Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Civil War Roundtable announces its February 2024 program and speaker. The meeting is always open to interested members of the public.
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, February 21st, 2024 at Fort Defiance Park, our new home, 120 Duncan Street, off New Providence Boulevard. Turn onto Walker Street off New Providence Boulevard and then onto Duncan Street. There are site markers on New Providence Boulevard above and below the park.
The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. The Clarksville Civil War Roundtable began in March 2004 and features well-known authors and historians as speakers.
Our Speaker and Topic – “From the Other Side of Franklin: John Schofield Versus Jacob Cox”
John Bell Hood, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Patrick Cleburne tend to take all the air out of the room when discussing the Tennessee Campaign of 1864. More ink has been spilled over those three names than on the fighting at Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. At times overlooked, and certainly overshadowed, are their U.S. Army counterparts, John Schofield, Jacob Cox, David Stanley, and Emerson Opdycke.
Not only were they central figures in the campaign for Middle Tennessee, their recollections in the post-war era are also essential in framing our understanding of those late fall days of 1864. Mired in controversy and engaged in seemingly endless debates, Schofield, Cox, Stanley, and Opdycke fought battles with both the sword and the pen in their lifetimes.
While unknown to many, their arguments with fellow former soldiers and each other had an important part to play in forming a flawed narrative of the Battle of Spring Hill and Franklin that persists today.
This month’s speaker is Joseph Ricci, historian of the Battle of Franklin Trust. He holds a Master’s Degree in History from Southeastern Louisiana University and has written numerous articles and spoken to History and Civil War Roundtables across the country.
