Tag: Author: Peter Holman

The (Secret) Life and Letters of General George Gordon Meade

By Major General George Gordon Meade
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2007, 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: In the more than 100 years since his decease, the General has been busy reconstructing from memory his secret, lost letters which shed new light on topics of great interest to the members of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable. He currently is living in Bloemfontein South Africa working on a complimentary biography of General D. E. Sickles (decs’d).

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‘Too Small for a Republic…Too Large for a Lunatic Asylum’

The Confederacy Was NOT a Viable State.

By Peter Holman
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: The subject of the annual Dick Crews Debate at the January 2008 Roundtable meeting was: “The Southern Victory of 1865: Was the Confederacy a Viable State?” Five members made presentations on the topic; the article below was one of those five presentations.

After the order of secession had passed the South Carolina legislature in December 1860, the old anti-nullification attorney James L Petigru was asked if he would now, at last, support his native state. “I should think not!” he replied. “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for a lunatic asylum!” And that, despite the fantastical notions we discuss tonight, is the key to answering the question – was the Confederacy a viable state following their victory of 1865?

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Five Hundred Dead and a Hoax that Lives On

By Peter Holman
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2015, All Rights Reserved

One hundred and forty years ago, a man hailed as a modern Robinson Crusoe made a brief appearance in newspapers across the world and continues today to impact genealogists, historical societies and miscellaneous bloggers throughout the world-wide web. And he was, with all moral certainty, long dead.

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An Uncivil War: General George G. Meade & the Pennsylvania Reserves in Northern Virginia, October 9 to December 6, 1861

By Peter Holman
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2004, All Rights Reserved

When the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861 was telegraphed to Michigan, Captain George Gordon Meade of the U.S. Topographical Bureau anticipated early relief from the remote duty of surveying northern lakes and a return to the true business of the soldier – warfare.

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A Brief Sketch of the Life and Death of Lt. Simeon W. Cummings

By Peter Holman
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

The Confederate raider CSS Alabama put in at Saldanha Bay in the Cape Colony (Western Cape in present day South Africa), 160 sea miles northwest of Cape Town on July 29th 1863. Captain Rafael Semmes’ vessel was desperately in need of repairs and he seized the opportunity to recaulk and paint the Alabama. Small parties of men and officers also made good use of the time to go ashore to hunt birds and other small game, often guided by local farmers.

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