On June 24, 2016
Ed has recruited some new Bearss Brigade Members this year.
Each
year, the Bearss Brigade celebrates Ed Bearss' birthday – Join us this year for his
93rd
Time: 5:30pm (for
cocktails/social hour) to approx. 9-9:30pm
Dinner will be served at
approx. 6:30 – 6:45pm
Where: Arlington Hilton, 950
N. Stafford Street, Arlington, VA
Dress is Work Attire
Menu: Chef’s Chicken Florentine, Steak Marchand
de Vin (Choice Beef in Red Wine Sauce) or Mushroom Ravioli
Cost: $67
RSVP Dinner Deadline:
Saturday, June 18
Party-themed t-shirts are
also available but must be ordered by June 5.
This Year’s Gift – Honoring
the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation
Ed has chosen to
celebrate his birthday this year by gifting the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields
Foundation. The Foundation was incorporated in 2000 to manage the Shenandoah
Valley Battlefields National Historic District, which includes 14 significant Civil
War battlefields and a wide variety of related historic sites across eight
counties. There visitors can explore the campaigns of Stonewall Jackson and
Philip Sheridan and the effect of those campaigns on the civilian population. We
have all visited these sites with Ed and absorbed his interpretations of the
impact of the happenings there on our nation’s history.
The
Foundation’s accomplishments have been impressive. It has helped save lands, install interpretative
markers, and publish visitors guides, self-driving tours and
interpretive/educational books. Ed is
especially impressed with the enhancements at Third Winchester.
If
you decide to make a donation to the Foundation to honor Ed on his special day,
checks should be payable to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation or
SVBF. More information is available about
the Foundation at the following site: http://www.shenandoahatwar.org
Please feel free to share this invitation with others who have toured with Ed over the years and may be interested in this event. All are invited. Ed enjoys the reunion of his friends and fellow Civil War buffs on his special day.
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Mr. Meffert will make a presentation that will cover five
areas in the life of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. He will
examine the heritage of Fort design with an overview to the engineering
heritage of the men who designed, built, sustain, and manned in battle
the Defenses.
Such an engineering heritage was sorely needed after the Union defeat at the first Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) on July 21, 1861. President Lincoln made it clear that his engineers needed to build a strong system to protect the nation’s capital. This is where the “Engineering Heritage” kicked in with the right tools and men in place. The engineers – Bernard, Meigs, Totten, and McClellan went through a phenomenal learning process.
Bob will address the questions of “What did they build?” “How did they build it?” “How did the systems operate, individually and together?” He will cover what the system looked like at the outset and how, by 1863, the Defenses of Washington were coming together.
The last part of Bob's presentation will cover how well the defenses of Washington performed in the face of General Jubal Early’s Confederate attack July 11-12, 1864. How well did Fort Stevens do, and how did the entire system of the local defenses of Washington do?
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The Rock Creek Civil
War Roundtable Presents
Local Civil War
Historian & Lecturer Robert F. Meffert, Jr.
“Five Areas in the Life of the Defenses of Washington”
Saturday, June
4, 2016 - 9:30 a.m.
Rock Creek Nature
Center - 5200 Glover Road, NW (off Military Road), Washington DC
Such an engineering heritage was sorely needed after the Union defeat at the first Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) on July 21, 1861. President Lincoln made it clear that his engineers needed to build a strong system to protect the nation’s capital. This is where the “Engineering Heritage” kicked in with the right tools and men in place. The engineers – Bernard, Meigs, Totten, and McClellan went through a phenomenal learning process.
Bob will address the questions of “What did they build?” “How did they build it?” “How did the systems operate, individually and together?” He will cover what the system looked like at the outset and how, by 1863, the Defenses of Washington were coming together.
The last part of Bob's presentation will cover how well the defenses of Washington performed in the face of General Jubal Early’s Confederate attack July 11-12, 1864. How well did Fort Stevens do, and how did the entire system of the local defenses of Washington do?
About the Speaker: Robert F.
Meffert, Jr. is a Civil War Roundtable Member and a Board Member of the Alliance for
the Civil War Defenses of Washington. He is a longtime student of the Defenses
of Washington as well as a student of French military history, engineering, and
economics. Bob began his career in the Merchant Marine as a sailor and
after college, in the Air Force, as an engineering officer. He graduated
from the services’ Air War College, Command and Staff College, and graduated
from NDU, (then the Industrial College of the Armed Forces). He has been an
instructor at the University of Maryland. Bob holds Masters in Economic
Geography, Electrical Engineering, and Education.
An unabashed Francophile, Mr.
Meffert has traveled extensively across France to see its fortifications on
land.
