I wish to express my sincere are displayed on page 13. gratitude and thanks to Kay For the readers that pleaded to Jorgensen, Beth Godin, Linda Hoyt keep the Civil War News in the sam and bookkeeper Debra Upham for format that it has been since it s all of their years of dedication to as the Civil War Book Exchange Civil War News and making it the 41 years ago, I can assure you tha top Civil War newspaper. A special the Civil War News will continue note of appreciation to both Kay as a newspaper, 11 times a year, and Beth for taking the additional only now in full color. We receive time to help with the content and many wonderful reader suggestions layout of this, our first issue. Their on new column ideas that we will contribution has helped to make this be implementing over the course
transition so much easier. I would of the next few issues. You are ve
also like to thank the advertisers who important to keeping Civil War New
have chosen to continue to support an ongoing periodical and with you
the Civil War News. Without them, suggestions and comments. We
there would be no paper. And finally, value your input and encourage you
I would like to thank the retiring to stay in contact with us with ne
columnists Ron Coddington for his ideas, current topics of interest
Faces of War and Matthew Borowick upcoming events. While we will not
for his column, Round Table Review. be able to please all of the peopl
We will continue our other regular of the time, we will endeavor keep
columns such as Black Powder, the news and reporting as unbiased
White Smoke by Joe Bilby. Of fair and balanced as it has been i
Bonekemper III and the book review Originally, Kay and I discussed contributors will continue to provide my idea for transitioning Civil Wa
the same level of quality book News to a glossy magazine called reviews in each issue. Civil War Battles and Commanders. I also want to thank all of the The negative response to that idea
the time to complete our reader receiving mail and phone calls fro
than we expected. It took two full contacted Kay to discuss the idea days to open, read and document of keeping the Civil War News each response. For those who are in its original newspaper format. interested, the results of the survey We must have received no less
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transitioned into a magazine. We no can say, without any reservations, that the decision to keep Civil War News has been very well received. We are very proud and happy to have the opportunity to keep this f publication running in its original format and to provide the readers with the same up to date news on the very topics that are so loved, calendar of events, the book review and of course reenacting and living history coverage as well. Thank you again, for your dedication, participation and suppo
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--Brenda Waters Selected as New Superintendent of Stones River National Battlefield. ATLANTA – National Park Service Southeast Regional Director Stan Austin recently announced the selection of Brenda M. Waters as the new superintendent of Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Waters is
currently the superintendent of the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati, Ohio,
the Midwest Region of the National Park Service.
“We are pleased to welcome Brenda to the Southeast Region. She is a skilled and talented leader wi an extensive knowledge of natural resources and strong appreciation for cultural resources,” Austin said. “Battlefields are places of tremendous historic importance but the value of their natural environs is often overlooked. Brenda’s background has well prepared her
to lead in the preservation of both the historic and natural resources Stones River National Battlefield.” “With the rich history, special resources, moving stories, and enormous potential for partnerships at the Stones River National Battlefield and National Cemetery,
I am honored by this opportunity to help preserve and protect the park’ resources and to welcome all visito to experience the park,” Waters sai “This is a wonderful time to be part of the National Park Service;
I am excited to become part of the Murfreesboro community and to work with the park’s dedicated staf partners, and friends who care for this special place.” Link To News Release - http:// w w w. n p s . g ov / s t r i / l e supt2016.htm
The List In 1991, the United States Congress created the Civil War Site Advisory Commission (CWSAC) and tasked it with identifying America’s “most important” Civil War battlefields. Two years later, 15-member commission published its report, listing 384 “principal battles” which it ranked according to their military importance as a f step toward preserving these histor sites for future generations. It was a good beginning. For nea
three decades, the commission’s recommendations have helped shape
Battle of Brown’s Mill, near Newnan and the Battle of Sunshine Church, near Clinton, went unnoticed. Both battles had a profound impact on th course of the Atlanta campaign, yet neither is on “the list.” As Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached Atlanta in the summer of 1864, he had no intention of laying siege to the city. Sieges took time and for a variety of personal, mili and political reasons Sherman was eager to win a quick victory.
With that in mind, he sent his entire cavalry corps, nearly 10,000 men, riding south on July 27 on
what promised to be one of the most daring mounted raids of the war.
Two columns of blue-coated cavalrymen, led by Brig. Gen. Edward M. McCook and Maj. Gen. George Stoneman, quietly slipped behind the Confederate lines. Their orders: rendezvous at Lovejoy’s Station, 20 miles south of Atlanta; cut the two vital railroads that fe and supplied the Confederate army defending the city; then continue south, to liberate 30,000 Union
prisoners of war being held at Andersonville. The resulting chaos would compel the Confederates to either retreat or come out of their trenches and risk everything on the outcome of a pitched battle, a battle Sherman wa
confident he could win. Learning Sherman’s horsemen were on the move, Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler spurred after them. Outnumbered and outgunned, his relentless pursuit of the raide
reads like a script straight out of John Ford movie. After a grueling 60-mile chase, Wheeler’s exhausted tro overtook McCook’s column near Newnan on July 30 and won a stunning victory at the Battle of Brown’s Mill. The next day, one of his subordinates, Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, compelled Stoneman to
surrender after a hard-fought battl at Sunshine Church, near Clinton. In less than 24 hours, these two clashes completely changed the complexion of the Atlanta Campaign.
Instead of winning the quick victor Sherman hoped for, this abortive raid, which Joe Wheeler called “the most stupendous cavalry operation of war,” left more than 3,200 Union troopers killed, wounded, or missin
at Andersonville, many became prisoners themselves, including General Stoneman, the highestranking Union officer captured during the war. The loss of so many men and so many horses forced Sherman to adopt new tactics. With his cavalry crippled and his infantry bogged down in front of Atlanta’s formidab defenses, he reluctantly began a siege, the very thing he had hoped to avoid. For the next three weeks,
shells rained down on Atlanta as Sherman began an around-the-clock
Commissioners took steps to ensure the preservation of the Brown’s Mill battlefield. Using Georgia Community Greenspace Program funds and an appropriation from the Georgia General Assembly, the county purchased 104 acres of the core battlefield. Even though Brown’s Mill is not on CWSAC’s “list,” the Civil War Preservation Trust recognized it in 2004 as one of America’s most endangered battlefields.
Concerned citizens formed the Brown’s Mill Battlefield Associatio This 501(c)(3) organization now has a rare opportunity to acquire 6 additional acres of the battlefield
but these efforts have been severel hampered because Brown’s Mill is not on CWSAC’s 1ist. This makes it ineligible for gra from the American Battlefield Protection Program and the Land and Water Conservation Fund because, over the years, “Priority is given battlefields listed on the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites
Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields.” In other words, if a battlefield not on “the list,” it is not consid for federal grants. Other funding sources, both public and private, a tend to ignore any application from
site that is not on “the list.” This slavish adherence to “the l makes the already challenging task of historic preservation even more difficult because, unintentionally not, it robs lesser-known Civil War
sites of the credibility so necessa to secure proper recognition and scarce preservation funding. This could have been remedied in 2002, when Congress made the American Battlefield Protection Program, an agency of the National Park Service, responsible for updating and revising the original CWSAC report, but this was not
done. According to Georgia Battlefield Association president Ch Crawford, “When Con chartered the update to the 1993
report, it mandated that only the sites already in the report could be included. Thus, the ABPP staff couldn’t add any sites, though they freely acknowledge that some are