Civil War News

“Round Table Review”

by Matthew Borowick

Round Table questionnaire

Topic: Women Leading the Way

1. You are the first female president of the Tennessee Valley CWRT, based in Huntsville, Alabama. When did you become president and how were you selected/elected?

That’s true. I was our TVCWRT secretary, then became president in January. My elected term runs 2014-2016. However, I’m told the board may keep me for life—or until burnout--because two of our past presidents, Brian Hogan and John Allen, served over 10 years each. I don’t plan on that, though, since I’m already seeking some younger board members to add new ideas.

The role of secretary was the perfect way to get involved, since I had time to learn about the personalities and history of our RT. I also had solid mentoring and support from our past secretary, Cheryl McAuley.

How was I selected? I semi-volunteered when our president John Scales was nearing the end of his term. But then he told me he was planning to nominate me anyway. I’m the fourth “official” president, but we’ve had many ladies before me who’ve done the work.

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((Let me add some context on the history of our RT, if I may: Its roots are quite a bit older than our considered age of 20-plus years. Early leaders were both women and men who are active in the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society. They started round table study group, and it met for several years in the 1970-80’s. But there was some hiatus until about 20 years ago.

We’ve connected more actively with that Society recently, and their own president is a woman--now a colleague and friend. I’m probably going to offer become her vice president for next year. My thought would be to co-coordinate our outreach efforts, such as giving the Society space in our monthly newsletter. The current president is well known locally as an author-researcher and leader of local successful, historically accurate tours. So she is another great resource to attract women.

Also, our late female archivist of Madison County, AL, always supported a hope and goal of establishing a “Western Theater” study institute at our main library. We’re moving in that direction, after our symposium on that topic, as part of a 2013 Sesquicentennial commemorative event. So women in ACW-RT leadership roles are nothing new in Huntsville.

Around 1992, several military and contractor colleagues from Redstone Arsenal began what has evolved into our current RT. It met for years as an informal group in a favorite local book store. Now we’re been at the Elks Lodge in town for the last 10 years and counting. And we’re now a 501.c.3 organization for tax purposes, thanks to the work of our past female secretary, who led the board to accomplish that important task.

At first I boldly thought I might be one of the very first female presidents anywhere, until I read your helpful book about running RTs. I was happy to learn about many others around the country. But I can say with certainty that I’m the first female RT president in Northern Alabama.))

2. How long have you been a member of the round table?

I’ve attended meetings off and on since I moved to Huntsville from the DC area with my job, in 2006. I got more active around 2011, when one of the speakers really captured my interest.

3. When did you become interested in the Civil War? What spurred your interest?

I was born and raised in Gettysburg, Pa, and am a fifth generation descendent of Nicholas Codori, whose farm was in very middle of the July 3, 1863, Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge. I always knew about it, and we studied the Battle in high school. More importantly as a teenager, I learned to drive on the Battlefield! My local cousins have major battlefield connections as guides, authors, and business people. But my late aunt was the true family historian who collected the priceless research that forms the basis of the web site, www.codorifamily.com

My father was the last child born in the Codori House at 44 York Street in town in 1910 (separate from the battlefield farm house; deeded in the late 1700’s and built in the early 1800’s). His parents’ room (now in use as part of a Bed and Breakfast, where I have stayed) has a bullet in the fireplace mantel, added when troops were streaming in from the Battle of Hanover, PA, and shooting their way toward the town square. But growing up, being a Codori was just my last name, not really something I had yet grasped as “my legacy.”

Then in 2011 our RT advertised a talk on the media in the civil war, by Thomas Flagel. ((During the 2013 Sesquicentennial, I took his family on a behind-the-scenes tour of G-burg, as we locals call it. We went to a small cemetery to excitedly find the grave of the brother of G-Great Grandfather Nicholas, who was one of two area civilians captured by Confederates.))

Thomas, soon to be Dr. Flagel if he’s not already, talked about how then-new technologies of telegraph and photography, and the existing styles of newspapers, letters, and diaries, had reported on…Gettysburg! I was hooked, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I knew then that I had to get serious and do my part. I’ve always enjoyed being a student. When I moved here, I started reading about the South’s issues and values, past and present. I went to the RT and to whatever interesting lecture or event was nearby. Now I’m working to build my knowledge about the ACW overall, and its many, many facets—a lifelong process, and one that I’m glad to be in touch with now, thanks to my RT mentors.

4. What are your plans for the round table?

I’ll say for the rest of 2014, to ‘keep a good thing going’ with energy and to ‘expand the appeal’ with outreach to a wider audience. One new way is our participation with the Huntsville Literacy Society in their annual writing contest. They have a long and valued history of supporting and rewarding the arts in Northern Alabama schools. We’re seeking to add an ACW section to encourage school-age participants to explore their own legacy in creative ways—poems, short stories, photography.

We’re also coordinating events in 2015 with neighboring sites with ACW history, including the better known cities of Athens and Decatur. But your readers who are bass fishing fans also know that Lake Guntersville is close to us. The lake was not flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority until the 1930’s; but Dr. John Allan Wyeth was a Guntersville native who served with Nathan Bedford Forrest. He wrote the still-great read that’s a definitive source on “That Devil Forrest.”

We hope in these ways to keep the Sesquicentennial momentum going. But we’re aware that maintaining interest in the ACW after the Sesquicentennial is a concern in its own right. It’s also an important concern in terms of our local RT membership growth, since our area has so many other events that complete for the public’s attention.

5. Your round table has a very healthy number of women involved. How did that become so? How has it affected programming (if it has)?

