The Tampa Bay Civil War Round Table Bugle Call

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VOLUME 1; NUMBER 3&4 MARCH & APRIL 2018 President: Jack Bolen Vice President : Scott Peeler Treasurer: Jay Ferris The Tampa Bay Civil War Round Table Bugle Call Thoughts from the President I am very

The entrance is on the back side of the building between the parking lots. Palm Avenue is located between SR 60 (Adamo Drive) and I 4.

The rooms are first class and comfortable. Please remember, we have moved our meeting time to 6:30. Your Board is working hard to schedule outstanding speakers.

1 VOLUME 1; NUMBER 3&4 MARCH & APRIL 2018 President: Jack Bolen Vice President : Scott Peeler Treasurer: Jay Ferris The Tampa Bay Civil War Round Table Bugle Call Thoughts from the President I am very excited about our new meeting place at the Children s Board. This is a new, standalone building located at 1002 E. Palm Avenue. We have free parking in 2 gated parking lots. The entrance is on the back side of the building between the parking lots. Palm Avenue is located between SR 60 (Adamo Drive) and I 4. It is a four lane street and the traffic is very light by the time we gather. They have several meeting rooms and reserve them according to the number of attendees we are expecting. The rooms are first class and comfortable. Please remember, we have moved our meeting time to 6:30. Your Board is working hard to schedule outstanding speakers. Last meeting we heard about the war around Tampa Bay. Our speaker was Dr. Angela Zombeck, Assistant Professor of History at St. Petersburg College. It was a great talk. Dr. Zombeck has just published a book, Penitentiaries, Punishment and Military Prisons: Familiar Responses to an Extraordinary Crisis during the American Civil War. The book is available from Kent State University Press and Amazon. I encourage you to check it out. Cost is $45.00 from either source. Jack You are invited to submit information or articles to be included in our Newsletter. These can be anything you feel will be of interest to our membership. They must be submitted by the 12 th of each month. They must be in the form of an attachment that can be copied completely into the newsletter without having to be retyped. Please remember, we are non-partisan and non-political. Submit your information to Jim Weiss jimweiss@verizon.net

2 At the April 25, 2018 meeting of the TBCWRT, Dr. Angie Zombek, currently Assistant Professor of History at St. Petersburg College, was our guest speaker. The title of her presentation was: Secessionists & Union Sympathizers: Tampa Bay during the Civil War Era Dr. Zombek gave a brief history of both the lighthouse on Egmont Key and also the settlement of the Tampa area. She pointed out that at the outbreak of the Civil War, Tampa s population was only about 300 people. Of these, probably were Union sympathizers. She also shared a few humorous, but exactly flattering, appraisals of 1861 Tampa by reporters form New York City newspapers who were onboard Union navy ships. In addition, she described the blockade duties of the US Navy and the capture of several blockade runners. She discussed the occupation of Egmont Key by the Union navy in July When the navy temporarily left the Key a short time later, Confederate sympathizers from Tampa returned and stole the lens and other equipment from the lighthouse. Not until May 1865 was this equipment found, and not until June 1866 was the lighthouse back in operation. Dr. Zombek also talked about how Egmont Key became a refugee camp for Union sympathizers of the area. Also, by 1863, there were approximately 200 runaway slaves seeking refuge on Egmont Key. With little food or water available on the Key, these refugees were reliant on the Union Navy for supplies, in addition to protection. Lastly, Dr. Zombek discussed the failed June 1862 assault on Tampa, the October 1863 raid that resulted in the burning of the salt works and two blockade runners, and the occupation of Tampa by the US Navy late in the war. By that time, Tampa had been mostly abandoned. It was an excellent presentation and very much enjoyed by those in attendance. Beginning in August 2018, Dr. Zombek will be Assistant Professor of Civil War History at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Her book, Penitentiaries, Punishment, and Military Prisons: Familiar Responses to an Extraordinary Crisis during the American Civil War (Kent State University Press), will be released in June 2018 and will be available on Amazon and through Kent State University Press. We at the TBCWRT would like to thank her for a very educational and entertaining evening, and wish her all the best in her new position. Congratulations to Jim Weiss for being recognized by the Tampa Bay History Center as the recipient of their Distinguished Volunteer Award for Jim attended the 2009 groundbreaking for the History Center s current location. He has been busy helping them ever since. They cited Jim for amassing well over 1,500 volunteer hours. He is also involved in various activities at the Center. Jim is a founding member of our Round Table. He served several years as our first Treasurer. Jim has been our liaison with the History Center scheduling our meeting rooms, arranging free inside parking and many other things. He was instrumental in arranging for our March meeting with Dr. Richard Banz. Recently, he agreed to put together our Newsletter. He has been a wise counselor on our Board. Thank you, Jim. Congratulations, Jim. Well deserved!

