Join us for our monthly meeting!
 

Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Author & Historian: Michael W. Kauffman



Topic: In the Footsteps of an Assassin.

Biographical Background:
As historian William C. Davis once wrote, "no one has studied [John Wilkes] Booth longer or more in depth than Michael W. Kauffman, a well-known figure and voice of reason in the field of Lincoln assassination studies."
For thirty-five years, Kauffman has been a fixture at assassination-related symposia, tours, and news events. He has written numerous articles on the subject, and his bus tours of the John Wilkes Booth Escape Route have been a staple of feature publications all over the U.S., making Kauffman "legendary," according to The Washington Post.
He has written for Civil War Times, the Washington Post, American Heritage, Blue and Gray, and the Lincoln Herald, among others, and has lectured throughout the United States. He has also appeared in more than twenty television and radio documentaries, including programs on A& E, The Learning Channel, the History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel.
Kauffman is the editor of Samuel B. Arnold's Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator, and more recently (2004) he wrote American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies, which was named by the New York Times, The Washington Post, and several other media outlets as one of the best non-fiction books of 2004.  This all-encompassing account of the Lincoln conspiracy is based entirely on primary sources, and it gets closer to the truth than any previous attempt. As the late historian David Herbert Donald said, "There are many books on [the assassination] but this is by far the best."

Mr. Kauffman's newest book will be on sale: In the Footsteps of an Assassin. He will bring copies to sign and sell. They're $25.00 each.
                                                                                                                                                                   

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Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Historian & Author: Dennis Frye

Dennis E. Frye is Chief Historian at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.. Writer, lecturer, guide and preservationist, Dennis is a preeminent Civil War historian, having made numerous appearances on PBS, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and A&E. He has helped produce award-winning television features on the Battle of Antietam and abolitionist John Brown.

 
Topic: :  September Suspense: Lincoln's Union in Peril.

In September Suspense, Dennis Frye, chief historian at Harpers Ferry National Park, draws from a voluminous cache of period newspapers to expertly demonstrate just how fragile the national bond had become by the autumn of 1862.
It was the nation's, and Mr. Lincoln's, most trying month, as Gen. Robert E. Lee marched toward Union soil, panicking entire cities, destroying fragile political alliances and causing all of the North to rethink the fight and question whether it was best to redouble its war efforts or give up and let the South pursue its own course. For three weeks in September, the air was electric, nerves were at the breaking point and the whole of the North held its breath.
When the war began, the Union figured on a quick and conclusive win. And likewise, today it is often assumed that the North was too powerful to ever be seriously threatened. September Suspense forcefully demonstrates just how wrong conventional wisdom can be.

Mr. Frye's special collector's edition is $35.00. In addition,  for any purchase, I offer FREE a copy of my book, Antietam Revealed (a $12.00 value).

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Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Historian & Author: Tim H. Smith 

Topic: Lincoln at Gettysburg





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Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Historian and Member: Mark Quattrock:

Master of Arts Degree in History from Millersville University
20 years doing Living History
Co Founder of the Blue & Gray Hospital Association-The official living history group of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine
Volunteer Docent at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine
Member of the Society of Civil War Surgeons

Topic: Beyond the Myth: The Confederate States Medical Service.

 When it comes to the Civil War medicine, there is a great deal of myth.  Especially when it comes to Confederate States Medical Service. Despite Hollywood and movies like Gone With The Wind this presentation is going to show the real story of the CS Medical Dept, how it organized, the challenges that were faced and its accomplishments. We will also talk about some of the 8,000 people that served in the Medical Service. 

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Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Author & Historian:  David C. Keehn
is an attorney from Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a history degree from Gettysburg College and a juris doctorate from the University Pennsylvania

Topic: Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War

During April 1860, thousands of Knights of the Golden Circle congregated in south Texas to launch their “colonization” drive into northern Mexico. A local correspondent described the countryside as “filled up with members of this mysterious organization . . .” The powerful Texas Knights under Grand Commander Elkanah Greer, committed two regiments and $500,000. Knights arrived from Arkansas, Georgia, the Midwest, Virginia and the eastern port cities of Baltimore and New York. They expected KGC General-in-Chief George Bickley to appear shortly with $2 million and a further division.     
            When Bickley couldn’t produce as promised, the Knights reorganized and shifted to supporting the Southern Governors. The Knights helped precipitate secession in key states like Texas and Virginia, and pushed for secession in Maryland and Kentucky They pursued seizure of the capital at Washington, and took over federal forts in the South including twenty-one along the Texas frontier. Knights helped build up the nascent Confederate army through the enlistment of whole castles and the contribution of at least six Generals. Knights instigated the February 1861 Baltimore plot, and participated in the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln by KGC leader John Wilkes Booth.
Through extensive research and credible contemporaneous sources, Dave Keehn unveils the true history of this shadowy secret society. Unlike prior accounts that concentrate on Bickley—the KGC’s brilliant but erratic front man, Keehn focuses on the Knights’ powerful state military and political leaders—men like Greer who were the backbone and sinew of the KGC. He looks at their relation to prior filibusterers as well as Southern fire-eaters and fellow expansionists. Keehn’s fast-paced, clearly written narrative will appeal to both academic and general readers. It shows that the KGC was more substantial than historians have generally assumed, and provides a new perspective on Southern secession and the outbreak of the Civil War.    
       
