Pat Falci gained fame not only for his role as General A. P. Hill in
Gettysburg, but also as director/screenwriter Ron Maxwell’s historical
advisor for both that movie and Gods and Generals. Pat provided casting
director, Joy Todd, and the actors with photographs and research for both
films, scouted out locations in Maryland, and took Maxwell on a
Stonewall Jackson tour of Civil War battlefields and other historical sites.
Pat, a native of Astoria, played Rough Rider #2 in producer/actor Tom
Berenger’s film of the same name, served as Jeff Shaara’s historical
advisor, providing research and tours of Civil War sites portrayed in his
books, and vetted John Jakes’s manuscripts for On Secret Service and
Charleston, at its editor’s request.
He has spoken at countless
CWRTs throughout the country and has wowed them consistently. He is
the recipient of the CWRT/NY Distinguished Service Award, the Fort
A. P. Hill Commander’s Award for Excellence, the U.S. Army M.D. of
Washington, D.C. Commanding General’s Award, the U.D.C. Jefferson
Davis Historical Gold Medal, and the S.U.V. Commander’s Award for
Excellence. In addition to these honors, he has earned a commission
of Colonel from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
For 15 years Patrick has been
the face of General Ambrose Powell Hill. Before that, he was a Civil War re-
enactor with the 14th Tennessee for 15
years--Archer’s Brigade, Hill’s Light Division. Ever since the movie
Gettysburg, where Patrick created the role of Hill, he has been enlightening
the public about "Lee’s Forgotten
General." In fact, he joined the Museum of the Confederacy in the
unveiling of Hill’s 13th Virginia regimental flag--and helped to raise
$10,000 for the flag’s restoration project. General Hill’s wife Dolly made
the flag, in part from her own wedding dress, and the restoration was a project
dear to Patrick’s heart.
It’s the same love of
preservation that has prompted a lifetime membership in the Civil War
Preservation Trust (CWPT), talks on Civil War subjects throughout the
country, and a school program called "The Life and Times of the Civil War
Soldier." He was the first 3-time president of the Civil War Round Table
of New York, delivered a speech for the Sons of Confederate Veterans on Lee’s
Bicentennial, January 19, 2007, and he is an honorary member of the Virginia
Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The Joshua Chamberlain Civil
War Round Table was privileged to
welcome Dale Gallon as our speaker
for the October 21, 2010 JCCWRT
meeting, held at 7:00 PM in the
Morrell Room at the Curtis Memorial
Library in Brunswick. The excerpt
below from Dale Gallon’s website
provides an overview of the artist’s
professional information. Mr. Gallon
spoke to us about “the research of
Civil War art.”
Dale Gallon lives and works in
Gettysburg, the site of the pivotal battle
of the war, but is a native of southern
California. He began his interest in art
and military history at a young age. He
graduated from the prestigious Art
Center College of Design in Los
Angeles where he earned a
scholarship from Hallmark Cards.
There, he provided illustration for
McDonnell Douglas, Mattel, and taught
art at the University of California Long
Beach.
In 1980 Dale released his first
limited edition Civil War print. During
this period the Civil War genre of art
that is so widely recognized today was
in its infancy. Dale blazed a path for
other artists to follow, setting high
standards along the way. His love of
the battle of Gettysburg drew him, his
wife Anne, and their three sons to the
East Coast in 1984. After moving to
Gettysburg, Dale remarked, "I live
within a mile of where Gen. Robert E.
Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia
into the battle of Gettysburg. The
battlefield is my office. I don't need
much more inspiration. I suspect
people who collect my paintings feel that on the canvas."
Each of Dale's paintings is a
history lesson on canvas. He is known
for his attention to detail and historical
accuracy. To assist the collector in
understanding the history, important
people and landmarks are identified on
the upper and lower borders of the
print. To assist Dale in the complex
research, he employs a staff historian
who is responsible for researching
every detail and writing a
comprehensive historical essay. This
essay accompanies each print number
with the print. Dale Gallon's art stands
in a class of its own - for the collector
who seeks historical accuracy.
Dale has produced over 200
images. His works are highly sought
after worldwide and are currently
displayed at the US Army War College
in Carlisle, PA, The Pentagon, Ft.
