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UID:3239-1789113600-1789300800@cvbt.org
SUMMARY:2026 CVBT Annual Conference- CVBT 30th Anniversary
DESCRIPTION:Tickets Going Fast! \n\n\n\nSecond Fredericksburg “The Forgotten Front” \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew Saturday Conference Format! \n\n\n\nSeminar Style Program Indoors – Battlefield Tour Included! \n\n\n\nBreakfast and Lunch served at Jepson Center Grand Ballroom – (Dinner Banquet included with full ticket purchase)  \n\n\n\nBattlefield Tour with Very Minimal Walking! \n\n\n\nCome Celebrate 30 Years of CVBT Preserving our History! \n\n\n\nNew! Three Attendance Options for 2026 \n\n\n\nFull Three Day Package / Banquet and Saturday Evening Program Only / Sunday Breakfast and Program Only \n\n\n\n                                                                                                               September 11-13\, 2026 \n\n\n\n\nConference Agenda\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister Here\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCVBT 30th Anniversary Special! \n\n\n\nFirst 125 paid attendees will receive a free copy of Chancellorsville’s Forgotten Front – The Second Battle of Fredericksburg by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White \n\n\n\nA little homework before the Saturday program \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFriday – Seminar Style Event with Multiple Programs and Speakers \n\n\n\nKathryn “KT” Shively and John Hennessy  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaturday – New Platform!  \n\n\n\nFull Saturday at Conference Venue – Jepson Alumni Executive Center’s Grand Ball Room \n\n\n\nContinental Breakfast – Interactive Speaker Program – Lunch \n\n\n\nMid Day Battlefield Tour (Minimal Walking – Approximately .9 mile) with authors and historians Chris Mackowski Ph.D. and Kris White – We’ll start at the Confederate Cemetery\, then walk up William Street in the ill-fated footsteps of Spear’s column\, then over toward the Sunken Well Tavern and the Stratton House\, then up to the Sunken Road\, then up to Marye’s Heights. We’ll then take a trip over to Braehead. \n\n\n\nFull Dinner Program\, CVBT Anniversary Surprises. “Reflections” A look back – “30 Years of CVBT” – President Tom Van Winkle. Concluding with Keynote Speaker – George C. Rable \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSunday –  Breakfast at Historic Stevenson Ridge  \n\n\n\nKeynote Speaker – Elizabeth Varon and more CVBT Anniversary Surprises! \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nSpecial CVBT 30th Anniversary Surprises all Weekend! \n\n\n\n\nAbout “Second Fredericksburg” \n\n\n\nIn the spring of 1863\, as the Army of the Potomac braced for what would become the Chancellorsville Campaign\, Salem Church and the fields west of Fredericksburg played a crucial yet underappreciated role. The main Union army\, beset by uncertainty and relentless Confederate attacks\, found itself struggling to coordinate its scattered corps. The VI Corps\, under Major General John Sedgwick\, was ordered to push through Fredericksburg and join the main force—an assignment that would lead them into their own private hell. \n\n\n\nMany today are unaware that\, in May 1863\, Union soldiers actually succeeded in breaking through the legendary Confederate position behind the Sunken Road and its stone wall. This is a profound contrast to the popular imagination\, which fixates on the futile and tragic Union assaults of December 1862. On that freezing winter day\, Major General Ambrose Burnside’s troops hurled themselves\, again and again\, against the wall\, only to be repulsed with devastating losses. Some 8\,000 Union soldiers fell in this effort\, compared to fewer than 1\,000 Confederates\, many of whom succumbed to friendly fire. \n\n\n\nIt is easy\, almost inevitable\, to overlook what remains of the Salem Church battlefield. Today\, the busy arteries of Fredericksburg slice through the land\, lined with parking lots\, strip malls\, and the ceaseless drone of traffic. Amidst this modern sprawl\, Salem Church sits quietly: a humble brick structure flanked by a minuscule patch of green\, all that signals its martial past. Most passersby see only the ordinary\, unaware that beneath their tires and feet\, history’s echoes linger. Without the silent stone statues placed by veterans of the 15th and 23rd New Jersey Infantry\, the landscape would give no hint of the brutal conflict that once raged here\, no reminder of the struggle\, blood\, and hope that infused the soil. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n​ \n\n\n\n\nYet\, history’s spotlight rarely lingers on the events of May 1863\, when those same blue-clad soldiers finally pierced the defenses that had haunted them since their earlier defeat. \n\n\n\nThe breakthrough at Second Fredericksburg was hard won\, seized from determined defenders under the commands of Major General Jubal Early and Brigadier General William Barksdale. As the Union troops pressed westward toward Salem Church\, they encountered hastily organized Confederate resistance. Here\, the battle devolved into a chaotic\, close-quarters affair—an ordeal of musketry and smoke\, with neither side able to claim decisive mastery. \n\n\n\nThe story of Salem Church and Second Fredericksburg is\, in many ways\, a cautionary tale about the fragility of memory and the inexorable advance of change. The “Forgotten Front” is a battlefield now hidden in plain sight.