civil War Park at Carolina Beach.

Cross over the river and rest underneath the shade of the trees, my good friend, and wait for us there.  We'll join you by and by.   In the meantime,  you will always be in my thoughts and prayers.

Chris Fonvielle

"Beast" Butler Is Topic of MCCWRT Discussion Group This Saturday, August 22

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) will have a discussion group meeting this Saturday, August 22, at the Panera Bread Co. store at 451 S. Randall Road in Algonquin, Illinois, from 10 am to noon or thereabouts.

It will be outside and everyone needs to wear a mask at all times unless eating or drinking.  You know, that virus-thingie.

This month's topi is "The Beast."  That would be Union General Benjamin Butler, a real character during the war.  I put the meeting in my Civil War Navy blog because of his command at the First Battle of Fort Fisher.  But, he also held commands at New Orleans and Newport News.

Everyone is welcome.  Come on by.

The "Beast."  --Old B-Runner

Fort Fisher Sailor's Letters Discussed at Cape Fear Civil War Round Table-- Part 1

From the Jan. 8, 2020, New Bern (NC) Sun Sentinel.

Becky Sawyer, interpreter and collections manager at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site will  speak about a trove of long lost letters written by a mariner aboard of Union naval ship in the last days of the war.

The Cape Fear Civil War Round Table out of Wilmington, North Carolina, will (well, had) a presentation at 6:30 pm, at Harbor Church, 4853 Masonboro Loop.  Unfortunately, it is too late, but she has given this talk several times in the area so will probably do it again.

Becky Sawyer is a native of St. Louis, Mo.,  and earned her Masters degree in public history at UNC-Wilmington.  She is also a re-enactor .

Over the course of three years, with the assistance of Rick Morrison, Sawyer and the staff at Fort Fisher have been transcribing letters of the Sydney Stockbridge who served as clerk on the USS Pawtuxet in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher (whose anniversary is January 15).

These letters are on loan from Joe Stockbridge  of Surry, Maine,  the great nephew of Sydney Stockbridge.

--Old B-Runner

Wilmington, N.C.-- Part 3: Our Experts

The Civil War Monitor enlisted two "experts" on the area to get the ideas.

They were Christine Divorky and Bill Jayne.

CHRISTINE DIVORKY

Executive director of Friends of Fort Fisher who has lived in the Wilmington area for 23 years.  Fort Fisher is fortunate to have one of the best Friends groups in the nation doing all sorts of things for the fort.

And, I am not saying this just because I am a member.  This fort had a huge impact on my life, a big reason I am a history nut and taught for 33 years (social studies of course).

BILL JAYNE

President of the Cape Fear Civil War Round Table.  A devoted student of the Civil War since 1970s, he has lived in the Wilmington area for a dozen years.

Well, Let's Find Out.  --Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets Sat., June 22: The Union Navy at Vicksburg

Saturday, June 22, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group will meet at Panera Bread at 6000 Northwest Highway (US Highway 14) in Crystal Lake, Illinois, for our monthly gabfest.

This month's topic is "Union Navy's Contribution to the Vicksburg Campaign."

Time runs from 10 a.m. to noon.

All are welcome, even non-members, so drop on by.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Running Mystery-- Part 2: Was H.S. Lebby the Blockade Runner Captain?

Lori Sanderlin has conducted research on the admissions log at Sailors' Snug Harbor in New York,  She found the name of a merchant seaman and proclaimed widower by the name of Henry Sterling Lebby.

Sailors' Snug harbor was a retirement home to care for "worn out and decrepit sailors."  On his application he noted that he had worked on merchant vessels, but made no mention of blockade runners.

However, it is known that he skippered the Little Hattie and ran into and out of Charleston many times.and once even made a broad daylight run into Wilmington.  In October 1864 he and his ship were at Nassau.

Lori Sanderlin studied at UNC-Wilmington and received a masters in maritime studies from State University of New York Maritime College.

There is a $10 visitor fee which can be applied to the $25 annual membership to the Brunswick Civil War Round Table.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Runner Mystery at Brunswick Civil War Round-- Part 1 Table Meeting

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From the January Wilmington (NC) Star-News.

Captain H.S. Lebby skippered the blockade runner Little Hattie, considered the best runner in service as it left Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.  It made more successful runs than any other runner.  When Lee surrendered, the ship was safe at a dock in Nassau.

Lori Sanderlin of the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport presented a talk "Finding Post-War Confederate Sailor H.S. Lebby, Blockade-Runner and Privateer" at the February 5 meeting of the Round Table at Hatch Auditorium at Caswell Beach, North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

"Diving Blockade Runners" Talk at Cape Fear Civil War Round Table Tonight

From the May 7, 2018, Wilmington (NC) Star-News by Bill Jayne.

An estimated 11111111,600 blockade runners plied the trade during the Civil War.  Enormous profits were made among huge losses.

Gary Henderson USAF (ret) and former Piedmont Airlines pilot will speak on the subject Thursday, May 10 at Harbor United Methodist Church at 4853 Masonboro Loop Road, Wilmington, North Carolina.

None other than famed Confederate General Robert E. lee considered Wilmington of ultimate importance to his ability to keep his Army of Northern Virginia in the field.  This was because of all the war materiel coming through the blockade there and then railroaded to him in Virginia.

Mr. Henderson graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington in 1963 and is a dedicated scuba diver.  He has dived on nine Civil War wrecks and says the Ella, off Bald Head Island is the most interesting of them.  The Condor and Wild Dayrell are also interesting.

Running the Blockade (Hey, That's Me!!) was a risky but profitable undertaking.  Some 1000 blockade runners were captured in the war and more than 300 destroyed.

Sure Wish I Could Be There.  --Old B-Runner

McHenry County Civil War Round Table Meeting Tonight: Topic Is Show and Tell

It has been a busy three days for me as far as Civil War events are concerned.  And, that is considering that I am all the way up here in Illinois, by the Wisconsin line and about 30 miles west of Lake Michigan.

Sunday, I attended the Civil War Days re-enactment in Wauconda, Illinois, and saw some interesting presentations by people playing the roles of  Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth.  And then I saw the second day of the Battle of Shiloh (which didn't go so well for our boys in gray, you know).

I sat at the Camp Douglas Sons of Confederate Veterans tent and had conversation with members of the 154th Tennessee Re-enactors.

Today I am going to Woodstock, Illinois, for the monthly meeting of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table at the Woodstock Library.  Tonight's topic will be  Show and Tell.  Members will bring items and talk about them, but we have been seriously fore-warned not to bring any weapons.

The meeting starts at 7 in the downstairs meeting room.

Before the meeting, a bunch of us will get together for dinner at Three Brothers Restuarant on Illinois Highway 47.

Getting Me Civil War On.  --Old B-R'er