Thursday, July 30, 2009

Ticket Sales

The ticket sales page for the Rocky Mountain Civil War symposium is now up.

http://rockymtncivilwarrt.com/OrderTickets.htm

There you can order tickets for the symposium on October 3rd and also for the meet and greet the night before.

If you are a round table member you can save money if you pay at the meeting on August 13th. We will give a discount for members who renew their dues early. This offer is also extended to new members. For more information email me at RockyMtnCWRT at aol dot com.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Presenter change

Since my last post on the symposium we have made a change in the panel. Our Antietam speaker, Ted Alexander, has had to drop out and has been replaced by Stephen Recker.

Stephen Recker left a twenty-year career as a professional guitarist to create Virtual Gettysburg, a critically acclaimed interactive Civil War battlefield tour, and its follow-up, Virtual Antietam, which will be released next year. An avid collector of early Antietam photography and relics, items from his collection can be seen in Civil War Times, America's Civil War, and on the new waysides at Antietam National Battlefield. He also gives tours for Antietam Battlefield Guides, a guide service he founded in partnership with Western Maryland Interpretive Association, the non-profit at Antietam. The program is modeled after the Gettysburg system of licensed battlefield guides. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Recker was named a “Top 100 Producer” by AV Multimedia Producer Magazine, and recently produced a DVD about Little Bighorn.

"IX Corps Final Attack: The Pickett's Charge of Antietam" - Over the last 16 years Antietam National Battlefield has more than doubled in size due to the acquisition of properties such as the Otto Farm. The NPS continues to improve and interpret the south end of the battlefield which until recently was inaccessible to the public. On the afternoon of Sept 17, 1862 the final Union assault took place over this rolling terrain. The Federal IX Corps literally fought an uphill battle as they ascended 200 feet from the banks of Antietam Creek to the streets of Sharpsburg. They came within a hairsbreadth of cutting off Lee’s avenue of escape to the Potomac fords. The broken ground contributed greatly to the Confederate defense and allowed A.P. Hill’s arriving reinforcements to inflict a crushing flank attack, which stopped the Union advance. In his program, Stephen Recker will take you on a 'virtual' tour of that decisive ground using an early prototype of Virtual Antietam.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Rocky Mountain Civil War symposium

The next Rocky Mountain Civil War symposium is a mere 88 days away. Things are progressing well for another great event, it will be even bigger and better than our last symposium.

Our theme this year is "Lee Invades the North" and we'll be focusing on the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns. Our panel consists of Russel Beatie, Ted Alexander, Bradley Gottfried,Lance Herdegen and Timothy B. Smith.

Russel Beatie, who is working on a multi-volume history of the Army of the Potomac, will provide an overview and give some context for the two campaigns. Ted Alexander, chief historian at Antietam, will talk about the battle of Antietam. Bradley Gottfried, who has done some wonderful work on Gettysburg including "Brigades of Gettysburg" and "Maps of Gettysburg" will talk about the battle of Gettysburg. Lance Herdegen, a leading authority on the Iron Brigade, will talk about the Iron Brigade's experiences at Antietam and Gettysburg. Timothy B. Smith, who has done much work on the creation of these battlefields into national parks, will talk about the formation of Antietam and Gettysburg and will include the modern efforts to return, primarily, Gettysburg to its war time appearance.

Like last year we will have time for author signing and will have many of the presenters' books for sale. This year we are adding a panel discussion to end the day's festivities. There will also be a Friday night social event. This extra event will be limited to about 25 people to keep the atmosphere casual and intimate.

Ticket ordering will be available soon on our newly revamped website so check back soon.

Here is a reading list of what each author has written so that you can become a bit more acquainted with each presenter:

Russel H. Beatie
The Army of the Potomac: Birth of Command, November 1860-September 1861
Army of the Potomac, Volume II: McClellan Takes Command, September 1861-February 1862
Army of the Potomac: McClellan's First Campaign, March - May 1862

Timothy B. Smith:
The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890's and the Establishment of America's First Five Military Parks
This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park
The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield
Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862
Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg
The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged
by D. W. Reed

Lance Herdegen
Those Damned Black Hats! The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign
The Men Stood Like Iron: How the Iron Brigade Won Its Name
Four Years with the Iron Brigade: The Civil War Journal of William Ray, Seventh Wisconsin Volunteers
with Sherry Murphy
In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg with William J.K. Beaudot

Bradley M. Gottfried
The Artillery of Gettysburg
Brigades of Gettysburg: The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Gettysburg
The Maps of Gettysburg: The Gettysburg Campaign June 3 – July 13

Roads to Gettysburg: Lee's Invasion of the North, 1863
Kearny's Own: The History of the First New Jersey Brigade in the Civil War
Stopping Pickett: The History of the Philadelphia Brigade
The Battle of Gettysburg: A Guided Tour
with Edward J. Stackpole, and Wilbur Sturtevant Nye.