Volume 6 Issue 7
March 2014
September 2010
Monroe County Civil War
Round Table
S P O N S O R E D
B
Y
T H E
F
R I
E N D S
O F
E
L L I
S
Clara Barton and Susie King Taylor
Clara Barton and Susie King Taylor were remarkable pioneers in Civil War
nursing activities. Their nontraditional; roles for women and minorities in the
Civil War era paved the way for many others to follow in their pioneering
Mar 13 – Clara Barton
Course, the Infantry Officer
Advance Course, Master Fitness Training Course, the Combined Arms and Services
footsteps.
Mar 23 – Civil War
Laura Pipis has been with the American Red Cross for over 27 years, spending
Music with the Fiddlesix
the last 14 years as the CEO of the Monroe County Chapter. Laura holds an
Mar 27 - Paging through
Associate’s degree from Monroe County Community College (MCCC), a
the Civil War Book Club
Bachelor’s of Social Work degree and Master of Public Administration degree
(with a Concentration in Nonprofit Management) from Eastern Michigan
Apr 10 – Marines and the
Civil War
University. She also is a part-time lecturer at Eastern Michigan, teaching
“Leadership and Nonprofit Management” courses for undergraduate and graduate
May 1 – Margaret
students. Laura has held many leadership positions with local community
Mitchell and Gone with
the Wind
initiatives and organizations as well.
Upcoming Programs
May 8 – Co. K; Part 2
May 22 – Paging through
the Civil War Book Club
July 24 – Paging through
the Civil War Book Club
September 11 – Potter
Cemetery
All Round Table programs
begin at 7 pm and are held
at the Ellis Library and
Reference Center, 3700
South Custer, Monroe, MI
48161
Paging through the Civil War Book Club will meet Thursday, March 27 at 7 pm.
This month’s book is Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten
Victor of Gettysburg by Tom Huntington. Please contact Charmaine for more
information or to reserve a book (734-241-5277).
Celebrating the Civil War at 150 Years - Reminiscing with Music and Letters
You are invited to journey back in time for an afternoon of Civil War Music with the
Fiddlesix. Our musical hosts will play music from the Civil War Era and read letters
from Monroe soldiers that were published in the Monroe Commercial during the War.
Please join us Sunday, March 23 at 1:30 pm at the Ellis Library and Reference Center.
This program is made available through a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the Library of America and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History.
Civil War 150
During the next few months the library will be offering unique programs that celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.
These programs are made possible through a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of America and
the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. You are invited to visit the online exhibit coordinated by these foundations
which explores the impact the Civil War had on our nation. Access to several primary documents is included in the resource
section of the website. Please visit http://www.gilderlehrman.org/civilwar150 .
C h e c k
t h e s e
o u t . . .
Check out these books available from the Monroe County Library System…….
A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates. When the Civil War broke out, Clara Barton wanted more than
anything to be a Union soldier, an impossible dream for a thirty-nine-year-old woman, who stood a slender five feet tall. Determined to serve,
she became a veritable soldier, a nurse, and a one-woman relief agency operating in the heart of the conflict. Award-winning author Stephen
B. Oates, drawing on archival materials not used by her previous biographers, has written the first complete account of Clara Barton's active
engagement in the Civil War. (Amazon)
Lincoln's Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy by Richard Nelson Current. Nearly 100,000 men from Confederate states
organized into battalions to fight with the armies of the North. These "unknown soldiers of the Civil War" represented 10% of the fighting
force under Gen. Robert E. Lee's command, a significant loss to the strength of the South and an important resource for the North. They
risked not only the dangers of war, but the certainty of being treated as deserters if taken prisoners. After the war their lives were endangered
by the hostility of their embittered neighbors; some were beaten, "hunted down like dogs" or killed outright. There was little help from the
North, struggling in the aftermath of Lincoln's death with the formidable problems of mending the nation. Although there is a considerable
literature about the black soldiers who fought with the armies of the North, Current contends that little attention has been paid to these
forgotten white Union loyalists. Drawing on overlooked sources, he provides an original and comprehensive, state-by-state account of their
struggles and contributions. (Publisher’s Weekly)
Marriage of Gen. Custer
(The following are excerpts from a letter reported in the Monroe Commercial on March 10, 1864)
Editor Commercial: This regiment is now “comfortable.” The way they do it is this. Brigade authorities point out a clayey side hill, and say
“I hope you will try and make yourselves comfortable.” No teams to draw logs, except as we can catch them from other duty—no stone for
chimneys—no boards to be had for love or money—nails wanting but not to be found—in fact, “no nothing.”—How “comfortable” it would
be, if soldiers could create things, and yet, it really does seem like a creation, to see a completed camp, and know at the same time, what
meager materials were at hand to build with. The school of the soldier is a profitable one. They learn by their necessities to make the most of
things. It was but this morning that I saw some men making glass tumblers, by cutting off the bottoms of bottles for that purpose. They were
castaway whiskey bottles, I am sorry to say. It is done in this wise; a stout string is wound round the bottle at the proper distance from the
base, guided by a strap, and then see-sawed till the friction heats the glass under the string, when a little cold water will snap off a drinking
cup of most pretentious appearance. You can imagine, however, that the labor is considerable. …
Gen. Custer returned from a nice little achievement, day before yesterday. He was sent across the Rapidan, with fifteen hundred men, to
create a diversion on the enemy’s left, in favor of Gen. Kilpatrick, who with some eight thousand cavalry and four batteries of artillery,
crossed at Culpepper Mine Ford, on Sunday night last on his way to Richmond. Custer’s command passed entirely to the rear of the rebel
army, met and scattered three times their number of rebel cavalry, under Stuart, destroyed bridges, mills, and valuable stores, burned an
artillery camp, with caissons and harness, and came back the same way he went, bringing off a large lot of horses and contrabands. The
enemy little thought that the expedition would return by the same route it took in the advance, and had laid a clever ambush on another road to
trap the whole command. Loss—none killed and five wounded. Capt. Greene, I understand, had his horse shot through the neck. The last
heard from Kilpatrick, was that he was within 10 miles of Richmond, and had not seen the enemy in force, anywhere on his route. We are
expecting to hear, every hour the result of his great raid. God grant that deliverance may come to our Richmond captives at last.
Upcoming events in Monroe…
March 8 - Old French Town Ways: Maple Syrup Days – 12 – 4, River Raisin Territorial Park
March 20 - Vintage Baseball with Marcus Dickson – 7 pm, Monroe County Historical Museum
March 29 - Friends of Potter Cemetery Garage Sale - 9-4 pm, MBT Expo Ctr.
April 27 - Friends of Potter Cemetery Spaghettis Dinner – Noon - 5pm, at Ash Township Fireman’s Hall.
Civil War Trivia Question: What were “Beecher’s
Bibles?” (4)
Answer to November’s trivia: Judah P. Benjamin, C.S.A.
Secretary of War was called the Brains of the Confederacy.
Book Sale! Our Round Table is hosting a monthly
book sale. All proceeds will benefit Civil War
preservation projects….Civil War hardcovers$5.00 and paperbacks-$2.00.