Jesse James

Jesse James is considered the most famous outlaw in American history. His is surely one of the best known names to have come out of the Civil War era. Jesse’s life - from farm boy to southern guerilla to outlaw to a symbol of ongoing rebellion to legend during the most tumultuous times in our history - is one of great drama, real and imagined.

In his talk, past Roundtable President Mel Maurer will touch on a number of facets of James’s life and character, digging for truth in the often mythological tales of the bandit’s adventures during the war and its aftermath.

Come ride with Jesse, his brother, Frank and the James gang as they spread terror, rob banks and stagecoaches – killing anyone that stands in their way – while Jesse becomes a political activist representing resistance during heavy handed reconstruction.  Call the Playhouse Club @ 216-861-5588 to make your reservations no later than the Tuesday prior to the meeting.
 

The Madness of Mary Lincoln
By Jason Emerson

Mary Todd Lincoln in mourning dress following the death of her son Willie in February, 1862.

On Wednesday April 12, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln wrote a playful yet tender note to his wife notifying her that he would join her daily carriage ride on Friday the 14th. It was a pleasant spring day and the Lincolns, who rode alone at the president’s request, discussed their plans for life after his presidency. They would travel across America to visit California, then to Europe, and Lincoln wanted to visit Jerusalem.

They considered whether or not they would return to their house in Springfield, Illinois or live in Chicago upon Lincoln’s retirement from the White House. “During the drive he was so gay,” Mary said, “that I said to him, laughingly, ‘Dear Husband, you almost startle me by your great cheerfulness,’ he replied, ‘and well I may feel so, Mary, I consider this day, the war, has come to a close.” The Lincolns continued the blissful closeness of their afternoon carriage ride at Ford’s Theatre that night, watching a performance of Our American Cousin in the company of Clara Harris and Major Henry R. Rathbone. Mary was supremely happy, and smiled and leaned onto her husband several times. “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?” she whispered contentedly to her husband. “She won’t think anything of it,” the president replied. When John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot into Lincoln’s brain during Act 3 Scene 2, Mary Lincoln was holding her husband’s hand.

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Note: Jason Emerson is an independent historian living in Fredericksburg, VA.  This article is excerpted from his latest book, The Madness of Mary Lincoln (2007, Southern Illinois University Press), recently named "Book of Year" by the Illinois State Historical Society, and appears here through the courtesy of the author and his publisher.  Mr. Emerson will be speaking on his book at the National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio on June 14.  (See CCWRT Events Calendar for more details.)

Alexander Hamilton Stephens

Just east of Petersburg Virginia - near the rim of “The Crater” on Sunday, January 29, 1865 - a white flag appeared on the Confederate side of the lines. A delegation of commissioners from Jefferson Davis (Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, John A. Campbell, a former U. S. Supreme Court Justice - now assistant secretary of war, and Robert Hunter, president pro tem of the Senate) had arrived to be taken to a meeting with Union representatives to discuss “issues and options for peace.” Hopeful rumors the war was ending soon circulated on both sides of the lines. The ensuing meeting on February 3rd aboard the steamer River Queen became known as the Hampton Roads Conference.

This last hope for some sort of negotiated end to the war was arranged through the friendship of Francis Preston Blair Sr. with Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Blair was an anti-slavery Missouri politician and advisor to presidents back to Andrew Jackson. With a stagecoach version of shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Richmond in January, Blair was able to get both presidents to send representatives to try to discuss a way to end hostilities. Since Davis, in his authorizing letter referred to “two countries” while Lincoln referred to “one country,” in his letters, the odds were against any success.

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A Review of 'Lost Triumph: Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg - and Why It Failed'
By Dave Carrino

"Union artillery and rifle fire brutalized the nine attacking brigades of Pickett's Charge. By three-thirty, they reached the Clump of Trees, but could not hold. They retreated, bleeding, back across the open field, and Lee, it is said, was there to receive them, loudly telling one and all, 'It's all my fault!' But was it really?"

This passage from the book Lost Triumph: Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg--And Why It Failed by Tom Carhart succinctly captures the question addressed in the book. Carhart's thought-provoking and provocative book explores the issue of Robert E. Lee's battle plan for the third day at Gettysburg. The author is a graduate of West Point and a Vietnam veteran. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in American and military history from Princeton University.

To give credit where due, the book was brought to my attention by Dr. David Burke of Holden Arboretum and Case Western Reserve University, who professes a deep interest in the Gettysburg battle. As the title of the book implies, Lee's plan entailed more than merely Pickett's Charge. Carhart's book presents the author's argument that Pickett's Charge was only one component of a planned three-pronged attack on the Union Fishhook defenses on Cemetery Ridge, Cemetery Hill, and Culp's Hill. The specific details of Lee's real plan as articulated by Carhart have been intentionally omitted from this review to avoid spoiling the book for those who have not read it. Suffice it to say that Lee's real plan at Gettysburg required the kind of timing and coordination which characterized his battle plans in the Kanawha Valley and in the Seven Days battles earlier in the Civil War.

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