Adjutant’s Call December 2025
Circular Memorandum #571, December 2025
“The 1865 Carolina Campaign”
Presented by: Wade Sokolosky
Date: Friday, December 12 Location: Big Spring Country Club
Cocktails: 6:00 PM Dinner: 7:00 PM Program: 8:00 PM
Meet our Speaker - Wade Sokolosky
We welcome Wade Sokolosky to the Round Table. Wade will be our guide on our field trip to the Carolinas this April. Colonel Wade Sokolosky (Ret.), a native of Beaufort, North Carolina, is a graduate of East Carolina University and a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Army. HE is one of North Carolina’s leading experts on the 1865 Carolina Campaign. Wade has lectured nationwide, speaking to roundtables, various societies and organizations, and historical sites. He is the author of North Carolina’s Confederate Hospitals, 1861-1865, volumes 1 and 2. Wade is also co-author (with Mark A. Smith) of “To prepare for Sherman’s Coming”: The Battle of Wise’s Forks, March 1865, and “No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar”: Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign from Fayetteville to Averasboro, and the complier of “Final Roll Call”: Confederat Losses during the 1865 Carolina’s Campaign, vol. 1 (North Carolina). Volume 2, covering soldiers from Alabama, Arkansas and Florida, is due for release in the spring of 2026.
He received the UDC 2024 Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to publishing and lecturing on Confederate history. Raleigh Civil War Round Table’s 2017 T. Harry Gatton Award for his significant efforts to study, preserve, and share the Civil War heritage of his native North Carolina.
Wade is the executive director of the nonprofit Blue & Gray Education Society, dedicated to the objective study of the origins and impact of the American Civil war and related events. Additionally, he serves as the Vice President of the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield and is a member of the Brunswick County Civil War Round Table Advisory Council. Wade lives in Beaufort, North Carolina.
The 1865 Carolina Campaign
Civil War events in Virginia have long overshadowed Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s 1865 campaign through the Carolinas. After his mostly unopposed March to the Sea ended with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, in December 1864, Sherman turned north to join forces in Virginia and defeat Robert E. Lee. However, resistance in the Carolinas was not yet finished. As Sherman marched through South Carolina, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, recalled from semi-retirement to command, gathered troops to oppose him in the neighboring state. During a fierce 14-day period, later called “Two Weeks of Fury,” Johnston’s outnumbered army fought four intense battles, three of them on the offensive. Noted 1865 Carolinas Campaign historian and author Wade Sokolosky will interpret the operations and the sacrifices at the battles of Wise’s Forks, Monroe’s Crossroads, Averasboro, and Bentonville - the Tar Heel States largest engagement in the war.
RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED!
This is a Friday Meeting!
Reservations Are to be Sent to Doug Krawczyk or Made on Our Website
If you do not make a reservation, you may not get fed!
The Round Table must give Big Spring an accurate count of reservations no later than Wednesday before our Saturday meeting. Reservations can be made by emailing Doug Krawczyk at rdklou1@gmail.com or by calling Doug Krawczyk at 502-592-6864. When making a reservation for more than yourself, please list the names of everyone for which you are making a reservation. If you are calling Doug, and get his voicemail, please spell your name so he can properly identify the reservation.
If you wish to join us for just the program, you must still make a reservation so we can assure you have space and a seat. If you are attending just the program, you can call Doug anytime up to 4:00 PM the day of the Meeting.
Reminder for Table Reservations: Tables for parties of eight (8) can be reserved. When making a Table Reservation, please list the names of everyone in your party. That will ensure everyone in your party will be at the same table and enable us to manage our meeting space in a more efficient manner.
Make Your Meeting Reservations Online!
Members of the Round Table now have new options for making dinner reservations, You can go to our new website, louisvillecwrt.com and make your meeting reservation and make your payment.
Harold Holzer is Coming to the Louisville Civil War Round Table!
