Everyone is welcome at our monthly meetings

NOTICE: We've been moved back (by the hotel chain) to the Holiday Inn Oakbrook for our meetings. Meetings for the 2024-25 Year will be in-person, but will also be simulcast on Zoom. Zoom details for each meeting will be emailed to members via the newsletter.


June 13th
The Nevins-Freeman Award Address: Dave Powell on The Atlanta Campaign: Missed Opportunities

"I've got Joe Johnston Dead!" Or so Sherman is said to have exclaimed upon hearing that James B. McPherson had seized Resaca. Famously, that turned out not to be true, one of the great "lost opportunities" of the entire war. But in fact, there were other such turning points in the first month of the campaign, each perhaps more significant than Resaca. On May 16, Sherman's armies stumbled crossing the Oostenaula River, offering Johnston a chance to damage one or more of the Federal corps; and at Dallas, McPherson hesitated again when facing just a single small Confederate division. What would have happened if either of these moments had gone differently?

David A. Powell is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (1983) with a BA in history. He has published numerous articles in various magazines, and more than fifteen historical simulations of different battles. For many years, David's focus was on the epic battle of Chickamauga, and he is nationally recognized for his tours of that important battlefield. The result of that study are five books, the final volume being The Chickamauga Campaign: Barren Victory (2016). Subsequently, he has turned to the study of the battles for Chattanooga. Battle Above the Clouds, concerning the Battle of Lookout Mountain, was published in June of 2017. Decisions at Chickamauga followed in 2018. Two more books, "All Hell Can't Stop Them" (on Missionary Ridge) and Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah Valley both appeared in 2019. More recently The Tullahoma Campaign (co-authored with Eric Wittenberg) and Grant at Chattanooga, were published in 2020. Decisions at Shiloh appeared in 2023, and he is now hard at work on The Atlanta Campaign, a projected multi-volume study. Volume One of Atlanta appeared in July, 2024, with Volume Two to follow in 2025. David, his wife Anne, and their trio of bloodhounds live and work in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

For our 2024-2025 program year, we proudly welcome these outstanding speakers:

Sept. 13th: John Horn on "The Wilson-Kautz Raid, June-July 1864"
Oct. 11th: Larry Hewitt on "The Birth of Combat Photography"
Nov. 8th: Allen Ottens on "The Grant-Rawlins Relationship"
Dec. 13th: Jon Sebastian on "Loyal to a Man: The Civil War in our Backyards"
Jan. 10th, 2025: Bjorn Skaptason on "Shiloh"
Feb. 14th: Hampton Newsome on "Gettysburg's Southern Front"
Mar. 14th: Gerry Prokopowicz on "Civil War Talk Radio"
Apr. 9th (Wednesday): Phil Spaugy on "The 19th Indiana and the Iron Brigade"
May 9th: Steve Phan on "Asian and Pacific Islanders During the Civil War"
June 13th: Dave Powell (Nevins-Freeman Award) on "Lost Opportunities in the Atlanta Campaign"

Our meetings are held at: