The talk will be led by Paul Brueske
Location: Connolly’s 14 East 47th Street NYC.
The meeting will be held on Monday, December 8th, which doesn't leave much time for you to make your reservation with Ann Plogsterth (see contact info below). BUT... this December meeting will be held at a completely new location for the CWFMNY! Draught 55 is not available to us during the pre-Christmas rush of holiday parties in NY, so we'll be heading to a great place, one where we held a recent CWF Board Meeting so we could check the place out, Connolly's Restaurant and Pub, https://www.connollyspubandrestaurant.com/ . We will be meeting at their midtown Branch, which is at 14 East 47th Street, NY NY where we will be in a private dining room located in the rear, past the wonderfully lively bar! Note: Since they have two locations, make sure you go to their East 47th Street Midtown Branch!
And this meeting really has to be a strong showing by the CWF membership! To reserve any night in December, at just about anywhere we looked, we must guarantee a minimum turnout of 25 people, yes, TWENTY-FIVE! That means that the CWFMNY will have to PAY Connally's for an attendance of twenty five people for the meeting and dinner even if fewer than that number show up for the meeting! So please go to work on your Holiday Calendar now, and try to set Monday, Dec 8th, aside to attend our Holiday meeting, or we will be paying Connally's for all the empty seats and leftover food!
Our speaker for this meeting, Paul Brueske, comes to us all the way from the University of South Alabama, where he combines my two favorite pursuits, namely Track and Field (he is the University's T&F Coach!) and Civil War Scholarship! Yes, he is the University's Track and Field Coach, not a History Professor! Hmmmm... I wonder what he would say about Henry Halleck's "blazingly fast" march while leading the Union Army at a "speed" of three miles per day in the Siege of Corinth, from April to May of 1862?!?
He's pictured here with one of his two books on the Civil War in the Mobile Alabama area, an area that General Grant considered to be of great importance in ending the war, since its fall would eliminate a vital Confederate logistical center and put one of the final nails in the coffin of the Confederacy. It is titled "Digging All Night and Fighting All Day": The Civil War Siege of Spanish Fort and the Mobile Campaign of 1865." His other book on the war-ending activities in the Mobile area is "The Last Siege: The Mobile Campaign, Alabama 1865".
You'll notice the two mentions of the year 1865. While we all know that Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at the Battle of Appomattox ended the civil war in Virginia in April of 1865, the last siege of the war was actually the Mobile (AL) campaign, expertly covered by Paul, which is an often-overlooked battle that was crucial to securing a complete Union victory. In fact the final surrender of Confederate forces actually happened in the state of Alabama, in May of 1865, which was news to me after my 40 year long study of the Civil War! So Paul's presentation will be on a combination of the material contained in both books, an overall presentation covering The 1865 Mobile Campaign. You'll have to admit, it is pretty rare for us to have an entirely new portion of the CW presented to us after 16 years of CWFMNY meetings!
This meeting will be held, as stated above, on Monday, Dec 8th, at Connolly's Restaurant and Pub Midtown Branch, at 14 East 47th Street, NY NY. We will return to our usual 6:00 PM start, and I'm sure Connolly's would be happy to help quench your thirst with a pay bar from 5:30 PM if you arrive early. Please note: Besides the CWF having to guarantee payment for at least 25 people for this meeting, the cost of the meeting plus dinner will be $65 per person instead of our usual $60 cost at D55.
So, if you plan to attend, please contact Ann Plogsterth at plogsterth@aol.com, or at 212-877-6814. And don't be bashful about this one... bring your family and friends and start celebrating the holidays a bit early with them!
Finally, since Draught 55 has left us having to scurry to find a replacement location for our meetings several times now, we are also considering adding a new location for some or all of our future meetings. So please consider providing your comments, to me by email or to any CWFMNY Officer at the meeting, regarding how you feel about Connolly's as a possible "home". I believe the Lincoln Group of NY will also be checking them out for their December meeting, one week before us.