Past Speakers
December 2011 Jack Tuttle, Williamsburg City Manager
discussed the Riverside development and its impact on the Williamsburg
battle ground.
Teresina Toepke presented "Civil War Christmas: In The Field and On The
Home Front". She shared excerpts from letters, diaries, and newspapers
of the period, along with quotes and illustrations from popular
magazines of the time. The presentation will trace attitudes, hopes,
and customs as they evolve from Christmas, 1860, through New Year’s,
1866.
Teri Toepke attended the College of William and Mary where she graduated
Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in elementary education and then went on to
receive a Master’s in Education as well as completing additional
coursework toward a doctorate in special education. In addition to
teaching in elementary and special education classrooms, Teri has taught
GED classes for the state prison system and was an assistant professor
of education at Hampton University for two years. She moved to museum
education in February, 2000, taking a position at Endview Plantation in
Newport News before going to the Hampton History Museum in November,
2002. In the summer of 2006, she became Director of Elderhostel Road
Scholar programs at the College of William and Mary.
Outside of her work at the College, Teri is actively involved in several
historical organizations. She is past president of the Williamsburg
Civil War Roundtable, participates as a civilian reenactor with the 44th
Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and volunteers with the Longstreet Memorial
Fund to maintain the sites of the North Carolina and Longstreet
monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park. Joining with two fellow
Civil War reenactors in The Ladies’ Historical Review, she conducts
living history programs at fairs, schools, and museums, often appearing
as her alter ego, Miss Sallie. She is also a member of the National
Council for History Education and the Virginia Association of Museums.
November 2011 David Corlette discussed "The Improbable
Invasion: The Confederate New Mexican Campaign 1862." Mr. Corlette graduated from Gonzaga University in 1994 with a degree in
history, after writing a thesis on Civil War chaplains After serving in
the military, he worked on his graduate studies at William and Mary,
writing a Master's thesis on early American warfare and then a Ph.D.
dissertation on early Indian Wars in New England. David has published
several dozen articles in the Encyclopedia of North American Conflict to
1775, Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War, and Encyclopedia
of American Military History. He is currently editing a book manuscript,
Steadfast in their Ways: New England Colonists, Indian Wars, and the
Persistence of Culture, 1675-1715.
Mr. Corlette is currently the Assistant Director of the National
Institute of American History and Democracy, an organization dedicated
to teaching American history through a multidisciplinary approach of
history, archaeology, anthropology, and public history. Since 2002, he
has taught colonial American, Atlantic World, and modern US Military
History for NIAHD, William and Mary, and the University of Virginia. Of
particular note is a course David teaches with NIAHD, From the
Revolution through the Civil War, which analyzes trends in American
history by teaching on historic sites and at museums. Over one third of
the course is devoted to the Civil War in Virginia, and he can
frequently be found leading classes over regional battlefields, along
the canals of Richmond, or through the ramparts of Fort Monroe.
October 2011 Art Grant discussed "The Military Genius of U. S.
Grant."
Art graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1966 with a
Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and was commissioned in the
Armor Branch. His military service included tours with combat arms units
both overseas and in the Continental United States including two combat
tours in the Republic of Vietnam. He has held staff positions at all
levels of command from squadron through the Department of the Army. Art
retired from the Army at the rank of Colonel in May 1991. Following
retirement from the Army, he joined the staff of the U.S. Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence.
He has been a member of the faculty of the U.S. Army Infantry School and
was an Assistant Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy, an
Adjunct Professor of History at George Washington University, and a
Professor of Military Strategy at the National War College. He has
authored several books and articles on the American Civil War and on
current military strategy.
September 2011 Robbie Smith of the National Park Service. Robbie discussed "Fruits of Leadership: Vicksburg and Chancellorsville." Robbie Smith is a graduate of Goucher College in Towson, Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and economics. She has been with the National Park Service for eleven years and during that period has worked at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Vicksburg National Military Park and the Yorktown Battlefield site of Colonial National Park
May 2011 George Wunderlick discussed “Civil War Medicine in the 21st century”. The battle of Antietam may be the single bloodiest day in our nation's history, but few know it for an even deeper meaning to those alive today. It is also the birthplace of modern emergency medicine. George Wonderlick is the director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Fredericksburg, MD.
April 2011 John Bray presented "Counter-espionage and Law Enforcement during the Civil War". The discussion focused on the women who were spies during the war. John presented some interesting accounts of ladies spying, being captured and then released because "ladies" would not do anything of the sort.
March 2011 Will Molineux presented “A Young Virginia Boatman Navigates the Civil War”. The journals of a boatman who plied the waters of Virginia during the Civil War. George Randolph Wood, who was 14½ in 1861, spent much of the next three years aboard river boats and barges in the service of the Confederacy. His recollections of his experiences delivering supplies – shot and shell, hay and wood – present a rare glimpse of life aboard quartermaster vessels, often “arks” of various description that were pulled by tugs, or propelled by polls and floated with tide and current. His waterborne platform gave him opportunities to witness cruelty and compassion, to visit compatriots posted as lookouts, to observe Robert E. Lee in the field, to attend the theater in Richmond. In order to care for his widowed mother, he sneaked through the lines and, after taking an Oath of Allegiance to the United States, returned to Hampton.
February 2011 Jeff Toalson presented from his newest book, "Send Me a Pair of Old Boots & Kiss My Little Girls - The Civil War Letters of Richard and Mary Watkins, 1861-1865". The book resulted when he discovered the previously unpublished letters held by the Virginia Historical Society. He performed a reading of selected letters in character as Richard Watkins.
January 2011 George Callis presented "Union and Confederate Cavalry: Myths & Facts I Didn't Know". Some of the items to be discussed include Bugle Calls, Weapons, Flags and Jeb Stuart at Gettysburg. Mr. Callis retired from the Xerox Corporation. He is a member of the Company of Military Historians. He collects Union & Confederate Cavalry Sabers and regimental histories. George also teaches cavalry courses at Christopher Wren.
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