Leonard Wood, MO, Tanenbaum Park
& Guilford Battleground in Greensboro,
NC, VMI, Command & General Staff
College in Leavenworth, KS, Minnesota
State Capitol, and numerous private
collections. FMI: www.gallon.com
On November 18th the Joshua
Chamberlain CWRT welcomed back
Michael Pierson, Professor, History
Department, University of Massachusetts,
Lowell. In November, 2009, Professor
Pierson spoke to the JCCWRT about
Benjamin Butler and New Orleans—and we
are very pleased that Prof. Pierson will
return to Maine to discuss the first four
chapters of his recently published book,
The Mutiny at Fort Jackson: The Untold
Story of the Fall of New Orleans (University
of North Carolina Press). Prof. Pierson
earned the prestigious 2010 Albert Castel
Book Award from the Kalamazoo Civil War
Round Table for The Mutiny at Fort
Jackson; this award is made on a biennial
basis to the author of the best recent book
on the Civil War in the western theater.
The Mutiny at Fort Jackson tells
the story of the Civil War’s largest and most
strategically important mutiny. As the Union
pressed its attack on New Orleans in April,
1862, the 600 soldiers at the Confederate
garrison in Fort Jackson rebelled against
their officers and forced the Fort’s
surrender. Prof. Pierson will discuss the
events inside Fort Jackson and the overall
significance of the Confederate soldiers’
rebellion. Amazon.com offers the following
product description of The Mutiny at Fort
Jackson:
New Orleans was the largest
city—and one of the richest—in the
Confederacy, protected in part by Fort
Jackson, which was just sixty-five miles
down the Mississippi River. On April 27,
1862, Confederate soldiers at Fort Jackson
rose up in mutiny against their commanding
officers. New Orleans fell to Union forces
soon thereafter. Although the Fort Jackson
mutiny marked a critical turning point in the
Union's campaign to regain control of this
vital Confederate financial and industrial
center, it has received surprisingly little
attention from historians. Michael Pierson examines newly uncovered archival
sources to determine why the soldiers
rebelled at such a decisive moment.
Michael Pierson attended his first
CWRT meeting in Hamden, CT, when he
was 17 years old. What he learned that
evening reinforced his intellectual curiosity
about the Civil War, and Michael Pierson’s
contribution to Civil War research, teaching,
and writing continues today. Prof. Pierson
has recently been promoted from Associate
Professor to Professor at UMass, Lowell.
Before accepting his position at UMass,
Lowell, he taught at state universities in
Illinois, Arkansas, and Kentucky. He now
teaches classes in Jacksonian America,
American Democracy, the Recollection of
the Civil War from 1865 to the Present,
Women’s History, and Historical Methods.
Michael Pierson is now researching a
project tentatively titled “A Long and Funny
Civil War Letter and What It Tells Us about
Humor, Death, Drinking, Justice, America,
and the Work Historians Do.”
Meeting was November 18, 2010, 7 PM, at the Morrell Room, Curtis Memorial Library.
Biography of Blaikie Hines:
Born in Connecticut in 1949,
Blaikie is a well-known fine arts conservator
who specializes in 19th century paintings
and frames. He is also a Civil War collector,
historian, and author. Blaikie grew up in a
family steeped in the history of the Civil
War. Along with two great-great-
gr andfathers who served from
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, his great
uncle was a Lutheran Minister who
graduated from Gettysburg Seminary in
1909, and shared the first-hand stories of
the great battle from the eye-witnesses he
met there. Blaikie Hines’ great-great-
grandfather from Massachusetts fought in
the First Battle of Bull Run. The Bull Run
book is his latest publication. He is also
author of Civil War Volunteers, Sons of
Connecticut, published by American Patriot
Press. Blaikie makes his home in
Thomaston, Maine, with his wife, Judith:
Life-long students of Abraham Lincoln often say that photographs of Lincoln's face first inspired their devotion to our 16th President. I remember looking at photographs of Lincoln for hours as a young girl, utterly fascinated by everything about him - his hands, his lanky frame, his hair - but most of all by his face, of course. Perhaps Lincoln's law partner, Billy Herndon, said it best: "When those little grey gray eyes and face were lighted up by the inward soul on fires of emotion....then it was that all those apparently ugly or homely features sprang into organs of beauty....Sometimes it did appear to me that Lincoln was just fresh from the hands of his Creator".
