Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable

Events

November 2021 Program on Civil War Poetry

Our November 2022 will be presented by George Payne and Sherry Darrel on “Civil War Poetry,” which introduces seven poets writing about battles and other events during and immediately after the Civil War. Several of these poets served as either soldiers or war correspondents. Our presenters begin in 1859 with John Brown’s hanging and end in 1885 with Grant’s death. George presents information about the poets and the settings of these battles; Sherry analyzes and reads the poems.

George Andrew Payne was born in Vincennes and grew up in Lawrenceville, Illinois. Two of his great-grandfathers fought in the the Civil War, Ensley G. Andrew, 138th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and James W. McKibben, 12th Ohio Infantry.

George graduated from Lawrenceville Township High School in 1966 and earned a B. S. in petroleum engineering from University of Oklahoma in 1970. After graduation, he served in the United States Navy for three years as a supply and disbursing officer. George earned an M. S. in petroleum engineering from University of Tulsa in 1975. He worked in Denver for four years before returning to Indiana in 1979.

Since then he has been self-employed, working in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Kansas. He joined SICWRT about 20 years ago and is a founding member of the John W. Foster Camp of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Sherry Bevins Darrell was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, and grew up in Borger, Texas. In 1970 she earned a B. A. in English and philosophy from McMurry College in Abilene, Texas; in 1972, an M. A. in English and in 1975 a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt. Sherry taught at USI for 34 years in English and humanities, retiring in 2009.

September 2021 Meeting

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday, September 16th at at 7:00 p.m., at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, Indiana 47708). It will feature Dr. Tom Sabetta discussing Dick Mitchell, Morgan cavalryman and guerrilla. Mitchell rode with the famous General John Hunt Morgan from mid 1862 to the end of 1863 and then became a guerrilla fighter until the end of the war. This past March, Tom contracted with Scuppernong Press in North Carolina to publish his biography on Dick Mitchell. Tom’s round-table presentation will tie in with the earlier SICWRT presentations by Gerry Fischer and Derrick Lindow while giving background on how the War for Southern Independence in Kentucky became a guerrilla fight in the end.

Tom is a retired lecturer in the College of Communication at the University of Kentucky where he taught in the system for 26 years. He has a BA in History, an MA in Organizational Communication from Western Kentucky University, and a Ph.D. from Wayne State University. He is a reenactor for Cobb’s Battery and is also the author of two books and several articles, his first at age 17 in the Kentucky Heritage. Additionally he was the past Vice President of the Owensboro – Daviess County Historical Society and currently serves on the Meade County Historical and Archeological Preservation Society Board of Directors.

The Roundtable Returns!

After a long absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable (SICWRT) returns with a slate of interesting programs. As before, meetings take place on the third Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m., at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, Indiana 47708). All lectures are free and open to the public.

  • May 20th: Charles Matson of the Monroe County Civil War Roundtable presents on John T. Wilder. Wilder was an officer in the Union Army, noted principally for capturing the key mountain pass of Hoover’s Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in Central Tennessee in June 1863. Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade” of mounted infantry used the new Spencer repeating rifle, a key factor in victory at Hoover’s Gap.

  • June 17th: Gerry Fisher offers a presentation on Partisan Rangers. Gerry Fisher serves as the Meade County Historian and was one of the founding members of the Meade County Historical Society.

  • July 15th: Scott Southerland of the SICWRT presents on “Spies and Espionage in the Civil War.”

  • August 19th: Derrick Lindow will present on “Adam Rankin Johnson and Partisan Rangers.” Derrick, who teaches 8th-grade U.S. history at Daviess County Middle School, has signed a contract with Savas Beatie to publish a book exploring the history of the Civil War in the Daviess County area. The narrative follows Confederate Adam Rankin Johnson and covers extensive measures taken by Union forces to quell Johnson’s success.

July Meeting Canceled

Due to a recent reported surge in Covid-19 cases in Evansville, this past Friday the Mayor of Evansville directed mandated face masks beginning Wednesday. Although he indicated his directive will not be enforced with fines, arrests, etc., he has asked the public to voluntarily comply and follow his guidelines.

After discussing with other key members of SICWRT planning, we believe this announcement would cause many members not to attend the SICWRT meeting this week and would greatly reduce attendance for our out of town guest’s presentation. Therefore, we will cancel the meeting once again. We apologize for this inconvenience.

July Meeting Scheduled

Our meetings will once again resume on July 16th at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police with a presentation from Charles Matson of the Monroe County Civil War Roundtable. Mr. Matson will present on John T. Wilder.

A Note on Meetings During the Pandemic

The current public health crisis has changed a lot of things in our day to day lives. The changes in guidelines for interpersonal contact and the current regulations related to gatherings and non-essential travel have proven to be a challenge for groups like ours. In light of those changes and the uncertainty as to when those guidelines may be relaxed, the need to make a decision regarding the rest of the SICWRT season has been thrust upon us.