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nConference Agenda\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister Here\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n	\n\n\n			\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n			\n\nConference held at the Jepson Alumni Executive Center’s                   Grand Ball Room \n\n\n\n1119 Hanover Street\, Fredericksburg\, VA 22401 \n\n\n\nThe Jepson Alumni Executive Center is located at the top of Trench Hill in historic Fredericksburg\, Virginia. Built as a private home in the 1920s and acquired by the University in 1948\, Trench Hill is named to commemorate the Civil War trenches found on the property \n\n\n\n\nDirections\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n	\n\n\n			\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n			\n\nCVBT Accommodations\n\n\n\nA block of rooms is reserved for CVBT guests at the Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton Fredericksburg – at Celebrate Virginia \n\n\n\n\nDirections\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n	\n\n\n			\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n			\n\nReserve a Room Now!\n\n\n\nTo reserve a room please click the reservation link below. Rooms fill up fast so get your accommodations set today! \n\n\n\n\nRoom Reservations\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n	\n\n\n			\n\n	\n\n\n			\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n			\n			\n\nMore Great Speakers & Programs\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKris White – George C. Rable – Chris Mackowski Ph.D. \n\n\n\nElizabeth Varon – Kathryn “KT” Shively Ph.D.  \n\n\n\nJohn Hennessy – Tim Talbott – Tom Van Winkle \n\n		\n	\n\n\n\n\n			\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSunken Road- 2nd Fredericksburg -Andrew J. Russell\n\n\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n	\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPrograms\, Speakers & Tours \n\n\n\n\nKathryn “KT” Shively – Friday Presenter  \n\n\n\nSubject – “Jubal A. Early: Controversial Soldier and Confederate Historian” \n\n\n\nKathryn “KT” Shively is an associate professor of Civil War and Reconstruction history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She is the author of Nature’s Civil War (2013) and the co-editor with Caroline Janney of The Second Manassas Campaign (2025)\, both from UNC Press. Her second monograph\, History Wars\, a biography of Jubal A. Early that explores his influence on modern American history\, is due out from University of Georgia Press in early 2027. \n\n\n\nJubal A. Early is known for being among the most controversial of Robert E. Lee’s subordinates\, but he is less known for the most important role he played in American history. More than any other Confederate\, Early influenced how the Civil War would be written. This talk will explore Early’s life from cradle to grave. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Hennessy – Friday Presenter  \n\n\n\nSubject: “John Sedgwick: Avuncular Warrior\, Unbending Loyalist” \n\n\n\nJohn Hennessy is a prominent American Civil War historian and author. His career spanned 40 years\, beginning at the Manassas National Battlefield Park and ending as the Chief Historian/Chief of Interpretation at the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.  He is the author of several books\, including Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas (recognized as one of the top 100 Civil War books of all time by Civil War Magazine)\, and An End to Innocence: The First Battle of Manassas.   \n\n\n\nThis program will look at the uncommon war-time career of an officer most often described (and understood) in human rather than military terms. He was\, however\, far more than simply “Uncle John\,” as some men called him. A determined McClellan loyalist with a checkered battlefield record\, he navigated controversies and battlefield defeats to be the longest-serving commander of a single corps in the Army of the Potomac’s history. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTim Talbott – Friday Presenter \n\n\n\nSubject: “Green Mountain Men: The Vermont Brigade in the Civil War” \n\n\n\nTim Talbott has over 20 years of experience in the public history field serving at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort\, Kentucky\, and at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg\, Virginia\, before coming to CVBT. Tim earned bachelor’s degrees in Communications (Milligan College) and History (East Tennessee State Univ.)\, and a M.A. in Public History (Appalachian State University). Tim is the founding member and President of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association and is a contributor to the Emerging Civil War blog. He is an avid reader and researcher and has published Civil War-era related articles in book\, scholarly journal\, and magazine formats. \n\n\n\nAlthough perhaps not as well recognized as some other Civil War brigades\, the Vermont Brigade became an integral part of the Army of the Potomac’s Sixth Corps from the Peninsula Campaign to Appomattox\, experiencing trying combat situations and enduring numerous casualties for the Union cause. This presentation will provide an overview of their battlefield exploits\, largely through the words of their common soldiers and officers. \n\n\n\n\n\nChris Mackowski\, Ph.D.\, Saturday Presenter & Field Tour Guide \n\n\n\nSubject Interactive Program/Tour: Second Fredericksburg “The Forgotten Front” \n\n\n\nChris Mackowski\, Ph.D.