MCCWRT Discussion Group This Saturday: Civil War Industry North and South

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will meet at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois, this Saturday, July 28 at 10 a.m..  All are invited, even if you are not a member, just anyone with an interest in the Civil War.

Panera Bread is located at 6000 Northwest Highway, US Highway 14, near Main Street.

This month's subject of discussion:  Civil War Industry:  North and South.

--Old Secesh

McHenry Civil War Round Table Discussion Group Meets Saturday, July 29: Topic Is the Twenty Most Significant Events Of/Affecting the Civil War

The McHenry Civil War Round Table will be meeting Saturday, July 29, 2017, at the Panera Bread Company in Crystal Lake, Illinois, at US-14 and Main Street.

The meeting will go from 10: a.m. to noon.

This month's discussion is a good one and should get a lot of input.  It is "The Twenty Most Significant Events of / Affecting of the Civil War."

I have my list already prepared and will give some of them.  The rest will be next week.

1.  The enlistment of blacks into the Union Army.

2.  Northern industry.

3.  Collapse of the Southern will to fight.

4.  Advances in Naval architecture:  growth of steam power, bigger guns, ironclads and turrets.

5.  Special use warships and blockade-runners.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

Should be a Good One.  See You There.  --Old Secesh

Charlotte's Involvement in the War

From the August 31, 2012, Charlotte (NC) Observer "Charlotte put men, ships, gunpowder into Civil War" by Sam Shapiro.

A review of Michael C. Hardy's new book, "Civil War Charlotte: Last Capital of the Confederacy."

Charlotte was fortunate in having been spared the havoc of fighting, but it was completely involved in the war effort.  Even so, in the waning days of the war, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County were on high alert with Sherman's Army heading its way, but it turned toward Wilmington. 

Then, on April 19th, with the Confederacy in its death throes, Stoneman's Raiders got as far as the Catawba River before withdrawing.

Charlotte became a major strategic point because of its railroads.  By 1862, supplies, machinery and troops were streaming through town.   The railroad accessibility caused the Confederate government to establish a navy yard in what today is the First Ward.  Shipbuilding became a primary Charlotte industry.

Also located in the city were industries supplying the war machine: the Sulphuric Acid Works, Mecklenburg Iron Works and North Carolina Powder Manufacturing Company.

All this caused Charlotte's population to grow.

On April 19, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet along with the Confederate Treasury arrive in Charlotte.  Today, a marker on Tryon Street shows where Davis stood when he received news of Lincoln's assassination.  Seven days later, Davis and his cabinet met for the last time at the William Phifer home on North Tryon Street.

A Navy Yard That Far From the Coast?  --Old Secesh