Welcome to the Civil War Round Table of Dallas

 

No event in our history fascinates Americans as much as the Civil War.  Our interest in the war is only natural for "it was the crossroads of our being," as author Shelby Foote said, "It defines us."

 

The Civil War Round Table of Dallas is a diverse group of men and woman of all ages and from varying backgrounds who enjoy learning about the American Civil War.  It includes history enthusiasts as well as individuals who are just beginning to develop an interest in the Civil War.  It is neither pro-Confederate nor pro-Union in its views, but rather presents topics from both viewpoints of the war..

We meet monthly to hear guest speakers, many of whom are nationally known historians, and to discuss a wide range of topics.  Membership is open to anyone at the cost of $25 per year.

 

May Meeting

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Our 245^th Regular Meeting

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – We welcome back Anne J. Bailey, Ph.D., Professor of History at Georgia College & State University.  She will speak on “The Tragedy of John Bell Hood”. 

 

Dr. Bailey earned her B.A. from University of Texas in Arlington in 1982 and her M.A. from Texas Christian University in 1984, studying under the guidance of Dr. Grady McWhiney.  She is currently the editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly and the Society of Civil War Historians newsletter and has written many books including

·        Portraits of Conflicts: A Photographic History of Georgia in the Civil War

·        Between the Enemy and Texas: Parson’s Texas Cavalry in the Civil War

·        The Chessboard of War: Sherman and Hood in the Autumn Campaigns of 1864

·        Texans in the Confederate Cavalry

·        War and Ruin: William T. Sherman and the Savannah Campaign

·        Invisible Southerners: Ethnicity in the Civil War

·        In the Saddle with the Texans: Day-by-Day with Parson’s Cavalry Brigade, 1862-1865

Although born in Kentucky, John Bell Hood always claimed Texas as his home.  He celebrated his 30^th birthday just weeks after the Civil War began, resigning from the United States Army and accepting a commission as a first lieutenant in the Confederate Army.  Although he was only in his early thirties, by the end of the war Hood had both attained and resigned from the rank of full general.  Within a span of three months in 1863, he lost the use of an arm and had a leg amputated in separate battles.  If one wants to believe idle Richmond gossip, he pursued and lost a southern belle, the love of his life, while recuperating from these wounds.

In 1864, Jefferson Davis promoted him to command the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign.  The failed Tennessee campaign of late 1864 caused his reputation to suffer greatly and the losses sustained by the Confederates at Franklin and Nashville decimated his army, and left his own confidence in shambles.

Hood’s life reads like the plot of a novel: the handsome cavalier who roes as high as a man could during the war – only to see his star fall before the conflict ended.  But Appomattox did not end Hood’s story.  In the postwar years, he was not treated kindly in the books written by the war’s participants.  William T. Sherman was not generous to Hood in the memoirs he published in 1875.  Other wartime participants agreed that Hood made some unwise decisions in their post war writings.  Hood’s own story of the war, published after his death, did little to bolster his military record, though is sold very well among Southerners.  His untimely death in 1879 only added to the tragedies that plagued Hood’s life.  Dr. Bailey will look at the man whose meteoric rise and fall became legend.

 

 

Meeting Location

Our meeting will be held at the Divine Coffee Shop in the Northlake Shopping Center, located at 10233 East Northwest Highway, Suite 434.  This is on the northeast corner of Ferndale Road and Northwest Highway (Mapsco 27Z) (click here for map to restaurant).  The meal is a buffet at a cost of $15 per person.  It is served shortly after 6:00 and the speaker begins about 7:00.  There is usually a question and answer period following the presentation, time permitting.  Meetings are generally end around 8:15.  Dress is casual. 

 

PLEASE MAKE RESERVATIONS.  WE HAVE TO GIVE A GUARANTEE.  To make your reservation, email Gerry York at Gygolf@charter.net or call Pax Glenn at 214-352-8138 or Scott Robson at 214-348-7703 by noon on the Tuesday before the Wednesday meeting. 

PLEASE DO NOT BE A NO-SHOW.  If you have made reservations and then learn you cannot attend, we ask you to cancel by noon on the Tuesday before the meeting so we can inform the restaurant.  If we are charged for the no-show meal by the restaurant, we will have to charge you for it.

 

The Dates and Speakers of Upcoming Meetings

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 – Rich Selcer, Ph.D. will make a presentation entitled “Who Got Pickett into West Point?  A Historical Who-Done-It.”

 

The topics of some recent monthly meetings include: Ulysses S. Grant, Sex and Chivalry, Surviving the Confederacy: One Family's Civil War, Voices from the Gathering Storm, The Rise of Southern Nationalism, Robert E. Lee, Richard Ewell and the Gettysburg Controversy of July 1, 1863 and The Field of Lost Shoes: VMI Cadets at the Battle of New Market. For more information please visit our Previous Meetings page.

 

Quick Links

Monthly News • Heritage Page • Membership Form

 

 

 

Grady McWhiney Award of Merit

The Grady McWhiney Award, named in honor of Dr. Grady McWhiney, is presented annually to an individual or organization that has contributed significantly to the scholarship or preservation of Civil War history.  The winner of the award for 2007 is Mr. Ed Bearss.