Please join us on Monday, October 13^th at Brock’s Riverside Grill, our speaker will be Rick Barram with his topic, “Writing for Home, A Chautauqua Soldier’s Messages from War”, which will be based upon his in-depth and detailed research on this topic. Starting with a quick overview of this topic, he will then dive into the individuals and units in which his research focuses on.

Based on the book, Dear Uncles, The Civil War letters of Arthur McKinstry, a soldier in the Excelsior Brigade, by Rick Barram

Serving as an informal “war correspondent” for his uncles’ Fredonia Censor newspaper back home, Arthur McKinstry’s extraordinary and articulate letters offer an intimate and immediate picture of the common soldier’s everyday trials, tribulations, and minor victories while at the seat of war. “I have endeavored all along to make the Censor the military gazette of the county and I believe that I am succeeding,” penned Arthur.

Writing for Home will look at how citizens back in Chautauqua County received news of the war through McKinstry’s eyes; eyes keenly focused on the more than 500 men serving with the 72nd New York Infantry, part of the Excelsior Brigade.

Writing for Home will focus on the adventures of McKinstry and his Chautauqua County mates, set against the backdrop of their time occupying Lower Maryland, the U.S. Navy’s ongoing fight with Confederate artillery batteries along the Potomac’s Virginia shore and the often-incompetent command of General Daniel Sickles.

Letters to his mother reveal Arthur’s more personal thoughts and frustrations. Having grown up on a farm in western New York, Arthur is surprised and shocked at the harsh, rough-hewn conditions of life in Lower Maryland and the cruel reality of slavery’s human toll; a far cry from the idyllic scenes depicted in popular magazines and journals of the day.

Arthur’s journalist’s eye for detail and poet’s heart for drama combine to paint a rare portrait of the hardships, frustrations and joys, which formed brotherly bonds among volunteers who dutifully soldier on to restore a nation. This collection of more than 85 letters written over the course of a year also offers new insights into regimental organization, training, communications with home, and the often-overlooked attempt of Confederates artillerymen to blockade Washington D.C.’s critical Potomac River supply route.

Rick is an educator, lecturer, author with 30 years teaching experience in social science, specializing in United States, World and Military History.

Having purchased his first book on the Civil War while on a family vacation at age 11, his interest in history only grew from there. After being introduced to the hobby of Civil War reenacting 30 years ago, Rick took that interest to write two books on the subject, The 72nd New York Infantry in the Civil War and Dear Uncles: The Civil War Letters of Arthur McKinstry, a Soldier in the Excelsior Brigade. He has also written several magazine articles appearing in America’s Civil War, Civil War Times, Naval History and Guns of the Old West. He is also the editor of his reenacting club’s bimonthly newsletter.

Over the years Rick has given lectures on the subject of Civil War, not only around his home town of Red Bluff, California, but to audiences at the New York State Military Museum, Chautauqua County Historical Society, and the Delaware County Historical Association.

While not writing or pursuing his reenacting, Rick enjoys the retired life at home with his wife Rebecca and their two cats, Harley and Nimbus.

Rick will have two books for sale:

• Dear Uncles
• The 72nd New York Infantry in the Civil War, A History and Roster.

Rick will take cash or check and Venmo with the price will be $40 each.

Times will be as before – social time at 6 PM, dinner at 6:45 PM, meeting at 7:30 PM.

We are now able to accommodate non-dinner attendees/spectators.

Please make dinner reservations through John Sapanara via email [email protected] or by phone 540-479-1299. He will contact you with confirmation.

Please reserve a place by the Thursday before the Monday dinner meeting date.

If you wish to be placed on the “permanent reservation” list, please advise John. Members on this list do not need to make reservations every month – their attendance is assumed unless they cancel beforehand.

Member dinner price is $35. This price also applies to non-member attendees who join at the meeting, or to guests invited by members. Non-member dinner price is $40.