Our 134th meeting.
Clarksville, TN – The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, May 20th, 2015 at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Medical Center. This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall.
The meeting begins at 7:00pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
Topic: “The Confederate States Marine Corps”
The United States Marine Corps formed on July 11th, 1798 and have remained in service to the United States ever since performing many of the same duties their ancestors did. Upon the secession of the Southern states, the Confederacy also formed the Confederate States Marine Corps consisting of numerous former officers, NCOs and enlisted men from the US Marine Corps of the day.
Pre-Civil War strength of the US Marine Corps was only 1775 officers and men which grew to 3,881 officers and men in 1865. Upon formation of the CS Marine Corps, its authorized strength was to have been 990 officers and men but it rarely saw numbers of 600 during the war at any one time. Some of their organizational structure was taken from the British Royal Marine Corps rather than the US Marine Corps from which they sprung.
The Confederate Marines did the same type of duty of marines of naval powers of the day. There were contingents of CS Navy warships; protecting the several navy yards of the Confederacy as well as manning numerous fortifications along rivers and the Southern coast.
Confederate marines would see service at Fort Fisher in North Carolina to Charleston to Drewry’s Bluff on the James River south of Richmond. They served in the Battle of Mobile Bay onboard the ironclad CSS Tennessee and contingents were with the main Confederate armies as they surrendered in April 1865.
Not much has been written on the Confederate States Marine Corps but they have been featured in the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA (editor’s note – one of the very best military museums on the planet!).
To inform us about the exploits of the Confederate Marines we have Gene Andrews from the Nashville area. He will go into all of the details of the CS Marines, where they served as well as their organizational history.
Gene Andrews is a US Marine Corps veteran including service in the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam. He is an active member in the Tennessee Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans including a former camp commander and Tennessee Division commander.
If you have been to the Nathan Bedford Forrest home down in Chapel Hill, TN you will see what has been taking up much of his time for the last several years – refurbishing the historic property and making it available for tours and Civil War events. Gene was also employed in the motor sports industry working in the medical portions of NASCAR and Indy Car racing across America.
Please join us as Gene Andrews tells us about the Confederate States Marine Corps.
