Adjutant’s Call - February 2021
Circular Memorandum #523 - February 2021
“The True Confederate High Tide: Summer-Fall 1862” Will be Presented by Robert Lee Hodge
Meet our Speaker Robert Lee Hodge
Born on Stonewall Jackson’s birthday Robert Lee Hodge has had a keen interest in America’s Civil War history since age 4. Over the course of more than 30 years, Hodge has worked on several history-based films—from dramas like ABC’s North and South and TNT’s Gettysburg and Andersonville, to many programs on The History Channel, Arts and Entertainment Channel, and the National Geographic Channel, to his own Civil War documentaries, which have won 5 Telly awards and a regional Emmy in 2007. Hodge has been featured on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation and Soundscapes, NBC’s Late, Late Show, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the PBS program Going Places, and C-SPAN II’s Book TV. Robert has also written for The Nashville Tennessean, Civil War Times, America’s Civil War magazine, The Washington Post, and North and South magazine. He played a major role in, and appears on the cover of, the New York Times’ 1999 best-seller Confederates in the Attic—hosting Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz on an eclectic and memorable Civil War tour-de-force of historic sites.
Robert has been a historical researcher, primarily at The National Archives and Library of Congress, working with nationally recognized experts. He also was principal researcher on Time-Life Books 18-volume series Voices of the Civil War and The Illustrated History of the Civil War. Hodge’s interest became preserving historic green space when he interned with the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission in 1992. He has organized battlefield preservation fund-raisers that have garnered over $160,000. He also serves on the board of directors of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (the CVBT); an organization that has protected over 1,300 acres at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, since 1996.
Hodge was featured on the National Geographic Channel and Time magazine in 2011, wrote for The Washington Post during the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and was a researcher for the U.S. Army in 2013. In 2016 he wrote the script for the film at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. In 2017 he appeared in The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show and Chinese Central Television about Confederate monuments and Civil War memory.
The True Confederate High Tide: Summer-Fall 1862
On a Civil War Sites Advisory Commission tour in 1992 with the late historian, Ed Bearss, then intern Robert Lee Hodge learned of the true high tide of the Confederacy. From Missouri to Maryland Confederate armies were on the move in late 1862 to, in part, effect the upcoming congressional elections, to thwart emancipation, and to gain European recognition. Despite initial successes, Southern forces lost on all fronts. Hodge will talk of the Confederate rising tide, and its crests at Corinth, Perryville, Sharpsburg, and Shepardstown."
Help Save 94 Acres at Mill Springs!
We have the opportunity to save hallowed ground, a 94-acre tract at Mill Springs, Kentucky. Join the American Battlefield Trust to save this core battlefield land with all its history and heritage for future generations while multiplying the power of your generosity by a factor of $3.26-to-$1.
Mill Springs Battlefield
The Battle of Mill Springs is where a Federal victory set the stage for the fight to keep the Bluegrass state. From the very outset of the war, Lincoln and his generals understood the importance of keeping this critical border state in Union hands — Lincoln famously remarked that “I hope I have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
In late 1861, Confederate forces made their winter camp near Mill Springs. On January 19, 1862, General Felix Zollicoffer received orders to launch an attack on Federal forces led by Union General George H. Thomas, at an area called Logan’s Crossroads.
In the early morning mist and rain, Zollicoffer moved toward the body of Union troops, but was killed as he scouted ahead of his men, leaving his own troops in a state of confusion. Fierce hand-to-hand combat commenced across the property, as Kentuckians and Minnesotans held off the determined charge of Mississippians and Tennesseans.
Federal forces eventually stopped the Confederate advance, turning the tide of the battle. This marked the first significant Union victory of the war, reinvigorated Northern morale and paved the way for the effort to keep Kentucky firmly in Union control.
This land is regarded by historians as some of the last core battlefield land that could be saved at Mill Springs.
The Opportunity
We have the opportunity to save a 94-acre tract at Mill Springs, Kentucky. Thanks to a combination of federal and state grants, as well as substantial private donations, we can save this priceless battlefield land at a $3.26-to-$1 match, more than tripling the power of your donation dollar!
The good news is that we have already secured or applied for the grant funding to cover a significant amount of the dollars of the total needed to complete this projects, but we must still raise the final amount necessary.
The need to preserve this tract is urgent and we can’t do this without your support! We have the opportunity to change the fate of this land and protect it for future generations. Now is the time for a fresh start, to set goals and make plans for a successful and fulfilling year ahead. For each of us at the Trust, this means rededicating ourselves to our core mission — saving our nation’s hallowed ground and educating the public about why it is still so important today. David N. Duncan, American Battlefield Trust President
The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 53,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.
Kenneth Hafendorfer’s Last Book Available
Round Table Life Member Dr. Kenneth Hafendorfer’s last book is now available to members of the Round Table at a special price. Ken had finished the manuscript of this book on the life of Henry Clay King just before his passing and his daughter, Jennifer Hafendorfer finalized the manuscript and was able to have the book published.
Henry Clay King was a native of Kentucky who during the Civil War became Colonel of a battalion of Confederate cavalry known as King’s Hell Hounds made up of mounted infantry from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. The book details the trials and tribulations of King’s ultimately tragic life in which a love triangle led him to become a murderer. The book is available on Amazon for $70, but you can get it for $56 by check or $53 cash from Jennifer Hafendorfer (502-664-7757) or Lowell Griffin (502-423-1861).
