David G. Moore speaks to the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia about "General S. Rosecrans and the Union Victory" on March 8, 2016, at the Fort McNair Officers' Club in Washington D.C.
Questions and answers follow the presentation.
A copy of the PowerPoint to his presentation is by clicking HERE or at available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oK1DKZt_Hh4N5wJuT1ala_LwJt4CM0eA/view
About the Topic:
This meeting we will take a look at the Civil War career of Union General William Starke Rosecrans, also known as "Old Rosy." We will examine his military successes and their contribution to Union victory in the Civil War.
Rosecrans, a product of West Point, won the first major campaign of the war in the 1861 West Virginia campaign. He then went on to victories in northeastern Mississippi in 1862 at Luka and Corinth that enabled U.S. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. As commander of the Army of the Cumberland, Rosecrans opposed CSA General Braxton Bragg in Tennessee at Stones River and in the Tullahoma Campaign. Rosecrans succeeded in driving the Confederates out of middle Tennessee and the city of Chattanooga, a key transportation hub.
These victories set up the battle of Chickamauga. Rosecrans lost that battle to Bragg, though he managed to retreat and retain possession of Chattanooga for the Union. The Confederates occupied the high ground around Chattanooga and Rosecrans' troops found themselves besieged and starving until rescued by Grant. Grant relieved Rosecrans and he was reassigned to command the Department of Missouri. Rosecrans defended Missouri from Confederate invasion in 1864 (Price’s Raid) and ended his Civil War military service there. Old Rosy was highly regarded by his men both during and after the war.
Our speaker will examine why Rosecrans was removed from command four times despite his military successes and delve into the important role politics played in the Civil War. Mr. Moore’s portrait also reveals Rosecrans as a man who promoted many advances in medical care, transportation and cartography; a man interested in engineering as well as theology.
About Our Speaker:
David Moore has been a history guide on the east coast for over 35 years, specializing in the mid-Atlantic area. He calls Washington DC home. Moore’s interest in General Rosecrans came about quite unexpectedly when he stumbled upon Mrs. Rosecrans' grave while searching for the grave of Mary Surratt in Washington's Mt. Olive cemetery. That chance encounter led Mr. Moore to wonder where General Rosecrans is buried. He discovered that Rosecrans was buried in Arlington and learned, or so he thought, from a guidebook about Arlington Cemetery that Lincoln offered Rosecrans the vice presidency in 1864. Mr. Moore later learned that the story was not true, but his interest in Rosecrans was already piqued and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mr. Moore spent more than 20 years researching General Rosecrans' military career. He turned his research into his book, William S. Rosecrans and the Union Victory, published in March 2014. His book is part of the collection of over 100 libraries in the United States, Canada and several countries overseas. In the acknowledgements to his book, Mr. Moore credits the accessibility policy (and the support from a dedicated library staff) at the great network of libraries, public and private, throughout the United States for helping his book become a reality. He also explains how his interest was not so much to describe how the particular battles were fought but their important consequences, which are largely unknown to the American people.
For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, see the Tab above marked "About Us/ Membership Information" or click HERE
