Programs & Events
The First Defenders meet at 6:30 PM on the second Tuesday of each month from September through May. Meetings include dinner and a speaker who may be a guest or a member. Meetings are currently held at Golden Oaks Golf Club. A book raffle is held each month with all proceeds donated to battlefield preservation, and we visit many historical sites on our annual field trips. Guests and new members are welcome. Space is limited in the restaurant, so please contact a board member or any general member, or click the button below to sign up to attend a meeting.
** REMEMBER, these events are for members and their guests only. If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact David Unger, the Membership Officer, on the Contact page.
- September
2012
- October
2011 - November
2011 - December
2012 - January
2012
- February
2012 - March
2012 - April
2012 - May
2012 - Trips
- July
2012 - August
2012
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Author & Historian: Jeff Wert: This is Mr. Wert's 3rd program
Topic: An Army Reborn: The Army of Northern Virginia, 1862-1863
My talk will focus on the army's leadership, morale, and fighting prowess in the campaigns from Seven Days to Gettysburg. It will analyze Lee's strategy and tactics and his relationship with subordinates and the men in the ranks.
Biographical Background:
EDUCATION
M. A. HISTORY 1976
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, STATE COLLEGE,PA
B. A. HISTORY, cum laude 1968 LOCK HAVEN UNIVERSITY
EMPLOYMENT
AUTHOR/HISTORIAN PRESENT
HISTORY TEACHER 1969-2002
PENNS VALLEY AREA HIGH SCHOOL SPRING MILLS, PA
PUBLICATIONS
COLUMNS:
“THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR,” CIVIL WAR TIMES ILLUSTRATED
“TURNING POINTS,” CIVIL WAR TIMES ILLUSTRATED
ARTICLES AND REVIEWS:
CIVIL WAR TIMES ILLUSTRATED
AMERICAN HISTORY ILLUSTRATED
BLUE & GRAY
AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
CIVIL WAR MAGAZINE
MILITARY HISTORY
VIRGINIA CAVALCADE
PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY
CIVIL WAR NEWS
BOOKS:
ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTOR, HISTORICAL TIMES’S ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE CIVIL WAR (HARPER & ROW, 1986).
AUTHOR:
FROM WINCHESTER TO CEDAR CREEK: THE SHENANDOAH CAMPAIGN OF 1864 (SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, 1987).
MOSBY’S RANGERS (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1990)
GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET: THE CONFEDERACY’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL SOLDIER (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1993)
CUSTER: THE CONTROVERSIAL LIFE OF GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1996)
A BROTHERHOOD OF VALOR (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1999)
GETTYSBURG--DAY THREE (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2001)
THE SWORD OF LINCOLN, (SIMON & SCHUSTER, APRIL 2005)
CAVALRYMAN OF THE LOST CAUSE: A BIOGRAPHY OF J. E. B. STUART,(SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2008
A GLORIOUS ARMY: ROBERT E. LEE’S TRIUMPH, 1862-1863 (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2011)
TELEVISION
CIVIL WAR JOURNAL, HISTORY CHANNEL
BOOK TALK, C-SPAN 2
PA BOOKS, PCN
“VALLEY OF FIRE,” WVPT, PBS
AWARDS
LITTLE BIG HORN ASSOCIATES LITERARY AWARD, 1988 - FROM WINCHESTER TO CEDAR CREEK : THE
SHENANDOAH CAMPAIGN OF 1864
LANEY BOOK PRIZE, AUSTIN CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE, 1999 – A BROTHERHOOD OF VALOR
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, AMERICAN HISTORY TEACHER OF
THE YEAR IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1999; NATIONAL RUNNER-UP
ALAN NOLAN-IRON BRIGADE ASSOCIATION AWARD, 2000 – A BROTHERHOOD OF VALOR
NOMINATED FOR A 2001 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD – GETTYSBURG—DAY THREE
NOMINATED FOR A 2001 PULITZER PRIZE – GETTYSBURG—DAY THREE
WILLIAM WOODS HASSLER AWARD, 2002 – FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD OF CIVIL WAR STUDIES
LANEY BOOK PRIZE, AUSTIN CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE, 2006 – THE SWORD OF LINCOLN
NOMINATED FOR A 2011 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD – A GLORIOUS ARMY
Mr. Wert's newest book will be on sale: A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863
Hardback $25.00
Paperback $ not known at this time
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Topic: Deserter Country: Civil War Opposition in the Pennsylvania Appalachians
Biographical Background
Robert Sandow grew up in the Laurel highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania, where family trips to its famous battlefields sparked a lifelong passion for Civil War history. Sandow completed a Bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College in 1992 before earning a PhD in 2003 from the Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State University. His research specialties include the Northern home front during the Civil War, with particular interest in issues of dissent, partisan politics and opposition. He currently is an Associate Professor of History at Lock Haven University, where he teaches classes on American History up to the Civil War, Military History, Modern Japanese History, and introductory courses on Public History and Museum Studies.