I was delighted to learn that our February 17th Joshua L. Chamberlain CWRT speaker, Dr. H. Draper Hunt will present "The Faces of Abraham Lincoln." And interestingly, at the age of nine Hunt was Captivated by Lincoln's "face and physical appearance" and he began to read widely about Lincoln and the Civil War.
Dr. Hunt slide presentation will survey "the photographs of Abraham Lincoln from the first in 1846 to the last in 1865, with accompanying biographical and anecodotal tidbits." Professor Hunt's source for his presentation is Lincoln in Photographs, An Album of Every Known Pose, by Charles Hamilton and Llyod Ostendorf, Univeresity of Oklahoma Press, First Edition, 1963. As Hamilton and Ostendorf state in their book's preface, "Lincoln's face was the delight of photographers. He sat for thirty-one different cameramen on sixty-one ocassions." We look forward to a wonderful presentation on February 17th.
Prefessor Hunt has presented to the JCCWRT "between 6 to 8 times" over the past 25 years. In fact, he was one of the first people invited by Warren Randall to speak at the Round Table (see page 4 of our newsletter for Warren Randall's letter launching the Joshua Chamberlain Civil War Round Table in Brunswick). As many of our members know, Dr. Hunt is Emeritus Professor, Universary of Southern Maine, having taught there for 32 years. Draper Hunt holds a B. A. from Harvard College,and M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is the author of numerous books, including Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Lincoln's First Vice President.
By Sally Saunders
The meeting will be Thursday, at 7:00 PM February 17, 2011
in the
Morrell Room, Curtis
Memorial Library in
Brunswick
Charles W. Plummer, in the persona of Chaplain John Wesley Adams, will share some of his experiences ministering to the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of the men of the Second New Hampshire Regiment during the Civil War at the upcoming meeting of the Joshua L. Chamberlain Civil War Round Table on March 17, 2011 at 7 PM.
Chaplain Adams was born in Townsend Massachusetts on May 23, 1832 and was a descendant of Presidents John and John Quincy Adams. He was serving as the minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in North Salem, New Hampshire when he mustered into service with the Second New Hampshire Regiment and served as the regimental Chaplain throughout the war. In the eyes of the men in the regiment, his moral, Christian, and ministerial character was above reproach. His love of country, sympathy for the sick and wounded, appropriate counsels, and public ministrations, coupled with his social qualities, won him the respect and affectionate regard of both officers and men.
In every battle in which the regiment was engaged, he preformed his duty with bravery, always having been under fire and frequently at the extreme front assisting the wounded, comforting the dying, and giving to the dead a Christian burial. The sick held him in grateful remembrance for his religious services, the distribution of reading materials, and the faithful appropriation of comforts furnished by charitable societies. (by Charles W. Plummer.)
Charles W. Plummer is a native of Lisbon Falls and a graduate of Lisbon High School. He holds a B. S. degree in Education, a Master's degree in Administration and Supervision, and a doctorate in Religious Studies and Metaphysics. He served as a naval aviator during the Korean War and is a retired elementary school principal and family counselor.
He is known for his living history presentations and travels widely doing portrayals of Confederate and Union Civil War generals, including Joshua L. Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. He recently completed a 3-year term on the Board of Directors of L. A. Senior College.
One advance in Naval shipbuillding created the need for another
to counter it.The changes in Naval warfare began in Europe, but soon crossed the oceans
to America. And once Americans on both sides of the Civil War turned native ingenuity toward the
challenges of fighting at sea, the entire history of naval warfare was revolutionized.
The Joshua L.Chamberlain Civil War Round Table welcomes our
April speaker, multiple awared-winning author, James L. Nelson. He will discuss the series
of developements that culminated in the creation of the Civil War ironclads, and the way
that the ironclads forever changed war at sea. Along with the ships, he'll discuss the
men on both sides of the conflict that put their own stamp on history and the science of
fighting iron.
