“Tough Minded Leadership on the Part of the Union”. Villa Moscone
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, June 24, at Villa Mosconi. Our speaker will be Hamish Lutris, who last spoke to the Forum in October 2023, on the subject of the New York Civil War Draft Riots. It was a very popular and well received presentation.
Hamish is an Associate Professor of History at Manchester Community. He has a Masters in History and is well known for the many exceptionally engaging classes he has taught over the years, presenting programs on wide-ranging historical topics such as Native American History, the Civil War, Scientific History, Social and Cultural History, the World Wars, and the American West. He also worked as an Interpretive Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park as well as at other premier American historical sites, and he has even led hiking and historical programs in Alaska and other far flung locales! And as much as he is a student of all these topics, he is just as much a student of how to present them, especially to audiences of different and mixed ages, adding invaluably to his effectiveness and success as a speaker.
The subject for his June 24th presentation carries this interesting title:
"You'll Take Dinner in Hell": Leadership in the Far West Campaign of 1862".
It entails a discussion of the Confederate Army's ill-fated attempt to bring a force to Colorado in 1862, led by Confederate General Henry Sibley,
hoping to take over the extensive and newly discovered mineral deposits in the area, as well as establishing a staging area for the Confederates to eventually take California and its new-found gold. The Union forces opposing him were led by Generals Edward Canby and James Carelton,
General Edward Canby
General James Carleton
who were assisted by the much better known Indian scout Kit Carson in leading a vaillant defense of the American West. During the fighting one of the Texan Confederates is said to have yelled to the attacking Union soldiers that "You'll take dinner in hell!!!", a line reminiscent of one shouted to his outnumbered but courageous Spartan army by King Leonidas in the movie "300" during the Battle of Thermopylae, "Tonight we dine in hell!". But just as at Thermopylae in 480 BC, the Confederate attackers had neither the manpower nor the artillery to make their words stick, and the Union successfully ended their threat. This was clearly one of the lesser-known theatres of the Civil War, but one which Hamish believes deserves more attention, especially from historians interested in leadership in the Civil War.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 24th, in Villa Mosconi, at 69 MacDougal St, NY NY. The meeting will begin at 6:00PM sharp with a pay bar available from 5:30PM. Please help us to help the restaurant staff to prepare the right amount of food and the best seating arrangement by stating your intention to attend as early as you can. The person to contact is once again Richard Asaro. So if you plan to attend, please contact Richard as soon as possible at RichardAsaro1947@verizon.net, or by phone at 718-894-2946.