“The Final Fury and the Last To Die”. We will be treated to a talk by Patrick A. Schroeder. To be held at Villa Moscone in the West Village
Our April speaker will be making his fourth presentation, or possibly his fifth (I'm sorry to have lost count!) to the CWFMNY. In one presentation in particular, which I was fortunate enough to be in NY to attend, he appeared in the wonderfully colorful military costume of the French Zouaves, and it was one of our most unforgettable meetings ever! I'm referring to Patrick Schroeder, the Chief Historian of the National Park Service at Appomattox.
Patrick Schroeder
Patrick was born in 1968 at Fort Belvoir, VA. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Historical Park Administration from Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV, and has an M.A. in Civil War History from Virginia Tech. In 1993, he wrote Thirty Myths About Lee’s Surrender. From 1994 – 1999 he worked at Red Hill, the Patrick Henry National Memorial and is presently the full-time Historian of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. During his tenure there he has been one of the most popular speakers in our group's history! Besides his appearance as a Zouave, he has spoken to us about General George Custer's performance at Appomattox and The Myths About Lee's Surrender. At our 4/22 meeting he will be bringing us back once again to Appomattox, but this time with more somber subject matter. The title of his talk will be The Battles of Appomattox: The Final Fury and the Last to Die. It will be an hour-long powerpoint presentation that focuses on the April 8, 1865 Battle of Appomattox Station, and the April 9. 1865 Battle of Appomattox Court House. The program discusses each battle in detail, with nearly 100 photos and maps, and particularly focuses on the tragic final casualties and deaths before Lee's surrender of his army to Grant. Most non-restricted photos of the signing obscure the faces of the two men of the hour, so I will simply close with clear images of both men as they are best remembered...
The meeting will take place on Tuesday evening, April 22, at Villa Mosconi, at 69 MacDougal St, NY NY. The meeting starts at 6:00PM sharp with a pay bar beginning around 5:30PM. The cost for everyone will be $60 per person.
Please note: If you plan to attend, you will have to reply to Ann Plogsterth by email, at plogsterth@aol.com, since her phone service still cannot accept voicemail messages (I know because I just tried to leave her a message), and Phyllis, who accepted your messages for the past two months, will be traveling for most of the remainder of April. So if you are reading this, you should have no problem replying to Ann by email until this issue can be resolved. If for any reason this is an issue for you, please have a friend who will be attending the meeting include your name in their email reply to Ann. Please make sure that your planned attendance is communicated to Ann... or we may end up short of chairs, and more importantly, food! !
Hopefully, we will soon all be responding by use of the keyboard anyway, because Tom Fallows is working on "automating" your replies by use of a reply button that will appear directly on the CWFMNY.COM website. I'll of course keep everyone informed about this coming development.
Meanwhile... I'll soon be back in NY and will see you all in June... Jim