Past Speakers
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January 2024 - Bruce Littell presented “The Hunley
Project.” This presentation provides an overview of the history,
significance and the recovery and preservation of the world’s first
successful combat submarine from the spring of 1861 to the present day.
Bruce is a U.S. Navy submarine force veteran and supported the U.S and U.K.
Strategic Weapons System as a contractor, retiring as the Configuration
Manager for the U.S. Navy Trident SWS. Since his retirement from civil
service during March 2019, Bruce serves as a Docent at the Lasch Center.
February 2024 - Scott Mingus presented “Confederate Calamity: JEB
Stuart’s Cavalry Ride Through York County PA”. Many people erroneously
believe that Jeb Stuart was on a glory ride around the Army of the Potomac
while the battle of Gettysburg raged, deliberately depriving Robert E. Lee
of "the eyes and ears of the army." Author Scott Mingus, making extensive
use of post-war civilian border claims and old maps, discusses Stuart's
route north, the obstacles that caused him to miss his planned connection
with Lee's army near the Susquehanna River, and the wearisome, exhausting
ride up and down the hills of York County, PA. on June 30 to July 2, 1863,
concurrent with the first two days of the battle of Gettysburg. Multiple
award-winning author Scott Mingus is a retired scientist and executive in
the global specialty paper industry. The Ohio native graduated from Miami
University.
March 2024 - Jeff Toalson presented and discussed his
newest book “Ma, We Got Nuthin Here But Mud and Muskeeters Mud and
Muskeeters uses first person stories from 65 Confederate and Union
participants in events on the peninsula from June of 1861 to June of 1862.
This is the war in our own backyard. These stories are taken from the
diaries, letters and journals of farmers, nurses, sailors, soldiers,
river-boatmen, signalmen, surgeons, naval constructors and cavalrymen.
Jeff is a Resident of Williamsburg and author of 5 books on the great
American conflict. Jeff has spoken with the WCWRT several times in the past
telling 'first person stories' from the war. His best selling titles are No
Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery and Desertion and his collection of the
300+ letters of Richard and Mary Watkins in Send Me a Pair of Old Boots &
Kiss My Little Girls
April 2024 - Rob Orrison presented “Twice Baptized:
Misconceptions & Unique Stories From the Manassas Battlefields”. The
plains of Manassas saw two major battles of the American Civil War. As
soon as the smoke cleared, many misconceptions and myths began to take
form about both battles. Hollywood only added to these myths. Rob's talk
will highlight some unique points of view on both battles and address
some of the misconceptions of the battles (DON’T bring your picnic
baskets!)
May 2024 - Patrick A. Schroeder presented “Forgotten
Friday: the April 7, 1865, Actions in Cumberland County, VA”. Largely
overlooked owing to the events at Sailor’s Creek on April 6 and at
Appomattox on April 9, 1865, multiple engagements and events occurred in
Cumberland County largely overlooked by historians and the public. There are
four separate battles resulting in the death, and wounding and capture of
three generals and the final engagement on the fringe of forcing Lee’s
surrender in Cumberland County. The Gen. Barlow vs. Gen. Gordon fight along
the South Side Rail Road, the repulse of Gen. Crook’s cavalry near the Coal
Pits, and the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. battles near Cumberland Church, are all
fascinating and horrific in their own right, resulting in hundreds of
casualties. Also, the first correspondence delivered between Grant and Lee
occurred in Cumberland County.
September 2024 - Frank W. Garmon presented “A Wonderful
Career in Crime - Charles Cowlan's Masquerades in The Civil War Era and
Gilded Age”. Charles Cowlam went by many names and lived an eventful life.
He was the only man pardoned by both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis,
served as a detective in Washington after Lincoln’s assassination, performed
police work for the IRS, British, and Canadian agencies, ran for office in
Florida, and landed in the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Cowlam gained none of these distinctions by his own merit, but rather
through systematically relocating and lying about his past. Along the way,
the lifelong criminal perpetrated plots to defraud honest citizens for his
personal enrichment. Cowlam’s cloak-and-dagger behaviors left him just as
difficult to track through history as he was during his lifetime. Until
Garmon’s work, there has been no substantive examination of Cowlam, and only
his dual pardons brought any notoriety to his name.
To view speaker listing prior to current year, click here