The Courier March 2016 1

“Where Both Sides Are Heard”

Founded in 2012

The Courier

The Newsletter of the Civil War Roundtable of North Florida

Mailing address:

Civil War Roundtable of North Florida

13450 NE 100th

Street, Williston, FL 32696

Website: www.cwrnf.org

Phone: Diane Fischler (352) 378-3726; or Terry Huston (352) 359-1442

Email: diane@proofinggrounds.com; or thuston528@msn.com

The Courier is written by Diane Fischler (diane@proofinggrounds.com)

Vol. IV, No. 3 March 2016 Gainesville, Florida

Next Meeting (open to the public)

Thursday, March 10, 2016, 6 to 8 p.m. at:

Trinity United Methodist Church (TUMC)

4000 NW 53rd

Avenue

Room 232 in the front Education Center

Gainesville, Florida 32653

* * * The CWRNF needs speakers for future meetings! Any ideas? * * *

* * * Would any CWRNF members like to give a talk on a Civil War topic? * * *

Please email Diane Fischler with your suggestions: diane@proofinggrounds.com

The Courier March 2016 2

CWRNF News

Feb. 11, 2016: 18 members and guests attended

Dr. William Link, professor in UF’s History Dept., gave an

excellent talk titled: The Atlanta Campaign: Invasion, Destruction, and

Remembering in the Civil War South, based on his book Atlanta,

Cradle of the New South: Race and Remembering in the Civil War’s

Aftermath (2013 hardback; 2015 paperback). Dr. Link

discussed the fall of Atlanta and its post-war rise, i.e., the

war being transformational for Atlanta because it was the

crucial hub for five railroads thus becoming a boom town

during the war; Sherman’s order of Sept. 7, 1864, to deport civilians—and the written

reactions to this order by Gen. Hood and Jefferson Davis; the impact of Henry Grady’s

promotion of the city’s future; and how the city reshaped and redefined itself, receiving

the nickname “Chicago of the South.” Dr. Link presented many of George Barnard’s famous

post-war photos that showed the city’s devastation. Left photo: burning of Atlanta from Gone with the

Wind. Photo courtesy: www.scene-stealers.com. Right Phoenix emblem: symbol of Atlanta rising

from the ashes of the Civil War. Symbol courtesy: www.quora.com

Book sales

Please donate your “gently used” history books, history DVDs,

historical maps, and/or magazines for re-sale at our monthly meetings. They can

cover any period in history, but American 19th

and 20th

century history books,

periodicals, and DVDs would be preferred. All proceeds go directly toward

outside speaker fees and room rental fees. Payment can be cash or check.

Place a post-it on the cover to show the price. Prices are not negotiable at these

reduced rates. At the Feb. 11 meeting, the CWRNF made $40.

Right photo: The Abraham Lincoln book tower stands 34 feet tall

and 8 feet around in the lobby of the new Ford’s Theatre Center for

Education and Leadership in Washington, D.C. “Some 15,000 books have been written about

Lincoln,” according to Paul Tetreault, director of Ford’s Theatre, and “nearly 7,000 of these books

are contained in the tower.” The books are replicas using bent aluminum, with the outside covers of

the actual books printed on the aluminum. Photo and quote courtesy:

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/20/147062501/forget-lincoln-logs-a-tower-of-books-to-honor-abe

Website: www.cwrnf.org

Please check the website periodically for updates on the CWRNF’s ongoing events,

past newsletters, upcoming speakers. We will continue emailing the monthly online Courier

newsletter as an attachment in PDF format.

The Courier: the online CWRNF newsletter (in PDF format)

IF you did NOT receive the online Courier newsletter (sent as a PDF attachment to

your requested email address) at least one week before the next meeting, contact Diane

Fischler to email you the latest newsletter (diane@proofinggrounds.com). But before

requesting another newsletter attachment, first please check your spam/junk folder in case the

email with attachment landed in that folder.

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Membership dues

Full membership dues—renewal or new—were payable at the Sept. 10 & Oct. 8

meetings for next year’s participation in the CWRNF. If you didn’t pay your dues (renewal

or new membership) at either of those two meetings, your name has been removed from

our membership CWRNF. Your name can be added if you send a check to: Terry Huston,

13450 NE 100th

Street, Williston, FL 32696. Please make checks payable to CWRNF. Your dues go

directly toward paying outside speaker fees and room rental fees.

