lelliott19
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CWT PRESENTER
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Regtl. Staff Chickamauga 2018
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- Mar 15, 2013
Where Would You Like to Go? CWT Member Muster Fall 2023
It's time for the decision-making process for the 2023 CivilWarTalk Member Muster. Since four of the last five events* have been in the Western Theater, it's time to go East! This vote will be for the 2023 CWT Member Muster Event - somewhere in the Eastern Theater. We will vote for the 2024 CWT Member Muster location in November of 2023 and it will be in the Western Theater.
Execution of the annual CWT Member Muster Event is dependent upon a volunteer event Quartermaster stepping up to organize, plan, schedule, and execute the trip. It's a big job, but the event Quartermaster recruits a volunteer event team. The volunteer QM assumes ultimate responsibility for arrangements, schedule, administration; it's a completely volunteer run show!
CWT Member Muster Events have traditionally been relatively low cost events. Each person pays his/her own expenses for travel, hotel, meals, etc. Participants are also responsible for admission fees, house tour fees, museum admissions, proportional part of professional guide services (if used), and such. Sometimes knowledgeable CWT members volunteer to deliver interpretation of parts of the battlefield or off-battlefield vignettes. Once the location is selected, the Quartermaster will be in touch to see who is willing to do interpretation. Lists of sites included at each location are for informational purposes only. Sites and host hotel are subject to change, based on scheduling, availability, input from those planning to attend, and the decisions of the volunteer QM and team
HOW TO VOTE: Choose your favorite - the one you are most likely to attend - and cast your vote. <Poll is at the top of the page>
If you are unlikely to attend any of the proposed locations, please do not vote.
Drummmmmrollllll!
And the choices for 2023 EASTERN THEATER, in no particular order, are:
1) Petersburg - [Headquarters Hotel: Hampton Inn @ Colonial Heights, VA is pet friendly]
This 2,700 acre park contains a 16-stop driving tour which takes visitors through all four units of Petersburg National Battlefield: General Grant's Headquarters at City Point (present day Hopewell), Virginia; The Eastern Front (where the initial assaults and the Battles of the Crater and Fort Stedman occurred); the Western Front, where intense fighting continued as Grant's Army encircled the city struggling to destroy the last of Lee's supply lines; and the Five Forks Battlefield, a battle in which the outcome would eventually lead to the Confederates' retreat to Appomattox.
- Eastern Front Visitor's Center (museum, driving tour including the Battle of the Crater and Fort Stedman)
- Grant's HQ at City Point (museum, gift shop, see where Grant had his HQ during the Battle of Petersburg and where Confederate POW's were sent for exchange)
- Pamplin Historical Park (part of the Petersburg line where the "Breakthrough" occurred on April 2,1865 with preserved Confederate earthworks, complete with redans, picket posts, and military dams, are intact along the battlefield trail system. Some of the best preserved earthworks in the US)
- Fort Gregg
- Five Forks Battlefield
- Poplar Grove National Cemetery
- Blandford Church & Cemetery
2) Shenandoah Valley - Winchester, Cedar Creek, & New Market [Headquarters Hotel: Hampton Inn Winchester North]
The Shenandoah Valley is not only a remarkable Civil War travel destination where you can journey back in time at historic sites, battlefields, and Civil War tours and events; it offers something for every tourist, every family, and every adventurer – and the kind of natural beauty that can take your breath away. The Shenandoah Valley National Historic District is three times larger than the State of Rhode Island and filled with Civil War battlefields, museums, historic sites and self-guided driving tours. The town of Winchester changed hands more than 70 times (!) during the war - more than any other town in the US.
- "Stonewall" Jackson's Headquarters Museum
- Old Town Winchester George Washington's Office Museum and Bell Mansion
- Stonewall Jackson Confederate Cemetery
- Winchester National Cemetery
- 3rd Winchester Battlefield guided tour
- Newly renovated Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum (located in the Old Court House, downtown Winchester)
- Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill Battlefields guided tour
- Belle Grove house tour (a landmark on the Cedar Creek battlefield)
- New Market Battlefield guided tour (VMI Cadets and Field of Lost Shoes)
- The Virginia Museum of the Civil War (at New Market; owned and operated by VMI) & New Market Military Museum
3) The Wilderness and Spotsylvania [Headquarters Hotel: Hampton Inn @ Fredericksburg South]
"I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." Lincoln called on Grant, the newly minted commanding general of the United States Army to deal with Lee in Virginia. Grant determined the Federal army would no longer squander resources attempting to capture and hold enemy territory. Destruction of the Rebel army was now the goal. This is America's battleground, where Grant's Overland Campaign commenced. "Whatever happens, there will be no turning back."
- Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park Visitor's Center
- Fredericksburg battlefield, The Sunken Road & Stone wall, Sgt Richard Kirkland Monument
- Lower Pontoon Crossing & Chatham Manor
- Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery
- Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter & Wilderness Battlefield guided tour
- Central Rappahannock Heritage Center
- Spotsylvania Courthouse, Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter, & Spotsylvania Battlefield guided tour
- Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery
4) Fort Sumter & Charleston SC [Headquarters Hotel: TBA]
The Civil War began in Charleston on April 12, 1861 with the first shots fired upon Fort Sumter from nearby James Island. In the four years that followed, the citizens experienced upheaval, anxiety and loss. Today, visitors can experience the Civil War at places like Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter. The city has expanded greatly but remnants of its various battlefields can still be seen today.
- Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center
- Ferry boat ride
- Fort Sumter National Monument
- Fort Moultrie
- Museum at Market Hall
- HL Hunley (preserved Confederate submarine)
- McLeod Plantation Historic Site, Drayton Hall, Aiken Rhett House, or Old Slave Mart Museum
- James Island
- Charleston Museum
As always, all of these locations have plenty of side-trip options for early arrivals and those staying over! Side trips are determined later and organized separately - after the location is determined and the QM gets his/her team together.
* The past seven CWT Member Muster Events have been held at the following locations/times:
2016 Gettysburg (East) September
2017 Gettysburg (East) August
2018 Chickamauga (West) October
2019 Vicksburg (West) October
2020 Shiloh (West) October
2021 Antietam (East) late October
2022 Murfreesboro/Franklin (West) early October
REMINDER: Choose your favorite - the one you are most likely to attend - and cast your vote. <Poll is at the top of the page>
If you are unlikely to attend any of the proposed locations, please do not vote.
So if you're on the fence about attending a CWT Muster, jump! Jump off the fence and attend one. You won't regret it. Definitely a don't miss, once a year opportunity!
Bringing the