3 Shiloh Quiz (Answers found in another place in this newsletter.) How old was Grant at Shiloh? What was the name of Grant s Army? What was the name of Johnston s Army? What famous future Confederate commander was in charge of Johnston s Second Corps? What recent vice-president of the United States commanded a Confederate corps at Shiloh? What was the name of the mongrel mascot of the 6th Iowa Regiment at Shiloh? CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL PARK SATURDAY 28 APRIL :00 a.m. The day was perfect - clear blue sky with a temperature in the low 70 s with just a slight breeze. God was definitely smiling on us and was pleased with our gathering. The ceremony was hosted by the Augusta Jane Evans Wilson Chapter #2640 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Judah P. Benjamin Camp #2210 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. About 40 people were in attendance. The opening ceremony consisted of welcoming remarks by Benjamin Camp Commander David McCallister, an invocation by Benjamin Camp Chaplain David Munson Chestnut, and the posting of the colors by the Benjamin Camp Color Guard and the Plant City Commandery #6 (Masonic) Color Guard. This was followed by the singing of our National Anthem, the Old Folks at Home, and Dixie. The key note speaker was Dr. James Rodgers Armitage with comments on Masons and the Confederacy. The highlight of the ceremony was the unveiling of a new memorial marker in the Confederate Memorial Park on Fraternal Confederates commemorating the Masons who fought for the Confederacy during the War Between the States. After the key note address, a Roll of Honor observance was conducted. Thirty-two Confederate veteran s names were called and the sponsoring individual for each veteran placed a red rose on the Memorial Wreath in the veterans honor. It was a beautiful moment of remembrance. The ceremony closed with a benediction given by Ms. Ann Barnes Baron, Chaplain of the Wilson Chapter of the UDC. It was a perfect day and the ceremony was honorable, solemn, and breathtaking. I was honored to have attended and to pay homage to my own Confederate ancestor. From the field, Spike Speicher TBCWRT

Professor Frank Sez Many people are under the impression that April 12, 1861 was the beginning of the American Civil War, but for many, particularly in the three states of Kansas, Missouri and South

4 Professor Frank Sez Many people are under the impression that April 12, 1861 was the beginning of the American Civil War, but for many, particularly in the three states of Kansas, Missouri and South Carolina, that monumental event began much earlier. For the western states of Missouri and Kansas, actual problems, even killings, started in the late 1850's as Kansas was making a sincere bid to become a state within the United States. The state of Missouri had become a state in 1821, fully 30 years before the Civil War started. In a series of complicated political stands, Congress, in Washington, D.C., had allowed Missouri to become a slave state, making the institution of slavery legal within its borders. Meanwhile groups of concerned citizens all over the country were concerned that Missouri's neighboring territory, Kansas, would also be allowed to enter statehood as a slave owner's state. Those citizens, some violently against the advancement of slavery, called abolitionists, (wishing to abolish slavery) began to take active participation in assuring themselves that slavery would not be allowed in the next state. Supposedly peaceful citizens from the New England area, began to ship aide to their Kansas counterparts who did not wish to see slavery expanded into the central north, west of the Mississippi River. That aide was in the form of large boxes which were labeled as simply BIBLES - aiding those citizens philosophical assistance with the word of the Lord. Many of the crates came from The Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a Connecticut born Calvinist Minister who was preaching at the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. He had grown interested in social reform, particularly the abolitionist movement. In the years leading up to the Civil War and statehood, he raised money to purchase slaves from captivity and to send rifles nicknamed "Beecher's Bibles" to abolitionists fighting in Kansas and Nebraska. Thus the Spencer Rifle became known at "Beecher's Bibles." Most Kansans, under such leadership of fellow abolitionists such as Kansans James Henry Lane, born in Indiana and John Brown born in Connecticut, were desperate to stop the expansion of slave states anywhere and certainly in their newly chosen new home. Raids into Missouri by the Kansans, called "Jayhawkers" or "Red Legs," burning and pillaging towns and villages such as Oseola, Missouri as well as hacking to death slave owners within the future state of Kansas, made it, by the time Fort Sumter was fired on in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, obvious to both residents of Missouri and Kansas that there would indeed be a war. On January 29, 1861, Kansas became the country's 34th state. This almost assured a type of war in the oncoming Civil War that would be far more brutal, bloody and destructive than any of the other states involved. The state of South Carolina was also an area within the country that anticipated the coming of the most destructive event in our nation's history. In August of 1831, an African slave, named Nat Turner, led an uprising or revolt which, in just a few days resulted in the death of well over 50 slave owning whites in Southampton County. Turner was eventually hung and the "amiable relationships" between slaves and whites were destroyed. Another revolt was anticipated within the state and when Kansas's John Brown attacked the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, (1859) war was discussed in private homes as well as in the Congress of the United States. Name calling and even beatings took place. There would be war, but when?

The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 6:30 at The Children's Board of Hillsborough County Building located at 1002 East Palm Ave., Tampa, FL 33605.

6 The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 6:30 at The Children's Board of Hillsborough County Building located at 1002 East Palm Ave., Tampa, FL Our guest speaker will be Gordon Balme, President of the Sarasota Civil War Round Table. The topic will be Confederate Postmaster General, John H Reagan. Gordon Balme is originally from Rhode Island. He was a candidate as a pitcher for the Major Leagues until his career was derailed by an injury. Baseball and the Civil War are hot topics for him. Gordon has been the President of the Sarasota Civil War Round Table for many years. Their website is: sarsotacwrt.yolasite.com Answers to Shiloh Quiz: 1. Thirty-nine. 2. Army of Tennessee/Army of Mississippi. 3. Braxton Bragg. 4. John C. Breckenridge. 5. Jeff Davis. If you got all five questions right, let us know at the next meeting and you will win a special prize.

"Whence shall we expect the approach of danger, shall some transatlantic giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe

"Whence shall we expect the approach of danger, shall some transatlantic giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia could not by force take a drink from the Ohio