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!
Grant's Next Chapter: Vicksburg, Chattanooga & the Rise of U.S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant had finished one volume of his celebrated memoirs describing the 
aftermath of Vicksburg during the summer of 1863. He would begin the next volume with the Battles for Chattanooga that fall. This editorial narrative transition would coincide with a similar shift in the trajectory of Grant's career, a turning point from winning general to the general who would win the war. As Vicksburg closed out one chapter,
Chattanooga would begin another that would witness the rise of U.S. Grant.
Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., has become on of the most popular and energetic speakers in the modern Civil War community, and is now a favorite of the First Defenders. Kicking off a campaign for the third year in a row, Chris has previously regaled the Round Table with stories about Stonewall Jackson's last days, U.S. Grant's final battle, Richard S. Ewell at Gettysburg and the Battle that Wasn't: the Mine Run Campaign. A professor of journalism at St. Bonaventure University. Editor-in-chief of the popular Emerging Civil War series of current topics, Chris has written numerous books for the ECW library and continues to provide field tours, most especially of the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness & Spotsylvania National Military Park where he actually resides on hallowed ground at Stevenson Ridge.
