Adjutant’s Call - April 2025
Link to Original PDF of April 2025 Newsletter
Circular Memorandum #565 -April 2025
“Absalom Markland: Kentucky’s Forgotten Hero of the Civil War” Presented by Candice Hooper
Candice Shy Hooper has earned degrees in journalism, military history, and the law. Born into a military family on Guam, Candice Shy Hooper lived in many places as a child. In 1973, she graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. While working full time in Washington, DC, she earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and much later, in 2008, she returned to school to earn a master's degree in history, with a concentration in military history, from George Washington University. She has been vice president of a multinational energy company and legislative consultant to a major New York Law firm. She served on the editorial advisory board of The Journal of Military History and on the board of directors of President Lincoln's Cottage at the National Soldiers Home. She is a member of the Ulysses S. and Julia D. Grant Historical Home Advisory Board and a former president of the Johann Fust Library Foundation. Hooper is the author of Lincoln's Generals' Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War - for Better and for Worse, which won three national awards, and Delivered Under Fire: Absalom Markland and Freedom’s Mail, which won two. While researching Delivered Under Fire in Maysville, Kentucky, she discovered Old Pogue Bourbon, and her life has been better ever since.
April 23-27,2025, Field Trip to Shiloh
Final Payment is Now Due
We now have 40 folks signed up for our field trip to Shiloh and we can take no more reservations. The final payment is now due. The total cost is $425 per person and can be paid by mailing your check made out to LCWRT directly to Louisville Civil War Round Table, 9462 Brownsboro Road - #142, Louisville, Ky., 40241. If you have paid the $200 non-refundable deposit, you can pay the balance of $225 per person. You can also pay the full cost of $425 per person or the remaining balance of $225 on our website.
You also pay your balance at the April meeting. Tim Smith will be our guide. Tim has written the definitive account of the battle in his award-winning book, Shiloh: Conquer or Perish. Tim was our guide in 2012 and did a fantastic job for us. We could not have a better guide. Tim has served as a park ranger at Shiloh National Military Park for six years and has conducted numerous tours of this battlefield and has been involved in Shiloh’s preservation. The battle of Shiloh occurred on April 6-7, 1862, and the resulting losses of more than 23,000 shocked the nation. After being surprised by Albert Sidney Johnston’s Confederate army on the morning of April 6, the Federals rallied under Grant’s leadership after receiving reinforemcnts during the night and were able to force the Confederates to retreat back to Corinth, Mississippi the following day. The Shiloh battlefield is one of the best preserved battlefields of the Civil War. We will also be going to Corinth and visiting the Corinth battlefield and visitor’s center. We will be staying in Corinth. We will walk this hollowed ground and cover in detail what happened there. We are taking signups at the meetings.
The Bourbon & BBQ Returns!
Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 19 when the 14th Annual Bourbon & BBQ returns! This year’s theme will be “Tennessee and a Twist of Kentucky: The Election of 1844” with Dr. Mark Cheathem presenting. Master Distiller Chris Morris will conduct the tasting of different expressions of Jack Daniel’s whiskeys. Of course, there will be plenty of BBQ and tasty sides. The cost will be $90 for Round Table Members and $100 for non-members.
Round Table Contributes to the Preservation at Fort Heiman
The Board of Directors of the Louisville Civil War Round Table voted to contribute $2000 to the preservation efforts of The American Battlefield Trust for the preservation efforts at Fort Heiman, KY. The targeted property features significant Civil War earthworks. According to the Trust, “This land is a true gem — its fortifications are a testament to the strategic importance of Ft. Heiman during the Civil War. Let’s seize this opportunity to protect more of this hallowed ground while it’s still possible. This is part of our tradition of preserving Civil War sites especially those in Kentucky.
The Emerging Civil War
Chris Mackowski, who has spoken at our Round Table several times, 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.
Our Mission
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 www.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.