\, is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War and the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series\, published by Savas Beatie. Chris is a writing professor in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany\, NY\, where he also serves as associate dean for undergraduate programs. Chris is also historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge\, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park\, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg\, Chancellorsville\, Wilderness\, and Spotsylvania)\, as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. \n\n\n\nChris has authored or co-authored nearly two dozen books and edited a half-dozen essay collections on the Civil War\, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris serves on the board of directors for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and on the advisory board of the Civil War Roundtable Congress and the Brunswick (NC) Civil War Roundtable—the largest in the country. He is also a member of the Antietam Institute and the U. S. Grant Homestead Association. In 2023\, he was honored with the Houston Civil War Round Table’s Frank Vandiver Award and also selected as the Copie Hill Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust. \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\nKris White – Saturday Presenter & Field Tour Guide \n\n\n\nSubject: Interactive Program/Tour: Second Fredericksburg “The Forgotten Front” \n\n\n\nKris is the Director of Education and Events at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. He served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also served the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board as a historian and as a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County. In 2008\, Kris successfully passed the Licensed Battlefield Guide Exam at Gettysburg. White is the co-founder and chief historian of Emerging Civil War and co-creator of the Emerging Civil War Series. An award-winning speaker and editor\, White has authored\, co-authored\, or edited more than two dozen books and numerous articles\, covering a wide range of topics from the Seven Years War to the World Wars. A frequent fixture on battlefields around the world\, he leads and coordinates tours and staff rides in the United States and Europe. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCVBT President Tom Van Winkle – Saturday Evening Speaker \n\n\n\nSubject – CVBT – 30 years of Preserving Central Virginia Battlefields \n\n\n\nFor the past three decades\, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT) has played a pivotal role in preserving the hallowed grounds of Central Virginia where some of the Civil War’s most significant battles unfolded. As the organization marks its 30th anniversary\, Tom Van Winkle\, a dedicated leader and passionate advocate for battlefield preservation\, looks back on the journey\, challenges\, and triumphs that have shaped the CVBT’s lasting legacy. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGeorge Rable – Saturday Evening Keynote Speaker \n\n\n\nSubject: “Conflict of Command: George McClellan\, Abraham Lincoln\, and the Politics of War” \n\n\n\nGeorge C. Rable is Professor Emeritus and formerly the Charles G. Summersell Chair in Southern History at the University of Alabama (1998-2016). Born in Lima\, Ohio\, in 1950\, he received his B.A from Bluffton College (1972)\, his M.A from Louisiana State University (1973)\, and his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University (1978) where he studied under T. Harry Williams. He taught at Anderson University in Indiana from 1979-1998. From 2004-2008\, he served as the President of the Society of Civil War Historians. His books include: Damn Yankees! Demonization and Defiance in the Confederate South (Louisiana State University Press\, 2015)\, which won the James I. Robertson\, Jr. Literary Prize. God’s Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War (University of North Carolina Press\, 2010)\, which won the Jefferson Davis Award and was a Choice Outstanding Academic Title; Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! (University of North Carolina Press\, 2002)\, which won the Lincoln Prize\, the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award in American Military History\, the Jefferson Davis Award\, the Douglas Southall Freeman History Award and was a History Book Club selection; The Confederate Republic:  A Revolution Against Politics (University of North Carolina Press\, 1994)\, which was a History Book Club selection; Civil Wars:  Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism (University of Illinois Press\, 1989)\, which won the Julia Cherry Spruill Prize and the Jefferson Davis Award; and But There Was No Peace:  The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction. (University of Georgia Press\, 1984). His most recent book is Conflict of Command: George McClellan\, Abraham Lincoln (LSU Press\, 2023)\, which won the Barondess/Lincoln Award from the Civil War Round Table of New York and the Daniel and Marilyn Laney Book Prize from the Austin Civil War Round Table. \n\n\n\n“Conflict of Command: George McClellan\, Abraham Lincoln\, and the Politics of War” \n\n\n\nThe fraught relationship between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan is seemingly set in stone—as far as most students of the Civil War are concerned. They know McClellan as a foil to Lincoln who might be able to organize an army but would not or could not fight. As Lincoln once said\, McClellan had “the slows” and had to be removed from command. Indeed opinions about McClellan appeared to almost be baked in and not likely to change. In his own day\, however\, McClellan had many warm friends and political supporters; and of course no shortage of critics and enemies. McClellan had the misfortune to clash with Abraham Lincoln–another controversial figure of the time but who quickly became the savior of the Union\, the great emancipator\, and the martyr president in the aftermath of his assassination. This talk will not refight McClellan’s military campaigns but instead will focus on the politics of the clash between Lincoln and McClellan and its impact on the course of the war. