Our speaker "Kicking off the New Year" will be former member Robert (Bert) Dunkerly, who is currently a Park Ranger at Appomattox. Bert will discuss the closing battles of the Civil War at not only Appomattox, but also at Greensboro. Bert is a Revolutionary War scholar as well and his book, Redcoats on the River (Dram Tree Publishing Co.) was awarded the Clarendon Cup award last year by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society. Please join us on Thursday (14 January) for yet another great year of speakers and camaraderie!

To date we have well over forty persons signed up for our spring trip to Charleston. If you are considering going along, please let a committee member (Dale Lear, Charles Watson or Bruce Patterson) know as the bus we are looking at will seat forty-seven passengers. The trip promises to be a memorable one, with a side trip to Magnolia Cemetery as well as the main event, a behind-the-scenes tour of the C.S.S. Hunley. Also, if you have not made your choice as to sandwich-type, please let Dale Lear know what you would prefer.

On Friday, 15 January, Fort Fisher State Historic Site will kick off the 145th anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher with a panel discussion (6 p.m.) at the Fisher Student Center (UNCW). The topic, "Black Men Bearing Freedom: U.S. Colored Troops and Their Impact on North Carolina" will be co-hosted by the University’s Upperman African American Cultural Center. For those of you wanting more action, there will be artillery and infantry demonstrations throughout the weekend. One will be able to walk through the grounds where Civil War era encampments will be set up (these are great photo opportunities!) There will also be a staged battle, evening lantern tours and a night firing (7:30 p.m.) of the fort’s 32-pdr. Cannon. As the site has warned, dress warmly and bring earplugs! There is a charge for the thirty-minute evening tours, $5 for adults and $3 for children. Tours will start at 5:30 p.m. with the last tour at 7:30 p.m..

On Saturday (16 January) Dr. Richard Reid, author of Freedom for Themselves: North Carolina’s Black Soldiers in the Civil War Era, will speak on his book. On Sunday musicians will be performing throughout the day, while local authors will be selling and signing their books. For more information, you may call the Site at 910.458.5538 or visit their website at www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/.

Member (and editor of this newsletter!)

Bob Cooke, gave a wonderful presentation of Civil War Wilmington at our last meeting. It was not the staid, genteel town it had once been; indeed the war altered the town so much so that former residents left for more peaceful climes. As one attendee commented, it is astounding that Wilmington and indeed the Confederacy was able to fight such a massive war and to have lasted for four long years! Bob’s book, Wild, Wicked, Wartime Wilmington is available at Books-a-Million.