Capacity Crowd
Attends First
Brunswick Civil War Round Table
May
21, 2010 –
Southport, North Carolina (NC)
- Over 90 people attended this new organization’s first monthly
meeting. The audience included Civil War enthusiasts as well as
those interested in knowing more about the Civil War. The audience
included males and females, young and old, and attendees came from
as far away as Ocean Isle Beach, Leland, Bolivia and Supply.
Annual memberships for $25
were offered for both individuals and families, and $10 for
students. Over 70% of the attendees signed up. Since this is a
not-for-profit organization, all membership proceeds will go
primarily toward the expenses incurred to invite the most prominent
and renown Civil War history presenters.
This May 4th meeting was held
at Trinity United Methodist Church in Southport. The meeting was
chaired by Co-Managing Director Wally Rueckel in the absence of
Round Table president Tom O’Donnell who was out of town. Wally’s
opening remarks welcomed the capacity crowd, and shared why this new
Round Table would be unique relative to other Round Tables around
the country. Namely, that a small round table discussion regarding
each month’s guest speaker’s subject would be held the following
week if there was an interest. Also, for those who are not too
knowledgeable but eager to know more about the Civil War could
attend periodic Civil War introductory presentations by Round Table
Vice President Jim McKee out at the
Brunswick Town/Ft. Anderson State Historic Site.
Dr. Max Williams, a Round
Table Director, then shared some of the preliminary plans for future
Round Table meetings, with the idea in mind that all monthly
meetings would offer prominent Civil War experts on a variety of
war-related subjects, sure to be of interest to all attendees
regardless of their Civil War knowledge. He also mentioned that
periodic field trips to historic sites are also in the planning
stage.
The
featured speaker at this month’s meeting was Col. Black Jack Travis,
introduced by his friend and fellow Civil War enthusiast, Jim McKee.
Col. Travis is a noted Civil War historian, author and Civil War
re-enactor. His whiteboard presentation was on the “Guns of
Gettysburg.” It was very interesting and entertaining, and covered a
number of subjects on the organization and equipment of artillery
units in both the Confederate and Union armies.
Military tactics during the
three day battle were also detailed, from Gen. Robert E. Lee and his
80,000 man army’s march to Gettysburg to forage for food, to the
placement of Union troops and guns from Culp’s Hill to Little Round
Top. It was Col. Travis’ opinion that the Union army carried the
battle largely due to their better cannons, gun powder and
communications capabilities. Following Col. Travis’ presentation, a
lively question and answer session ensued.
To
express the Round Table’s appreciation for his excellent
presentation, Wally Rueckel presented Col. Travis with a Lifetime
Charter Membership. He immediately expressed his appreciation and
noted that he will plan on attending future Round Table meetings as
a member of the audience.
The next scheduled monthly
meeting will also be held at the Trinity United Methodist Church on
Tuesday, June 1st at 7pm. The guest speaker will be Chris E.
Fonvielle, Jr., Ph.D. He is a well known historian, author, and
currently teaches Civil War courses at UNCW. He is a Wilmingtonian,
and his presentation will be on the “Confederate Command Structure
in the Wilmington Campaign.”
For anyone with questions or
interested in knowing more about becoming a member and what is in
the planning stage for the Brunswick Civil War Round Table, please
contact President Tom O’Donnell at
tomkat450sl@yahoo.com, or call 253-3249. Or, Wally Rueckel at
wrueckel@questor.com, or call 253-7382.
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