Hello,
December 16th, 2015 – Our 141st meeting. We continue our eleventh year!
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, December 16th, 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 U.S. Army in the Civil War”
Hundreds of volunteer regiments – infantry, cavalry and artillery - were raised to fight in the Civil War by the Union Army. Most of these men had not had any pre-war militia or military service of any kind as the concept of a large standing professional army was anathema to some fearing such an entity as a threat to liberty. Some had served in the volunteer regiments raised for the Mexican War while others had some militia experience. But many today forget that the U.S. Army of some 16,500 officers and men was a very well trained and led professional force with lots of experience fighting Indians from Florida to Texas and the Western Plains.
Our speaker this month, retired Chief Ranger of Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Michael Manning will inform us of the makeup of this small force and its exploits in the Civil War. Units fought in the east and west as well as remained in action in the far west during the war. Included is a brief survey of the Regular Army establishment in the Civil War focusing on the decisions regarding the use of Regular forces during the conflict. The various staff departments and the use of Regular Army regiments in the different theaters will be examined.
Michael Manning recently retired after 26 years with the National Park Service (NPS) having served as the Chief Park Ranger at Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Dover, Tennessee. He previously served in various other NPS areas including Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Alabama, Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas, and Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska. He previously served as the military-related National Historic Landmarks coordinator for the NPS in Oklahoma. He holds a BS degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma and an MA degree in Military History from the American Military University. He served five years with the U.S. Navy Seabees as well as another seven years as a First Lieutenant in the Military Police Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard. He is also a graduate of the Land Management Police Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. Mike began his historic interpretation work while still a student at Northeastern State University by first volunteering then becoming a part-time Historic Site Attendant with the Oklahoma Historical Society at Fort Gibson Historic Site. He currently resides in Woodlawn, Tennessee.