1 The Outpost THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SALT CREEK CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE VOLUME XLIII No. 1 September 2005 383rd Regular Meeting DATE: 2nd September 2005 PLACE: Fairview Village Apts., Great Hall, 200 Village Dr., Downers Grove, Il. (See attached Letter &Map, and www.saltcreekcwrt.org) TIME: 8:00 P.M. SPEAKER: William L. Teshner TOPIC: “Cump Sherman- A Life” Welcome Back! As you will note, your board of directors has been busy little beavers over the summer, and we have a new place to hold our monthly meetings! Thanks to Joyce Clark and Mary Lord for the initial suggestion. A letter from the president is attached, along with a map of the new location. These are also available at our website: www.saltcreekcwrt.org. I think you will agree we have an exciting inaugural program. “Cump” Sherman was one of the more intriguing, fascinating, controversial, and exasperating personalities the war produced. Called the “Fighting Prophet” by the late Lloyd Lewis, he is considered one of the fathers of modern warfare, a man whose strategic conceptions were years ahead of his time. We are fortunate in that, through a first-person portrayal, we will gain a living, breathing window into the mind of the man himself. William L. Teshner is 44 years old and a teacher. He has been a re-enactor for ten years portraying artillerymen (both officer and enlisted), a staff officer for General Grant, and has been living in the skin of Gen. Sherman for the past three years. His presentation will concentrate on the facts of his life and career and his strategic (rather than tactical) concepts. The SCCWRT heartily welcomes this educator and fellow enthusiast. 2 JUNE MEETING BY CINDY INTRAVARTOLO On June 3rd, Thomas Y. Cartwright, director of the Carter House in Franklin, TN., presented, “Humor in the Civil War”, to 65 members and guests at the 382nd regular meeting of the Salt Creek Civil War Round Table. With so much sadness, death, and destruction in the Civil War, Cartwright noted that a subject often overlooked and little discussed is humor during the war. He said it’s a medical fact that people that have a sense of humor and can smile usually have lower blood pressure and can expect to live longer. There’s no doubt, he said, that men from both North and South made jokes just to help them cope with the day-to-day horrors of the war. Cartwright gave many examples of humorous incidents that took place on both sides during the war. One Civil War joke commonly used by soldiers in both armies involved the use of hardtack. One day a man was biting into a piece of hardtack and he mentioned to a friend that he had just bitten into something soft. The friend asked if it was a worm and the man said: “No, by God, a ten-penny nail!” Cartwright, who said he has always been fond of the Irish, (Good Taste!-Ed.) said that they have always been able to look at adversity with humor. He stated that one of his favorite regiments is the 5th Confederate Infantry dominated by Irish from Memphis, TN. It was common knowledge how well they liked their whiskey. The regiment was serving under Pat Cleburne during the 1862 Kentucky Campaign when several barrels of whiskey were captured. An Irishman from the 5th volunteered to guard it. Cleburne had a bad feeling about that and went to check on the guard personally. He later commented that he found: “the barrels empty and the guard full!” Lincoln’s well-known sense of humor was also noted. One day Lincoln spoke the following line: “I’ve been accused of being two-faced. Well, would I have chosen this face if I had two?” Sherman was considered a master of one-liners. One day, when someone was criticizing Grant in front of him, Sherman said, “That won’t do, that won’t do at all! He stuck by me when I was crazy and I stuck by him when he was drunk, and by God, we stand by each other!” When Earl Van Dorn was shot and killed by the outraged husband of Mrs. Jessie Peters, one Confederate soldier commented that the general had died of “too many buggy rides”, referring to Van Dorn’s many visits to the married woman. A captain at Camp Douglas had a dog that turned up missing. When the captain posted a notice on a board inquiring about the dog someone added, “For lack of bread, the dog is dead. For lack of meat , the dog is eat” A soldier once approached Gen. George H. Thomas and requested a furlough. He had not seen his wife in two years and she just had a baby. Thomas replied he hadn’t seen his wife in almost three years and what’s good for the general is good for the private so go back to camp. These are just a few of the many examples shared by our distinguished speaker. Salt Creek wishes to thank Thomas Cartwright for spending the evening with us, enlightening us on a little discussed topic, and demonstrating that humor existed in the midst of so much sadness. 3 PRESERVATION REPORT BY LEN OVERCASH, SR. GETTYSBURG, PA.- Ford Motor Company Fund announced a $3 million donation to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation, to support educational facilities and programming at the new Museum and Visitor Center. “The Gettysburg battlefield is one of the greatest battlefields in the nation. We are enormously grateful to Ford Motor Co. Fund for this gift, which will help ensure that the lessons Gettysburg teaches reach the widest popular audience,” Museum Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn said. The new facilities will be known as the Ford Education Center. The gift will fund two state-of-the-art indoor educational resource centers that will provide much needed space for classroom use, teacher workshops, and distance learning programs. It also will support three outdoor classrooms surrounding the new center, as well as expansion of programming, including: hands-onhistory carts, curriculum development, and teachers’ guides. “At Ford, we understand the value of preserving our American heritage, and we believe it vitally important to share the historical impact of Gettysburg with generations to come,” said Ziad Ojakli, Ford Group Vice-President, Corporate Affairs. Additional information can be found