26 SEPTEMBER—Tom Perry speaking on JEB Stuart and his connection to St. Louis

Mr. Perry, a leading authority on Stuart, grew up near Stuart’s home in Laurel Hill, VA. He founded the JEB Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., a non-profit organization that has preserved 75 acres of Stuart property including the house where Stuart was born in 1833.

Mr. Perry’s works include Ascent to Glory, The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart, The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War, Stuart's Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm and the upcoming Images of America: Patrick County Virginia and Notes From The Free State Of Patrick.

24 OCTOBER—Bobby Krick--Stonewall Jackson and the Seven Days Battles

The Richmond campaign of April-July 1862 ranks as one of the most important military operations of the first years of the American Civil War. Key political, diplomatic, social, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan faced off on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The climactic clash came on June 26-July 1 in what became known as the Seven Days battles, when Lee, newly appointed as commander of the Confederate forces, aggressively attacked the Union army. Casualties for the entire campaign exceeded 50,000, more than 35,000 of whom fell during the Seven Days.

Bobby Krick has lived or worked on Civil War battlefields almost continuously since 1972. He grew up on the Chancellorsville battlefield near Fredericksburg, and graduated from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg with a degree in history. He has worked in various historical capacities at several battlefields, including Custer Battlefield in Montana, and Manassas Battlefield. Since 1991 he has been an historian on the staff at Richmond National Battlefield Park. Mr. Krick is widely published on Civil War topics. His first book was a unit history, The Fortieth Virginia Infantry. In 2003 the University of North Carolina Press published his biographical register of the Army of Northern Virginia’s staff officers Staff Officers in Gray. He is now at work on a study of the Battle of Gaines's Mill.

5 DECEMBER—Back Porch Players

Get in the holiday mood with some music!

Members of the Stickley family make up the BACK PORCH PLAYERS. Paul and Carol Stickley are joined by their son, Greg, and daughter-in-law, Barb, as well as three grandchildren Jordan, Kaylin, and Quin

The Back Porch Players sing and play timeless period songs & Gospel tunes from the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s, specializing in music from the Civil War Era. Also included are various rhythm instruments such as: washboard, wood block, tambourine and limberjack. (a primitive rhythm instrument)
Their repertoire includes such favorites as Rock of Ages, Lorena, Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier, Battle Cry of Freedom, Bonnie Blue Flag, Yellow Rose of Texas, and Dixie.

For more info, go to http://www.backporchplayers.com/

23 JANUARY--Gari Carter launching her book Troubled State - the Civil War Journals of Franklin Archibald Dick

Come and meet this incredible woman who survived a horrific crash in 1982 that nearly claimed her life. Gari also authored Healing Myself: A Hero’s Primer for Recovery from Tragedy.

Troubled State is the private Civil War journals of Franklin Archibald Dick, a St. Louis attorney and brother-in-law of Union Major General Frank Blair, Jr., who was concerned about keeping Missouri pro-Union during the turbulent Civil War years. Franklin Dick's perspective of important historical events include the early Camp Jackson incident when he was Captain Nathaniel Lyon's assistant adjutant general, and when he served as Missouri's provost marshal general under Major General Samuel Curtis. After the war, Franklin Dick practiced law with Montgomery Blair, President Lincoln's postmaster general.

Ms. Carter’s publishers are inviting C-Span to record this meeting for their book series. They've also contacted NPR to tape her presentation for their series All Things Considered.

27 FEBRUARY—James F. Epperson—The POW Cartel

Civil War prisoners were initially exchanged right on the battlefield, a private for a private, a sergeant for a sergeant and so on. This informal system broke down by 1862, resulting in POW camps in both the North and South. The Dix-Hill Cartel (named for Major General John A. Dix, Union, and Major General Daniel H. Hill, Confederate) was drafted in July of 1862 in an effort to formalize the process for paroling and exchanging prisoners.

Mr. Epperson, whose great grandfather was a prisoner at Andersonville, examines the causes and effects of the eventual collapse of the Dix-Hill Cartel.

James F. Epperson is a mathematics editor for the journal “Mathematical Reviews” with a life-long interest in the Civil War. He has spoken on a variety of topics at Roundtables and is an active participant on a number of Civil War online forums. He also maintains a number of Civil War websites including “Causes of the Civil War”, “Civil War Chronologies”, and” Siege of Petersburg and Richmond”

For more information, go to http://users.aol.com/jfepperson/

26 MARCH—Dr. Bill Gurley—Mc Pheeters; surgeon from St .Louis who joined Price’s army

Dr. William M. McPheeters, a native North Carolinian, moved to St. Louis in the 1840s. In addition to his private practice, Dr. McPheeters wrote for and edited the city’s medical journal and was one of the original faculty members when SLU opened its medical school. He was pro-Southern, but not overtly so. Nonetheless, authorities demanded that he and his family take an oath of allegiance or risk loss of property and possible imprisonment. “What’s a Southern gentleman to do?” Well, come to the March meeting and find out. ?

Dr. Gurley, a Civil War enthusiast and professor of pharmacology at the University of Arkansas, is co-editor of “I Acted From Principle”: The Civil War Diary of Dr. William M. McPheeters, Confederate Surgeon In the Trans-Mississippi

23 APRIL 2008—Tom Goodrich—subject TBA

Thomas Goodrich is the editor of the Kansas Journal of Military History and author of "War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854-1861," "Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre", "Black Flag: Guerilla Warfare on the Western Border 1861-1865" and the co-author of "The Day Dixie Died" with his wife Deb. (Deb gave a memorable talk to our group in January, 2007, “Sisters in Sorrow.”)

Tom and Deb host one-of-a-kind historic tours in Kansas and Missouri and have been involved in the making of several documentaries including “The Hunt for Lincoln’s Assassin” on the National Geographic Channel and the story of Jesse James on the PBS series “The American Experience.”

For more information on Tom and Deb, go to http://www.tomanddeb.com/

21 MAY 2008—tbd