Hello,
April 15th, 2015 – Our 133rd meeting. We continue our eleventh year!
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Hospital. This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
Our Speaker and Topic - “The Find of the War: Lee's Lost Order, the 27th Indiana and the Road to Antietam”
After defeating Gen. John Pope’s army at Second Manassas, the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee moved into Maryland. Not only was the idea to take the war out of Virginia but also to recruit pro-Southern men into Lee’s army. What came of this campaign was a series of fights along South Mountain and what remains America’s bloodiest day, the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg).
Within this bold plan Lee made the decision that included orders to split his army. A copy of those orders fortuitously came into the possession of a member of the 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry near Frederick, MD. The orders were passed up the Federal chain of command to General George B. McClellan. McClellan subsequently altered the movements of the Army of the Potomac. What followed was an inevitable clash with General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. This lecture discusses the people and places associated with the lost order exploring the questions: “Who lost the order – or was it lost?”, “Who found the order?”, and “What were the cascade of events that occurred as a result of the lost order being found?” among others. The resulting military intelligence coup gave McClellan an edge over his adversary only to somewhat blow it by failing to destroy Lee when he had his back against a river.
Our speaker this month is Scott Schroeder, a native South Dakotan and part-time historian. He is a professional Physical Therapist and Certified Athletic Trainer currently practicing at Indiana University Health in Bloomington, Indiana. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the Department of Physical Therapy. His interest in the American Civil War began while an 11 year old child on a family vacation that included visits to Springfield, Illinois, Lookout Mountain and Atlanta, Georgia. Since that time, he has been an avid American history lover, with the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln being of particular interest. Scott shares a birthday with Ulysses S. Grant and has a number of relatives who fought in the American Civil War. Among other organizations, he is a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, the Civil War Trust and the Lincoln Forum. He currently serves as President and Program Chair for the Monroe County Civil War Roundtable in Bloomington, Indiana.
We hope to see you there.