Monday, March 9, 2020 @ 6:30 PM

A La Cart Catering, 429 Lisbon Street, Can ield, Ohio 44406

MVCWRTPanelDiscussion

Turning‐Point Ba les Due to an unexpected cancellation this month, several of our esteemed members have agreed to step up and ill in. The topic, “Turning-Point Battles,” will be presented as a panel discussion. Panelists include HughEarnhart, DanWelch, DaveFrank, and BobLehman. Each speaker will be given ten minutes to make the case

for their respective battle and its in luence on the course of the war. Following a Q&A session at the conclusion of the presentations, we will then ask the Round Table membership to VOTE for the most in luential battle based on tonight’s discussions. As a courtesy to the speakers, we have decided to withhold their topics until the meeting. We thank Hugh, Dan, Dave, and Bob for participating and we look forward to a lively program.

DATE:

LOCATION:

SPEAKER:

DavidDuchek, Editor / Publisher 330.207.8810

GaryWholf, Program Director 330.953.1965

HughEarnhart, Reservations 330.757.4727

www.mahoningvalleycwrt.com

The Mahoning Valley Civil War Round Table has released the itinerary for its upcoming Spring 2020 battlefield tour of the Overland Campaign April 17-19, 2020. You will tramp through some very exclusive locations along with tour guides Dan Welch, Rob Orrison, and Matt Atkinson.

Friday, April 17 ● 1:30 pm ~ Mt. Carmel Church, 24320 Jefferson Davis Highway, Ruther Glen, VA ● 2:15 pm ~ North Anna Battle-field Park, 11576 Verdon Road, Doswell, VA ● 2:30 pm ~ Jericho Mills Battle-field, 12493 Noel Road, Doswell, VA… this property is not regular-ly open to the public and has NO public facilities, so please plan accordingly; there is no official address, so it is important to stay close in the car caravan

● 4:00 pm ~ North Anna Battle-field Park, 11576 Verdon Road, Doswell, VA ● 5:30 pm ~ Quality Inn and Suites, 107 N. Carter Road, Ash-land, VA, 804-521-2377

Saturday, April 18 ● 8:30 am ~ Meet in hotel lobby ● 9:00 am ~ Battle of Haws Shop, 6156 Studley Road, Mechan-icsville, VA ● 9:45 am ~ Totopotomoy Creek Battlefield Park, 7273 Studley Road, Mechanicsville, VA ● 11:30 am ~ Historic Pole Green Church, 6411 Heatherwood Drive, Mechanicsville, VA ● 12:15 pm to 1:00 pm ~ LUNCH … plenty of sit-down and fast food locations (Chik-fil-A, Taco Bell, Panera, Starbucks, Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings, etc.) at Han-over Square South Shopping Cen-ter, 7225 Bell Creek Road, Me-chanicsville, VA, which is ten

minutes from Pole Green Church and ten minutes to the Cold Har-bor Visitor Center ● 1:15 pm ~ Cold Harbor Battle-field Visitor Center, 5515 Ander-son Wright Drive, Mechan-icsville, VA… Opening assaults, Garthright House and Cemetery, Beulah Presbyterian Church ● 6:00 pm ~ Quality Inn and Suites, 107 N. Carter Road, Ash-land, VA, 804-521-2377

Sunday, April 19 ● 9:00 am ~ Battle of Yellow Tavern, 10112 Telegraph Road, Glen Allen, VA ● 10:00 am ~ Tour concludes This is another MVCWRT tour you won’t want to miss! The cost for the tour is $55.00 per person. The hotel costs $91.99 per night; be sure to ask for the Mahoning Valley Room Block.

Spring 2020 ba lefield tour i nerary set

Daphne Benjamin, the 16-year-old granddaughter of long-time Round Table members Jerry and Carolyn Arnsberger, was given a writing assignment in her 10th grade Honors English class. Each student had to choose a topic that inter-ests them, write a paper defending the topic, and present it to the class in five minutes or less. According to Daphne’s proud grandfa-ther, “There is hope for the next genera-tion.” Incidentally, she received a 100% from her teacher! We thought we would share her speech with you here.

