Thursday, December 15, 2011

Civil Warriors Round Table: A Debriefing

Greetings Cosmic Americans!

Those of you who check in regularly to the Speaking Engagements tab will be fully aware that last night I spoke to the Civil Warriors Round Table in the West San Fernando Valley. The topic was Robert E. Lee in the postwar years.  I gave a short talk on Lee's sense of duty, what he did during the years immediately following the war and more importantly, what he didn't do. The talk was followed by a raucous discussion on Lee, Virginia, loyalty, treason, and we even talked about his generalship at Gettysburg for a minute. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it seems that those in attendance did as well. Mission accomplished.

I will take a second today and stress that everyone with more than a passing interest in the Civil War should attend a local Round Table. These are great venues for some heated debate/discussion...as we all know, there is always plenty to talk about. And as we did last night, you will generally hear a wide range of opinion. It's a good thing. If we all thought the same thing...life would be pretty boring.

A I would also like to thank novelist David H. Jones - he stopped by last night and brought me a copy of his latest book, Two Brothers: One North, One South. David has given a number of presentations nationwide on the experiences of the Prentiss brothers, the 6th Regiment of Maryland Infantry and the final stage of the Petersburg Campaign in the American Civil War. During three years of research for “Two Brothers: One North, One South”, he ventured into the swamps of Dinwiddie County, Virginia to rediscover the lost location where a pivotal event in the book took place. I look forward to reading Two Brothers and reviewing it right here at Cosmic America!

Thanks again Civil Warriors for a great discussion - I'll see you next month!

Keith

6 comments:

  1. How long was your initial presentation? Sounds like you left a lot of time for discussion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was about 30 minutes or so - the discussion is always the best part anyway. I try to leave plenty of time for that!

    ReplyDelete
  3. People at cwrt ask some real stump the chump types of questions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha - yeah...I and answered most of them....but I always get stumped at these things.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Pat - same to you!!

    ReplyDelete