Mark your calendars for our 600th meeting celebration to be held on May 9, 2026. To help us celebrate this special event, we are very excited to have renowned Abraham Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer come and speak to us. He is one of the country’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, Holzer served for six years (2010–2016) as Chairman of The Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation. We are planning several special ways that we will commemorate this special occasion. Stay tuned for details as this will be a meeting you will not want to miss!
Harriette Weatherbee Passes Away
Harriette Weatherbee, long time member of the Round Table and Life Member, passed away on November, 10. Harriette was a member of the Round Table for over 35 years, and served on the Board of Directors up until her passing. She was our Treasurer for over 20 years and was awarded the Round Table’s highest honor of Life Member. Harriette never missed a meeting until her health issues in the last year prevented her from coming. She also attended several of our field trips and in addition to Treasurer she was also our secretary for many years. She made so many contributions to the success of the Round Table, it would be impossible to mention all of them. Because of her health problems, Harriette moved to South Carolina to live with her son a couple of years ago and she donated her 1000 book library to the Round Table. Harriette was an advocate of battlefield preservation and a longtime member of the American Battlefield Trust. It was her wish that instead of flowers, that contributions be made to the Trust. Harriette was a wonderful person loved by all who knew her and she will be greatly missed.
President Julie Bartlett said, “The scope of her involvement with the LCWRT has been tremendous; she will be missed by all, and her memory will definitely warm our hearts. Our prayers and thoughts go out to her family and friends.”
Harriette Ann Weatherbee was born September 14, 1940 in Erie, Pennsylvania. She passed away peacefully at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, SC on November 10, 2025 surrounded by family.
Harriette was a well-loved teacher with Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky for many years. She was an active member oft he St. Rita Catholic Church community, serving as a representative of the Finance Committee and the Parish Council. She also enjoyed dedicating her time to history preservation as a member of the Louisville Chapter of the Civil War Round Table. Her dedication to her community and her friends will endure forever. Harriette was preceded in death by her parents Edward and Grace Halter. She is survived by her son, Brian Weatherbee (Cathy); daughter, Tre Rockenbach (Steve); sister, Marge Mazzone (Ron); and grandchildren, Stephen Weatherbee, Trinity Weatherbee, and Sarah Weatherbee. She will be dearly missed by all. Services were held Saturday, November 22, 2025 at St, Rita Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the American Battlefield Trust.
The Round Table will be making a donation in Harriette’s memory to the American Battlefield Trust.
The Emerging Civil War Website
Our November speaker, Chris Mackowski, is the managing editor of the Emerging Civil War Series which serves as a public history-oriented platform for sharing original scholarship related to the American Civil War. The primary audience is the general public, so scholarship is defined broadly: historical research, memory studies, travelogues, personal narratives, essays, book reviews, and photography. Journalistic-style coverage of current Civil War-related events and the Civil War in pop culture are also included. Furthermore, ECW encourages respectful discussion about that material. ECW does not publish fiction or poetry.
The Mission of the Emerging Civil War
ECW seeks to encourage a diversity of perspectives in the scholarship it presents. We do that, in part, by identifying and spotlighting the next generation of Civil War historians and the fresh ideas they bring to the historical conversation. As a collective, the individuals who comprise ECW are encouraged to share their own unique interests and approaches. The combined collection of material—and the respectful discussions that surround it—forward ECW’s overall effort to promote a general awareness of the Civil War as America’s defining event. This is a link to their website emergingcivilwar.com.. You can subscribe and receive daily emails that will contain a variety of articles by historians that will be of interest to you.