At this time, the decision has been made to cancel our regularly scheduled meetings for April and we may very well need to do the same thing for May. While it is disappointing, maintaining the health and safety of our members, families, and friends is our top priority. We will keep you up to date on the progress of those potential opportunities as best we can.

Upcoming Presentations

The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable (SICWRT) has several exciting upcoming presentations this spring. Our program on March 19, 2020, will feature Charles Matson of the Monroe County Civil War Roundtable presenting on John T. Wilder. The April 16, 2020, meeting will feature Gerry Fisher from the Meade County, Kentucky, Historical Society offering a presentation on Partisan Rangers. And the May 21, 2020, meeting will feature Scott Southerland of the SICWRT presenting on “Spies and Espionage in the Civil War.” All meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police lodge at 801 Court Street in downtown Evansville, Indiana. We look forward to you joining us.

September 2019 Program

The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable’s upcoming program on September 19th will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, IN 47708). It will feature author Eddie Price presenting on “Lincoln’s Brown River Navy.”

In “Lincoln’s Brown Water Navy,” Eddie Price embarks on a “not-so-often-told” journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, up the Cumberland, Tennessee, White, Arkansas, and Yazoo Rivers… and much more. Learn about the “Anaconda Plan”, Forts Henry and Donelson, Fort Columbus (the “Gibraltar of the West” with its big iron chain), Island No. 10, Plum Point, the “melee” at Memphis (a big naval battle fought before the eyes of Memphis citizens), David Farragut’s daring run past the batteries on his way to New Orleans, the long and bloody sieges at Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana, and the disastrous Red River campaign–where the Union fleet was saved by a giant winged dam.

Price shows photos of the new shallow draft “City Class” ironclads built at the Union Shipyards at Carondelet, Missouri and Mound City, Illinois—also mortar boats, “tinclads,” (thin iron plating, not tin) “timberclads,” and even “cottonclads” (used by Confederate warships.) Ulysses S Grant depended on the gunboat flotillas to coordinate amphibious assaults, guard troopships and supplies, bombard fortifications and attack Confederate ships. These gunboats could dish out the punishment as well as absorb it! And they played a major role in winning the western theater of the US Civil War.

Eddie Price is the award winning author of the historical novel Widder’s Landing. One Drop–A Slave! is the sequel to Widder’s Landing, and he has penned three children’s books as well. In addition, Mr. Price is a speaker for the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Visit his website at EddiePriceKentuckyAuthor.com.

August 2019 Program

The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable’s upcoming program on August 15th will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, IN 47708). It will feature local historians Bill Bartelt and Joshua Claybourn presenting on their new book, Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President.

Since his death, Abraham Lincoln has been celebrated as savior of the Union, proponent for emancipation, president of the United States, and skilled statesman. Although Lincoln’s adult life has been well documented and analyzed, most biographers have regarded his early years as inconsequential to his career and accomplishments.

In 1920 a group of historians known as the Lincoln Inquiry were determined to give Lincoln’s formative years their due. Abe’s Youth takes a look into their writings, which focus on Lincoln’s life between seven to twenty-one years of age. By filling in the gaps on Lincoln’s childhood, the authors shed light on how his experiences growing up influenced the man he became. As the first fully annotated edition of the Lincoln Inquiry papers, Abe’s Youth offers indispensable reading for anyone hoping to learn about Lincoln’s early life.

William E. “Bill” Bartelt is a Lincoln historian and retired educator. His books include There I Grew Up, which tells the history of Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana years and helped inspire The Better Angels, a 2014 biographical drama-historical film about Lincoln’s formative years. For many years Bartelt worked as a ranger and historian at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. He is a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Indiana Historical Society, and received the Indiana Historical Society’s “Hoosier Historian” award in 2003. Previously Bartelt served as a member of the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission’s Advisory and Education Committees and served as vice chair of the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Joshua A. Claybourn is an attorney and author or editor of several books, including Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative. A widely published commentator on legal, political, and historical topics, Claybourn has also appeared as a guest on CNN, MSNBC, and NHK. He is a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Association.

May and June Programs

The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable has two great upcoming programs in May and June. Both meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, IN 47708).

16 May 2019: Our May meeting will feature John Summerlot, Director of Veterans Support Services at Indiana University. His presentation is titled “Indiana University and the Civil War.” Cashon is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Army National Guard and researched and published on a number of topics related to the experiences of veterans and military students in higher education. He focuses in particular on the relationship between the military and higher education. He currently serves in the Indiana Guard Reserve as the executive officer of the Search and Rescue Training Team and an emergency management specialist and has been an instructor at IU Bloomington since 2004, teaching in both the School of Education and the School of Public Health.

20 June 2019: Our June meeting will feature Brad Butkovich, historian/author, presenting on the topic of “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign.” Brad is a member of the Northeast Georgia Civil War Round Table and has published various articles on Civil War battles. He is a resident of Lilburn, Georgia, and is the owner and creator of the Civil War Virtual Tours Website www.civilwartours.com.