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nElizabeth Varon –  Sunday Keynote Speaker \n\n\n\nSubject: “The Wars of Clara Barton”   \n\n\n\nElizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia and a member of the executive council of UVA’s John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History. She is the author of six books\, including Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War (Oxford University Press\, 2019)\, which won the 2020 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize; Appomattox: Victory\, Defeat\, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War (Oxford University Press\, 2013); Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War\, 1789-1859 (University of North Carolina Press\, 2003); and Southern Lady\, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew\, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy (Oxford University Press\, 2003). Her most recent book Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South (Simon & Schuster\, 2023) was reviewed in the New York Times\, Wall Street Journal\, and Atlantic.  Longstreet won the inaugural American Battlefield Trust Prize\, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times biography prize\, among other honors. Varon’s current project is a biography of humanitarian Clara Barton. \n\n\n\nHighlighting Barton’s work in the Fredericksburg region in 1862 and 1864\, Varon’s lecture will put Barton’s Civil War exploits as a nurse and purveyor into the context of her long and remarkable career as a philanthropist and stateswoman. The Union’s victory in the war was the touchstone for Barton’s later activism with the Red Cross and beyond. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister Here\n\n\n\n\nCVBT Annual Conference Refund Policy \n\n\n\nBefore August 1 – 100% refund minus a $20 service fee.\n\n\n\nAugust 1-11 – 50% refund. \n\n\n\nAfter August 11 – No refund
URL:https://cvbt.org/event/2026-cvbt-annual-conference-cvbt-30th-anniversary/
LOCATION:Virginia
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cvbt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Second-Fredericksburg-Print-Stone-Wall.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261101T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261101T160000
DTSTAMP:20260804T150543Z
CREATED:20260803T175723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260804T150543Z
UID:4196-1793538000-1793548800@cvbt.org
SUMMARY:Becoming A Hell of a Regiment: The Twentieth Maine at Fredericksburg in History and Memory
DESCRIPTION:A Talk and Walking Tour with Jared Peatman \n\n\n\nThough famous for its actions at Gettysburg\, the Twentieth Maine’s first major battle – and the one that set it up to earn glory seven months later – was Fredericksburg.  Fifty years later\, differing interpretations of that same battle turned former comrades Joshua Chamberlain and Ellis Spear into enemies\, and provided much fodder for today’s anti-Chamberlain crowd. \n\n\n\nJoin us November 1\, 2026\, first at the CVBT office as Jared Peatman\, author of the recently-released A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine\, reveals the dynamics of the Twentieth Maine on the eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg\, the impact of the great battle on the unit\, and then the controversies that arose with Joshua Chamberlain’s January 1913 account “My Story of Fredericksburg.”  Then\, we’ll pick up with the tour portion of the program and follow in the footsteps of the Twentieth Maine from December 13-16\, 1862\, as they attacked Marye’s Heights on December 13-14 before acting as part of the army’s rearguard on December 15-16. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJared Peatman is a graduate of Gettysburg College with a master’s degree from Virginia Tech and Ph.D. from Texas A&M.  Jared’s first book was The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (2013).  For that project he was named the Organization of American Historians and Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Doctoral Fellow and received the Hay-Nicolay Dissertation Prize for the best work on Abraham Lincoln or the Civil War.  His second book\, A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine\,was published by Stackpole Books in 2026. \n\n\n\nIn his day job Jared provides training events that use history as a metaphor to examine current leadership and performance challenges.  He is the founder and president of Four Score Consulting and a Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Excellence in Public Leadership.  He has delivered over 1\,000 leadership seminars at sites including Gettysburg\, Mount Vernon\, President Lincoln’s Cottage\, Jamestown\, Valley Forge\, the Alamo\, Waterloo\, and many more. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMinimal Seating – Save Your Spot Now! \n\n\n\n\nRegister Now!