Professor Sandow's Book: Deserter Country will be on Sale for 25.00 CASH or CHECK
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Member: David Unger-This is Dave's 2nd Program
Topic: The Creation of the Medal of Honor and its use during the Civil War
Biographical Background:
Dave graduated from Susquehanna University with a BS in Education as a history major and social science minor. Attended the Susquehanna University program at Oxford after graduation. Earned a Master in Education with concentration in history from Kutztown University. Earned credits from Temple University in black history and Penn State Berks in psychology and sociology. Earned credits from various colleges through the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge while taking travel programs to Revolutionary War battlefields, Civil War battlefields and the homes of many American Presidents.
Taught American History and Psychology for 35 years at Blue Mountain High School in Schuykill County. Studied the Holocaust in Poland and Israel through a sponsorship from the Jewish Labor Council in New York and Anti Defamation League. Presently I do volunteer work in the library and museum of the Historical Society of Berks County.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Historian and Author: Kristopher White
Topic: Fredericksburg/Maryes Heights
The Battle of Fredericksburg is considered one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Army of the Potomac. The battle is often looked at as a lopsided victory for Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Though remembered as a folly, the battle plan that Burnside employed was solid, the execution of the plan was very flawed. We will examine the Battle of Fredericksburg, and explore how and why victory slipped through the fingers of Burnside; and why this battle turned into such a lopsided victory for Lee.
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.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks
Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Roundtable: Was the South Justified in Seceding?
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Member: David Fox-This is Dave's 3rd Program
Topic: Saltville
Biographical Background:
Dave Fox is a graduate of Albright College with a degree in history and political science. He had attended Villanova University School of Law for two years when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served one year in Vietnam at the 8th RRFS (Army Security Agency) in Phu Bai.
Dave is retired from the Reading School District where he taught social Studies for thirty-three years. His last ten years of teaching were at Reading High School where he served as department chair as well. Dave has done graduate studies in Educational Administration at Lehigh and Penn State Universities.
Dave is currently at docent at the Berks County Historical Society and has also served in this capacity at the Reading Public Museum. He has attended the Stonewall Jackson symposium in Lexington, VA, for the last 20 years.
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Photographer: Chris Heisey - This is Chris 2nd Program
Topic: With an Eye to the Past: Images of our Civil War Battlefields: I will do a program that shows my latest work from near and far. I have made it to Arkansas/Kentucky to complete by book project, but I have also done some new Gettysburg work that I will share. I will try to share familiar and unfamiliar.
Biographical Background: Chris E. Heisey is America’s leading Civil War battlefield photographer and his evocative imagery has been published in more than 145 publications worldwide including National Geographic Traveler, America’s Civil War, and The History Channel.
He has co-authored books entitled Gettysburg: This Hallowed Ground with Kent Gramm and In the Footsteps of Grant & Lee:– The Wilderness through Cold Harbor with Gordon Rhea. Currently, he is working on a forthcoming book with Gordon Rhea that encompasses battlefields of the entire Civil War.