Mr. Keehn's book: Knights of the Golden Circle will be on sale for $32.00

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Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Author & Historian: Ivan E. Frantz, Jr.
   Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. grew up in York, Pennsylvania and graduated from York Suburban High School. After Mr. Frantz graduated from high school he served for 6 years in the United States Navy Nuclear Power Program and was assigned to the nuclear powered cruiser U.S.S. South Carolina, CGN-37. Mr. Frantz is currently employed by the Glatfelter Paper Co. in Spring Grove, Pa. as a machinery mechanic. Mr. Frantz had two Great-Great Grandfathers serve in Pennsylvania Regiments during the Civil War, and is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable. Mr. Frantz also had a Grandfather that worked for both the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Western Maryland Railroad.  Mr. Frantz is a member and past president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.  Mr. Frantz has authored and published articles about the Pennsylvania Railroad during the Civil War, the York, Hanover & Frederick Railway (a P.R.R. subsidiary) and the St. Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936 on the P.R.R. in the KEYSTONE, which is the quarterly journal of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.

Topic: The Pennsylvania Railroad and the Civil War
   The American Civil War was the first major war to involve railroads on a large scale, either for the transportation of troops, supplies and material or as the target of a military objective. This presentation takes a look at the Pennsylvania Railroad and its involvement with the action that occurred during the Civil War. Because of its unique location the Pennsylvania Railroad played a major role in troop transportation during the entire war in the Eastern Theatre of combat. Two P.R.R. subsidiary companies played major roles in the military action during the Antietam Campaign of 1862 and the Gettysburg Campaign of 1863. And Pennsylvania Railroad employees made major contributions with their involvement in the Federal Government to help answer President Abraham Lincoln’s call to “preserve the Union”. So even though most of the military action took place south of the Mason-Dixon Line, learn how a northern railroad helped the Union prevail in the tide of battle from 1861 to 1865.
 

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Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Member & Historian Greg Stull



Topic: Leonidas Polk

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Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Historian, Author, Guide: The One and Only: Edwin C. Bearss-This is Ed's 5th Program.



Topic: Cold Harbor
  Edwin C. Bearss is America's premier battlefield historian and the historian emeritus of the National Park Service. Since retiring in 1995, Ed has led historical tours approximately 275 days per year. Ed is the author of 13 books, including Fields of Honor. He has also served as a consultant on numerous documentaries and films, including Ken Burns' The Civil War.  Ed now lives in Arlington, Virginia.

  He is the recipient of the Department of the Interior's Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given by the department.

  Mr. Bearss comes from a long line of Marines. His father was a Marine and a close relative of "Hike'em" Hiram Bearss who was a Marine General who won the Medal of Honor. Mr. Bearss served in the Pacific during WWII where he was severely wounded, hit 4 times while he was pinned down by a creek bed. He has three children. Two are former Marines and one is an historian.

Mr. Bearss has a new book. Petersburg Campaign. 
 

Member Emeritus: Mr. Edwin C. Bearss	Linda Zeiber, Happy 90th Birthday Ed, Errol Steffy

 
Edwin C. Bearss: A FRIEND TO THE 1st DEFENDERS

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Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522

Author, Guide & Historian: Kristopher White



Topic: Hell's Half Acre: Spottsylvania

Biographical Background: Kristopher White is a historian for the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board near Pittsburgh, PA; and teaches continuing education courses at the Community College of Allegheny County. White is a graduate of Norwich University with a MA in Military History, as well as a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania with a BA in History. For five years he served as a staff military historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he still volunteers his services. For a short time he was a member of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides at Gettysburg. Over the past seven years, he has spoken to more than 30 roundtables and historical societies. He is the author and co-author of numerous articles that have appeared in America’s Civil War, Blue and Gray, Civil War Times, and Armchair General. White co-authored The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson with longtime friend Chris Mackowski. The two have authored numerous articles together and are currently working on a book-length study of the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and Salem Church (publication 2013). White and Mackowski are also the founders of www.emergingcivilwar.com. Their website introduces anew generation of Civil War historians to the history world. 
  

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BUS LEAVES AT 8:00 am

Ocotober 2013 Trips

FIRST DEFENDERS YORK/WRIGHTSVILLE BUS TOUR
October 26, 2013

 
Scott Mingus, a native York Countian, and the author of the book Flames Beyond Gettysburg, The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June, 1863 will be our tour guide.
 
We will leave 55 Commerce Drive, Wyomissing at 8:00 AM sharp heading to York. We will park the bus at Penn Park in York where we will meet Scott. Penn Park was the site of the closest military hospital to Gettysburg with over 2000 Gettysburg wounded being treated here. From Penn Park we will walk around historic York as we discuss the regional and national importance of York. York was the birthplace of the Articles of Confederation and witnessed Jubal Early’s June 1863 invasion as York became the largest city in the North to fall to the Confederate Army during the Civil War. This walk will take about 2.5 hours on level sidewalks on flat ground with a slight incline in one segment; we’ll stop often to talk about various buildings, people, events, and topics so that the most we’ll walk at anyone time is about 5 minutes.
 
Once we return to the bus, we’ll be stopping at the Old Country Buffet for lunch. After lunch we will follow John Gordon’s brigade eastward to the Susquehanna River and discuss the skirmish of Wrightsville and the state militia’s desperate attempts to defend the river and the world’s largest covered bridge. We will then return to York to drop off our guide and then head back to Wyomissing, arriving there by 4:30 PM.
 
The cost for this fall trip is $45/person which includes the buffet lunch, deluxe bus transportation, and the services of the expert guide. Please use the registration form below to reserve your seat(s); make checks payable to the First Defenders CWRT. Any questions, contact Ron Emge (304.529.4888) or Don Stripling (610.750.3998).
 
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July 2013 event

 

 

August 2013 events