Individual: $25; Couple/Family: $35; Student: $15

“Like” the CWRNF page on Facebook

We have a Facebook page. Search “Civil War Roundtable of North Florida – Facebook.”

Many thanks to member John Walsh for his time and effort to update and maintain this page. Our

Facebook page receives about 400 to 500 views a year. Some of our posts have appeared on the Civil War

Trust’s Facebook page.

Upcoming Meetings

(second Thursday of each month—6 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church) (speakers and topics subject to change)

March 10, 2016:

Member John Paling will give

another presentation on his distant

cousin titled: Thomas Jackson’s

Letters, Part II: The End of the War

and Beyond. John will continue his role

as “ambassador of Thomas Jackson” by

providing his relative’s reflections—through Jackson’s articulate letters—on Lincoln’s assassination,

Booth’s justification letter, mourning, and the state of Reconstruction.

April 14, 2016:

Guest speaker Philip Leigh will talk on his book Trading with the

Enemy: The Covert Economy During the American Civil War (2014). Phil was

the speaker at the July 9, 2015 meeting discussing his book Lee’s Lost Dispatch

and Other Civil War Controversies. According to Publisher’s Weekly about

Trading with the Enemy, “Leigh’s revelations about who encouraged and

allowed for this kind of illegal trade is sometimes shocking.” Phil will bring

copies of his book to sell ($25—cash, credit card, or check) and autograph.

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May 12, 2016:

Guest speaker Peggy Macdonald, executive director of

the Matheson History Museum, will talk about Edmund Kirby

Smith and J. J. Finley and what they had in common. She will

discuss these Confederate generals and the legacy of Civil War

symbols and statues in the 21st century. Right photo: General

Edmund Kirby Smith. Photo courtesy: Library of Congress.

Far right photo: General Jesse J. Finley around 1880. Photo

courtesy: www.floridamemory.com

June 9, 2016:

Guest speaker Bill Ryan, nationally known speaker on photo technology,

historian, and author, will give a presentation titled: Digital to Brady

Photography in the Civil War. Bill Ryan worked for oldest photographic

manufacturer Ansco, based in Binghamton, New York, which produced films,

papers, and cameras from 1842 until the 1980s—pre-dating Kodak (for interesting

history of Ansco, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansco). He will give new

insight into the beginnings of photography in America through famed Mathew

Brady, as well as bringing many of the prints from the original negatives in his

collection. Right photo: Renowned Civil War photographer Mathew Brady

taken on July 22, 1861, one day after First Manassas. Photo courtesy: Civil

War Trust

July 14, 2016:

Member Bill Zettler will speak about the Civil War’s German soldiers in a

talk titled: German Voices: I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel! German-American soldiers

played a major role in the war—about 25% of all Union troops were of German

descent. Bill will follow three German privates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey,

and Georgia. He will also share the “shock and awe” experienced by a Georgia

soldier—in his own words—after Sherman’s troops

ransacked his family’s plantation near Savannah.

Finally, Bill will go “back to the future” to visit some of

their descendants now living in Florida, Georgia,

Virginia—and Germany. Left photo: General Franz Sigel (1824-1902), one

of the war’s most well-known German officers—with a dubious reputation

on the battlefield. Photo courtesy: www.nps.gov Right poster: Civil War

recruitment poster for Germans in Pennsylvania. Image courtesy:

http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/PADutch.html

August 2016: No CWRNF meeting

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September 8, 2016:

Guest speaker Matt Gallman will make a return

visit to discuss the 1864 presidential election and

Lincoln’s “Blind Memorandum.” Dr. Gallman spoke to

our group in April 2015 about Appomattox. He is the author

of numerous books, including Lens of War: Exploring

Iconic Photographs of the Civil War (2015); Defining Duty

in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and

the Union Home Front (2015). He has taught undergraduate

courses on the Civil War era and on American Women’s

History. He teaches the University of Florida History

Department’s graduate foundation course on 19th

century

America, and also teaches a graduate seminar on the Civil

War. Right poster: 1864 broadside clearly outlines all

the major components of the Democratic Platform for

the November election. Read the small print in this campaign poster. Poster courtesy:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-choice-is-yours-the-1864-election.81405/

Oct. 13, 2016:

Toni Collins will speak on: Civil War Blockade Running on

Florida’s Gulf Coast: A Cat and Mouse Game, which is the title of her

fourth book. Her other titles include: Cedar Keys Light Station (a history

of the 1854 lighthouse on Seahorse Key), The Lady of the Lighthouse: A

Biography (the life of Catharine Hobday, the only woman to serve at the

Cedar Keys Light Station as Assistant Lighthouse Keeper, and Atlantic

Coast Line Railroad: Dunnellon to Wilcox, Florida (a history of the ACL

railroad in Levy County). Left map: General Winfield Scott’s 1861

“Anaconda Plan” to strangle the 3,600-mile-long southern coastlines.