Field Trip to the Carolinas: Sherman’s 1865 Campaign: April 22-26, 2026
with Wade Sokolosky
We are going to the Carolinas to learn about the Civil War’s last major campaign that took place in March and April of 1865 culminating in the surrender of the Confederacy’s last major army. The campaign pitted William Sherman against Joseph Johnston. Our guide will be Civil War historian and author Wade Sokolosky. Wade was recently named the new Executive Director of the Blue and Gray Educational Society. He is a retired colonel and a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Army. He is a respected historian and the author of four books with more on the way. Wade has been leading battlefield tours for many years and is recognized as an authority on the Civil War battles in the Carolinas. Wade will be coming to the Round Table to speak to us this December. This is a field trip we have never taken and we will see several well preserved battlefields including Averasboro, Monroe’s Crossroads, Wise’s Forks and Bentonville. We will also see the ironclad CSS Neuse and many other historical sites along the way. We will be staying in Smithfield, North Carolina. We will walk this hollowed ground and cover in detail what unfolded. You can sign up now by emailing John Davis at jddavis1122@gmail.com or you can sign up at the meetings.
2025 – 2026 Schedule
Friday December 12 Wade Sokolosky “The 1865 Carolina Campaign”
Saturday January 17 Kent Masterson Brown “Kentucky in the American Revolution”
Friday February 13 Derrick Lindow “Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky”
Saturday March 14 Chris Kolakowski “Perspectives on the 1862 Virginia Campaigns”
Saturday April 11 Will Greene “Lost Opportunity: Grant Crosses the James”
Saturday May 9 Harold Holzer “Abraham Lincoln”
From President Julie Bartlett
I’m pleased to share some exciting news with all of you. The Louisville Civil War Round Table has recently been awarded a $250 marketing grant from the Civil War Round Table Congress. This support is a welcome recognition of our ongoing efforts to grow our membership, strengthen our outreach, and expand our educational impact.
Thanks to the grant, we will be able to enhance our visibility and further our mission - beginning with hosting seven local high school students at an upcoming meeting. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage young people with Civil War history and to introduce them to the work we do as a Round Table.
Dr. Art Boerner is spearheading this initiative and will be the chaperone.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication. I look forward to seeing many of you at our next gathering and hope to welcome our student guests at a spring meeting.
Sherman’s 65 Carolina Campaign: The Battle of Averasboro
On the afternoon of March 15, 1865, Sherman’s calvary screen under Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick came up against Lt. Gen. William Hardee’s corps, consisting of two infantry divisions commanded by Brig. Gens William B. Taliaferro and Lafayette McLaws, and a division of calvary under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The Confederates were deployed across the Raleigh Road near Averasboro, 40 miles south of Raleigh. Hardee’s orders were to delay Sherman’s 25,000-man left-wing of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum so that Johnston could consolidate his remaining forces to defend the road networks connecting Raleigh and Goldsboro. Hard posted his 6,000-man corps in a well-chosen position astride the road, with the Cape Fear River anchoring his right flank and the Black River swamps to the east anchoring his left.
After reconnoitering the Confederate defenses, Kilpatrick withdrew and called for infantry support. During the night, two divisions of the Brig. Gen Alphas Willaims’s XX Corps arrived to confront Hardee’s men arrayed across the plantation of the John C. Smith family. At dawn on March 16, Williams’s infantry advanced against McLaws’s division on the Confederate left and drove back the rebel skirmishers but was stopped but the main Confederate line and a sharp Rebel counterattack. Around mid-morning, Williams renewed his advance with reinforcements on his left and drove Teliaferro’s Confederates from two lines of works but was repulsed upon reaching a third line of defenders. Late that afternoon, two divisions from Maj. Gen Jefferson C. Davis’s Union XIV Corps arrived on the field and attempted to flank the Confederate right where they were stopped with significant casualties by Wheeler’s dismounted cavalry. Sporadic fighting continued into the evening with little result.
Around 8:30 p.m., Hardee's withdrew from the battlefield and retreated north toward Smithfield, leaving his campfires burning to conceal his departure. The penultimate battle for the Carolinas set the stage for Sherman’s and Johnston’s last major ballet of the Civil War at Bentonville.
From the American Battlefield Trust website: www.battlefields.org.
Attest: By Order of:
John Davis Julie Bartlett
Adjutant President