Jim Nelson was born and raised in Lewiston. He has always harbored a deep love of ships and the sea, though no one else in his family ever did, which leads him to believe that it is a genetic disorder and not learned behavior. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in motion picture/television but chose instead to work on board traditional sailing ships. Finally realizing it would be easier to write about sailing rather than actually doing it, he came ashore and began a career as a writer. Jim is the author of sixteen works of maritime fiction and history. His novel of the Confederate Navy, Glory in the Name won the American Library Association/William Y. Boyd Award, the top honor given to military fiction in this country. His latest work is With Fire and Sword, the story of the Battle of Bunker Hill. He lives in Harpswell with his former shipmate, now wife Lisa and their four children.
Meeting info: April 21, 2011, Thursday at 7:00 PM, Morrell Room, Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick.
When the war opened, Lincoln considered the relief societies to be as useful as a 5th wheel and was opposed to having them involved in military affairs. Reality soon proved to him how necessary they were. Although the national relief organizations (US Sanitary Commission and the Christian Commission) were never able to officially make changes in military procedures governong the supply and distribution of food, sanitary conditions, hospitals and other areas of concern to the health and well-being of soldiers, their recommendations had a tremendous impact on the survival of the troops.
Working in conjunction with those national relief organizations were hundreds, if not thousands, of local and state agencies. Based in Portland, the Maine Camp Hospital Association was one of those and if accounts can be believed, it was one one of the best organized and most efficient relief organization in the Union. It even managed to send agents into the field to distribute supplies and see to rhe care of Maine soldiers. By the end of the war the MCHA and other Maine agencies probably contributed close to $1,000,000 worth of supplies. This was a staggering contribution, as was the work their agents. But, its female agents, like those of the Sanitary Commission, the Christian Commission, and women throughout the hospials and relief organization faced unprecedented challenges and opposition to their work.
Lynda L. Sudlow will be speaking about the work, the struggles, and the challenges faced by these women with a focus on Portland's Maine Camp Hospital Association.
Lyn is a resident of North Yarmouth and the director of the Falmouth Memorial Library. She is also a Civil War historian and author of several articles and 3 books, including "A Vast Army of Women: Maine's Uncounted Forces in the American Civil War." The book was the result of ten years of research into the role of Maine Women during the Civil War. It received praise from reviewers and historians and is receiving renewed interest with the sesquicentenial of the Civil War upon us.
Lyn is also the recipent of the Warren B. Randall Award from the Joshua Chamberlain Civil War Roundtable (2009) and recently was awarded $1,000 for promoting interest in and understanding of Civil War History from the Institute of Libraries and Museums and the A&E History Channel.
Lynda Sudlow
Memories Of Maine's entry into the Civil War, to be delivered at the annual banquet of the Joshua Chamberlain Civil War Round Table, Kennebec Tavern, Bath, Maine, June 16, 2011, by Kereck Kelsey.
This program will recreate the political and military situation in Maine during the opening weeks of the Civil War. We will review the enormous outpouring of public support for the war in this state, and the great effort that we made to save the national government, despite its long history of neglect of Maine. We will also review some newly-learned aspects of politics in the south to illustrate the vast differences that lay between the sections of the country. The abyss before us was political, cultural, social and economic - as well as military. We approached it with little appreciation of its vastness, or the cost we would have to pay to cross it.
Kerck Kelsey grew up fascinated by the Civil War, but he was nearly retired before he did anything about it. After a career in sales, a business downturn in the 1990's gave him a chance to go back to school and to concentrate on 19th century American history. He received a Masters Degree in History from Harvard in 2002 - just before his 70th birthday. Knowing that he was moving to Maine, his Harvard advisor had suggested Isreal Washburn, Jr., Maine's Civil War Governor, as a thesis topic. Two years later, rewritten for public consuption, Isreal Washburn, Jr.: Maine's Little-Known Giant of the Civil War was published. It was followed in 2007 by Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family, and in 2010 by Prairie Lightning, The Rise and Fall of William Drew Washburn. A resident of South Freeport, Kerck has been a member of the JCCWRT for the past ten years, and has presented at least three programs to us.
We welcomed Dick Simpson to the Chamberlain Civil War Round Table for the first presentation of 2011-2012. Dick did share his slide program, "Missouri and the Battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861."
The battle of Wilson's Creek was the Civil War's first major battle west of the Mississippi River. In early August 1861, Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch's 12,000 troops were camped at Wilson's Creek, while Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon's 5,400 men were camped 12 miles away in Springfield.
