July 2023 Meeting
Our July meeting will feature Myers Brown, executive director of Belmont Mansion. He previously served as an archivist with the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) and the curator of extension services at the Tennessee State Museum. Mr. Brown has held numerous positions, including serving as Chairman of The Tennessee War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission and on the advisory board of the Tennessee Great War Commission and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area. He authored the books Tennessee’s Union Cavalrymen (2008) and Tennessee’s Confederates (2011) and was elected a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians in 2008.
His presentation is titled “Joe Wheeler, Chief of Cavalry, Army of Tennessee.” It will focus on the life, exploits, and military operations of General Joseph Wheeler. Despite his youth, Wheeler commanded the entire Cavalry Corps of the Confederacy’s second largest army and at times his division commanders included such famous generals as John Hunt Morgan and Nathan Bedford Forrest. While his Civil War actions are impressive, his post-Civil War career is also noteworthy. By the time of his death in 1906, he had served nearly eighteen years in the US Congress, commanded cavalry (including Roosevelt’s Rough Riders) in the Spanish-American War, operated a 30,000 acre cotton farm in North Alabama and served as a lawyer for the railroads. He is one of only two former Confederate generals to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.