The next program for the First Defenders Civil War Round Table is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th, at the Inn at Reading. President Craig Breneiser will present a program on “The Second Battle of Franklin,” an overview of one of the most overlooked and forgotten engagements of the Civil War. However, the “second battle” is...
The late pioneering broadcaster Paul Harvey produced a continuing series in which he would recount events or describe persons in such a way that you were never quite certain where the story was heading. In the end (after a commercial break), he would finally reveal the subject of his narrative, and sign off with his...
This article first appeared in Atlas Obscura on October 25th, 2018, and was written by Evan Nicole Brown. In modern-day Altavista, Virginia, a town that covers 5 square miles of what was the first English colony in North America, sits the Avoca Museum. The former residence of Colonel Charles Lynch, a politician and American Revolutionary Patriot, it...
The following story was first reported by the Associated Press, and is posted here verbatim and with full attribution. ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — When Paul Davis heard earlier this year that the complete remains of two Civil War soldiers had been uncovered recently at Manassas National Battlefield, mixed among severed limbs in a surgeon’s pit,...
A forthcoming reassessment of James Longstreet and his role at Gettysburg is about to roll off the presses and into bookstores, and early reviews suggest author Cory Pfarr has hit a home run. Pfarr, an American history write hailing from Baltimore, argues that Longstreet’s record has been unfairly discredited. Beginning with Jubal Early, William Pendelton...
The November First Defenders Civil War Roundtable is just two weeks away…November 13th…as we wrap up our appearances by the Emerging Civil War stable of writers and lecturers. Kevin Pawlak, a young and talented historian from northern Virginia, will be presenting a program called “Antietam Endgame,” which will review the three days following the titanic...
On the banks of the Monocacy River bear Frederick, Maryland, an often-overlooked engagement on a hot July 1864 day slowed a Confederate Army bearing down on Washington, D.C. But for that one-day delay, Abraham Lincoln may have been forced from his national capital in full view of the world and, more importantly, the American voters...
It may be one of the most long-standing “myths” of the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg…Richard Ewell flinching on the afternoon of July 1st with the Union Army in full retreat and Robert E. Lee’s exhortation to “take that hill, if practicable” ringing in his ears. Ewell chose to not chance an assault...
The 22nd Campaign of the First Defenders Civil War Round Table is set to begin with its first program on Tuesday September 11th. Check out “Events” for program details featuring one of our most popular speakers, Chris Mackowski. The First Defenders will be returning to the Inn at Reading again this year, and the Inn...
The First Defenders Civil War Round Table and the Berks History Center are excited to announce their joint “Stroll Through History” tours of the historic Charles Evans Cemetery on Saturday, September 15th. Charles Evans Cemetery was founded in 1846 by its namesake, Charles Evans, a prominent local lawyer and philanthropist who desired to establish a...
