BONPS Fall Newsletter

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2nd Lieutenant
Honored Fallen Comrade
Dear Members and Friends,
Welcome to our Fall Newsletter.
We have had a busy year internally. We have started an overhaul of our non-profit to adapt to changing times. We have added many new directors and we have completely revamped our website, added lots of new material for reading and research and continued our never-ending quest to improve both Shy's Hill and Redoubt 1. Two new mountain howitzers have been added to the Shy's Hill property placed near where the Confederate guns were captued by U.S. forces on December 16, 1864. We are really excited about our property upgrades and new technologies and our website traffic continues to grow toward 1.5 million visitors.
On December 8, 2019 we will hold our Annual Symposium at Fort Negley and the details are below. Last year was sold out and we anticipate another overflow crowd this year so please register as soon as possible.
Nationally known Civil War expert and blogger, John Banks, has joined our Board. Please take a moment to read about him below. I promise you will enjoy his blog and fascinating stories.
In the face of a quickly changing national history, as well as decreased visitation to our major national battlefield parks, I want to assure you that we are adapting to change through better technology, better public information and we will be adding more programs for the next calendar year.
We greatly appreciate those who have renewed their dues and those who have made monetary contributions during the year to keep us moving forward and to enhance our battlefield sites.
Thank you for your support,
James D. Kay, Jr. ~ President
December 8, 2019

BONPS TO HOST WIDE-RANGING SEMINAR AT FT. NEGLEY


The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society will hold a Civil War seminar at Fort Negley Visitors Center in Nashville, TN beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 8, 2019.

This seminar is free and open to all current members of local or national history groups, museums, etc. including Civil War Roundtables, BONPS, Sons of Union Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Historic Nashville, and local and national preservation groups. Non-members are welcome and can attend by joining BONPS and paying the membership fee ($20 individual, or $25 family) on this site, or at the door.

Please note: Seating is limited so you are requested to register as soon as possible by contacting the event coordinator, Ellen D. McClanahan (edmcclanahan79@gmail. com). A light lunch will be provided.

The topics and speakers are as follows:

1. “Col. Bill Shy, The Man And Myth”: Jim Kay, President of BONPS, and well known historian and expert on the Battle of Nashville, will present this fascinating topic. It will cover the Commander of the 20th Tenn. at Shy’s Hill, this officer’s life, his death on the hill that bears his name, and his fascinating postmortem history reaching into the late 1970’s and beyond. Jim Kay is a distinguished Nashville attorney, mediator and arbitrator who began his fascination with the Civil War when he was a youth. Graduating from Auburn University in 1982 and obtaining a J.D. in 1985 at Washington & Lee University, Jim resides with his family on the actual battlefield in close proximity to a Confederate battery position on the 2nd day of the battle of Nashville. He has served as a contributor/researcher on multiple films and books including James Lee McDonough’s Nashville -The Western Confederacy’s Final Gamble (The University of Tennessee Press, 2004); and Dennis w. Belcher’s The 11th Missouri Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011); Jim was the Executive Producer of the film, The Life and Times of Ed Bearss, Road Films (2015). He has written the forward to The Cavalries in the Nashville Campaign by Dennis Belcher to be released in 2020. He is a frequent lecturer on early Nashville and preservation of the Nashville battlefield.

2. “Confederate Privateers; How A Tiny Irregular Navy Shaped The Entire War”:

Kent Wright of Huntsville, Alabama will discuss a little-known topic and will address the most ignored questions of the greatest American conflict – why the war became so large so fast and last so long. Privateers, Jefferson Davis’ “militia of the seas”, shocked the entire world forcing John Bull and Uncle Sam to make instant decisions impacting every industrial nation and expanding the war into an international conflict. Kent will explore two swift proclamations by the warring governments – privateering and blockading. Ft. Sumter may have been a footnote to a minor internal rebellion but for its international expansion on the seas. Kent is a veteran of the nuclear navy and a mechanical engineering graduate of Iowa State University. In his presentations, he combines his technical experience in steam power with his passion for naval history. His perspective is not on only about warfare on the oceans, but upon all bodies of water, the rivers and bays in home waters and overseas as well as the impact by and upon foreign policy in the War for Southern Independence. Kent has, through years of research, uncovered many astonishing facts which may change your mind about Civil War naval history, national legitimacy issues and international policies.

3. “War, Memory, and the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion”: Thomas R. Flagel is an associate professor of history at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee and is a prolific author. His latest work discussing the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion (The Kent State University Press, 2019) examines how individual veterans viewed the reunion, what motivated them to attend, how they acted and reacted once they arrived, and whether these veterans found what they were personally seeking. His book doesn’t concentrate on the speeches given at the event but the actual veterans and focuses on four veteran attendees who came to the reunion for different and very individual reasons. Tom has degrees from Loras College, Kansas State University, Creighton University, and holds a Doctorate from Middle Tennessee State University. He has also studied at the University of Vienna. He has worked with various historic preservation groups including the Civil War Trust and the National Park Service. One of his works, The History Buff’s Guide to the Civil War (Cumberland House Publishing, An Imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., 2003) is a must read. Above all else, Tom is a dynamic teacher!

4. “Cavalry”: Myers Brown, II is a well-known local historian who presents on multiple periods, including the American Civil War and the War of 1812. He will present a topic on Civil War cavalry, the precise topic as of this date, not provided. Myers has had a previous affiliation with the Joseph A. Wheeler home in Alabama, the Tennessee State Museum (Curator of Extension Services) and other historical groups. He has lectured on various aspects of cavalry and operations and has presented his display of what a typical trooper would carry and utilize, from saddles, bits, horse furniture, and weapons to their uniforms. He has re-enacted for various periods. He is a published author. He is the author of Tennessee’s Union Cavalrymen and, with the Tennessee State Museum, Images of America, Tennessee’s Confederates (Arcadia Publishing, South Carolina, 2011).
MEET ONE OF YOUR NEW DIRECTORS
John Banks is author of two published books on the Civil War: Connecticut Yankees at Antietam and Hidden History of Connecticut Union Soldiers, which feature profiles of soldiers and others. His work has been featured in such notable publications as The New York Times, Civil War Times, Civil War Monitor, Civil War News, America's Civil War and Military Images. Banks, who attended Mount Lebanon (Pa.) High School, graduated from West Virginia University (B.A. in journalism). A longtime journalist (The Dallas Morning News and ESPN), he is secretary-treasurer of The Center for Civil War Photography and a board member of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation as well as The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, Inc. See his fantastic blog here: john-banks.blogspot.com
 
Awesome thank you for the info! Nashville is on my bucket list so i will have to check it out when the trip is planned!


Enjoy,
Bill
 

Enjoy,
Bill

Thank you Bill... Great Photos & Thank You I lost a few of mine ...

Depending on time frame start south of Columbia -as you have the Grave of Sam Watkins, St. Johns church , Battle of Columbia, Grave of Jon C Carter... SCV Elm Springs, plenty of homes to visit be it roadside or inside homes … and road side markers to and from as they retreated from Nashville … More markers and places open than before … Since I was there and the same time you where there 2015 I believe ... Live just west of Nashville about a hr. away from franklin as I'm closer to 840

And its been ages since there but its a calling

I use visit once or twice a year
 
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