May 2014 Southern MD Civil War Round Table Meeting

May 13, 2014

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 13, 2014  at 7:00pm at the College of Southern Maryland’s Center for Business and Industry, Chaney Enterprise Conference Room BI-113, at 8730 Mitchell Road in LaPlata.

Guest Speaker:  Mr. Robert C. Plumb

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table’s last meeting of the season will author Robert C. Plumb discussing his book “robertplumbYour Brother in Arms:  A Union Soldier’s Odyssey“.

In the summer of 1862, George P. McClelland, not to be confused with Gen. George B. McClellan, begins his Civil War odyssey by journeying to Pittsburgh, PA to enlist in the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry.  Thus began his story as McClelland was sent to Washington, D.C, then on a march to Antietam, to be followed by encounters in the critical battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Petersburg and Five Forks, where he would be gravely injured.

Throughout it all, young McClelland would write to his family, keeping them abreast of his whereabouts and making them aware of the harrowing experiences he endured in battle.  His letters convey his connection to his siblings and his longing fro home, but also reflect the social, cultural and political currents of the war that he was fighting.

Ultimately recovering form his injuries, McClelland would be discharged as a brevet-major in 1865; a common man who performed uncommon service.

Mr. Plumb will read selected letters from “Your Brother in Arms“, which will detail George McClelland’s reaction to the key battles and engagements he was involved in, his opinions of Union commanding generals and some of the trials and tribulations of a front line soldier in the Civil War.  A letter from his sister Anne, describing finding her seriously wounded brother in a field yourbrothersinarmshospital near Petersburg, VA will also be discussed.

Your Brother in Arms: A Union Soldier’s Odyssey, published in July 2011 by the University of Missouri Press, is Mr. Plumb’s first book. He has written other published pieces including book reviews for the Newport News, Virginia Daily Press while serving in the US Navy and articles published recently in the Washington Post’s Style, Editorial and Travel sections.

Born and raised in upstate New York, where he received his education from grade school to graduate school, he would serve in the Navy as an officer in the Atlantic Fleet and would command a patrol boat in Vietnam. Upon departing the military, Mr. Plumb held marketing executive positions with General Electric and Fannie Mae. He is a member of the Civil War Trust, the Montgomery County (MD) Civil War Roundtable, the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Society of Civil War Historians. He resides in Potomac, MD with his wife Louise.