Map courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

Nov. 10, 2016:

The former executive director of the National Civil War

Naval Museum (Columbus, Georgia), Bruce H. Smith, will speak

on: Secret Naval Missions of the Civil War: Both Sides. Prior to

his tenure at the Naval Museum, he was the curator of the National

Museum of the Pacific War at the Admiral Nimitz Center

(Fredericksburg, Texas). He has been involved in numerous

consulting Civil War naval projects and professional presentations.

Right painting: David and Goliath by artist Paul Bender, which

illustrates a small Union Navy launch’s spar-torpedo attack, led

by Lt. William Cushing, on the Confederate ironclad Albemarle. The confrontation was on the

night of Oct. 27-28, 1864, at Plymouth, North Carolina. Painting courtesy:

www.bendermaritime.com

Dec. 8, 2016: No CWRNF meeting. Civil War Roundtable Holiday Dinner

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Upcoming Local & Regional Civil War Events (events & dates subject to change; confirm event before traveling)

Feb. 26-28, 2016:

Battle at Fort DeSoto, Fort DeSoto Park on southern-most tip of Pinellas County.

www.97thpvicoa.us

March 4-6, 2016:

Battle of Natural Bridge, Natural Bridge

Battlefield Historic State Park south of Tallahassee

(7502 Natural Bridge Road).

http://www.floridastateparks.org/naturalbridge

Right photo: West Florida Seminary (now Florida

State University) Cadet Corps, circa 1880s. The

Federal attempt to capture Tallahassee was

prevented on March 6, 1865, by Confederate troops, soldiers on leave or recuperating from medical

problems, and teenage cadets from the West Florida Seminary. The battle took place at Natural

Bridge, 20 miles south of Tallahassee. Photo courtesy: fsuspecialcollections.wordpress.com

March 12-13, 2016:

Nature Coast Reenactment, Kirby Family Farm, Williston. 19630 NE 30th

Street.

http://www.naturecoastcivilwarreenactment.com/

March 18-20, 2016:

Battle at Narcoossee Mill, 4700 Chisholm Park Trail, St. Cloud.

http://www.battleatnarcoosseemill.com

March 19, 2016:

Civil War talk: “The Skirmish at Station No. 4” by Bob Wooley, presented by the Levy

County Historical Society, Cedar Key RV Resort, 11980 SW Shiloh Road, Sumner.

www.levycountyhistoricalsociety.com or (352) 490-5636 or (352) 493-4066

Sketch below: Battle of Station 4: A sketch from Dickison and His Men: Reminiscences of the War

in Florida by Mary Elizabeth Dickison (1890) shows Confederate troops firing on the Federals near

the Cedar Keys on Feb. 13, 1865. In the background, Number 4 trestle on the Florida Railroad,

connecting Fernandina to Cedar Key. Sketch courtesy:

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/stationfour.html

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Civil War programs on PBS

Last episode of 6-part “Mercy Street” on Feb. 21, 10 p.m.

http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/home/

followed by “Lincoln@Gettysburg” on Feb. 21, at 11 p.m. http://www.pbs.org/program/lincoln-gettysburg/

“Mercy Street”:

Feb. 21, 2016, 10 p.m.: (Part 6): “The Diabolical Plot”

“Lincoln@Gettysburg”:

Feb. 21, 2016, 11 p.m.: Lincoln’s control through the telegraph (re-aired from March 2015)

“Mercy Street”: Nursing in the Civil War

Nursing (on both sides) is portrayed in the “Mercy Street”

PBS series.

“Women played a significant role in the Civil War. They

served in a variety of capacities, as trained professional nurses giving

direct medical care, as hospital administrators, or as attendants

offering comfort. Although the exact number is not known, between

5,000 and 10,000 women offered their services”

(http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/uncover-history/behind-lens/). Left

photo courtesy: Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS and The Burns Archive

“Lincoln@Gettysburg”: Lincoln’s use of the telegraph

“In 1863, Abraham Lincoln proved himself a master of a new frontier—not on the

battlefields of the Civil War, but in his high-tech command center: the War Department Telegraph

Office, America’s first Situation Room. The Internet of the 19th

century, the telegraph, gave Lincoln

new powers to reshape leadership and wield

personal control across distant battlefields”

(http://www.pbs.org/program/lincoln-gettysburg/).

