Civil War Historian to Speak at Tamarack - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Civil War Historian to Speak at Tamarack

BECKLEY -

A Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau of the West Virginia Humanities Council program will be presented at 6 p.m., Thursday, June 15, at Tamarack in Beckley.  

Civil War historian and author Hunter Lesser will give a talk entitled "Robert E. Lee's Forlorn Hope: Outwitted and Outgeneraled in West Virginia."  The talk is free and the public is invited to attend. The Raleigh County Historical Society is working with the Humanities Council.

Western Virginia was the setting for the first campaign of America's Civil War and a proving ground for some whose names became synonymous with that conflict. General George B. McClellan, for example, became the first superstar for the Union because of his success in what became West Virginia. General Robert E. Lee led Confederate troops to the mountains of West Virginia in his first command of the Civil War.

Lesser says that Lee's experience with mountain warfare was a failure and defeats here led to him being known in the South as "Granny" Lee. He was eventually recalled to Richmond to serve as an advisor to Jefferson Davis.

"But he found himself a legendary warhorse in these mountains and learned lessons in leadership that would serve him well as he restored his reputation to become a military icon," said Lesser.

Lesser of Elkins is a consulting archaeologist and historical interpreter. He is the author of "Rebels at the Gate and The First Campaign: A Guide to Civil War in the Mountains of West Virginia, 1861." Copies of the books will be available to be purchased and signed by the author at the program. 

For details, contact West Virginia Humanities Council program officer Mark Payne at 304-346-8500 or payne@wvhumanities.org.