Our speaker Stan Weinstein has chosen to use another topic which we think will interest our members: the remarkable story of American Jews and their own participation on both sides of the Civil War.

Ben writes:

The American Civil War remains one of the most significant and transformative periods in U.S. history, deeply impacting the nation’s character and continuing to influence modern societal dynamics.

This session delves into the often-overlooked narrative of Jewish participation in the war, showcasing the contributions and roles played by Jewish individuals in both the Union and Confederate forces.

Discover how Jews, spread across North and South, navigated their allegiances and contributions during this tumultuous time. This presentation will illuminate the dual experiences of Jewish soldiers and civilians, offering a deeper understanding of their involvement and the lasting impacts of their actions during the Civil War.

Please join us for our first meeting of the year. Our esteemed member Mr. Jim Santagata will present on a special topic of his own interests: the tumultuous career of William Tecumseh Sherman in his difficult path to becoming the General who took Atlanta and announced it as an election-clinching gift to Abraham Lincoln for the 1864 election.

In the Event heading, we show the absolutely majestic gold-gilded-on-bronze monument to Sherman, created by Augustus St. Gaudens, he of the famous and equally beautiful US $20 Gold Coin. The monument has stood in Grand Army Plaza since 1903,  just across the street from what was once NYC's famed Plaza Hotel, now an elite and still magnificent NY landmark residence. The Forum speaker for this evening, Jim Santagata, notaes that this has always been his favorite New York monument, actually surpassed only by DC's Lincoln Memorial, and it led him to take a real interest in Sherman as I began my mid-life foray into Civil War history. 

Jim writes: I had become friendly with John Marszalek at the time, as a result of my annual attendance at the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, and I had just read his 2007 biography of Sherman, which was hailed as the definitive Sherman biography when it was published. (Besides being a Sherman biographer, John is an American historian who served at Mississippi State University as Executive Director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant project from 2008 to 2022.) Here I am with John on the right, and his friend Tom Horrock, the Director of the John Hay Library (Lincoln's personal Secretary) at Brown University, on the left. 

Further from Jim: I expressed my surprise to John at having read that in December of 1861, the nation's newspapers began carrying front page stories that Sherman was insane! Here's a not too flattering photo of Sherman, probably typical of what may have accompanied some of those sensational newspaper stories at that time. Many more impressive and majestic photos will be included in my presentation.

The insanity stories seemed pretty stunning for a man who only 3 years later dispatched a pre-election telegram to Lincoln, whose chances of winning the war and being re-elected president had seemed to be growing slimmer by the day. In the telegram he offered Lincoln the city of Savannah, after his historic and totally victorious March through Georgia, to effectively end the war and seal Lincoln's re-election! So I set out on a personal journey to figure out what had happened to Sherman, from his earlier years to that first tumultuous year of the War, that could possibly have led to such stories. I ended up identifying seven "demons" that had affected Sherman during his early and mid life, leading to a nationally publicized emotional breakdown, but described by a hostile press as  Sherman being insane! I offered it to Professor Marszalek to critique before I presented it to the CWFMNY (and subsequently to four other CW and History groups), and his comments on its thoroughness and originality were quite pleasing! I hope that  you will find at least one or two complete surprises among the seven demons that I've identified!  

The meeting will take place on Monday evening, February 17, at Draught 55, at 245 East 55th Street, NY NY. Please reserve your place at the meeting by contacting Ann Plogsterth at 212-877-6814, or plogsterth@aol.com. Reserving as early as possible will assure that the staff at Draught 55 can plan the best seating and table layout for all attendees. The cost of the meeting is $60 per person for members and non-members alike. Since it will be the only meeting I will attend until I return to NY from Sarasota in June, I hope to see and talk with as many of you as possible at the meeting!

Jim Santagata  🌴

Mobile: 718-930-0611