The 122nd meeting.
Clarksville, TN – The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, May 21st, 2014 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 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
Topic: “Lincoln and McClellan (*)…What Might Have Been…” (Plus a little Ulysses Grant and Henry Halleck, too…)”
One, Lincoln, was learning military strategy to fight his new war thrust upon him by events outside of his control.
The other, deemed by some to be “the Young Napoleon,” was arrogant, not conducive to obeying Lincoln’s orders at times and yet not very aggressive when it came to battle and yet was a brilliant organizer who held the affections of his troops.
The results were a butting of heads over planning and execution with Lincoln, in exasperation, not only removing McClellan from command, but having to bring him back later.
To call their relationship stormy might well be a big understatement but it remains one of fascination that hampered Union military operations in the early stages of the war. This month’s program will talk about these two men, including how these men affected operations in the western theater in February and March of 1862.
Doug Richardson is in his twenty-first year with the National Park Service. He started his career in some National Parks near his hometown, and spent 17 years working at a collection of five National Parks in western Pennsylvania, including Johnstown Flood National Memorial and Flight 93 National Memorial, and briefly worked at Abraham Lincoln National Historical Park.
Having a life-long fascination with the American presidents, specifically Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant, Richardson came to Fort Donelson National Battlefield in September of 2010 to have the opportunity to explore this part of Grant’s life.
He collects presidential biographies, which are severely testing the beams of the floors in his house, and has co-authored two books on the 1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Flood, and is working on another.