URL:https://cvbt.org/event/becoming-a-hell-of-a-regiment-the-twentieth-maine-at-fredericksburg-in-history-and-memory-a-talk-and-walking-tour-with-jared-peatman/
LOCATION:1115 Tyler St.\,Fredericksburg\, VA 22401\, 1115 Tyler St\, Fredericksburg\, Virginia\, 22401\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cvbt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Peatman-Cover-20th-Maine.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Tim Talbott - CVBT":MAILTO:chiefadministrativeofficer@cvbt.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261212T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261212T160000
DTSTAMP:20260721T163752Z
CREATED:20260721T164147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260721T163752Z
UID:4104-1797076800-1797091200@cvbt.org
SUMMARY:"Decisions at Fredericksburg\,"
DESCRIPTION:Hosted by CVBT: Welcoming Historian and & Author Chris Mackowski “Decisions at Fredericksburg\,” an author talk and battlefield tour\, on December 12\, 2026. \n\n\n\nMeet at CVBT Office: 1115 Tyler St. Fredericksburg\, VA 22401– Later drive and visit Fredericksburg battlefield \n\n\n\n\nWhat is a “critical decision”? How did critical decisions unfold during the Battle of Fredericksburg\, fought in Central Virginia during the winter of 1862? Can we match the historic decision process to the places and topography where they happened? \n\n\n\nA newly released book from the University of Tennessee Press\, Decisions at Fredericksburg by Historian Chris Mackowski\, delves into some answers\, and now we’re offering a unique opportunity to study and explore during the 164th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg. \n\n\n\n\nJoin the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and historian Chris Mackowski for an afternoon of decisions and a battlefield tour. \n\n\n\nWe’ll begin with a program at the CVBT Office to overview the Battle of Fredericksburg and explore the definition of critical decisions. Whether you’re a long-time researcher or growing a new interest in local history\, Chris will make it easy for you to explore battle history and create your own sets of critical decisions to analyze. \n\n\n\nThen\, we’ll make a short drive to the Fredericksburg Battlefield known as the “Slaughter Pen” where Chris will lead a tour for the opportunity to rediscover critical decisions on the land where they happened. It’s going to be a meaningful afternoon of learning\, hiking\, making decisions\, and the impact of battlefield preservation for understanding military history! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCVBT Refund Policy \n\n\n\nBefore December 10th – 50% \n\n\n\nAfter December 10th – No Refund \n\n\n\nAttendance Limited to 30 Participants! Register Now! \n\n\n\n\nRegister Now!
