760 Jim Wright Freeway
White Settlement, TX 76108
USA
Texas Civil War Museum
Summer 17 Speaker Series
JULY 2017
FREE
Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. in Museum Theater
(Fee for entrance to museum galleries)
Saturday, July 1 Presenter: John Eden
“Battle Between the Merrimac/Virginia and the Monitor”
The Northern-built Merrimack, a conventional steam frigate, had been salvaged by the Confederates and rechristened the Virginia. Redesigned, a masterpiece of improvisation resembled “a floating barn roof.” The Union ironclad, Monitor, was called a “Yankee Cheese Box on a raft” but represented an entirely new concept of naval design. Thus the stage was set for the dramatic naval battle of March 9,1862 with crowds of Union and Confederate supporters watching from the decks of nearby vessels and shores. This program concentrates on the Battle of the “Monitor” and the “Merrimac”(C.S. Virginia). Emphasis is placed on the formation of the Confederate Navy and the structure of both of these ironclad gunboats. History’s first ironclad warship duel marked the beginning of a new era for naval warfare.
Saturday, July 8 Presenter: Company E, 15th Texas Cavalry
Living History on the front lawn
Are you hot in those wool uniforms? Life of the soldier will be presented from 10:00 to 4:00. Throughout the day, soldiers will drill, present firing demonstrations and be available to answer questions about life in the ARMY during the Civil War. (The answer is yes)
Saturday, July 8 Presenter: Bertram Hayes-Davis
“The Flight, Capture and Legacy of Jefferson Davis”
150 years to the day, Bert Hayes-Davis follows the path that lead to the capture of his ancestor, Jefferson Davis. Reviewing and reliving April 2 – May 10, 1865 he found profound comparisons in today and 150 years ago—and perhaps as many questions as answers. Too often Davis’s life is only 4 years—but there were 77 other years in a life of public service. Though intimate family insight we will learn the Legacy of Jefferson Davis.
Saturday, July 15 Presenter: Diane Dyess
“Symbolism in Victorian Cemeteries”
There is a language resting with our dead that speaks all of its own. It begins in the 1600s with “skull and bones” on tablets and morphs to angelic cherubs over the 200 year span. A headstone, like history, is more than names and dates. It is more than history, it is art, heritage, culture, and sacred. This lecture will provide you with the knowledge to understand who and what you are seeing when you visit the final resting places of your ancestors.
Saturday, July 22 Presenter: Joe Walker Ask an Expert from 10:00-3:00
“ Southern Songster”
A costumed docent performs a variety of banjo music featuring songs, which were popular of the era, camp songs, marches and ditties sung by both the North and the South. Tidbits about the songs are presented to help understand the meaning behind each as well as the importance of music to the soldiers and the role of the musician. It is sure to be a very entertaining way to spend an afternoon.
Saturday, July 29 Presenter: Jack Dyess
“Forgotten Civil War Battles in Texas”
This program discusses the geographical distribution of the Comanche and the old men, young boys and women who desperately fought to prevent the destruction of Texas by the Comanche while the men of military age were fighting in the Civil War. Fort Worth was the western edge of white settlement and the Comanche Moon was not just a good title for a love song. Civil War books are filled with the horrors that effected civilians east of the Mississippi by the invading Federal army, but there were concerns equally as horrid right here in Texas, the vanguard of the CSA.