By the night of August 9th, each side had developed plans to attack the opposing camp, but rain forced the Confederates to postpone their assault. At dawn the next day, Lyon led his army into battle. The attack caught McCulloch by surprise, driving his cavalry back. But other Confederate forces rushed up and the Confederate position was stablized.
At about 9:30 a.m., Lyon who already had been wounded twice that morning, was killed while positioning his troops. Command fell to Major Samuel Sturgis. For more than five hours the battle raged on Bloody Hill. Following the third Confederate attack which ended at 11:00 am, the Confederates withdrew. But Sturgis realized that his ammunition was low, so he ordered a retreat to Springfield.
The Confederate victory gave hope to the state's southern sympathizers. The pro-rebel forces of the Missouri State Guard-now emboldened-soon launched an offensive that carried them as far as Lexington, Missouri. The Missouri State Senate officially declared Missouri's secession from the Union on October 28, 1861, only three months after the battle at Wilcon's Creek.
Today Wilson's Creek National Battlefield encompasses 1,750 acres and nearly 75 percent of the battlefield has been saved from developement. The battlefield still looks much as it did in 1861 and is considered one of the best preserved and most pristine Civil War battlefields in the National Park System. However, the battlefield is under severe threat from residental development and urban sprawl. The conclusion of Dick Simpson's program will be a "tour" of the battlefield as it looks today. A raffle of Civil War books will be held to raise money for the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation.
About our speaker: From May until October each year, Dick Simpson and his wife, Deborah, reside on Willoughby lane in Westmore, Vermont. Dick is the historian for the Town of Westmore and lectures on local history. After 30 years as the Vice-President of Graphic Design for InterContinenral Hotels, he welcomes the opportunity to study both local Vermont and Civil War history.
Dick also enjoys his activity as a Civil War "civilian" re-enactor. portraying Vermont Govenor Frederick Holbrook, one of the state's Civil War governors, and was featured in his role as Governor Holbrook in the January 2010 issue of Gettysburg Magazine.
Civil War historians have pondered the absence of any major battles in the Eastern Theater for the ten months between Gettysburg and The Wilderness. In this program, Peter Vermilyea will account for this hiatus by explaining why the relatively minor actions of Bristoe Station, Rappahannock Station and Mine Run did not develope into larger conflicts.
Lee's Army returned to Virginia after the Gettysburg Campaign and was safely positioned along the line of the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers. Confederate military leaders then transferred two divisions of James Longstreet's First Corps to northern Georgia. These troops were sent in the hopes of regaining control of the vital supply and transportation center at Chattanooga, Tennessee, which had recently fallen to Union forces under William Rosecrans. The result was not only the Battle of Chickamauga, the second bloodiest battle of the war, but a renewal of campaigning in the East.
The detachment of Longstreet's divisions and the subsequent Confederate victory at Chickamauga compelled the Union high command to send the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac to Tennessee. This decision reduced the numerical superiority of Union forces in Virginia, and provided Confederate commander Robert E. Lee with the opportunity to seize the initiative. Within hours of learning of the Union troop movement, Lee had his forces on the move, seeking to replicate Stonewall Jackson's famed flank march in the Second Manassas campaign.
The result was the Battle of Bristoe Station, a brief but violent affair in October 1863 that stemmed Lee's advance. This victory, coupled with Ulysses S. Grant's triumph at Chattanooga, lifted the spirits of the Lincoln Administration and put pressure on George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomic, to secure a victory that might end the war. Confused fighting at Rappahannock Station and Mine Run followed; the war, of course, lasted another sixteen months.
This neglected topic in Civil War military history involves intriguing "what ifs" annd "might have beens" and sheds light on the military situation as the Union and Confederate army entered the decisive Overland Campaign of the Spring of 1864. The talk will also higlight the important role played by several regiments from Maine in this interesting campaign.
2010/2011 programs.
The Civil War is often called "the first modern war," in part because many industrial innovations were fully used for the first time, and indeed many were crucial to the conduct of the war. It can reasonably be said that fighting the war depended on industry, on moving large amounts of supplies and large numbers of soldiers on railroads, and on using steam vessels, iron-clad ships, and rapid-fire weapons for the first time. In addition, we cannot overlook the critical role played by the telegraph, newspapers, and even photography.