Right photo: scene from PBS program,

“Lincoln@Gettysburg”

Image courtesy:

http://www.pbs.org/program/lincoln-gettysburg/

The Courier March 2016 8

The Battle of Olustee: An Eyewitness Account

The following article by Rick Brunson appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on Dec. 26, 1999, about

Winston Stephens who fought at the Battle of Olustee:

“Lt. Winston Stephens of the 2nd

Florida Cavalry wrote letters to his wife,

Octavia. The letters are housed at the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History [the

University of Florida] at Gainesville. Winston was a planter, slaveholder, and

veteran of the Seminole Wars. The Stephens family lived on a farm called ‘Rose

Cottage’ in Welaka in Putnam County [south of Palatka].

“On Feb. 20, 1864, Winston’s unit saw fierce action at the Battle of

Olustee. The day after the battle, he wrote his wife: My own dear wife - I am now

writing with a Yankee pen, Yankee ink and on Yankee

paper captured on the battlefield. We had one of the

hottest contested battles of the war on yesterday. . . .

Men never fought better than our men did. . . . I went

over the battleground this morning on my way to camp

and never in all my life have I seen such a distressing

sight, some men with their legs carried off, others with

their brains out and mangled in every conceivable way,

and then our men commenced stripping them of their

clothing and left their bodies naked. I never want to see another battle or go on the field

after it is over.

“But less than two weeks later, he was killed in battle, and the news of her

husband’s death crushed Octavia, who had just given birth.”

Octavia named her new son Winston, who was born prematurely. Her mother passed away a few

days later. Winston Stephens died in the skirmish at Cedar Creek in Jacksonville on March 1, 1864, nine

days after he wrote this last letter to his wife. Octavia Bryant Stephens lived another 44 years. Winston

Stephens is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Welaka, Florida.

Photographs of Winston and Octavia courtesy: P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of

Florida. Grave marker photo courtesy: John Walker Taylor

Winston and Octavia’s letters and other family

members’ letters appear in the book Rose Cottage

Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens

Families of North Florida, edited by Arch Fredric Blakely,

Ann Smith Lainhart, and Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr.

(University Press of Florida, 1998, 2012).

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Battle of Olustee reenactment photos

by CWRNF member Bob Wooley, Feb. 14, 2016:

Two recognizable people below: top left: CWRNF member Eric Starnes (in blue) at his popular

weapons table. Below center: Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, abolitionist,

orator, writer, and statesman, portrayed by a living history interpreter.

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Dr. Gary Gallagher speaks at UF’s Harn Museum of Art: Feb. 19, 2016

“Robert E. Lee and the Question of Loyalty”

The CWRNF was well represented (by 15 of its

members) at a talk by renowned Civil War historian Dr. Gary

Gallagher, who discussed Robert E. Lee’s various loyalties and

how they conflicted at certain points in his life and military

career. Dr. Gallagher cited Lee’s four allegiances: 1) to his

home state of Virginia, 2) to the United States, 3) to the white

slave-holding South, and 4) to the Confederacy.

Dr. Gallagher is the John L. Nau III Professor in the

History of the American Civil War at the University of

Virginia. About 190 people attended this dynamic speaker’s

talk, and many had to be turned away due to the lack of space.

After speaking for 45 minutes, followed by a lively and

informative Q&A, Dr. Gallagher received a standing ovation.

The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida will have a video of this talk

available around the beginning of March. The CWRNF will provide a link to this video as soon as it

is available.

Dr. Matt Gallman, professor in the UF History Department,

introduced Dr. Gallagher and spoke of him as 1) a “superb and accomplished

scholar,” winning numerous awards; 2) a “most influential editor with an

astonishing record”; 3) “an incredibly popular undergraduate professor”;

4) “an accomplished and energetic mentor”; and 5) a historian who “can

speak to all audiences” as a writer and lecturer.

Drs. Gallagher and Gallman co-edited Lens of War: Exploring Iconic

Photographs of the Civil War (2015). Dr. Gallman spoke to the CWRNF last April on the 150th

anniversary of the surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.