at: www.ford.com/go/fordfund. FRANKLIN, TN- A new $150,000 grant from the Washington D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust will give local preservationist group Franklin’s Charge enough money to meet its $2.5 million fundraising goal for helping purchase the Country Club of Franklin. This money is paired with an additional $2.5 million in public funds city leaders have recently allocated to buy the roughly 110-acre golf course for $5 million from Washington businessman Rod Heller. The trust’s final grant-which follows an earlier $250,000 grant from the trust and a $500,000 grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program- is in itself historic for the organization, which bills itself as the biggest U.S. nonprofit devoted to Civil War battlefield preservation. “It is the largest contribution we’ve ever given to a local group,” said Jim Lighthizer, trust president. “The heroic efforts made by the local people were truly impressive.” This new contribution, which will be paid on the closing date of Nov. 30 along with the other grants, means nearly $1 million of the $2.5 million will have been paid for from grants. In addition to cash donations, the remaining $1.5 million will be covered with a loan from six local banks and repaid over a period of five years with pledges collected from local supporters. Source: Civil War Interactive www.civilwarinteractive.com 4 ALL FOR THE UNION The Du Page Civil War Show is coming up again! As usual, we will need volunteers to staff our booth. Please give generously of your time so we may have a successful show on Saturday September 17th. A sign up sheet will make the rounds at the September meeting. EDITOR’S NOTES The next board meeting will be held on Aug.30th at the home of Roger Bohn, 2S644 Devonshire Ln., Glen Ellyn, Il. 60137 630-858-2956. Time is 7:30 P.M. Any comments or opinions expressed in this newsletter are strictly those of the editor and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Salt Creek Civil War Roundtable, its Board of Directors, or general membership. All submissions to the newsletter are subject to editing for any reason whatsoever. Usually this will be for purposes of space. All correspondence for the newsletter should be sent to our P.O. Box in Wheaton, not to the newsletter editor. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Sept. 2nd-William L. Teshner-“Cump Sherman: A Life” Sept. 17th-Collectors Show-Mid-West Conference Center/ 400 W. Lake St., Northlake, IL. Oct. 7-Women’s Role in the Civil War- Panel discussion Nov. 4th-Roger E. Bohn-The Civil War Blockade Dec. 2nd-Battlefield Preservation Auction- Lisle Hilton. Jan. 6th 2006-Gene Salaker-The Sultana Disaster Feb. 3rd-Larry Hewitt-How Lincoln Won the War March 3rd-Gale Pewitt- The Confederacy in Canada April 7th-Len Overcash-Fort Fisher May 5th-Phil Lauricella-Glass slide show of the last Gettysburg Veterans’ Reunion June 2nd-John Coski-Confederate Battle Flag Controversy The Salt Creek Civil War Roundtable P.O. Box 4873 Wheaton, Il. 60189-4873 www.saltcreekcwrt.org. President: Rick Zarr Vice-President: Gil Mitchell Treasurer: Bill Hupp Asst, Treasurer: Tony Cichantk Secretary: Jan Rasmussen Historian: Cindy Intravartolo Sgt. At Arms: Ron Kumnick Newsletter Editor: Dan McCarthy, 4358 Lawn Ave., Western Springs, IL,60558. 708-246-7873, macarthaig@aol.com Newsletter Staff: Cindy Intravartolo, Len Overcash Sr., Jan Rasmussen 5 From the desk of the President: I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer and been able to stay cool. The last couple of meetings at the Lisle Hilton Hotel, I had mentioned that the Board of Directors was exploring other locations to hold meetings. Since the hotel had raised its rent to $150 per evening we needed to find a place that was less expensive. Cindy Intravartolo, Roger Bohn, Gil Mitchel, and myself visited many sites this past spring and summer to find a less expensive location. We were given leads by many of our members. We met with many local governments, park districts, libraries, and private establishments who had rooms to rent. We found that prices were sometimes higher than the hotel, and local government entities would be able to cancel our meetings if the room was needed for one of their events. Other facilities did not have the space to hold large groups. Joyce Clark and Mary Lord contacted us and asked us to talk with Fairview Village in Downers Grove. This is an independent living facility for Seniors where Joyce and Mary are both residents. They gave us a tour of the facility and we met with Betty Wakerly, Fairview Village Activity Assistant, and Jason Biere, Chief Operating Officer. I am happy to say that Fairview has extended its arms to us and invited us to hold our meetings there. We consulted as a board and decided to accept their invitation. We are getting the word out through our newsletter and the website(www.saltcreekcwrt.org). Fairview Village will not charge us for the use of the facility and all they ask is to open our meetings up to their residents. Our meetings have always been open to the public. We will continue the monthly book drawing but they ask us to hold the annual book auction at another location. This is because they have their own fund raisers and fear it may lead to some confusion with other groups that use the facility. Therefore, the December book auction will be at the Lisle Hilton. The Hilton has agreed to cancel our contracts for Sept, Oct., and Nov. at no charge. The banquet will also continue at the Hilton. I asked Dan and Stephen to include the map in our newsletter and website. (Ed. Note-The map is on the reverse of this letter) Fairview Village is located at 200 Village Dr. in Downers Grove. This is between 63rd and 75th Sts. on Fairview Avenue. We will be meeting in the Village Apts. which is a 5 -story building. We will be in The Great Hall. Members have also been invited to dine at their facility. I will have more information on that later. Please feel free to call me at home if there are any questions, 708-597-2780. We will see you all in September. Sincerely, Rick Zarr President, Salt Creek Civil War Roundtable