The tactics used to fight the Civil War also led to the use of the term "the first modern war." Civil War officers used Napoleonic examples, such as advanced guards, skirmishers, flanking parties, the rules of concentration, and picket lines--tactics and operations seen in the 20th century's World Wars. Many of the general officers on both sides of the Civil War received their training at West Point, and Napoleonic strategy and tactics notably influenced military training there. Sherman's march to the sea is an example on the Union side of the influence of Napoleonic tactics and their execution on the battle ground.
On the Confederate side General James Longstreet made some of the most profound "modern" contributions to the art of war. Our November 17th speaker Lt. Colonel Harold Knudsen will compare the actions of General Lonstreet to modern military doctrine and will reveal several of Longstreet's large-scale advancements in the conduct of war. For exaample, Longstreet's defensive tactics show a clear evolution from Antietam to Fredericksburg, and suggest the lethality seen during World War I. His offensive tactics at Chickamauga were similar to--if not the actual forerunner of--World War II tactical-level German armored tactics. Other areas will illustrate Longstreet's progressive applications with artillery, staff work, force projection, and opertational-thinking.
Lieutenant Colonel Knudsen is an Illinois native with over 25 years of active-duty service in the United States Army. His career includes seven artillery, command, and staff in-residence at Army schools and collages. He has many years of tactical experience in the intergration of fire support into maneuver plans and fire control computation for cannon units. He is a combat veteran of Desert Storm and has served in Iraq and Kuwait during the current conflict. His book, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Modern General, draws heavily on 20th century Army doctrine, field training, staff planning, command and combat expereience.
Many Mainers were opposed to the idea of fighting in a civil war in early 1861. More than a third of Mainers voted against Lincoln in 1860. But when Mainers heard the news that Southerners had fired on Fort Sumter, they rose to the cause in great numbers. Over the past 150 years some historians might say that Mainers' misgivings about the war were justified. Tom Desjardin proposes that Maine's population and industry have not yet recovered from the Civil War's devastating affect on Maine.
The Chamberland Civil War Round Table welcomes Tom Desjardin as our speaker on December 15, 2011 at 7:00 pm. Tom will share his fresh perspective about Mainers before and during the Civil War.
Before the secession of southern states, a number of Maine's citizens actively participated in pre-war events and issues. It's not commonly known that two native sons fought alongside John Brown at Harpers Ferry. One was killed in the raid and another died in the Union army three years later. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin had an immense influence on the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War.
As we all know, Abraham Lincoln's first running mate, Hannibal Hamlin, was a Maine native. yet the high office of Vice Presideent of the United States did not deter his willingness to serve as a private in the Maine State Guards. And Hamlin was not the lone Mainer in Lincoln's inner circle during the war years. William Pitt Fessenden served as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury from 1854 to 1865.
Twice the war brought armed Confederate soldiers onto Maine soil, and more than 70,000 Maine soldiers left the state to serve in the Federal armed forces. Men returned hime scarred and devastated while others prospered from their war experiences. Many of those who did return left Maine soon afterward in search of better opportunities elsewhere. Numerous women from Maine played very important roles during the war. Many women suffered as a result; in fact, the first woman to ever receive a soldier's pension was from Calais.
Mainers continued to make contributions after the Civil War. Two prominent Mainers founded four colleges for freed slaves in the immediate aftermath of the war and the only man ever to head the U. S. Government's Freedman's Bureau was from Leeds, Maine. Leads, by the way, supplied two generals to the war, one Union and one Confederate.
Tom Desjardin holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History and has written several books on the Civil War, including Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign. During the 1990s he served as the archivist and historian at Gettysburg National Military Park. He later taught Civil War history at Bowdoin College -- the site where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin and Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain was a student, Professor, and President of the college. Desjardin is experienced in television and film and served as the historical advisor to Jeff Daniels for his role as Chamberlain in the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Desjardin's work has been featured on the History Channel, A&E, Discovery, PBS, and C-SPAN.
The meeting was on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 7PM, in the Morrell Room, Curtis Library, Brunswick.
The January 19, 2012 meeting was cancelled due to speaker illness and a possible storm.