Our presentation was given by Colonel Ed Mann speaking on:
The American Civil War
How did our Civil War affect your ancestors? To give us a new perspective and to encourage our search to better understand the war's impact on our families, a Confederate Officer explains why he fights, why secession is a legal right for the Southern states and why the North is using unconstitutional force to maintain a union.
Interested in history--especially military history--since childhood, Ed Mann has been a Civil War
re-enactor for 20 years. He is the Confederate commander and re-enactor coordinator at the largest annual reenactment west of the Mississippi, and holds similar positions at other reenactments in Southern California. Ed's unit is the Richmond Howitzer Battalion,1st Virginia, Regiment, Co H. This unit was founded in 1859 by the grandson of Thomas Jefferson.
Ed Mann gave us an enlightening history from the South's perception. He presented his talk in the first person from 1863 Confederacy. He talked about the US constitution, secession, Articles of Confederation, War of 1812, Massachusetts as the first state to think of secession, occupations, industrialization of the North, agriculture of the South, enlistments and many other aspects of the War Between the States. I highly recommend Ed as a speaker to your Genealogy Society.
This was an excellent presentation and enlightened many of us and made us more knowledgeable of the Civil War.
Read about Ed's Re Enactment encampment at:
http://www.howitzers.com
