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The Old Baldy Civil War Roundtable

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Meeting of Thursday, March 12, 2026, 7:15 PM ET   ZOOM ONLY

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Free and open to the public. Zoom. Please email oldbaldycwrt@verizon.net at least 24 hrs prior to request Zoom access.

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Title of the presentation:  Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18–July 1, 1864

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Grant wasted no time after his Petersburg assaults of June 15-18, 1864, failed to capture the city.  He launched his second offensive against Petersburg hours later.  Among other things, he sent his cavalry on a raid to cut the Confederate railroads south of Petersburg.  This would slow any reinforcements sent from the south and west to the enemy at Petersburg and Richmond. Grant also hoped that in case his infantry failed in its mission a lack of provisions would force the foe to abandon those cities. But at Petersburg Grant faced Lee and not Floyd as at Fort Donelson in 1862 or Pemberton as at Vicksburg in 1863.  Lee, his cavalry commander Hampton, and Mahone smashed Grant’s cavalry raiders at the battles of Sappony Church and First Reams Station

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A native of Chicago, John Horn has practiced law there since 1976.  He has written four books and co-edited another about the siege of Petersburg and that city’s soldiers.  (His wife, who is also his law partner, descends from several of Petersburg’s defenders.)  His most recent book is Lee Besieged: Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2025), which is receiving good reviews.  Another one of his books, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie), won the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.  He has published articles in Civil War Times Illustrated, America’s Civil War, Gettysburg Magazine, North & South Magazine, and Emerging Civil War.  He blogs at johnhorncivilwarauthor.blogspot.com. 

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To purchase John’s book, see below links.

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https://www.savasbeatie.com/lee-besieged-grant-s-second-petersburg-offensive-june-18-july-1-1864/

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https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Besieged-Petersburg-Offensive-18-July/dp/1611217385/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JDB4K5EP5U9V&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GCJ1t21aBvvq9_CAHfK8nJBtlItnPM8uWPlH__s4x3c.9uGqnoBCd0yEBZXwKLiFZkcY-KCxcCsLklzKJzzmiAY&dib_tag=se&keywords=lee+besieged+grant+s+second+petersburg+offensive&qid=1771436038&sprefix=lee+besieged%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1

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Meade Talk, Wreath Dedication and Champagne Toast

Remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach the next generation the value of freedom.

Home - Wreaths Across America

Southern New Jersey serves as a center for fugitives, freedmen, and abolitionists during the Civil War era. The 22nd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops includes hundreds of Black New Jerseyans who fight for emancipation and the Union. Abolitionists like Harriet Tubman, Abigail Goodwin, and Benjamin Sheppard operate through Underground Railroad landmarks across Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties. Stories of resistance include confrontations in Cape May hotels, secret signals to ferry fugitives across the Delaware River, and churchgoers rescuing escapees from slave catchers. Historian Ellen D. Alford, a South Jersey native and award-winning journalist, researches and presents these abolitionist struggles and the legacy of Harriet Tubman in the region.

Most Civil War scholars believe the story of Robert E. Lee’s 1862 Maryland Campaign is already complete, but Dr. Alexander Rossino challenges this assumption. He argues that past histories often rely on flawed interpretations, overlooked sources, or Lost Cause ideology, which continue to distort modern understanding. Rossino presents a new perspective on what Lee intended to accomplish during the campaign north of the Potomac. He supports his arguments with deep expertise, drawn from years of study and authorship of multiple works on the Maryland Campaign. As an independent historian with advanced degrees from Syracuse University and experience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Rossino positions himself as a leading voice in reshaping how this campaign is understood.

Dr. Elizabeth Varon presents a lecture on Confederate General James Longstreet, highlighting his controversial shift after the Civil War. Longstreet fights fiercely for the Confederacy, serving at Gettysburg, advising against Lee’s failed assault, and securing victory at Chickamauga before being seriously wounded. After the war, he rejects the Lost Cause myth, embraces Reconstruction, and advocates for racial reconciliation, which makes him an outcast in the South. Unlike other Confederate leaders, he receives no monuments, but today he is seen as a historically relevant voice during America’s racial reckoning. Varon, a distinguished Civil War historian at the University of Virginia, is an award-winning author and public speaker with expertise in 19th-century Southern history.