Of our 200-plus dues paying members, about 50 are women. Many are spouses of members, and a good number are local authors, researchers, and interested citizens in their own right. And we’d like to see more! We’re adding women to the board, but frankly, I think we could do better with programs for us.

For example, our 1864-2014 Sesquicentennial commemoration at a local antebellum mansion, with period music and dance, was over-sold. I didn’t count the number of women among the 180 attendees, but I’d say they were in the majority. This was due to our good communication outreach, plus having the same great musicians back from last year’s big event; plus having a true period dance mistress this time.

But also, and this is a big reason: it gave girls of all ages a chance to dress up. The word gets out that they can put on hoop skirts and wigs and cameos and glide around on the arm of some handsome gentleman in uniform. I know I enjoyed doing so with our special “guests” CSA General Jubal Early and USA General Ormsby Mitchel. Our web site www.tvcwrt.org has lots of pictures.

Many women told me they had rented gowns or even made new ones, plus corsets! Many men wore period uniforms of all eras; some came as themselves in the Army, or as farmers, blockade runners…or just in shorts and T-shirts--you name it. We didn’t care—we wanted people to learn and have fun. We added some 10 new members by giving a discount at the event, and more ladies told me they will join.

I’d really like the ladies to attend our RT events because they want to learn about the ACW in general, not because we have a program or two just for them. For example, we’ve had a variety of programs that went well beyond battles, leaders and campaigns, in addition to our July talk on women in the war, including:

Aug 2011 - History of the Types Civil War Money Used in the TN Valley Area

Feb 2012 - Messengers of Death: How the Press Reported the Civil War

Apr 2012 - West Point on the Eve of the Civil War

May 2012 - Reluctant Rebels: The Confederates Who Joined the Army after 1861

Aug 2012 - Where Freedom Began – The Second American Revolution

Jan 2013 - Freedom's Captain, Robert Smalls: from Slavery to Congressman

Jul 2013 - God’s Almost Chosen People: A Religious History of the American Civil War

Oct 2013 - The Civil War and Reconstruction in Huntsville: A Different Perspective

Nov 2013 - Sesqui-Symposium on the Western Theater’ Role; Sesqui-Social and Dinner Commemoration, with period menu at The Ledges Country Club

July 2014 - Soldiers, Spies, and Femme-Fatales: Women in the Civil War; Sesqui-Music and Dance Commemoration with period fare at the antebellum Cooper House

We realized recently that if we explain in our publicity and from the podium how the next meeting’s talk relates to women, then we may get better attendance. So, I’ve asked our program chair to invite each speaker to provide this linkage ahead of time, even if the topic does not, at first, seem to lend itself.

And speaking of programming for women, I learned about the successful “Ladies’ Forum” idea from your Civil War News column. I reached out to citizen-historian Charen Fink of the Brunswick, NC, RT. She’s a former RT president from Ohio, now retired to Southport, NC. I traveled via Charlotte, NC, to her forum on April 15.

I had the wonderful experience of meeting her RT colleagues, seeing what’s left of the ‘Gibraltar of the South’--Fort Fisher--and having lunch at the last major Confederate port to fall, Wilmington, with Charen and husband Dan. In return, she’s just visited us in Huntsville to speak in July to our RT. She filled all the seats with over 130, including many more ladies than usual, on the topic of women in the war who were “Soldiers, Spies, and Femme Fatales.” So you can see that interest among women is definitely there, with a topic that is scoped in such a way that it can include battles too, as Charen did.

We do have good local attendance from non-member ladies for our free speakers, when the topic interests them. But we can do more for our members: for example newsletter articles and book reviews with a social-cultural theme; talks about experiences of civilians, children’s education, slave and mistress relationships. I’ve gotten a lot of new ideas from Charen: we both try to greet and thank each woman who attends, and ask about her interests.

6. What do you see for the future – what role will women play in Civil War round tables generally and what effect will this have on round tables?

As more baby boomers like me retire, more women professionals will have time to volunteer. I think connecting with corporate sponsors and school systems may be a way to find them. Round tables can only benefit from outreach to diverse community groups, not just those with a history focus such as Daughters of the American Revolution, or United Daughters of the Confederacy, or Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic.

For example, our communications chair has met with a local young woman who works with civic and professional groups, to energize our historic downtown. We had a woman-owned food truck at our musical event, to great feedback. And as I mentioned, we’re getting more girls and thus more moms and parents, involved through the Huntsville Literary Society writing contest. We may try inviting local home-schoolers or Girl Scouts to visit our meetings, for credit toward their requirements. More fun for women and men, boys and girls, can equal positive effects on ACW education and ACW preservation: our RT’s missions.

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On a personal note, I decided to get involved partly to expand my computer skills. It’s clear from working with our tech-generation female web master that our board and I have a lot to learn! I was a senior manager in my career with Uncle Sam in different agencies, and lastly with the Department of Defense, here at Redstone Arsenal. After retiring, I felt I had one more “big job” in me, and this one is probably it. Thus, I also would encourage women to become involved with RTs, because they provide an appropriate way to keep working with quality men and women, to stay current on a variety of levels.

7. What advice do you have for round tables interested in gaining more women participation?

8. What advice do you have for women who are already members but want to become involved in round table leadership?

To answer both Questions 7-8, see above and edit as desired. As RT president, I would summarize that the key points are to offer a welcoming environment and high quality programs; and communicate about them widely in various media and local groups.

As Carol, I would add: Find ways to let women “catch the fever” so they’ll start to build their own ACW legacy. And bring the menfolk and kids, too!

9. May I provide your or another email address for those wishing to get more information?

Certainly:

www.tvcwrt.org and/or carolcodori@comcast.net

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Matthew Borowick

Civil War News columnist - "Round Table Review"

Member, R.E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Central New Jersey