* * * “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Confederate monu-ments from the Civil War are pieces of history that are being taken down all around us. These monuments are a re-minder of what has happened in our histo-ry, and some are well over a hundred years old. Only the Confederate ones are being taken down though, while the Un-ion ones are being preserved. That takes away half of our history. They should be available for everyone to see and learn about. Confederate monuments should not be removed from public places. These monuments are not just a slab of granite or bronze. They are authentic piec-es from historical times. Some date back to the mid to late eighteen hundreds. When people take them down, they are removing something almost as valuable as an artifact you could dig up on a battle-field. According to National Public Radio, in New Orleans, the 133-year-old Robert E. Lee monument was taken down in May 2017. It was built in 1884 and left stand-ing on a busy traffic circle for all to see, (Gonzales/Held). The noted sculptor, Al-exander Doyle, built this famous creation. The fact that it was constructed over a hundred years ago gives it historical val-ue. Unfortunately, it has been taken away from a busy public place and left to dete-riorate. These monuments are historical works of art, and they will go to waste if removed from the public eye. The Civil War started on April 12, 1861. That makes it over 158 years old. It was a much different time period back then. Farmers in the south used slaves to keep the economy going. It was their way of life. When the Civil War broke out southern states were going to fight for slavery because that’s all they knew. To-day, that is not something to be proud of, but we must understand that change is hard. Monuments and statues were put up all over to remember the men who per-ished to protect their way of life. Once again, maybe to us, they are not men and

battles we should be proud of, but they should still be honored. They boldly gave their lives, even if we believe it was for the wrong cause. The Civil War was not fought over just slavery. State’s rights were also a big factor. States just wanted to be on their own. Some men like Robert E. Lee only fought for the south because that’s where their home was. How hard would it be to fight against your own state, even if you don’t like what they’re fighting for? Robert E. Lee wrote his res-ignation letter from the U.S. Army, say-ing, “With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my com-mission in the army… you must think as kindly of me as you can and believe that I have endeavored to do what I thought right” (Lee). His home state was Virginia, and he planned to fight for the Union, but when Virginia seceded, it didn’t leave him much of a choice. No matter what reason they were fighting for, they should still be remembered. They endured so many hard-ships. It would be unjustified to try and forget them and the war they went through. By removing Confederate statues, it takes away from the full picture. The Civ-il War was fought between two sides, the north and the south. The northern statues are being left up, while the southern ones are coming down. Are we trying to forget half of the story? Someone just learning about the Civil War would be deprived of a proper education on the subject. Should future generations only see that the north fought some men over slavery? Who did they fight and why? According to Davis Riddle, a graduate from the University of

Georgia School of Law, “As of 2016, there were approximately 718 Confeder-ate monuments and statues in a total of 31 states,” (Riddle, 373). At least 110 have come down as of 2018. At this rate, they will all be down in the next fifteen years. These monuments tell the story of what happened in our nation. Even if it’s just a piece of rock. We need the Confederate ones to portray a full picture of the war itself. Confederate monuments are a remind-er of our history as a country. The more we know about the past, the more pre-pared we will be for the future. We can’t erase history, even if we would like to sometimes. It is important to remember what mistakes we’ve made, so we don’t repeat them. Some might voice that they are a symbol of slavery, but with these monuments, we are not idolizing the con-federacy and their beliefs, but remember-ing their value in history. A statue of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson should not scream slavery to viewers. People should look upon him and remember how he was a brave man who died for what he be-lieved in. Who cares which side he fought for? It was apart of history, a long time ago. We should remember the war and who he was as a person: a son, a husband, a new father, a soldier. According to thefederalist.com, “… the fact that these statues were erected in prominent public places is itself a powerful lesson in Amer-ican history—a testament to our… past that would be diminished if they were removed to a sanitized display in a muse-um. Not every statue or piece of public art has to comfort and console us. Some-times, they should oblige us to grapple with our nation’s history and the vagaries of human nature” (Davidson). These stat-ues and monuments were deliberately put in public places for people to see. They don’t all have to be pleasant to read about. Sometimes we just have to face the hard truth of our history. America doesn’t have to be proud of its past, but it needs to learn to embrace it. Confederate monuments should be left in view of the public. They have historical value in them. They help construct a full picture of the Civil War without being biased to one side. They do not exemplify slavery, but serve as a reminder of what has transpired throughout our history. Ultimately they are a purposeful way to keep history alive without repeating it. The Confederates were only defending what they believed in. We should honor their bravery, but not their beliefs. Those who cannot remember the past are con-demned to repeat it.

Student supports preserva on of Confederate monuments