NOTICE OF ANNUAL

MEETING OF MEMBERS

1. Election of four directors to the Board of Directors; and

2. Such other business as may be brought before the meeting.

PRECEDED BY DINNER MEETING

The Round Table meets the first Wednesday each month from September through May (except January) at Crerands Ale House, 2605 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, Delaware. Dinner starts at 6:30 P.M. ($13.00) followed by the program ($3.00) at 7:30 P.M. The Round Table puts on a first-class historical presentation by an author, scholar or performer each month.

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

2605 Philadelphia Pike

Claymont, DE 19703

TEL: 302-798-2521

Speaker Don Hakenson

Topic: History: The Forgotten Land

Entrees: TBA

THIS MONTH IN THE CIVIL WAR

1862: May 8: Confederate Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s Valley Army defeats Brig. Gen. Robert Schenk’s Union forces at McDowell Virginia in the Allegheny foothills.

1863: May 15: Union soldiers wreck the offices of the Richmond, Indiana, Telegraph because the paper published pro-Confederate disloyal articles.

1864: May 5: Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. R.M. Hoke are driven off by Maj. Gen John G. Foster’s Union forces at New Berne, NC after an abortive attempt to capture the city.

1865: May 26: Confederate Lt. Gen. S.B. Buckner and Union Maj. Gen P. J. Osterhaus conclude surrender terms for all Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.

BIOGRAPHY OF DON HAKENSON

EXCERPTS FROM ADDRESS AT THE UNVEILING OF THE MONUMENT TO DELAWARE’S CONFEDERATE VETERANS

(continued from the February issue)

We left off the story of Samuel Boyer Davis in mid-story .

When Lt. Davis had recovered sufficiently to return to duty, he discovered that Gen. Trimble had been detained by the Union army in Fort Warren, and he had no position. Fortunately, Brig. Gen. John H. Winder, the Provost Marshall of the District of Richmond, and superintendent of Libby and Belle Isle prisons, needed an adjutant and aide de camp. Davis joined Gen. Winder’s staff in October.

After a short period of duty with Gen. Winder in Richmond, Lt. Davis accompanied Winder to Goldsboro, North Carolina in May 1864, and to Andersonville, Georgia on June 17, where Gen. Winder assumed command of the prisoner of war camp. Davis became assistant adjutant and inspector general of the prison. Within a few weeks, Lt. Davis had caused a controversy at Richmond by submitting an inspection report (now lost) showing the serious deficiencies in prison accommodations at Andersonville. Confederate Adjutant General Samuel Cooper sent Gen. Winder a blistering comment on Davis’ report demanding that Gen. Winder do something about the post. Unfortunately for thousands of Union prisoners of war, Winder was unable or unwilling to expand the camp, change the sanitation facilities or otherwise improve their lot. Despite this controversy, Davis continued to act as Winder’s inspector general of prisons for the remainder of 1864.

Davis obtained leave in December and went to Richmond. He joined the Confederate Secret Service, on detached duty to accompany Harry Brogden, a Maryland civilian, behind Union lines with despatches for Confederate agents in Canada. Davis reached Montreal safely and delivered the despatches. He also received despatches for President Davis. Union authorities caught Lt. Davis alias Willoughby Cummings, near Newark, Ohio, on his way back to Richmond. Davis’ despatches were seized and he was charged with espionage. Davis was convicted of spying for the Confederacy on February 26, 1865, by a General Court Martial. Davis drew a death sentence. President Lincoln approved the sentence, and Davis was taken to Johnson’s Island awaiting execution. Confederate exchange agent Robert M. Ould learned that Davis was sentenced to die and interceded with his Union counterpart to save Davis’ life. Confederate Signal Officer J. A. Palmer led the campaign to save Davis’ life by letters taken through Union lines to the Horace Greely’s New York Tribune.

The Tribune’s adverse publicity helped to change the Lincoln administration’s mind about executing Davis. On February 25, Lt. Davis was taken by train to Wilmington and transported to Fort Delaware, where he was imprisoned until the end of hostilities between North and South. After his release late in 1865, Samuel Boyer Davis relocated in northern Virginia. He died in 1905 and is buried in Masonic Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia.

John Dunning was born March 10, 1837 in Greensboro, Caroline County, Maryland. His father Samuel had a tanyard and hotel in Greensboro. Samuel Dunning died in 1842. His

widow went home to Dover with her children. John Dunning attended grammar school and an academy in Dover, receiving a diploma in 1852. He clerked for a Dover merchant for seven years, finally accumulating enough capital to go into business with his brother Charles Dunning in a general store in Chesapeake City, Maryland.

