Attention One and All

The Hagerstown Civil War Round Table is a group of men and women who are interested in the study of the American Civil War. All persons interested in good company, good food, field trips, learning about the American Civil War, and sharing your knowledge with others, enlist now in the Hagerstown Civil War Round Table. Yanks and Rebs welcomed with equal pleasure. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

No prior knowledge of the Civil War is necessary. Come and learn!

The Hagerstown Civil War Round Table will feature a talk by Michael Lang on the Red River Campaign of 1864.

The event is at 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 25, 2024 at Homewood Suites, 1650 Pullman Lane, Hagerstown, MD. Dinner at 6:30 pm, open to non-members as well as members, is $31 (reservations required by April 18) and the talk at 7:30 pm is $5 for non-members, both payable at the meeting. 

Michael Lang has worked as a manager for FedEx for 38 years and is also a successful photographer. Capturing images of Civil War battlefields is one of his favorite subjects.

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Michael moved to Frisco, Texas, in 2017. As relative newcomers to the Lone Star State, he and his wife, Rebecca, have spent the last seven years exploring the state and learning about its unique and rich history, including sites related to the Civil War. Michael has loved history since a young boy and has been a student of the Civil War for just as long.

Michael Lang is the author of two books, Decisions at Antietam and Decisions of the Maryland Campaign. Having turned his attention to the Trans- Mississippi, his third manuscript, Decisions of the Red River Campaign, is set to be released in September 2024. These books are all part of the Command Decisions of America’s Civil War series published by the University of Tennessee Press. The series has more than twenty titles in publication or set to be published. Michael is also contributing to the upcoming Antietam Institute book, Commanders of Antietam.

INCOMPETENCY REIGNS SUPREME: THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN OF 1864

On March 12, 1864, a Union fleet of over 100 vessels accompanied by approximately 10,000 infantry from the Army of Tennessee turned right just above where the Mississippi River met the Louisiana town of Simmesport, entering the mouth of the Red River - The Red River Campaign had begun.

For the next two months, Union Army and Naval forces under Nathaniel Banks, Frederick Steele, and David Dixon Porter battled Confederate forces commanded by Edmund Kirby-Smith, Richard Taylor, and Sterling Price. The prize was Shreveport, Louisiana, which was a gateway to the invasion of Texas.

When it was all over, it proved to be one of the worst Union debacles of the war. These federal forces had retreated to the point where they started having achieved none of their operational objectives.

During the seven-week campaign, Federal armies marched hundreds of miles, fighting nearly two dozen separate engagements. They suffered over 8,000 casualties and lost 57 field guns, 822 wagons, 3,700 horses, and mules. In addition to the injury, David Dixon Porter’s Mississippi Flotilla lost nine vessels.

William T Sherman famously labeled the operation, “One damn blunder from beginning to end.”

Michael will give an overview of this fascinating and little-understood campaign of the Trans-Mississippi while discussing the critical decision made during the campaign.

For further information, contact

Hagerstown Civil War Round Table, Inc.

P. O. Box 637

Funkstown, MD 21734-0637

Our Email Address is:  hagerstowncwrt1956@gmail.com

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