Author and Civil War historian Frank O’Reilly will be the guest speaker at the Cumberland Mountain Civil War Roundtable April 7 meeting.
O’Reilly will give a historical presentation titled “J.E.B. Stuart and the Battle of Yellow Tavern.” The meeting will be held at Christ Lutheran Church, 481 Snead Drive and Lakeview Drive in Fairfield Glade at 6 p.m.
The American Civil War reached a whole new level of intensity in 1864, and it took a toll on the armies and their leaders. It made some reputations and tarnished others.
The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864, as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. The Overland Campaign was Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 offensive against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
The two had fought an inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness and were engaged in heavy fighting at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Up to this point, Union cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was dissatisfied with his role in the campaign. His Cavalry Corps were assigned to the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who reported to Grant.
Meade had employed Sheridan’s forces primarily in the traditional role of screening and reconnaissance, whereas Sheridan saw the value of wielding the Cavalry Corps as an independently operating offensive weapon for the wide-ranging raids into the rear areas of the enemy.
On May 8, 1864, Sheridan went over Meade’s head and told Grant that if his Cavalry Corps were let loose to operate as an independent unit, he could defeat Major General James Ewell Brown (J.E.B) Stuart, long a nemesis to the Union army. Grant was intrigued and convinced Meade of the value of Sheridan’s request.
Sheridan request was to detach General Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, Virginia, and to challenge the Confederate cavalry commander Stuart.
Sheridan had the most powerful cavalry force ever seen in the Eastern Theater. His Corps had over 10,000 troopers with 32 artillery pieces. Sheridan had three goals: first and most important, defeat Stuart; second, disrupt Lee’s supply lines by destroying railroad tracks and supplies; third threaten the Confederate capital in Richmond, which would distract Lee. Sheridan was facing a Confederate Cavalry of 5,000 troopers.
During the Battle of Yellow Tavern, a dismounted Union trooper fatally wounds Stuart, one of the most well-known generals of the South.
Today as other battlefields tragically, much of Yellow Tavern has been lost to time. Interstate 295, the northern and eastern bypass diverting traffic from Interstate 64 and 95 around the cities of Richmond and Petersburg has split the battlefield in two.
Despite modern intrusions, the major event, the mortally wound to Stuart that occurred during the battle, is remembered.
O’Rielly’s presentation will bring alive again the Battle of Yellow Tavern and examine the raid that started and ended in controversy and discuss the impact of Stuart’s death had on the war in Virginia.
O’Reilly received both his BA and MA in American History with a concentration on Early American Military History and Civil War Studies. He did his undergraduate work at Washington & Lee University before joining the National Park Service at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. O’Reilly worked briefly at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and then returned to Fredericksburg as a historian in 1990. O’Reilly also served as a historical consultant for the City of Fredericksburg.
He has written numerous articles on the Civil War and Mexican War for national and international journals and introductions to quite a few books. He released his first book on the Fredericksburg Campaign titled, Stonewall Jackson at Fredericksburg, in 1993.
He has appeared in quite a few documentaries on CSPAN and lectured extensively on military history to audiences around the world, including several conferences in the United Kingdom at Oxford.
He served as the Sesquicentennial special events coordinator for the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and the Overland Campaign’s 150th anniversary commemorations.
His book, The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock, received a 2003 nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. He has received various awards over the years for his writing and American Civil War historian knowledge. He is now researching a book on the Battle of Malvern Hill and the Seven Days’ Campaign around Richmond.
CMCWRT invites all to an evening of American Civil War History and a wonderful historical presentation from O’Reilly on Monday, April 7 at 6 p.m. at the Christ Lutheran Church, 481 Snead Drive and Lakeview Drive in Fairfield Glade.
First-time visitors are admitted free, but they do ask for a $5 donation to repeat nonmembers. Memberships to the CMCWRT can be obtained for the yearly subscription of $25 per person or $35 for couples.
CMCWRT is an organization of Civil War enthusiasts. Presentations from authors, college professors and historians are normally presented on the second Wednesday of the month at Christ Lutheran Church in Fairfield Glade. The purpose of the roundtable is to educate, discuss and bring to focus the events and historical facts concerning the American Civil War. You can find the group on Facebook.
For additional information, call Ken Patton at 901-292-9312 or Dennis Flynn at 913-948-3499.