The U.S. Navy at Vicksburg
Presented by Ed Bearss

Ed Bearss

Perhaps the most famous and recognizable of living Civil War historians, Ed Bearss has appeared before the CCWRT a dozen times, most recently in 2000, and is an honorary member. Mr. Bearss began his long career in 1954 working in the Office of the Chief of Military History, US Army, before moving over to the Vicksburg National Military Park as historian. While at Vicksburg, Bearss was instrumental in locating the U.S.S. Cairo and two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, MS. In 1958, he was named Southeast Regional Historian, and worked to develop a variety of new parks, including Pea Ridge and Wilson's Creek. In 1966, Bearss was transferred to Washington, D.C., ultimately rising to the position of Chief Historian of the National Park Service, a role in which he served from 1981-1994. Following his retirement in 1995, Bearss was named Chief Historian Emeritus.

In addition to his work at Vicksburg, Bearss led restoration and preservation efforts at Fort Smith, Stones River, Fort Donelson, Richmond, Bighorn Canyon, the Eisenhower Farm at Gettysburg, Chilkoot Pass, the LBJ Ranch, Fort Moultrie, Fort Point, the William Howard Taft House, Fort Hancock at the Boston Navy Yard, and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Ed Bearss received his BS from Georgetown University and MA from Indiana University and is the recipient of several honorary doctorates. He has published numerous books and articles on the Civil War including Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War and Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg- The Campaigns That Changed the Civil War and has appeared on radio and television many times, most notably and memorably in Ken Burns’ 1989 documentary, “The Civil War”.

Please join us for what should be a memorable evening as the great Civil War historian Ed Bearss sits down with us to discuss the actions of the U.S. Navy at Vicksburg.  Note later meeting date!

To Make a Reservation: Use the Dinner Reservation Form on this website, send an email to or call 440-449-9311 and leave a message on the voice mail.

Meeting Location: Meetings are held at Judson Manor at the corner of East 107th Street and Chester on University Circle in downtown Cleveland.  Map to Judson Manor

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Our May meeting ends my term as president of the Roundtable. I suspect I was like many future Roundtable presidents when, four years ago, Jon Thompson and Mel Maurer approached me about serving as treasurer/vice president/president. I really wanted nothing to do with it and immediately started scheming on polite ways to say ‘no.’ “I’m too busy!” “Public speaking makes me violently ill!” “I’m too involved at church!” “I gave at the office!” “The dog ate my homework!”

Jon and Mel, of course, would have none of it. They played the classic good cop, bad cop routine on me. Mel would sidle up to me at meetings and say something like, “Hey, Paul, have you given any more thought to this presidency thing? I’m only asking again because Jon’s been pressing me about it and, honestly, I don’t think I can control him much longer. He just gets so crazy, I mean, you know how he is. I just wouldn’t want anything bad to happen, you know, because I like you a lot.” I would look over Mel’s shoulder and see Jon glaring at me from across the room with a faint, threatening smile on his face. (OK, I might be making large parts of this up.)

As persuasive as that all was, it was actually Dick Crews who got me over the hump. Dick also approached me during this time and just said, “Hey, I hear you’re considering jumping on the presidential track. You gotta do this. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have. The year I served as president was my best year in the Roundtable!”

I have to tell you that Dick was spot on with his comments. I have had a blast serving as Roundtable president. Just as Dick suggested, it has been my best year in the Roundtable. Yes, it involved some work, but far less than I anticipated. And the amount of help I was both offered and received was far, far more than I anticipated. I was the beneficiary of the experience and insight of many people; Dan Zeiser and Dave Carrino, in particular, were continual sources of guidance, brawn, ideas, and inspiration. To everyone who showed me how it’s done, I say thank you.

I’d also like to thank Chris Fortunato, Mel Maurer, and William Vodrey once again for creating and performing “The Last Lincoln-Douglas Debate” at our March meeting. I saw up close the substantial commitment of time and effort required to research, write, and produce such a play. The results, however, justified the effort; their “debate” was terrific.

Lastly, I’d like to thank you, the members of the Roundtable, first, for allowing me to serve in this role and, second, for making the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable what it is. It is both a pleasure and privilege to meet with such a smart, friendly, well-read group each month and share our common interest in history, books, and politics. It’s just good fun and I love it.

For our final meeting of the year, we welcome the great Ed Bearss, without question the most famous, highly regarded living Civil War historian. His appearance at our May meeting, by the way, provides a good example of the kind of help a Roundtable president receives. Here’s the story: I’m on Lisa Kempfer’s 2010 field trip, standing outside the Museum of the Shenandoah in Winchester, Virginia, and the afore mentioned Dick Crews asks me, “So, what speakers have you lined up for next year?” I run through my not yet complete program schedule and express to Dick that I’m hoping to still add at least one big name speaker – “You know, someone like Ken Burns or Doris Kearns Goodwin or James McPherson or Ed Bearss,” I say. Dick immediately responds, “You want Ed Bearss? I can get you Ed Bearss. He’s a friend of mine!” To make a long story short, I take Dick up on his offer and as a result, we all get to enjoy Ed Bearss at our May meeting. And what did landing Ed Bearss cost me in time and effort? Nothing! Dick did all the work!

Like they say, it takes a village.

Flash Back

Headquarters Army of the Potomac
Appomattox Court House, Va.
April 10, 1865

To Mrs. George G. Meade

The telegram will have announced to you the surrender of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. I have been to-day in the rebel camp; saw Lee, Longstreet, and many others, all affable and cordial, and they uniformly said that, if any conciliatory policy was extended to the South, peace would be at once made. It seemed impolitic to draw attention to the reality and magnitude of my victory, so I drew aside with Gen’l Gordon who seemed desirous of private communication.

He pointed out a Union officer standing at some distance and enquired as to his name. I could barely make out the man’s features through the malarious catarrh, which has given me such a great deal of trouble. It is I am convinced aggravated by the reading of newspapers, which since this movement commenced, are full of falsehood and of undue and exaggerated praise of certain individuals who take pains to be on the right side of the reporters.

The unknown officer, said Gordon, must be of importance for he was present in the house during the writing and signing of the surrender document. This does not at all follow for Sheridan was there and I myself was not, the catarrh having prevented me from accepting Lee’s surrender earlier in the day, and which he was thus forced to offer to Grant in my stead. Gordon went on to say that the self-same officer, an Englishman by his accent, had attempted to surrender himself and the entire Union army in the early dawn this very day, claiming to believe that his (Gordon’s) assault had defeated me. Had that been, asked Gordon, some kind of subterfuge on my part? I looked more carefully at the man and there was in his bearing and the set of his whiskers, that which brought to mind Stuart or Custer at his most effulgent. But no name came to me.

Instead, it brought to mind an incident at Gettysburg so long ago that I had quite neglected to tell you of. After Lee’s futile charge on the third day I found a brave colonel in gray laying almost at the entrance to my headquarters. He had reached farther than any other in that doomed assault by Pickett and lay like one dead. My orderly Kowell was removing his boot, the left I fancy, which seemed to rouse the fellow at once, kicking and struggling enough to earn himself the point of the bayonet had I not intervened. “Let loose this gallant colonel” I said “And be about your business!” The private moved off and you may remember that I later found him greatly changed for the better by my comradely chastisement, saving the effects of young Wesley Culp on behalf of a sister.

The rebel colonel, miraculously recovered from his ordeal, told a wild tale of secret operations and produced a commission as major in the U.S. army from inside the left boot, which lay now beside him. He was an Englishman as well although the name escapes me. He was most anxious to report to authorities in New York city so I sent him there with an escort and heard no more of him. He too had impressive whiskers. That was I suppose the connection made in my mind. It could not have been the same man at the surrender. As is the case with my victory over Lee, I don't believe the truth ever will be known, and I have a great contempt for History. Only let the war be finished, and I returned to you and the dear children, and I will be satisfied.

