The Kentucky in the Civil War Message Board

Bowling Green CWRT - November meeting

Hello,

The Bowling Green, KY Civil War Round Table meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month (except June, July, and December).
Email: BGCWRT@wku.edu

November's meeting is at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 19th in Cherry Hall 125 on the Campus of Western Kentucky University. This is on top of the hill in the central campus with free parking across the street. Our meetings are always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcome.

Our Program for November 19th 2015

“The Question Was One of Supplies: William T. Sherman’s Logistics in the Atlanta Campaign”

The Bowling Green Civil War Roundtable is proud to have Mr. Greg Biggs as our guest speaker for this month. Greg will be discussing the difficulties that General William T. Sherman encountered in supplying his troops during the Atlanta campaign. No army in history moved without a secure line of supplies especially if it moved into enemy territory. If an army got cut off from its supplies then calamity usually followed often ending in defeat and/or destruction. When William T. Sherman set his sights on Atlanta he prepared for the supplying of his army in a manner that surpassed every other Civil War general. Rebuilding railroads and confiscating locomotives and cars to haul supplies, Sherman set a daily goal for shipments to his forward base in Chattanooga. Ruthless in making sure that only supplies got on the cars, Sherman also had to worry about protecting the line of rails that ran back to Louisville, Kentucky from Confederate raiders. Building on a system begun by William S. Rosecrans, Sherman's engineers built forts and blockhouses and prepared pre-fabricated trestles for replacing those brought down by Confederate raiders. While his preparations were masterful and thorough, they were not without some flaws. This program will examine the nuts and bolts of these logistics and cover the errors that were also made. In the end, his supply line performed as expected and Atlanta was captured. This set the stage for two more campaigns that Sherman would undertake before the war ended in April 1865.

Greg Biggs has studied military history for over 45 years with interests from the ancient Greeks through today. He specializes in the Napoleonic Era, the Civil War and World War 2 with other interests in armor doctrine, logistics and command studies. He has spoken to Civil War groups across the country at CWRTs, conferences and seminars as well as for Revolutionary War and World War 2 events. He has been published in Civil War Regiments journal; Blue & Gray magazine; North-South Trader; Citizens Companion and Civil War News for whom he reviews books. He has also contributed to several books on Civil War flags. He is currently working on a unit history of the 83rd Illinois Infantry as well as with partner authors on a serious analysis of Hood's Tennessee Campaign. He has also led Civil War tours in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. Greg is president and program chair of the Clarksville CWRT; program chair of the Nashville CWRT as well as the Bowling Green CWRT.