Musters – Events
The First Defenders meet at 6:30 PM on the second Tuesday of each month from September through May. Meetings include dinner and a speaker who may be a guest or a member. Beginning in September 2020, meetings will be held at Giannotti’s Country Restaurant on Pricetown Road in Alsace Manor, and will also be provided virtually for members who are unable to attend due to COVID-19 concerns.
A book raffle is held each month with all proceeds donated to battlefield preservation, and beginning in 2020 members will have the opportunity to participate even if they cannot attend a program.
Guests and new members are welcome. Space is limited in the restaurant, so please contact a board member or the First Defenders by email (see the Regimental Staff page).
MEMBERS ONLY! Sign up to attend the upcoming event!
From Kirby's Kingdom: Ramifications from the Trans-Mississippi in 1864
featuring Phillip Greenwalt
The pivotal Red River Campaign in the Trans-Mississippi theater was fought by Union General Nathaniel Banks' army with naval support from 
Admiral David Porter's flotilla against Confederate General Richard Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana. Largely eclipsed by events east of the Mississippi River, the fighting along the Red River and bayous of western Louisiana had an adverse impact on Union grand strategy in 1864. What transpired resulted in a tactical Confederate victory that was nullified due to command issues and competing visions within the high command. The ramifications of only limited success would reverberate across the Confederacy to as far as the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1864.
Phillip S. Greenwalt is co-founder of Emerging Revolutionary War and the 
Emerging Revolutionary War Series as well as a full-time contributor to Emerging Civil War. He is the co-author of three volumes of the Emerging Civil War series and two volumes of the inaugural Emerging Revolutionary War series. Phill has a graduate degree in American History from George Mason University and a bachelor's in history from Wheeling Jesuit University. He is currently a Supervisory Park Ranger for Everglades National Park, and is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.
