Past Speakers
January 2013 - Mr. Brian McEnany presented "The West Point Class of 1862." Brian McEnany’s lecture used one of the cadet classes, the Class of 1862, to illustrate what happened at the Academy and the cadets at the outset of the Civil War. During the tumultuous months after Lincoln’s election, the cadets were forced to make momentous decisions as eleven states seceded, officers resigned or returned to their regiments and multiple resignations or dismissals became everyday occurrences.
Mr. Brian R. McEnany was born in Cornwall, New York. An Army Brat, he
traveled extensively with his family in the US and Japan.
He entered the United States Military Academy with the Class of 1962.
After graduation, he served an initial assignment in Germany, followed
by a tour in Vietnam as an advisor. In January 1984, after various
assignments at battery, battalion, brigade and division level in
Germany, Korea, the US, combat service in Vietnam, and multiple tours in
the Pentagon as an operations research analyst, he elected to leave the
Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Military history has always fascinated him and has now become his
full-time avocation. He is currently using his skills as an
analyst of military operations to write a narrative history of the West
Point Class of 1862.
Brian is a member of the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable and has given
presentations about this class to numerous civil war groups in Northern
Virginia, the History Department at West Point, the Brandy Station
Foundation, the Army-Navy Club in DC, a few West Point class luncheons,
the US Army’s Center for Army Analysis and AUSA’s Leminitzer Lecture
series. His article, John Brown’s Raid and West Point, was published in
the Association of Graduate’s Assembly magazine in October 2009 and War
comes to West Point was published in North&South magazine (Vol, 12,
Nr.5) in December 2010.
February 2013 - The guest speaker
was Peggy Vogtsberger. She discussed "Into the Maelstrom: The Battle of
Franklin, Tennessee". Two months after the fall of Atlanta, the Army of
Tennessee under the command of General John Bell Hood marched into
Tennessee. Peggy talked about the genesis of Hood's campaign and the
Federal response to it. She will describe the lost opportunity at
Spring Hill. On November 30, 1864 Hood's army attacked strong
entrenchments at Franklin, Tennessee. It was a charge comparable to
Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, with more disastrous results. Sam
Watkins, Co. H, 1st Tennessee, upon seeing the battlefield the next day,
wrote: "It was a grand holocaust of death. Death had held high
carnival that night...I was never so horrified and appalled in my life."
Peggy described in tactical detail the battle and its effects. She
tied it up with a brief summary of the battles near Nashville and the
end of Hood's campaign.
Ms. Vogtsberger's work with WCWRT included, former newsletter editor,
former member of the board, former vice-president and program chairman.
She has also been active as founder of the John Pelham Historical
Association and author of The Dulanys of Welbourne and A
Family in Mosby's Confederacy (1995). Peggy currently works at
Colonial Williamsburg in Orientation & Admissions.
March 2013 - Patrick Schroeder presented "Myths
about Lee's Surrender" in which he discussed some of the most
interesting aspects from the books he wrote , Thirty Myths About Lee's
Surrender and More Myths About Lee's Surrender. This talk is about what
really happened at Appomattox, separating myth from fact.
Mr. Schroeder was born January 1, 1968, at Fort Belvoir, VA, and was
raised in Utica, New York. In the spring of 1990, he graduated Cum Laude
with a B.S. in Historical Park Administration from Shepherd College,
Shepherdstown, WV. He has a M.A. in Civil War History from
Virginia Tech. From the summer of 1986-1993, Patrick worked as a
seasonal living history interpreter at Appomattox Court House National
Historical Park. In 1993, he wrote Thirty Myths About Lee's
Surrender, which is currently in its twelfth printing. From
1994-1999, he was employed at Red Hill, the Patrick Henry National
Memorial. Patrick has written, edited and/or contributed to more
than twenty-five Civil War titles. Patrick resides in Lynchburg,
VA, and has worked as an independent researcher, author,
historian, and tour guide. He has been the Historian at Appomattox
Court House National Historical Park since 2002. In an effort to
protect sites relevant to the Appomattox Campaign, Patrick has set up
the "Appomattox Fund" with the Civil War Trust, to save land important
to the climatic events of April 1865.
April 2013 - Mr. Earnst presented "An
evening with a Confederate Soldier, Major Heros Von Borcke. He
took us back to that period of history in the person of Major Heros Von
Borcke, chief aide to General JEB Stuart. Although a Prussian officer he
was no mere observer. He was a fully invested Confederate and was a
prolific writer about his exploits. The audience was taken back to the spring of 1863 and this colorful character will
bring them up to date on the War thus far.
Frank Earnest is a historian and member of several historical
societies most prominently the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He has held
offices in this organization for over 20 years. Serving as his
camp's charter chaplain to International Chief of Heritage Defense to
his current position as Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
He was informed of his deep Virginia roots and his Confederate Heritage
at an early age by his maternal grandmother. Although born in
Norfolk, Virginia most of his ancestors were from the Petersburg,
Virginia area.
His ancestors served in all branches including the Navy but most
especially the cavalry. Commander Earnest is a retired United
States Navy veteran. He now resides in Virginia Beach with his
wife, Billie, who is also an ardent historian of this period.
May 2013 - Mr. Eric Douglas App, the Director
of Museum Operations at the Museum of the Confederacy, presented
"Richmond Bread Riots". He also used a self-developed virtual 3
dimension computer map of the Civil War city to identify where events
leading up to the riot and the riot itself were located in the city.
Mr. App was born and raised east of Richmond, he attended Virginia Tech,
where he received his degrees in both history and art. He has
worked at the Museum of the Confederacy for 22 of the past 23 years.
His present responsibilities, there, are wide-ranging, from restoration
and interpretation of the White House of the Confederacy and school
programming to visitor services and retail sales, from working with the
governing board to hosting VIPs, and from working with the Museum’s
attorneys, bankers, and insurance to dealing with physical plant issues.
His latest project is a virtual map of Civil War Richmond.
Utilizing open source CAD software and a mass of research on every
period building on every block, he has been able to recreate much of the
old City in a fully-interactive, near 3-dimentional format.
Tonight, Eric is here to talk about the Richmond Bread Riots, and will
use his map to help follow the route of the mob as it made its way
through the streets.
To view speaker listing prior to current year, click here.