Dunning, like many Delawareans, was pro-southern in outlook. In the fall of 1861, Union soldiers belonging to Brig. Gen. Henry H. Lockwood’s Brigade arrested Dunning. He was sent to Fort McHenry where he was held without charges being preferred for four months’ time. This experience soured Dunning’s loyalty to the United States. Closing up his business in Chesapeake City in the fall of 1862, he passed through Union lines to the Confederacy, joining a new command being raised in Fauquier County, Virginia, by Capt John S. Mosby, soon to be known as the 43^rd Virginia Battalion or Mosby’s Rangers.

Dunning was one of Mosby’s earliest recruits, joining the original group of 25 men that made the famous March, 1863 raid on Fairfax Court House that netted Union Brig. Gen. Edward Stoughton, Mosby’s first celebrated prisoner of war. Dunning served more than two years. Dunning was a prisoner of war for a short period of time on July 18, 1864. At that time, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Corp of the Army of Northern Virginia was retiring from his raid on Washington, and passing through the northern end of Loudon County, crossed the Shenandoah River at Snicker’s Ferry. Mosby’s battalion provided a screen for part of this retrograde movement and Dunning was caught by the Union advance guard of cavalry trying to take Snicker’s Ford on the Shenandoah on that date. However, he waited for an opportune moment and broke free from his captors. His horse was reputed to be one of the fastest mounts in Mosby’s command, and his pursuers could not recapture him before he reached the safety of Gen. Early’s forces on the west bank of the river. Dunning took part in Mosby’s most notable raids, including the "Greenback Raid" in the fall of 1864, and the retaliatory hanging of Union prisoners of war in November. Dunning also picked up a saber cut on the hand during a cavalry skirmish, and a gunshot wound to the leg.

Dunning was paroled in June 1865, stopping only a few months at home in Dover visiting his family before going to New Orleans to clerk in a dry goods store. After a year and a half of the hospitality of the Crescent City, Dunning’s health collapsed and he moved west to Texas for his lungs. In 1869, the new general store he had just opened burned to the ground and via a another brief stop in Dover to visit family, he took a book-keeping job in Kentucky. In 1872, Dunning settled in Dover for good. He became a real estate salesman in Dover and Seaford, and on August 10, 1874, acquired a wife, Elizabeth Clements of Ingleside, Maryland. With the passing of time, Dunning’s real estate business thrived. He joined the Episcopal Church and became one of Dover’s leading citizens. Late in life, he joined the United Confederate Veterans post in Easton, Maryland, and attended the 1913 UCV Convention in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dunning died in 1915, and is buried in Christ Church churchyard in Dover.

(To be completed in the August issue)

LINCOLN BI-CENTENNIAL

General Frank Ianni and Tom Reed are working on an Abraham Lincoln Bi-centennial program for the Round Table to be held in the first six months of 2009, as close to Lincoln’s Birthday as possible. They are contacting major speakers and are soliciting co-sponsors for this grand event celebrating the 200^th birthday of the Great Emancipator. Your help may be required to put this project over.

CIVIL WAR TRIVIA

What was the name of Union Maj. Gen Philip Sheridan’s horse?

What make of revolver did Confederate Maj. Gen. Jeb Stuart normally carry?

Who wrote An Affair at Owl Creek Bridge?

Dear CWRT Members:

I want to thank everyone who has helped out with our Round Table programs and projects this past year. Particularly I want to single out Lisa Cristofich our program chair, who has made it possible for us to put on the finest speakers with the greatest topics every month.

Next year is the 200^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. We as one of the very oldest Civil War Round Tables should honor his memory by a special Lincoln celebration. I have asked Gen. Frank Ianni and Tom Reed to co-chair a special program on Lincoln that should be a drawing card to the greater Wilmington and Northern New Castle County community.

Congratulations to those new Directors who agreed to serve for a three year term starting in June and to all those who are returning for another three year term on the Board. Your participation in our projects is vital.

Frank Giamboy, Jr. President

President: Frank Giamboy                              

Vice President Education: Robert Potter

Vice President Preservation: John LaRosch

Secretary-Treasurer: Ann Warner

Lisa Cristofich,                                           Robert Potter

Vincent Gasbarro, Jr.                                James Pratzner

John LaRosch                                            Frank Giamboy

Thomas Massey, III                                 Ann Warner

Greg Vavroch                                            Tom Carver

Deborah Butzbach

Program Chair: Lisa Cristofich

Field Trip Chair: Vincent Gasbarro, Jr.

Editor: Tom Reed