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Editor's Note: In the more than 100 years since his decease, the General has been busy reconstructing from memory his secret, lost letters which shed new light on topics of great interest to the members of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable. He currently is living in Bloemfontein South Africa working on a complimentary biography of General D. E. Sickles (decs'd) and may be contacted at Majgenlmeade @ aol.com.

Because the topic of tonight's presentation (the CCWRT April meeting) involves Robert E. Lee, I brought a page from the August 24, 1861 issue of Harper's Weekly, which came into my possession. I had John Vacha of the Western Reserve Historical Society take a look at this page, and he verified that it is authentic and not a reproduction. I brought this page because it contains a short note about Robert E. Lee. The note gives a brief description of Lee's military career in the U.S. Army and then concludes with this:

"After filling this honorable and agreeable post in the military service of his country for several years, he crowned his career by deserting his flag at the moment of his country's sorest need. When the Richmond politicians passed what they called an Ordnance of Secession, Robert E. Lee threw up his commission and accepted the rank of General in the rebel army."

Robert E. Lee

Before all of you Unionists shout your huzzahs, you should know that on the same page Harper's Weekly has a note about Ambrose Burnside in which Burnside is described as "gallant," "a remarkably handsome man," and "very winning in his ways," so I think that the credibility of Harper's Weekly to judge military leaders is called into serious question. Be that as it may, if tonight's speaker is correct, then Harper's Weekly should have thanked Lee for siding with the South, since this was, according to tonight's speaker, the major factor in the Confederacy's defeat.

I for one do not believe that Lee was responsible for the Confederacy's loss, not when Lee's Confederate colleagues included Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, John C. Pemberton, and John Bell Hood. But maybe an hour from now my opinion will be different. If nothing else, I'm intrigued to hear a case presented for the point of view that Lee was the reason for the Confederacy's defeat, if only because making Lee appear fallible provides an examination of Lee that does not mythologize him like so many such examinations do. Because Lee truly fits the description of a larger than life figure, it is easy to forget that he had a life.

To make this point, I cobbled together a few sentences from the Foreword of an excellent biography of Lee by Emory M. Thomas.

"People usually venerate in a hero someone who exemplifies (or who they believe exemplifies) virtues which they admire or to which they aspire…Lee has been several sorts of American hero, and within the American South he has attained the status of demigod."

"(I)t is well to remember that Lee was once possessed of flesh and blood. This is important because so many have made so much of Lee during the years since he lived that legend, image, and myth have supplanted reality."

"In life Lee was both more and less than his legend."

Whether or not Lee deserves blame for the Confederacy's defeat, there is a heroic dignity about him. Lee proved his bravery and earned his heroism in the Mexican-American War, and what he did in the Civil War only added to this, even though it was done for the wrong cause. But Lee's heroic dignity does not come solely from anything that he did militarily, and it certainly does not come from the contrived rationalizing of the myth of the Lost Cause. When the oppressive cloak of Lee's legend is removed from him, Lee can be seen to have an earnest heroism of the sort that we admire in our acquaintances: surprisingly shy, disarmingly humble, unfailingly considerate, and meticulously assiduous, with a quiet self-possession devoid of arrogance. Lee's heroic dignity comes from his humanity and from the life he lived, in spite of any personal flaws or inconsistencies or bad decisions. It comes from a lifetime spent living by a principle that he articulated in his diary:

"Dissimilar as are characters, intellects, and situations, the great duty in life is the same, the promotion of the happiness and welfare of our fellow men."

Maybe Robert E. Lee did lose the Civil War, but he never lost the qualities that made him great despite the attempts of many to take those from him by trying to make Lee more than he was or by focusing on his deficiencies and his errors.

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