URL:https://cvbt.org/event/decisions-at-fredericksburg/
LOCATION:1115 Tyler St.\,Fredericksburg\, VA 22401\, 1115 Tyler St\, Fredericksburg\, Virginia\, 22401\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://cvbt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Decisions-at-Fredericksburg-Mackowski.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270320T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270320T163000
DTSTAMP:20260726T173049Z
CREATED:20260721T080000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T173049Z
UID:4081-1805535000-1805560200@cvbt.org
SUMMARY:Announcing CVBT 2027 Spring Seminar
DESCRIPTION:“The Common Soldier in War and Memory” \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSave the Date! \n\n\n\nTickets Will Go Fast! \n\n\n\nCome Join CVBT at our 2027 Spring Seminar! \n\n\n\nGreat Programs and Presenters as Always! \n\n\n\n\nRegister Now!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin CVBT for Another Exciting Spring Seminar \n\n\n\nOur 2027 event is all set and will be held March 20th\, returning to the Tabernacle United Methodist Church in historic Fredericksburg. \n\n\n\nMorning coffee as well as a sumptuous lunch is again                          included in the event package. \n\n\n\nThis year we have another slate of incredible historians                              and authors presenting. \n\n\n\nInteresting displays\, silent auction\, special prizes and more! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOur Presenters (More Info on Presenters to Come) \n\n\n\n\nDr. Stephen Berry – University of Georgia  \n\n\n\n“A Haystack of Needles: The Civil War in the Words of Its Least Literate Men” \n\n\n\nThe earliest works on the Civil War soldier privileged the letters of privileged soldiers—men like Sullivan Ballou who wrote in what we might call the war’s “high tongue.” But every archive also holds a few letters from men who wrote “by ear”: soldiers who had never written a letter in their lives and who struggled\, misspelling and all\, to make themselves and their experience understood to the families they’d left behind. Their letters can be harder to read\, but they are often the more startling—rawer and less guarded about fear\, homesickness\, boredom\, and killing than the polished ones we think we know. What happens when we pull each of these needles from the haystack and assemble a haystack of needles? What does an archive of the truly common soldier reveal about the war as most men actually lived it? \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSarah Kay Bierle – Independent Scholar  \n\n\n\n“Chancellorsville: “From the Place of Blood and Wrath His Soul Changed” \n\n\n\nOne lesser-explored aspect of the battle of Chancellorsville is the response of the common soldier. From the “Mud March” through the retreat at Chancellorsville\, Union soldiers weathered leadership changes\, growth in self-confidence\, and steadily burning desire to soundly beat the Confederates on a battlefield in the east. During the same period\, Confederate soldiers experienced winter hardships\, nationalistic and religious revival\, and a tantalizing hope that a crushing battlefield victory could still secure foreign aid to their cause. As the armies clashed in May 1863\, morale was remarkably high\, but how did the common soldier respond during the battle and to the outcomes? This presentation will give a high-level overview of the battle of Chancellorsville and then delve into the writings of common soldiers on both sides\, following their responses to battlefield circumstances and drawing conclusions about the morale shifts that they experienced. The results may be surprising but will lend a deeper understanding into the mindset of the soldiers in the ranks as they turned northward for the summer campaign into Pennsylvania.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. James Broomall – University of Richmond \n\n\n\n“The Things They Collected: Battlefield Relics and the Making of Civil War Memory” \n\n\n\nThroughout the American Civil War\, common soldiers gathered what they variously called trophies\, artifacts\, relics\, and souvenirs. Although they often used these terms interchangeably\, they collected deliberately and lent different meanings to the things they took. The hundreds of thousands of commonplace objects gathered had both public and private lives. On the one hand\, objects taken from battlefields were forever linked to a site of conflict\, marking the military career of the gatherer or holding intimate associations with fallen comrades. On the other hand\, many items traveled from the frontlines to the home front\, thereby broadening their meaning. Citizens tried to decipher the face of war through the items soldiers collected. In a conflict fought on an unparalleled scale with new technologies and incomprehensible casualties\, combatants groped for ways to express the experience of armed conflict as non-combatants struggled to understand it. Objects offered tangible expressions. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRonald Coddington – Military Images magazine  \n\n\n\n“Civil War Portrait Photography: Reflections of a Generation” \n\n\n\nThe first collectors of Civil War photos were those who lived during the four-year struggle. As the years ticked by and they passed from the scene\, their likenesses were handed down through the generations. Some remained with families. Others landed in antique shops. Many were lost to the elements or tossed into trash heaps. During the Civil War’s centennial\, a new generation rediscovered these intimate artifacts. Today\, a vibrant community of collectors are caretakers of these portraits. In this talk\, Ron answers key questions: Why do these images exist? What were the popular formats? Why did they pose this way? How did the war impact portrait photography in the North and South? \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHampton Newsome – Independent scholar \n\n\n\n“George Bernard’s War” \n\n\n\nIn 1892\, George S. Bernard\, a veteran of the 12th Virginia Infantry\, produced a book titled War Talks of Confederate Veterans\, a collection of firsthand accounts focusing on the battles and campaigns in the east. Bernard prepared a second volume but was never able to publish it. After his death in 1912\, his papers became scattered or simply lost. But a series of finds\, culminating with the discovery of a cache of documents in Roanoke\, made it possible to reconstruct the missing second volume\, which was published in 2012 as Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans. Newsome will speak about the accounts Bernard gathered from both Confederate and Union veterans about famous campaigns\, Bernard’s efforts to gather these stories during a time of reconciliation and political turmoil\, and the discoveries that led to the publication of the missing volume. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPresenters Bios  \n\n\n\nDr. Stephen Berry is the author or editor of eight books on America in the mid-19th century\, including his most recent\, The Original Black Panther: Prince Rivers and the Lost City of Hamburg (UGA Press\, 2026)\, as well as Count the Dead: Coroners\, Quants\, and the Birth of Death as We Know It (UNC Press\, 2022). Berry is Secretary-Treasurer of the Southern Historical Association; co-director\, with Claudio Saunt\, of the Center for Virtual History; and co-editor\, with Amy Murrell Taylor and Fay Yarbrough\, of the UnCivil Wars series at the University of Georgia Press. He helps lead the Digital Humanities Initiative at the University of Georgia’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts\, and oversees two major web projects: CSI Dixie\, devoted to the coroner’s office in the nineteenth-century South\, and Private Voices\, which collects the letters of Civil War soldiers — North and South\, Black\, white\, and Native — who wrote “by ear.” His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities\, the Mellon Foundation\, and the American Council of Learned Societies\, among others. \n\n\n\nSarah Kay Bierle graduated from Thomas Edison State University with a BA in History and works in the Education Department at American Battlefield Trust. She has spent years exploring ways to share quality historical research in ways that will inform and inspire modern audiences\, including school presentations\, writing\, battlefield tours\, and speaking engagements. She continues to study the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley and has published seven books\, including Glorious Courage: John Pelham in the Civil War (Savas Beatie\, 2025) and Decisions at Chancellorsville (University of Tennessee Press\, 2025). \n\n\n\nDr. James Broomall holds the William Binford Vest Chair in the Department of History at the University of Richmond. He is a cultural historian of the Civil War era and has published works in Commonplace\, Ohio Valley History\, Gettysburg Magazine\, Civil War History\, Civil War Monitor\, and Civil War Times. He co-edited with William A. Link Rethinking American Emancipation: Legacies of Slavery and the Quest for Black Freedom (Cambridge University Press\, 2016)\, and the University of North Carolina Press published his book\, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers\, in 2019. Dr. Broomall has completed three major historic resource studies for National Park Service sites and frequently conducts guided tours of historic sites and Civil War-era battlefields. He directed the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University\, in West Virginia\, for nearly a decade and previously served on the faculty of the University of North Florida and Virginia Tech.  \n\n\n\nRonald Coddington is the author of five books in a series featuring Civil War portrait photography published through Johns Hopkins University Press\, they are: Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories; Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories; African American Faces of War: An Album; Faces of the Civil War Navies: An Album of Union and Confederate Sailors; and Faces of Civil War Nurses. Ron’s sixth book\, Gettysburg Faces: Portraits and Personal Accounts was published by Gettysburg Publishing in 2022. Ron also wrote for the New York Times “Disunion” series from 2011-2014. His contributions documented the experiences of the enlisted men and line officers who participated in the Civil War. Ron is also the editor of Military Images\, a position he has held since 2013. A 1985 graduate of the University of Georgia\, he lives in Arlington\, Virginia\, with his wife\, Anne. \n\n\n\nHampton Newsome has written several books on the Civil War including his most recent title\, Victory at Appomattox: Grant and Lee’s Final Campaign to be published by University Press of Kansas in early 2027. He is also editor\, along with John Horn and John Selby\, of Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans\, which was published by University of Virginia Press and is the subject of his seminar talk. His books on the 1864 operations in North Carolina as well as the Union advance on Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863 earned the Emerging Civil War Book Award. Recently retired from a career practicing consumer and environmental law\, Newsome is a regular speaker at Civil War Round Tables\, and has conducted tours of sites around Richmond\, Petersburg\, and Appomattox.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease Visit our Event Sponsors \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister Now!
URL:https://cvbt.org/event/announcing-cvbt-2027-spring-seminar/
LOCATION:Tabernacle United Methodist Church\, 7310 Old Plank Road\, Fredericksburg\, Virginia\, 22407\, United States
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