A native Pennsylvanian having grown-up an hour north of Gettysburg, he has traveled the country the past 20 years gathering images at more than 350 hallowed American battlefields. In his career, he has received numerous awards for his imagery including several national merit citations and a Photo of the Century award. His work graces numerous places in the Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. Passionate about saving our nation’s threatened battlegrounds, he works with several preservation organizations such as The Gettysburg Foundation and The Civil War Trust to help in their continuing quest to save the sanctity of our treasured battlefields. With his wife and son, he lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where he works for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg as a writer and photojournalis.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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 3rd Program.
Topic: Chancecellorsville
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. Receding Tide-Vicksburg and Gettysburg.
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Golden Oaks Golf Club, 10 Stonehedge Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522
Antietam Park Ranger Author & Guide: John Hoptak-This is John's 3rd Program.
Topic: Battle of South Mountain: Fought on September 14, 1862, the Battle of South Mountain has long remained in the shadows cast by the larger and far bloodier battle fought three days later along the banks of the Antietam Creek in western Maryland. Yet South Mountain was in itself a significant battle, for it was here that Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North was met and initially repulsed. It was also the first major battle fought north of the Potomac River, and the Union victory there did much to restore confidence in the ranks, which aided them three days later at Antietam. Hoptak, who recently published a history of South Mountain as part of the History Press’ Civil War Sesquicentennial Series, will speak of the importance of the battle of South Mountain by placing it within the larger context of the Maryland Campaign. He will describe the actions at Fox’s, Turner’s, Frostown, and Crampton’s Gap and the reasons why South Mountain was a significant battle. Hoptak will also discuss how the Maryland Campaign is being remembered for its 150th Anniversary.
Biographical Background: John Hoptak, Park Ranger at Antietam National Battlefield; Adjunct Instructor of American history at American Military University.
A native of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and a 2000 graduate of Kutztown University, John David Hoptak is a lifelong student of the American Civil War and currently works as an Interpretative Park Ranger at Antietam National Battlefield. He also teaches courses in American History, Civil War History, and Mexican-American War history as an Adjunct Instructor at American Military University. Hoptak is the author of several books, including First in Defense of the Union: The Civil War History of the First Defenders (2004), Our Boys Did Nobly: Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam (2009), The Battle of South Mountain (2011), and Antietam: September 17, 1862 (2011). He is currently working on a concise history of the Gettysburg Campaign as part of the History Press' Sesquicentennial Series. Hoptak is active in the preservation and promotion of local history and recently completed a nationwide effort to restore the 48th Pennsylvania Monument at Antietam Battlefield. Hoptak also blogs on the Civil War at www.48thpennsylvania.blogspot.com
Two of John Hoptak's book will be for SALE:
The Battle of South Mountain $20.00
Antietam: September 17, 1862 $10.00
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKER!!!!
Click on the sign up button above if you plan on attending the upcoming event. We need to know who is coming to be able to accommodate everyone. Thanks!
June 2012 Trips
Saturday June 9, 2012
Maryland Campaign
Hosted by Guide, Author and Park Ranger
John Hoptak
2012 FIELD TRIP
Sat. June 9, 2012 $95.00 PER PERSON
FIRST DEFENDERS CWRT - SOUTH MOUNTAIN BATTLEFIELD TOUR
SCHEDULE:
7:00 AM – Leave Heartland Settlement parking lot, Wyomissing, PA
9:15 AM – Pick up tour guide, John Hoptak; Tour begins
? ? ? ? ? – Stop to eat boxed lunch
5:00 PM – Arrive Carriage House Inn, Emmitsburg, MD; Tour ends
5:15 PM – Dinner, Carriage House Inn
6:45 PM – Leave for Wyomissing
9:00 PM – Arrive at parking lot
MEAL CHOICES:
Boxed lunch – see next page for choices
Dinner (privately served in The Paddock Room) includes 3 entrée choices, vegetable du jour, seasoned potatoes, salad, bread, iced tea, coffee, and red velvet cake – Entrees: Prime Rib, Chicken Jean Marie, Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
COST: $95.00 per person
(Cost includes boxed lunch, dinner, bottled water, 47-passenger air-conditioned deluxe bus transportation, and expert guided tour.)
ANY QUESTIONS? Contact Rob Marks (610.966.2859) or Don Stripling (610.750.3998 or email donstripling54@msn.com).
July 2011 event
August 2011 events